Finally found a PEB... now how to use it?

[towmater]

I found a pretty good deal on a PEB at Weirdstuff Warehouse (They have one more left, FYI.)

It has a floppy drive and controller. I'm excited to clean it and fire it up, but then there's the FUD:

 

Is there a common issue with PEB power supplies that I should check first?

Do I need a floppy with something special like a DOS before I can do anything with it?

My 99/4A already has the Tursi 32K Ram expansion, do I need to remove that before using a PEB?

Can I move disk images from the WWW to disks somehow?

 

 

[Opry99er]

You just need some blank disks for saving programs to.

 

You do not need any special disks to run. If you do not have a 32k inside your PEB, then the one in your console will be your 32k, so youre good there.

 

There are ways to transfer to your TI from your PC. You will need an rs232 though. Or you can use audio transfer for BASIC/XB games via the cassette port, then save them to disk.

 

I have made several YouTube videos on different ways to transfer programs to the TI. Search "Opry99er transfer" on YouTube for some ideas. Good luck!!!

[Omega-TI]

I found a pretty good deal on a PEB at Weirdstuff Warehouse (They have one more left, FYI.)

It has a floppy drive and controller. I'm excited to clean it and fire it up, but then there's the FUD:

 

Is there a common issue with PEB power supplies that I should check first?

Do I need a floppy with something special like a DOS before I can do anything with it?

My 99/4A already has the Tursi 32K Ram expansion, do I need to remove that before using a PEB?

Can I move disk images from the WWW to disks somehow?

 

 

 

No, as far as I know there are no standard problems with the P-Box's power supply.

No, there is no DOS disk.

Yes, remove the 32K card from the P-Box. Since you have Tursi's expansion you will not need it. This is good... if gives you more room for other cards!

 

Now this last question has multiple answers.

 

1) If your P-Box comes with an RS-232, I'd get the HDX modification first as it gives you the most bang for the buck.

2) If you do not have an RS-232, I would suggest the HxC floppy emulator as it will give you drag and drop capability.

 

Now I also recommend the TI-FDC upgrade modification when you get a chance as it will double your storage on a standard TI drive, or if you get an HxC give you the capability of 360K per drive, but emulates two for 720K.

 

CONGRATULATIONS on the new acquisition!

[Shift838]

To answer a few of your questions, if the PEB has a 32K x 8 memory card, you will want to remove it since your console already has the memory mod.

 

Also, it should have a flex cable interface card with the huge 'firehose' connector that plugs into the right side of the 99/4a.

 

The power supply for the PEB is built in and will use a standard 3 prong connector like the new PC power cords.

 

If you have XB and plug it in then boot into XB your disk drive light should light up.

 

Make sure you power the PEB on first then the 4A console. Power it down in reverse order.

 

once in XB or Basic you can type to retrieve a program from floppy (floppy must be INITIALIZED first). This can be done with a Disk Manager 2 cartridge, or other Disk managers.

 

OLD DSK1.PROGRAMNAMEHERE

 

SAVE DSK1.PROGRAMNAMEHERE

 

OLD will load a program

 

Save obviously saves.

 

If you don't have any diskettest, I am sure some of us here can get you some stuff.

 

You should have minimum of FlexCable, Disk Controller and Disk drive. (if you did not have the 32k upgrade in the console then a 32Kx8 too).

[Opry99er]

Also, if you do not yet have one... Get a disk manager program (DM2 cart is perfect).

 

You'll need it for formatting disks and cataloguing.

[towmater]

Hey, thanks for all of that info, this will definitely help jump start this thing. I have a cart - Extended Basic 2.7 suite, and an F18A. The PEB did not seem to have an RS232 card, so I will look into the audio transfer method. I found a box of 5.25 floppies that I'd been using with ADTPro on an Apple, but I now have a CFFA3000 for that machine so the floppies can be devoted to the TI now. I recall Tursi or maybe Matt H. once telling me that the floppy emu could be used with the TI, hopefully the $30 Amazon ones will work, I'll look into that once the system is confirmed working as-is.

[towmater]

I forgot that I added solder pads for the internal 32K ram chip disable, but never put in the switch so I guess this is a good reason to finish that. Of course it would be even cooler to detect a PEB and auto-disable the RAM, more projects for a rainy day.

