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Thanks. Another extremely handy tool!

Nice. I definitely could use this little tool. Thanks for the explanation

Well I did additional sprite testing after reading your comments (thanks ), and the code below just refused to work in TF1.1, and I suspected it was the joystick patch at the root of the problem. So I removed the patch and entered the same program in Classic 99 using TF1.2 and it worked perfectly. : INIT 1 GMODE 12 SCREEN ; : DEFCHR1 DATA 4 $18BD $FFBD $3CBD $FFBD 384 DCHAR ; : DEFCHR2 DATA 4 $EE44 $FEFF $FFFE $44EE 385 DCHAR ; : DEFCHR3 DATA 4 $BDFF $BD3C $BDFF $BD18 386 DCHAR ; : DEFCHR4 DATA 4 $7722 $7FFF $FF7F $2277 387 DCHAR ; : DEFSPR 0 80 125 384 15 SPRITE 0 -2 0 SMLIST ; : READJOY 0 JOYST CASE 16 OF 0 -2 0 SMLIST ENDOF 2 OF 0 0 -2 SMLIST ENDOF 4 OF 0 0 2 SMLIST ENDOF 8 OF 0 2 0 SMLIST ENDOF ENDCASE ; : START INIT DEFCHR1 DEFCHR2 DEFCHR3 DEFCHR4 DEFSPR BEGIN READJOY 0 1 SPRMOV BREAK? AGAIN ; It was blazing fast! Any other major issues I need to know about regarding TF1.1 so I don't try to pull my hair out every night?

Ahhh, what is ED??? Willsy, I'm still a total nube at this, remember? I'm still using version 1.1 because I'm testing TF on my real console.

OK I have a few more questions: Since most programs will span more than one screen, how does one load all the screens at once? Also, when I edit a particular screen, I have to reload it and as expected I then get a string of redefined warnings. Is there another way to do this? Finally, I'm not completely clear on SMLIST and SPRMOV: 0 -2 0 SMLIST should set up a movement vector straight up for sprite 0 0 1 SPRMOV should move ONLY sprite 0 according the its previously defined SMLIST vector Am I correct so far? Now if I change SMLIST, do I need to issue another SPRMOV or does the sprite simply change direction and/or velocity? As you might have guessed, I'm having problems getting sprites to move and I wanted to double check that I understood the above words correctly...

Thanks Willsy. I know I'm gonna love it, which is why the wait is so darn hard! Please don't let my newbie frustration imply that I do not appreciate the immense effort you put into developing TF (what were you thinking???!!!). It's blazing fast and relatively easy to interface with assembly, and I have great plans for it

Yes, that is why I chose KEY? instead of KEY. It's just neater

Thanks Lee. I apologize for my obvious frustration last night, but you can see why... Without a proper manual to guide the Forth newbies, this can devolve into a very discouraging experience. Nowhere have I come across your explanation above which by the way is nice and clear, and I certainly did not know about the error in the TF wordlist document regarding BEGIN-UNTIL, which is the only document I have on TF. I did read Brodie's book (1st edition) and it's a nice introduction to Forth in general, but it has too many diversions from TF to make it a useful manual or practical. TF is clearly a very powerful language which from the looks of it is continuously being improved, but I don't see it broadening its user base aside from a select few already heavily versed in Forth like yourself, Rod and a handful of others without solid documentation. Willsy did give me a glimpse of his early TF manual, but it's still very incomplete, although an extremely easy read. OK I'm done whining now. I'll work on it some more tonight.

OK I think this Forth thing is going to take me a while to wrap my head around... I REALLY need a complete TF manual Willsy!!! In any case, I was creating an extremely elemental test program just to get used to TF a bit, and immediately ran into trouble. The program below is supposed to clear the screen, set the background color to dark green, define a sprite, display it and wait for a key press before exiting. Couldn't be simpler, right? WRONG!!! PAGE 1 GMODE 12 SCREEN DATA 4 $18BD $FFBD $3CBD $FFBD 384 DCHAR 0 15 10 384 15 SPRITE : WAIT BEGIN KEY? -1 = UNTIL ; QUIT I keep getting a stack underflow error. Furthermore, when I define the WAIT word on the command line as above, I expect for the system to wait for a key press, but I simply get OK:0 and I'm back at the command line. Can someone please point out to me where I'm screwing up? If I can't even get something so simple to work, how can I possibly expect to write more complex programs? Maybe I'm too old to learn something so deviant from the classic languages I cut my programming teeth on. Heck even assembly was simpler...

