Vorticon

Ah well... Thanks for the clarification.

Interesting. Did not know that. This might just possibly save me a lot of hair pulling in a future project

Question Harry: Can I compile an XB program which uses a small set of assembly routines for support via the standard CALL INIT/CALL LOAD/CALL LINK process? My guess is probably no as it will likely clobber up the compiler routines, but worth asking. Perhaps there is a protected space I could use?

Oh wow... Imagine having had that back in the day... Nice work!

Indeed. Interesting system.

ELF and TI interfacing

But it does waste a slot that way...

The fact that you got your wife to actually touch a TI is quite the achievement by itself...

Well that brings back memories! Back in the late 90's I owned a Mechatronics mouse, a rather clunky affair, and actually wrote a sound program that took advantage of it called SoundGen which was reviewed by Charlie Good in Micropendium. I just dug it up and made a minor modification to load the driver from the TIPI. Now I don't own a TIPI, but if jedimatt's driver is faithful to the original Mechatronic one, then it should work. If someone can give it a test, I would love to hear if it works. Incidentally, I enhanced the program in 2017 but did remove the mouse functions as I did not think anyone was still using a Mechatronics mouse. How wrong I was! Here's the AA thread on it: SoundGen TIPI.ZIP

Looking good! 264K of buffer space with the SAMS is massive and unlikely to be an issue on the TI. Even 2048 lines with just the 32K will suit the needs of many. Question: will the TIVI created source files have any kind of proprietary formatting or will they be standard text files? I'm hoping to use TIVI to resume work on Ultimate Planet. The unfinished source code is quite large but should not be an issue since I have a SAMS card.

Is there a modern burner that can handle vintage EPROMs with different voltages?

Thanks Jim but Atrax was kindly able to burn them for me.

Hi guys. I need a favor. I have updated ROMs for my Heathkit H19 terminal but I don't have the equipment to burn them. Anyone here able and willing to burn them for me? All costs paid of course. The first one is the MYH19.HEX file which needs to go onto a 2532 EPROM, and the second one is the KEYBD.HEX file which needs either a 2516 or 2716 EPROM. Files attached. Please PM me if interested. Thanks! Watzman H19 ROM.zip