[+Ksarul]

One note: the TI disk system really only likes the file names to use upper case letters, and the file name can never be more than 10 characters long (on a TI controller, third-party controllers will work somewhat differently).

 

OLD DSK1.1234567890

 

or

 

OLD DSK.TEST.1234567890

 

Where TEST is the name of the disk and 1234567890 is the name of the program. Disk names are also limited to ten characters.

[RXB]

If you want a Cartridge with both XB (Extended Basic) and EA (Editor Assembler) both built into one Cartridge without having to switch them then use RXB.

[Rossman]

At the risk of derailing this thread.... Do any of you remember the day when you went from having *just* the 99/4A console (which for me meant just cartridges & cassettes) to having the PEB?

 

I got my PEB (it's still going strong 33 years later) with just the single floppy, the 32k RAM expansion, RS232 and modem. I didn't get a printer and additional floppy drive until later. I think we picked up most of the Adventure games at the same time, so I could immediately put it through its paces.

 

The speed alone - being able to load games and save code so much faster - was huge. And I recall thinking, wow, 48k, what am I going to fill all that with?

 

Good on ya, Towmater. Use it in anger!

[Omega-TI]

If you want a Cartridge with both XB (Extended Basic) and EA (Editor Assembler) both built into one Cartridge without having to switch them then use RXB.

 

Rich, FYI, his XB2.7s cartridge has both Extended BASIC and Editor Assembler as the first two selections in the menu.

[RickyDean]

Hey, thanks for all of that info, this will definitely help jump start this thing. I have a cart - Extended Basic 2.7 suite, and an F18A. The PEB did not seem to have an RS232 card, so I will look into the audio transfer method. I found a box of 5.25 floppies that I'd been using with ADTPro on an Apple, but I now have a CFFA3000 for that machine so the floppies can be devoted to the TI now. I recall Tursi or maybe Matt H. once telling me that the floppy emu could be used with the TI, hopefully the $30 Amazon ones will work, I'll look into that once the system is confirmed working as-is.

towmater, the 30.00 Gotek floppy emu's will work, but you will need a couple of things to make it happen. One is a USB to serial programmer, and the other is a 10 euro fee to the creator of the HxC floppy emu, to use the bootloader he provides to make the Gotek see the TI format. Do a search for Gotek and you will find links like this http://atariage.com/forums/topic/223102-hxc-floppy-emulator-alternative-gotek/?view=findpost&p=3559028&hl=%2Bgotek

[Tursi]

I forgot that I added solder pads for the internal 32K ram chip disable, but never put in the switch so I guess this is a good reason to finish that. Of course it would be even cooler to detect a PEB and auto-disable the RAM, more projects for a rainy day.

 

It's cooler still to just remove the 32k card from the PEB. It's going to draw less power and be more reliable, too. Remember - if your memory expansion is in the PEB, your entire RAM bus is running over that massive cable. Guess what happens if you bump it?

[Tursi]

towmater, the 30.00 Gotek floppy emu's will work, but you will need a couple of things to make it happen. One is a USB to serial programmer, and the other is a 10 euro fee to the creator of the HxC floppy emu, to use the bootloader he provides to make the Gotek see the TI format. Do a search for Gotek and you will find links like this http://atariage.com/forums/topic/223102-hxc-floppy-emulator-alternative-gotek/?view=findpost&p=3559028&hl=%2Bgotek

 

I finally did this myself just two weeks ago, and was pleased to see it did work

[Tursi]

At the risk of derailing this thread.... Do any of you remember the day when you went from having *just* the 99/4A console (which for me meant just cartridges & cassettes) to having the PEB?

 

I got my PEB (it's still going strong 33 years later) with just the single floppy, the 32k RAM expansion, RS232 and modem. I didn't get a printer and additional floppy drive until later. I think we picked up most of the Adventure games at the same time, so I could immediately put it through its paces.

 

And... gotta hit this one too. I got my PEB after using the bare console with cassette for 6 years. I'd only gotten Extended BASIC about a year earlier, before that it was BASIC only. My PEB was bare-bones, though, just the disk controller. But even so it was so nice to have the speed of loading from floppy. I spent a couple of weeks converting my tapes to disk (and I remember discarding a few programs that I felt were not worth the 4 minute load time... as well as a little 'pinball' game with cassette-loaded data files. Loading 20 lines of text from tape was painfully slow, and I don't think I copied any of them over... ).

