To PEB or not to PEB?

[towmater]

I have an itchy mouse trigger about clicking "buy it" on a PEB, but the thing is obscenely large. Are there any SD options readily available, or SCSI-to-SD, etc. available for the TI? I have seen the NanoPEB, but also understand it is no longer produced?

 

BTW, F18A fans might find it fun to step next door to the Apple II forum to see what's going on with it over there.

Edited January 27, 2016 by towmater

[RickyDean]

I have an itchy mouse trigger about clicking "buy it" on a PEB, but the thing is obscenely large. Are there any SD options readily available, or SCSI-to-SD, etc. available for the TI? I have seen the NanoPEB, but also understand it is no longer produced?

 

BTW, F18A fans might find it fun to step next door to the Apple II forum to see what's going on with it over there.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/248135-scsi2sd-adapter-works/

[towmater]

So I'd need a PEB for that, right? And once the PEB has taken over my desk, I'd need a SCSI board, or does the PEB have SCSI built in?

[RickyDean]

So I'd need a PEB for that, right? And once the PEB has taken over my desk, I'd need a SCSI board, or does the PEB have SCSI built in?

No, if you can find a SCSI card you would still need a PEB. But you could use the NanoPEB or CF7+ with a compact flash to sd adapter.

[+mizapf]

So I'd need a PEB for that, right? And once the PEB has taken over my desk, I'd need a SCSI board, or does the PEB have SCSI built in?

 

As I said: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/248135-scsi2sd-adapter-works/?p=3425427

 

(while we're pointing through the forum ... )

[towmater]

I've never been a fan of that conceit. "Excuse me sir, do you have the time?" "DID YOU CHECK TO SEE IF ANYONE ELSE ALREADY ASKED FOR THE TIME?"

Bytes are cheap, and conversation should be free, IMHO. Kidding aside, I've been through several reams of the old forum entries. You might find something fast because you already know the answer and can search for it, but if you have no clue what a CF7+ is, then going through an asteroid field of forum entries is not a reasonable prerequisite to asking a question.

Edited January 27, 2016 by towmater

[towmater]

I just searched for cf7+ in the forums. No results. I can't win. The CF7+/NanoPEB website consists entirely of the phrase: "CF7+ and nanoPEB are no longer available"

 

Is there something else out there?

Edited January 27, 2016 by towmater

[+mizapf]

It was not meant to be some "go read for yourself", I was just mimicking the pointing. Sorry.

 

Yes, you need a SCSI card.

[+Lee Stewart]

I just searched for cf7+ in the forums. No results. I can't win. The CF7+/NanoPEB website consists entirely of the phrase: "CF7+ and nanoPEB are no longer available"

 

Is there something else out there?

 

How are you searching? I found 7 pages (~175 threads) and, limiting the search to topic titles only, I found 28 such threads.

 

...lee

[Shift838]

I don't think the developer is making Nano-PEB's or CF7+ cards any longer. As when you go to the site it shows:

 

CF7+ and nanoPEB are no longer available

[+Schmitzi]

.

Hi,

 

if you have a big original TI-PEB, then, IMHO, the best possibility is a Lotharek HxC-EMU-Drive with SD-Card (lotharek.pl) .

The size of the "virtual" DSKs on the HxC-drive depends on your floppycontroller, of course.

With the TI standard-controller you can run it on DS/SD = 180KB per Disk. Works for "almost" all DSK-files available,

means to get them run. For using 360KB-DSKs on the SD-Card (or a 360KB real iron floppy-drive next to the Lothareks)

you need a DS/DD (DoubleDensity) Controller. Sometimes they are on eBay (find one here: CorComp CC-9900 )

or a MyArc DDCC-1, or a SNUG BwC, but they are seldom, not cheap, and not more than 2 or 3 or so a year, I think.

 

Another Possibility is an IDE-Card for the PEB, but also hard to find (at the moment), or maybe you can solder it yourself

I have connected a 256MB-POI-Stick to that IDE-Controller in one of my systems, that runs good.

And this, next to a Lotharek HxC-drive, is nice for tehnical playing

 

Maybe you want to forget about a SCSI-card (WHT or SNUG ASCSI) and SCSI-2-SD-Adapter,

as they are not available at all. And the next one is for me Yes, I ♫♪ Dream On ♫♪

 

Almost same for the MyArc HFDC (Hard- and Floppy Drive Controller) which runs MFM-HDDs.

