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adamantyr

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Posts posted by adamantyr

  1. Posted

    <p>

     

    The second link is not working

    404 Not Found

    • Code: NoSuchKey
    • Message: The specified key does not exist.
    • Key: misc/titrek.zip
    • RequestId: 7471C0A58BC853DB
    • HostId: ai/vkS4aEhhGAKBLFCJ6CE8f9MF45lMYYilfla8A12GFH5aeFJ64K1daNE70xJivem7VH0W8P8s=

    Hmmm I'll look into that tonight. I know I put the file there!

     

    EDIT: Fixed, I had the wrong filename. Plus Amazon S3 is case-sensitive. :)

    • Like 1

  2. Posted

     

    So I don't need to purchase a transformer at all? That's good news! Those suckers are pricier than I thought.

     

    As for the TV, I just picked up a monitor on eBay that says it supports both PAL and NTSC. But from what you're telling me, THAT may require a transformer, yes?

     

    This is what I got, the 17" model: https://www.accu-tech.com/hs-fs/hub/54495/file-17695823-pdf/docs/v1320-datasheet_en-201001.pdf

     

    So this monitor arrived today... it came with an EU plug, but a standard 110v cable also worked on it. I presume for PAL I would need to get a converter? It has an auto PAL/NTSC mode system, so I imagine if it gets the right voltage it will switch.

     

    The quality of the picture is astounding on NTSC. There is virtually NO corruption at all. The colors are difficult to get strong on my CRPG; the black background seems to steal a lot of the color, but that may just require me to play with the tint and color levels.

     

    The picture is so good, in fact, I'm kind of regretting buying a PAL TI. I suspect the picture won't get much better than that.

  8. Posted

    Hmm... looking on the TI Tech pages, the PAL monitor plug is different from the US version. So I'll need a composite cable specifically for the PAL unit, correct?

     

    And the lack of a tuner isn't something I had considered... this is why we needed that *EXPLETIVE DELETED* RF Modulator for TV's.

     

    What's the best solution here?

  9. Posted

     

    The datasheet says that it supports 100 - 240V, 50/60 Hz. So it is compatible with both US and UK mains voltage and frequency.

     

    Great! I have no familiarity in this area and am deathly afraid of an electrical fire occurring by doing the wrong thing, so I appreciate the help.

     

    Also, I'll need a BNC to RCA adapter for the video, this is what I need, right? https://www.amazon.com/Sienoc-BNC-Female-Adapter-Connector/dp/B00KX17NGU/

  10. Posted

     

    MHz? The frequency of US mains has gone up rather since I last heard! ;-)

     

    The frequency of the mains power that you apply to the console and PEB is irrelevant - it gets converted to DC. BUT you need to use a transformer (power block) matched to the mains voltage - so in the US you can happily power a PAL TI-99 from the same power block that you use for your NTSC TI-99.

     

    The TV is a bit different, as it needs to accept a PAL signal. A 'modern' digital TV is probably OK if it says it accepts a PAL signal. But if you're looking at using a CRT TV, older ones used the mains frequency as a timing source. So to use one of these, you'd need a mains power source that was not only 50 Hz, but also 220/240V. You can change the voltage using a transformer, but you can't change the frequency.

     

    So I don't need to purchase a transformer at all? That's good news! Those suckers are pricier than I thought.

     

    As for the TV, I just picked up a monitor on eBay that says it supports both PAL and NTSC. But from what you're telling me, THAT may require a transformer, yes?

     

    This is what I got, the 17" model: https://www.accu-tech.com/hs-fs/hub/54495/file-17695823-pdf/docs/v1320-datasheet_en-201001.pdf

  11. Posted

    So here's another question... let's say you get a PAL TI-99/4a. And you got a transformer so you can convert U.S. power from 60mhz to 50mhz. All good there.

     

    COULD you hook up a PEB that is running on 60hz power? Or does the power signature need to match across all peripherals?

  12. Posted

    Yeah, I knew about the need for a power converter already, I was curious about if I'd need to get a whole new TV to boot. And video cable. Given i'd have to buy and import a console from Europe, I'm not sure it's worth it just for a look-see.

  15. Posted

    It looks like you had it on that disk! The original filename is TVF.

     

    We first started getting new Doom games from a friend of mine who also had a TI. I can't be certain, but I believe that Volcano Fortress was one of the first games released, and it may have been a single, the only game on the disk.

     

    The Doom Games compilations (I think there were three?) came later and had the Kmart game, the Doctor Who games (two of them), and so forth. I bought Doom Games 2, but the rest I got copies of from my friend, so they got all scattered about...

     

    Why the sudden interest on my part? Because one of the final dungeons in my game will be "The Volcano Fortress". Possibly with some fellows named Behnke and Reiss wandering about... ;)

     

    In the interests of sharing and making sure these games don't disappear forever, here is the disk image for Doom Games 2: DOOMGM2.DSK

    • Like 4

  16. Posted

    Hey all,

     

    I recently purchased an original copy of "The Volcano Fortress" from Asgard software on eBay. The seller warned it was untested and as is. I mainly wanted the manual, so I thought it was a good risk.