The Heathkit Hero Jr robot came out in 1984 as a more home friendly version of the original Hero 1 robot, but was still equipped with multiple sensors, speech and programming capabilities albeit without a robotic arm attachment. I bought my robot on Ebay and upgraded it with extra memory (24K), an updated ROM, serial communication and a multi-cartridge which combined all of the cartridges produced for the Hero Jr into one master cart, as well as a beefy 10Ah battery and full documentation. The Robot Workshop (https://www.robotworkshop.com/robotweb/) still has most parts, upgrades and documentation for the Hero Jr at very reasonable prices. Manufacturer Heathkit Type robot Release date 1984 Introductory price Kit US$599.95, Assembled US$1000[3] Discontinued Before October 1987 (Assembled)[15] 1995 (Kit) Units sold 4000 (across 8 years) CPU Motorola 6808 1 MHz Memory RAM: 2 kB, expandable to 24 kB Monitor ROM: 32 kB Display 9 LEDs Sound Votrax SC-01 speech synthesizer[5] Input Hex keypad with 17 keys Power Batteries:6 V 3.8 A·h x2, x4 optional Dimensions 19 inches high[16] Mass 21.5 pounds[16] The interesting thing is that all the electronics are located in the "head" of the robot and under the front panel, while the drive mechanism and battery are in the bottom part, leaving most of the mid-section open, which was very inviting for modifications and modern upgrades. And while I dabbled with this idea for a while, I ended up deciding not to modify the robot from its original condition and opting to experiment with using the serial port as the only means of communication with it. The Hero Jr is capable of baud rates from 300 to 9600 with Even parity and 7 data bits. An early experiment I did involved a wired serial connection to a Raspberry Pi Model B where I had a Pi camera recognize a ball using the OpenCV framework running on the Rpi, and the result was communicated to the Hero Jr who in turn verbalized it using its on-board speech synthesizer: This served as a proof of concept, but I really wanted to ditch the serial tether and go completely wireless. I also wanted to use the TI 99/4A computer, and I already had quite a bit of experience with wireless serial communication on it from my previous wireless weather station project: The main problem I ran into was the the Xbee transceiver I used for that project did not support 7 data bits, only 8, and it turned out that almost all available modern transceivers had the same issue!. Luckily, I finally was able to find a very cheap Chinese transceiver called the HC-12 which costs less than $5 per module and supports a wide range of communication parameters. It's really designed for use with an Arduino, but with the addition of a GPIO to serial converter, one can connect it to a standard computer terminal. From there, I went through a couple of experimental tests as shown below. The main difficulty encountered was the very short range of the coil antenna that comes stock with the HC-12 module, and so this required upgrading it to beefier coax antenna. From there I was finally ready to put the project together using the TI 99/4A computer. I opted to use RXB on the TI side because it allowed low-level access to the serial card using the CALL IO command, something not available on other Basics. This was necessary because the HC-12 was not very reliable in its wireless transmissions and communication was frequently dropped, thus requiring a form of communication time-out feature in order to resend dropped data packets. Here's the code for the TI. You might note that there are a lot of repetitive routines which could not be consolidated into subroutines because the ON ERROR command in Extended Basic does not work within subroutines. // HERO Jr remote exploration program // November 2019 // INITIALIZATION CALL CLEAR OPTION BASE 1 DIM MAP(23,32) HOMEX=16 HOMEY=12 PRANGE=0 TCOUNT=0 DIR=1 !1=N 2=E 3=S 4=W OPEN #1:"RS232.BA=9600.DA=7.PA=E.EC",UPDATE CRU=2464 !CRU ADDRESS OF TMS9902 (>1340) DIVIDED BY 2 // CHECK IF ROBOT IS READY PRINT "CHECKING ROBOT STATUS" CheckStatus: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) PRINT #1:65 GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN CheckStatus Status: ON ERROR Status INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF VAL(ANS$)<> 1 THEN CheckStatus ELSE PRINT "ROBOT