Hard to find.

 

There are also options to use "SideCars", means you don´t need a PEB, but i.e. a FD-controller

which is connected to the right side of the TI-99/4A. (I think there were no sidecars with HDD-controllers?)

 

The NanoPEBs (RS232: NanoPEB v1 or v2 // LPT/PAR: CF7+) are no longer produced, but sometimes on eBay. Sometimes.

You can feed them with a 4GB CF-card, for example (only using half of the space due ti the TI´s file system)

But they are no longer produced, and the website is officially down.

This "Nano´s" are nice, as they are very small an you can feed the CF-Cards in your PC.

Maybe I can "organize" a CF7+ from Europe.... Maybe

 

OK, this just as a small teaser

If more questions, pls just ask

 

 

xXx

[+Ksarul]

The downloads pages are still there if you know how to jump to them, but the main page definitely indicates that Jaime has stopped producing them. That is unfortunate. . .his soldering had gotten a bit iffier of late, so it is possible he just isn't able to make them any more from a physical strain standpoint. When they work, they are a great product. I wonder if he'd be willing to pass the project on to let others continue to make them?

Edited January 28, 2016 by Ksarul

[Omega-TI]

I have an itchy mouse trigger about clicking "buy it" on a PEB, but the thing is obscenely large. Are there any SD options readily available, or SCSI-to-SD, etc. available for the TI? I have seen the NanoPEB, but also understand it is no longer produced?

 

 

Hi,

I hear you when it comes to space considerations, that was my main concern as well. My solution was to put some rubber feet on the side and set it up like a tower case. I think it looks nice that way and it sure saves on space.

 

From a hobby perspective, I personally think getting the P-Box is the way to go... I'll tell you why. First, it keeps your options open and gives you room to expand and add on new goodies over the years a little bit at a time. I find a hobby more enjoyable when there is room for growth. There are projects in the works that you might want down the line. If you did get a Nano-PEB that worked, you would be 'locked-in' without a way to expand and enjoy the new goodies.

 

Sorry, but out of sheer laziness I'm going to include a couple of links to my blog where I've highlighted some hardware options in greater detail. Schmitzi gave you some great advice, the Lotharek HxC is a great device and uses an SD card, which is something you want. It also facilitates ease of transfer of files or disk images from the Internet and your PC to the TI. << CLICK HERE >> for more detail on that device. Now there is a modification that is rather inexpensive that you may want to investigate to get more available storage space using the Lotharek. That device is highlighted << HERE >>. To quote a wise TI'er that is no longer with us, "Without that modification, you'll be wasting half the available space.

 

If you want to get an idea of how the stuff is installed, Wyerd has a REALLY GOOD thread that goes into awesome detail, complete with pictures << HERE >>.

 

The Lotharek can be used as DSK1 & DSK2 at the same time, so with a modified TI floppy controller that will give you 720K of usable space at one time, but you can quite literally have gigabytes on one SD card so you could basically have a ton of stuff at the press of a button.

 

Hope this give you a little bit more information to gnaw on and consider.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[+OLD CS1]

 

I don't think the developer is making Nano-PEB's or CF7+ cards any longer. As when you go to the site it shows:

 

CF7+ and nanoPEB are no longer available

 

 

Now, this sucks. I have bandied around the idea of grabbing a nanoPEB to supplement my CF7+, so for me this bites. But it is also quite a loss for future 99ers. As Jim said, I really hope Jaime will pass on the torch.

[+arcadeshopper]

The downloads pages are still there if you know how to jump to them, but the main page definitely indicates that Jaime has stopped producing them. That is unfortunate. . .his soldering had gotten a bit iffier of late, so it is possible he just isn't able to make them any more from a physical strain standpoint. When they work, they are a great product. I wonder if he'd be willing to pass the project on to let others continue to make them?

 

We need to get some assembly lines going

[towmater]

Mizapf, I apologize. I've been working late nights in a foreign country, and was a little gun-shy about asking without doing hours of research. The rest, this is great info and I think I have my answer, which is... buy the PEB. However, if you look back at our quarterly project thread and how it seems to have come to a conclusion we have shown that ordering circuit boards, thanks to Osh Park, is a simple few clicks, ordering chips from digi-key is a click-and-wait a few days process, so we know that a little community effort can accomplish cool things. We also have Matt and Tursi to lean on for technical advice. The only missing link, I would imagine, would be the fpga code. It would be a bit sweeter if we could use an fpga like the Mojo that programs easily with the Arduino on-board.

