TI-99/4A Disk Loading Trouble

[yell0w_lantern]

When I try to load a disk game, I get a string name too long error. This happens with original disks and my HxC floppy emulator. However, I can load the Tunnels of Doom adventure "Quest for the King" from disk.

 

Could the RAM in my PEB be bad?

[UKRetrogamer]

The only time I've seen this error, I was entering the filenames in the wrong case. Took me ages to figure out what I was doing wrong, due to the Ti-99/4a's obscure charset.

[+Ksarul]

What are you using as a load environment? some cartridges give you the DSK1. already and you just use the 10 character file name (generally all upper case, but not always). On others you have to use the whole file name: DSK1.TEST or even OLD "DSK1.TEST" (with the latter being for Extended BASIC).

 

Note that you also have to have the right environment for the proram you're trying to load--and that is not always a slam dunk to figure out, as some PROGRAM files are BASIC, some are for LOGO, and some are Assembly.

 

Let me know if this helps. What I can say is that if you load Extended BASIC and do a SIZE command, it should show you about 24K of program space and 12K of stack. Try a CALL INIT:: CALL LOAD from the command line and see what kind of error you get (if any). That is the command set to prepare the 8K of Assembly space in the 32K card for use. If TOD loads, your PEB is operating normally (though it is loading the game into VDP, so it doesn't identify problems with the 32K card. You could also type a small program into XB, save it, and then try to load it and run it. That will tell you if the 24K section of your memory card is working. . .

[yell0w_lantern]

I got approximately those numbers on a SIZE command.

I kept getting a syntax error for CALL INIT:: CALL LOAD

Maybe I am entering it incorrectly.

I tried

CALL INIT:: CALL LOAD
CALL INIT::CALL LOAD
CALL INIT: CALL LOAD
CALL INIT:CALL LOAD

and lastly,

CALL INIT
CALL LOAD

[+Ksarul]

If you get the error with CALL INIT :: CALL LOAD, you have one of two problems: a bad Extended BASIC cartridge (and oddly, it will probably work for regular BASIC programs that don't need Assembly support), or your memory card has a bad memory space (the low memory space in the 32K card). If you have access to another Extended BASIC cart (or another 32K card), you should be able to quickly troubleshoot to see which of the two is causing the problem.

[Ed in SoDak]

Are you including the file you wish to load in your code?

 

CALL INIT :: CALL LOAD("DSK1.FILE")

 

Following this, you'd have to link to the file you just loaded with CALL LINK("START") or whatever the entry point of the EA/3-type program happens to be. Use of the label START is sort of the TI's defacto standard, but it can actually be anything the original programmer of the routine has specified.

 

Correct me if I got the syntax wrong!

 

The double colon :: is a statement separator for TI EXB. If you skip some spaces around the double colon when entering it, the parser will generally correct it automatically when you hit Enter. Used primarily to save memory, also as a typing expedient and a way to keep a short section of code all in a single line. Colons serve several purposes in TI BASIC and EXB programs, the other major use is to serve as a return in PRINT or DISPLAY AT statements. No need to go there in further detail right now. Colons outside of quotes are treated as statement separators and must come in pairs, with a space before and after, thusly- ::

 

You could also enter it as

10 CALL INIT

20 CALL LOAD("DSK1.THEFILE")

 

Use whatever line numbers work for your program, this is just an example. Use of the double colon lets you place the two statements into a single line number. Either way should do the same thing, but having them on one line saves memory and is perhaps easier to read and understand what the code is doing.

 

It sounds to me as though you are simply leaving off the assembly language file you want to have loaded, with the subsequent error as a result.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Ed in SoDak