IS READY!": : PRINT "PRESS ANY KEY TO START" GetKey: CALL KEY(0,K,S) IF S=0 THEN GetKey // SET UP DISPLAY CALL CLEAR // CHARACTER DEFINITIONS CALL CHAR(104,"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF") !BLACK LEVEL 0-20 CALL CHAR(112,"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF") !GRAY LEVEL 21-100 CALL CHAR(120,"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF") !WHITE LEVEL 101-255 CALL CHAR(105,"FFC3A59999A5C3FF") !OBSTACLE CALL CHAR(106,"183C5A9918181818") !UP ARROW CALL CHAR(107,"080402FFFF020408") !RIGHT ARROW CALL CHAR(108,"18181818995A3C18") !DOWN ARROW CALL CHAR(109,"102040FFFF402010") !LEFT ARROW DIRSPR=106 CALL COLOR(10,2,16,11,15,16,12,16,16) CALL SPRITE(#1,DIRSPR,9,(HOMEY-1)*8+1,(HOMEX-1)*8+1) // START EXPLORATION RX=HOMEX RY=HOMEY Explore: TCOUNT=TCOUNT+1 IF TCOUNT>10 THEN Home // GET LIGHT LEVEL LightInput: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:6 !Read light sensor GOSUB BytePresent !WAIT FOR BYTE TO COME IN IF FLAG=0 THEN LightInput Status1: ON ERROR Status1 INPUT #1:LIGHT$ ON ERROR STOP IF VAL(LIGHT$)<21 THEN CALL HCHAR(RY,RX,104) ELSE IF VAL(LIGHT$)<101 THEN CALL HCHAR(RY,RX,112) ELSE CALL HCHAR(RY,RX,120) CALL DELAY(1) // Check for movement in front of robot MotionCheck: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) ! CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:8 !Read infrared sensor GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN MotionCheck Status7: ON ERROR Status7 INPUT #1:HEAT$ ON ERROR STOP IF VAL(HEAT$)=0 THEN RangeInput DISPLAY AT(24,1)BEEP:"MOTION DETECTED!" Speak1: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:9 !Speak CALL DELAY(1) PRINT #1:1 !PLEASE MOVE CLEAR OF ME GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN Speak1 Status8: ON ERROR Status8 INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF VAL(ANS$)<>89 THEN Speak1 DISPLAY AT(24,1):" " GOTO MotionCheck // Check for obstacles RangeInput: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:7 !Read sonar GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN RangeInput Status2: ON ERROR Status2 INPUT #1:RANGE$ ON ERROR STOP IF VAL(RANGE$)>40 AND ((DIR=1 AND RY>2) OR (DIR=2 AND RX<31) OR (DIR=3 AND RY<22) OR (DIR=4 AND RX>2)) THEN GOTO PathClear IF DIR=1 THEN CALL HCHAR(RY-1,RX,105):: MAP(RY-1,RX)=1 IF DIR=2 THEN CALL HCHAR(RY,RX+1,105):: MAP(RY,RX+1)=1 IF DIR=3 THEN CALL HCHAR(RY+1,RX,105):: MAP(RY+1,RX)=1 IF DIR=4 THEN CALL HCHAR(RY,RX-1,105):: MAP(RY,RX-1)=1 Speak2: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:9 !Speak CALL DELAY(1) PRINT #1:2 !OBSTACLE DETECTED GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN Speak2 StatusObs: ON ERROR StatusObs INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF VAL(ANS$)<>89 THEN Speak2 //Back up Reverse: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:2 GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN Reverse Status3: ON ERROR Status3 INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF ANS$<>"89" THEN Reverse IF DIR=1 THEN RY=RY+1 IF DIR=2 THEN RX=RX-1 IF DIR=3 THEN RY=RY-1 IF DIR=4 THEN RX=RX+1 CALL LOCATE(#1,(RY-1)*8+1,(RX-1)*8+1) CALL DELAY(2) //Check for surrounding blocked path IF DIR=1 THEN CALL GCHAR(RY,RX+1,BLOCK):: GOTO Turn IF DIR=2 THEN CALL GCHAR(RY+1,RX,BLOCK):: GOTO Turn IF DIR=3 THEN CALL GCHAR(RY,RX-1,BLOCK):: GOTO Turn CALL GCHAR(RY-1,RX,BLOCK) Turn: IF BLOCK<>105 THEN Go_Right ELSE Go_Left //Turn right Go_Right: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:4 GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN Go_Right Status4: ON ERROR Status4 INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF ANS$<>"89" THEN Go_Right DIR=DIR+1 DIRSPR=DIRSPR+1 IF DIR>4 THEN DIR=1::DIRSPR=106 CALL PATTERN(#1,DIRSPR) CALL DELAY(2) IF HFLAG=1 THEN Home GOTO Explore //Turn left Go_Left: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:5 GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN Go_Left Status6: ON ERROR Status6 INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF ANS$<>"89" THEN Go_Left DIR=DIR-1 DIRSPR=DIRSPR-1 IF DIR<1 THEN DIR=4::DIRSPR=109 CALL PATTERN(#1,DIRSPR) CALL DELAY(2) IF HFLAG=1 THEN Home GOTO Explore //Move forward PathClear: CALL DELAY(1) Forward: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:3 GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN Forward