     

    Sadly, the disk is toast. It just comes back "not initialized" in DM1000.

     

    Does anyone have digital copies of the TOD games that were on this disk they could send to me?

     

    Thanks!

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    The effect you're seeing is definitely caused by the NTSC signal and the general quality level of the composite signal from the TI's video port. I first noticed it in Parsec, where the little landscapes seemed to be rainbow colored, but in fact, weren't!

     

    I've dealt with this when drawing up all the graphics for my CRPG, you can check my thread in Development to see some pictures of my in-game monster graphics, all of which are in bitmap resolution, with 2 colors every 8 pixels horizontally.

     

    First thing is, NTSC seems to work better with a lower pixel depth horizontally. If you have at least two pixels of the same color next to each other, they are strong enough to overcome all the noise and clearly project a color. (So 100-150 pixels works fine, but over 200 has trouble.) This isn't JUST on the TI, you can see it on other systems too. Most of the color artifacting of the TRS-80 Coco, Atari 8-bit, and Apple II systems were built around burning two pixels to get extra colors.

     

    Second, What I've come to discover as I've worked with it is this: luminosity almost matters more than color itself. Putting two bright colors next to each other makes it almost impossible to discern both. So you want to have light and dark respectively alternating, or you get things looking a little muddy.

     

    Three, the 2 colors per 8 pixels is not THAT bad of a limitation, given the noise of NTSC. Many times I've used a color which technically creates a bleed effect, but on the NTSC screen you can't really perceive it, so it works. On the other hand, I've seen some interesting patterns where a fully yellow object with just ONE line of blue in the center suddenly looks greenish overall on the screen. Almost like the color signal, swapping between colors, has trouble keeping up.

     

    Finally, some interesting oddball observations... Light red and magenta actually compliment each other REALLY well, not a combination you'd expect to work. Medium red and green are nearly useless; neither is strong enough in luminosity to really separate from their light and dark counterparts. And why a dark and light yellow? I would have rather TI given us a true brown, dark grey and dark purple instead. Dark red is your best "brown" color, although if your user has his monitor contrast turned way up it won't look like it. Dark blue is your best "dark" after black, it's dark enough against black pixels nearly disappear. Grey is really just "off-white"; if you want something closer to halfway between white and black, use light blue. Cyan is so much brighter than the other blues it's not particularly useful as a gradient, but in some cases it can work; your mileage will vary.

    • Like 3

  20. Posted

    We dunno if what we did caused it or not, but we DO know that it was working fine, after we put RickyDean's parts in, until we tried playing Jawbreaker 2. We did notice, though, that when we took out Donkey Kong to put Jawbreaker in, we had to manually reset the console instead of plugging the cartridge in resetting it automatically, and the version of Donkey Kong we got has a rattling in it, which we can't open it up to check out, so...

     

    That's not unusual, the cartridge port is really sensitive. Some things just leave the machine in an unstable state no matter what, so turning it off and on again is normal.

     

    If you have a buzz and snowscreen, it sounds like the video chip or related got overwhelmed. So now it's that way 100% of the time, regardless of what cartridge you have plugged in?

  22. Posted

    It's a neat idea and will probably useful for some people. I find it rather bulky coming off the back myself, but this idea could be expanded upon. What might be more interesting is one that ...

     

    1) Uses the 12v off the back to power an internal (in the case) audio amplifier suitable to power some external speakers.

    Output would be a standard female stereo connector.

    2) The video out would be a single RCA jack.

     

    I'd try to mount the two output jacks as low as possible for aesthetic reasons, even if the unit would have to be slightly wider.

     

     

    Nice! It sold already, but I'd get one if he made more.

     

    My only request on this is if it had the resistor/capacitor included to strengthen the composite signal, as described on Mainbyte as one of the "mods" you can do to improve video resolution slightly. (He mentions including space for them if you're electronically inclined...)

  25. Posted

    Ah yes, stupid blunders...

     

    So around 1986 I think, I got a copy of Extended BASIC. I was 11 years old and I wanted to type in those neat games from the big 99'er book among others and see them go.

     

    But for some reason, any program with sprites tended to fail. I would get the error SUBPROGRAM NOT FOUND IN # over and over. It seemed to a problem with the COINC subprogram. Frustrated and angry I complained to my brother, my parents, etc. that obviously this stupid cartridge was broken. I figured games like Wizard's Lair must have worked because they didn't use the subprogram at all.

     

    So a year or so later, I convince them to let me order Triton's Super Extended BASIC from the catalog. Surely the bug would be fixed there! But no, same errors again... So now I was convinced something must be wrong with the console itself. It was rejecting the command, that was the ONLY explanation.

     

    Then one day, my good friend (who also had a TI) called me up and asked. "Hey... that one command that doesn't work. How are you spelling it?"

     

    I look. CONIC. I look at the manual. COINC. Crap.

     

    I'll say this for my younger self... I did own up to my mistake and tell my parents what happened. (They laughed their asses off.) Of course then after that, anytime I had programming issues the first question they'd ask is "Are you sure you're spelling everything correctly?"

    • Like 5
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