So the HxC connects via a standard TI ribbon cable to the drive controller card in the PEB? In the end, it's a close cousin of the CF7 in principle, but with the added advantage of still allowing you to use the PEB and its cards. Neat! Fred's HDX lets you eliminate the SD/CF intermediary which is very convenient, at the cost of being constantly hooked up to a PC via cable. So many choice! Believe it or not, most of the files on the TI Gameshelf site were transferred to the PC by being ARC'ed on the TI and then transmitted over via a null modem cable at 9600bps... Which reminds me I really need to update the site . Maybe I'll raid the CTIUG library during the club's meeting today and get to it tonight.

I think you have to install an interrupt switch before you can use RS232/2 for regular serial communications because the interrupt trace is cut during the modification.

No prob. Perhaps, I should change the topic to something more general? Please do. It's much easier to discuss TF here than on Yahoo.

Thanks Lee. It would be great to have the rest of the GPLLNK and all of the XMLLNK routines available under TF. I'm itching to help, but I'm still not quite ready to tackle TF at a deeper level yet. My first priority once I'm there is to create a graphical bitmap library, which IMHO will really round up TF nicely. Since it does not look like there are any serious contenders for the TF game challenge for the Faire, I'll probably delay creating a game and focus on adding utilities to TF instead. More to come.

He has many original TI games on cassette for sale that I have never heard of before. Unfortunately, at 20 BP each, not to mention shipping to the US, they are quite expensive. Nice site.

Well, I finally got my RS232 card modified with the HDX hardware and firmware, and it works just as advertised, although for some reason only my really old Compaq Armada with Win 2000 was able to connect to it via the serial port. I had no success with WIn XP on a somewhat newer laptop for some reason. I'm probably going to get a USB to serial adapter and see if I can get my relatively new desktop with Win 7 to talk to the HDX. This will be relatively handy since my TI shares the monitor with it, and the HDX server can simply run in the background. The disadvantage of the HDX is that it does require physical proximity to a laptop or PC, which can be problematic from a desk real estate standpoint. The advantage, as compared to the CF7 for example, is that you still get to have your PEB and full use of all the enhanced cards you may have (SID, IDE, SAMS, PCODE etc...). Now I should mention that Paolo's TI99-PC for Windows is another alternative for file transfers if you have a PC with a floppy drive (3.5" or 5.25"), and it has the advantage of creating real disk images from any emulator disk image. I know most people look for the reverse operation, but I'm still a sucker for keeping my TI software on floppies There is just something about a spinning floppy drive that keeps reminding me of the golden age of classic computing...

Here you go.

See, and I thought the Atari 2600 joysticks were worse than the original TI ones! IMHO, the Prostick II is still my favorite. I got one brand new from Texintreasures.com before the site was placed under perpetual maintenance... It's a classic shape, but very solid and responsive.

Nice, although it lacks the original feel of a real TI accessory, which in my view is an important facet to classic gaming. But then, it's all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it

No, I turned off Yahoo's email feature to reduce the number of emails I get daily... I only check posts on the site.

Michael Zapf pointed the Yahoo group to this great little device made by a German company that allows you to use your original TI joystick (or equivalent) to play games on emulators. It comes as a kit which is very easy to build, and it really works as advertised. Michael has tested it with MESS and I tested with Classic 99. This really increases the level of authenticity when playing arcade games. Here's the link: http://retro-donald.de/sinchai-shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=105

Yes please! Could you also include the TF1.2 rom for Classic 99 as well? Yahoo won't let me download it for some reason... Would you be OK me posting Dark Star on the Gameshelf site?

Mark, is Dark Star finished?

Easy enough. Thanks!

Is the metal shielding needed for the PEB connector as a ground?

How does one clear the stack short of using ABORT" ?