 

I managed to get the 32k and the RS232/PIO later that year, as well as acquire a pair of half-height drives. I later built an external power supply and ran the old full-height as DSK3.

[towmater]

towmater, the 30.00 Gotek floppy emu's will work, but you will need a couple of things to make it happen. One is a USB to serial programmer, and the other is a 10 euro fee to the creator of the HxC floppy emu, to use the bootloader he provides to make the Gotek see the TI format.

 

Awesome. I have the cable from when I converted one for the Amiga. (BTW, I also picked up a $50 Amiga 2000HD on last weekend's hunt.)

[towmater]

 

I managed to get the 32k and the RS232/PIO later that year, as well as acquire a pair of half-height drives. I later built an external power supply and ran the old full-height as DSK3.

Oh, ya it was you who told me the gotek worked, during that Purvis Grand Prix team-building shindig. I really should have bought that second PEB at Weirdstuff, it might have the RS232 card that I didn't know I needed. Is there some manner of downloadable images for a USB drive that would work in the gotek and act as a curated collection?

[Tursi]

Oh, ya it was you who told me the gotek worked, during that Purvis Grand Prix team-building shindig. I really should have bought that second PEB at Weirdstuff, it might have the RS232 card that I didn't know I needed. Is there some manner of downloadable images for a USB drive that would work in the gotek and act as a curated collection?

 

Not convinced of that... I bought it ages ago but for me it did NOT work, I only learned recently it could be re-flashed. (I also don't collect images, so I can't answer the archive question).

 

I'm also grumpy you found all that cool stuff at Weird Stuff. I was there last month and spent about two hours searching for nothing.

[matthew180]

I have an RS232 card laying around I'm pretty sure. I'll look tonight and let you know.

[towmater]

 

Not convinced of that... I bought it ages ago but for me it did NOT work, I only learned recently it could be re-flashed. (I also don't collect images, so I can't answer the archive question).

 

I'm also grumpy you found all that cool stuff at Weird Stuff. I was there last month and spent about two hours searching for nothing.

 

Perhaps there was/is an hxc floppy emu that works? There was some cool stuff at WW. The Silicon Graphics Octane was tempting, though I don't even know if there's an archive of software that would run on it other than generic x11 stuff. I was thinking of getting an old DOS machine for games but there were so many that it would have taken forever to research. I bought some generic floppy drives to further outfit the A2000, and I should have bought a PCMCIA wireless card to connect a Powerbook 180 that I also found over the weekend, but again there were so many different ones that I couldn't deal with it. I might try the Big Mess O' Wires floppy emu with that one.

Edited August 9, 2016 by towmater

[towmater]

I have an RS232 card laying around I'm pretty sure. I'll look tonight and let you know.

You are the Shaman of TI's, Matt. Check out Peter Neubauer's Kansas Fest presentation on programming the F18A with the //GS if you haven't seen it yet.

https://archive.org/details/KFest2016PeterNeubauerATotallyNewDimensionInAppleIIGraphics

[Iwantgames:)]

I use the lotherek hxc floppy emulator

[LASooner]

I use the lotherek hxc floppy emulator

Ditto.

[Tursi]

towmater, on 08 Aug 2016 - 9:10 PM, said:

 

Perhaps there was/is an hxc floppy emu that works? There was some cool stuff at WW. The Silicon Graphics Octane was tempting, though I don't even know if there's an archive of software that would run on it other than generic x11 stuff. I was thinking of getting an old DOS machine for games but there were so many that it would have taken forever to research. I bought some generic floppy drives to further outfit the A2000, and I should have bought a PCMCIA wireless card to connect a Powerbook 180 that I also found over the weekend, but again there were so many different ones that I couldn't deal with it. I might try the Big Mess O' Wires floppy emu with that one.

 

Yeah, I was thinking about it, and I think that's what it was... the Lotharek one mentioned above. But the firmware you can flash onto the Gotek is from the same project, so gives you similar functionality in the end. I'd bought the Gotek long before I knew, though.

 

Where was this Weird Stuff...? I'm told there are more than the one in Sunnyvale, which was where I was.

[towmater]

 

Where was this Weird Stuff...? I'm told there are more than the one in Sunnyvale, which was where I was.

 

t'was in Sunnyvale near Great America, I don't know of another location.