Status5: ON ERROR Status5 INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF ANS$<>"89" THEN Forward IF DIR=1 THEN RY=RY-1 IF DIR=2 THEN RX=RX+1 IF DIR=3 THEN RY=RY+1 IF DIR=4 THEN RX=RX-1 CALL LOCATE(#1,(RY-1)*8+1,(RX-1)*8+1) CALL DELAY(2) IF HFLAG=1 THEN Home GOTO Explore // Go home routine Home: HFLAG=1 IF RX=HOMEX AND RY=HOMEY THEN DISPLAY AT(24,1)BEEP:"AT HOME!":: GOTO GetKey1 ELSE DISPLAY AT(24,1)BEEP:"GOING HOME..." Speak3: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:9 !Speak CALL DELAY(1) PRINT #1:3 !GOING HOME GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN Speak3 StatusHome: ON ERROR StatusHome INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF VAL(ANS$)<>89 THEN Speak3 IF RY>HOMEY AND MAP(RY-1,RX)=0 THEN TDIR=1:: GOTO CheckFacing IF RY<HOMEY AND MAP(RY+1,RX)=0 THEN TDIR=3:: GOTO CheckFacing IF RX>HOMEX AND MAP(RY,RX-1)=0 THEN TDIR=4:: GOTO CheckFacing IF RX<HOMEX AND MAP(RY,RX+1)=0 THEN TDIR=2:: GOTO CheckFacing GOTO Explore CheckFacing: IF DIR<>TDIR THEN FacingTurn ForwardH: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:3 GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN ForwardH StatusHF: ON ERROR StatusHF INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF ANS$<>"89" THEN ForwardH IF DIR=1 THEN RY=RY-1 IF DIR=2 THEN RX=RX+1 IF DIR=3 THEN RY=RY+1 IF DIR=4 THEN RX=RX-1 CALL LOCATE(#1,(RY-1)*8+1,(RX-1)*8+1) CALL DELAY(2) GOTO Home FacingTurn: IF ABS(TDIR-DIR)>2 AND TDIR<DIR THEN TurnRightH IF ABS(TDIR-DIR)>2 AND TDIR>DIR THEN TurnLeftH IF TDIR<DIR THEN TurnLeftH TurnRightH: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:4 GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN TurnRightH StatusHR: ON ERROR StatusHR INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF ANS$<>"89" THEN TurnRightH DIR=DIR+1 DIRSPR=DIRSPR+1 IF DIR>4 THEN DIR=1::DIRSPR=106 CALL PATTERN(#1,DIRSPR) CALL DELAY(2) GOTO CheckFacing TurnLeftH: CALL IO(3,1,CRU+18,0) !CLEAR RECEIVE BUFFER PRINT #1:5 GOSUB BytePresent IF FLAG=0 THEN TurnLeftH StatusHL: ON ERROR StatusHL INPUT #1:ANS$ ON ERROR STOP IF ANS$<>"89" THEN TurnLeftH DIR=DIR-1 DIRSPR=DIRSPR-1 IF DIR<1 THEN DIR=4::DIRSPR=109 CALL PATTERN(#1,DIRSPR) CALL DELAY(2) GOTO CheckFacing // Resume exploration GetKey1: CALL KEY(0,K,S) IF S=0 THEN GetKey1 DISPLAY AT(24,1):" " HFLAG=0 GOTO Explore // Check for incoming byte over serial line BytePresent: COUNTER=0 CheckByte: CALL IO(2,1,CRU+21,BYTEIN) IF BYTEIN=0 THEN COUNTER=COUNTER+1 ELSE FLAG=1:: RETURN IF COUNTER>50 THEN FLAG=0:: DISPLAY AT(24,1)BEEP:"TIME OUT! RETRYING...":: CALL DELAY(1):: DISPLAY AT(24,1):" ":: RETURN ELSE GOTO CheckByte // Delay routine SUB DELAY(DUR) FOR I=1 TO DUR*100 NEXT I SUBEND On the Hero Jr side, I ran a very simple Basic program which accepted coded commands mapped to specific robot functions and executed them, and also sent back sensor data and communication acknowledgments. All actual control and decision making was made by the TI. 1 REM HERO ROAM PROGRAM 10 INPUT C 20 IF C<>65 THEN GOTO 10 21 FOR I=1 TO 100:NEXT I 22 PRINT 1 30 INPUT C 35 IF C<1 THEN GOTO 30 36 IF C>9 THEN GOTO 30 40 ON C GOSUB 500,600,700,800,900,1000,1100,1200,1300 50 GOTO 30 500 REM FORWARD 5 UNITS 510 FWD 5 511 GOSUB 1510 515 PRINT 89 520 RETURN 600 REM BACKWARD 5 UNITS 610 BWD 5 611 GOSUB 1510 615 PRINT 89 620 RETURN 700 REM FORWARD 10 UNITS 710 FWD 10 711 GOSUB 1510 715 PRINT 89 720 RETURN 800 REM RIGHT ROTATION 810 RIGHT 90 811 GOSUB 1510 815 PRINT 89 820 RETURN 900 REM LEFT ROTATION 910 LEFT 90 911 GOSUB 1510 915 PRINT 89 920 RETURN 1000 REM LIGHT LEVEL DETECTION 1010 L=EYE 1011 GOSUB 1510 1015 PRINT L 1020 RETURN 1100 REM RANGE MEASUREMENT 1105 R=SONAR 1110 GOSUB 1510 1115 PRINT R 1120 RETURN 1200 REM INFRARED HEAT DETECTION 1210 I=MOTION 1211 GOSUB 1510 1215 PRINT I 1220 RETURN 1300 REM SPEAK FUNCTION 1305 INPUT C 1306 IF C<1 THEN GOTO 1305 1307 IF C>3 THEN GOTO 1305 1308 ON C GOTO 1310,1340,1370 1309 REM PLEASE MOVE CLEAR OF ME 1310 SPEAK "PLEZHPA1MOO1VPA1KLEERPA1OVPA1MEE" 1315 GOSUB 1510 1320 PRINT 89 1330 RETURN 1335 REM OBSTACLE DETECTED 1340 SPEAK "OBSTAEKLPA1DE1TEH3KTEHD" 1345 GOSUB 1510 1350 PRINT 89 1360 RETURN 1365 REM GOING HOME 1370 SPEAK "GOWINGPA1HO1O1MM" 1375 GOSUB 1510 1380 PRINT 89 1390 RETURN 1500 REM DELAY SUBROUTINE 1510 FOR T=1 TO 200:NEXT T 1520 RETURN > And here's the final result: Another fun one