Edited January 28, 2016 by towmater

[ckoba]

The only missing link, I would imagine, would be the fpga code. It would be a bit sweeter if we could use an fpga like the Mojo that programs easily with the Arduino on-board.

I looked into reverse-engineering the FPGA when I first got a nanoPEB (which I have since sold).

 

The part appeared to be EOL'ed some time ago, and I couldn't find any dev kit that admitted to being able to read data from the device.

 

I concluded that if this were to be reproduced, the right thing to do would be to clone Thierry's IDE card into a Spartan via VHDL. (Which, I suspect, is probably very similar to how the CF7/nanoPEB came about)

 

The CF7/nanoPEB are actually IDE devices anyway, might as well go with something that's documented with gear already deployed in the field.

 

Then I got my PEB/HxC and stopped caring

Edited January 28, 2016 by ckoba

[towmater]

Looks like Thierry was studying at Stanford, and of course student web space always vanishes when they graduate. So that info is lost. It looks like Thierry's device was a PEB expansion card, which is intriguing, it occurs to me that the missing link is to have a PEB interface without the giant box, assuming floppies can be omitted now, and the rs232 is superfluous IMHO, and ram is not really needed thanks to Tursi, is there much other use for a PEB besides a SCSI or IDE card? And if so couldn't just that be connected to the expansion port and SCSI2SD be added?

Edited January 28, 2016 by towmater

[towmater]

Rereading Schmitzi's post, SCSI controllers are unavailable, but you say that one can solder an ide controller yourself, indicating a pc board design is out there somewhere? I'm not nearly informed enough with TI's internals, but I am intrigued by the possibility of making a smaller ide board, unless it too requires a PEB. If so, what is the magic in the PEB that can't be emulated easily? I was under the impression it was a simple backplane. Thierry's design seemed to take up a lot of board space, probably because he didn't need to care inside a PEB, and there are a couple of unused chips routed. I think it could be simplified greatly, but there's that issue of what exactly the PEB is doing.

Edited January 28, 2016 by towmater

[ckoba]

Looks like Thierry was studying at Stanford, and of course student web space always vanishes when they graduate.

It wasn't totally lost.

 

Thierry still has the Gerber files and DSRs (with source!) at http://www.nouspikel.com/ti99/ideal.htm... and Fred Kaal has put up schematics at http://www.ti99-geek.nl/ (the site is all framed, so you'll have to go to "Projects" and click "IDE Card".

 

So whoever takes this on would not be starting in a vacuum, as they would with the CF7/nanoPEB ...

[towmater]

Wow, it's all 74 logic stuff, on first glance, ripe for simplification with an fpga, although that's an expensive proposition, I will look into using one of the larger micro controllers to see if it can be shoe horned into a chip or two. That said, it looks like the ide still needs a floppy to load drivers.

[+mizapf]

Rereading Schmitzi's post, SCSI controllers are unavailable

 

Maybe it could make sense to offer the SNUG people some licensing agreement for building their ASCSI card? I mean, if anyone here feels capable to build cards? Or the WHTech card?

[+arcadeshopper]

Looks like Thierry was studying at Stanford, and of course student web space always vanishes when they graduate. So that info is lost. It looks like Thierry's device was a PEB expansion card, which is intriguing, it occurs to me that the missing link is to have a PEB interface without the giant box, assuming floppies can be omitted now, and the rs232 is superfluous IMHO, and ram is not really needed thanks to Tursi, is there much other use for a PEB besides a SCSI or IDE card? And if so couldn't just that be connected to the expansion port and SCSI2SD be added?

Rs232 is not superflous it is necessary for data transfer to/from a pc

 

Also his pages are not lost

 

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

[RickyDean]

 

Maybe it could make sense to offer the SNUG people some licensing agreement for building their ASCSI card? I mean, if anyone here feels capable to build cards? Or the WHTech card?

If I could round up everything I needed, I would like to give it a try, I like to do my own things as time permits.

[atrax27407]

Actually, there are easy ways to transfer files from the PC to the TI that don't involve an RS232 or cabling. I find them more convenient (and cheaper) than using hardware.