Thanks! The fun factor here is really high, and I learn something every time, and this is particularly true when you do it in a cooperative environment such as the pre-Faire event. For example, ON ERROR in XB is flaky at best, and also will not work inside of a subroutine. It took Tursi digging out his old XB code for his BBS from the early 80's to find a workaround! And OLD CS1 combined a NanoPEB and Mini Memory module to load the HDX DSR from the web onto the MM module so I could re-install it on my system when it got corrupted, thus allowing me to continue hacking. And let's not forgot Caesar, ksarul's son, who was unwavering in his readiness to repeatedly press the reset button on the robot every time it went kaput

Ok will do.

This project demonstrates the TI remotely monitoring and controlling a vintage Heathkit Hero Jr robot. Retro-robotics at its best A shout out to Tursi and OLD CS1 for their debugging help at the Chicago TI Faire Friday geeking event last November.

Rasmus, are you OK with this unfinished version being posted on the TI Gameshelf site?

The DSK version of Millebornes is already on the tigameshelf.net site.

I think $650 is extremely reasonable given the kind of work that went into this project and the level of integration of the final product. Starting from scratch, I estimate that it would cost at least as much to build a conventional TI system with all the features of the Tiny. That said, while my first instinct is to jump and purchase one when they become available, upon further reflection it might not be the best use of my hobby funds since I already have an expanded TI with most of the features being offered on the Tiny-99/4A accounted for. Of course the latter is heaps more aesthetically pleasing than the haphazard collection of expansions my current TI system has, but in a way such is the charm of older machines I might still succumb to the temptation nonetheless if history is any guide!

Odd question to ask on a TI forum, huh? 😄

Well XB is as simple to learn as you can get. It's already familiar to most TI users and it is quite a capable XB even without extensions, with it's major shortcoming being very slow execution speed, something Senior Falcon remedied with his XB compiler. We have over the recent years seen a renaissance of sorts with new XB programs coming out of the woodwork on almost a monthly basis, most compiled for speed and I highly doubt you are going to have a run of users trying to learn a new programming language on the TI no matter how good the specs are (think FbForth and TurboForth for example) because familiarity is comforting for many. It takes a concerted effort to learn a new language, and even longer to become proficient at it, and since the vast majority here already have years, if not decades, of experience with XB, it would be hard to put it down and go with something else. Take me for example: I know assembly, Forth and Pascal on the TI and have produced programs in all 3 languages, but nonetheless the majority of my projects remain in XB (or RXB) because it is comforting and so easy to work with, and I bet that feeling is shared by many users as well. Therefore, what retroclouds is trying to do actually makes a lot more sense than coming up with an entirely new language. Don't get me wrong, your wish list is very appealing, but as you said, pie in the sky...

Yes they do! 😁

Well the battle bot part is covered Robotwar.dsk

Perhaps more mature faces? You would then have more of an age spectrum.