Ksarul

Acadiel's been running the 512K file on an ÜberGROM, IIRC, so it should work.

Rich--it will get onto one of the ÜberGROM images soon--but probably not before we get the menu-driven loader done. I want to make sure I get your RXB and Winkler's XB3 onto ÜberGROMs o that both of them become more available to the community. Tony's XB 2.7 is already on an image, so that pretty much covers the three most recent versions of XB out there--all three of which had very limited distribution in the past due to their reliance on GRAM devices (for the most part, as a very small nimber of XB3 cartridges exist).

Many thanks! This should be fun!

Nice! Now I'll just have to get the current files from you to have one made over at Shapeways so that I have a crisp mold template. . .

It also makes a great test stand when I'm building cartridges, as I can insert three of them and just switch between them for my tests. . .

For the prototyping board or for the Armadillo Interface, Ciro? I'm doing a run of the prototyping boards now.

I'm pretty sure it is him, Acadiel. He's one of the few true CC40 freaks out there (besides the two of us, that is, LOLOL).

The cartridge menu Gazoo has been setting up is further up in this thread, Tempest. The board as delivered just has the necessary components already installed to allow you to insert your own EPROM and build a cartridge. I'll try to put up a picture of an assembled board later this week for both the 512K board and the ÜberGROM board.

Let me know which package you are looking to use and which chip and I can make your command a reality, Tursi! I could even switch to a 377 so we get 8 latches and can go up to 2MB chips, but then they won't be PLCCs, which would bring the board's cost to build up quite a bit...especially as I got a super deal on the 2,500 PLCCs I have in stock. I'd have to pull out my other soldering station too--as that one has a thermal gun to do SMT work. There are now close to a dozen folks with the current board in hand too, so the current one is starting to get a good workout, especially if we figure out the proper way to let them load data into the GROM side. Do you have a procedure set up to safely push data in manually in lieu of the envisioned loader? That would let people work with their favorite GROMs now, even if the loading method isn't optimum for ease of use yet. Many thanks for everything you've done on this cartridge! You've made it much more than it ever would have been otherwise!

The source for the 512K cartridge boards would be me. They are $16 each shipped to a US address, somewhat more for overseas destinations, as determined by actual shipping costs.

As long as you don't expose them to light, thermal images can be pretty long-lived. I have some program print-outs I did back in late 1981 on the Thermal Printer that are still as good as they were the day I printed them. I've kept them in a closed folder in a climate controlled space the whole time, which helps.

I already had some reserved for you, SJT You and Marc Hull were the first two on my list--and the two of you were the reason I did this board now, instead of after my Armadillo Interface boards for the 99/8.

Fully understood that there are still lots of uses for thermal paper--I was speaking specifically of paper that was the same size as the TI stuff. It also has to have the thermal coating on the right side of the roll to work--unless you want to completely unwind a roll of it to roll it in the opposite direction to get the coating on the proper side.

More than double what these usually go for. . .I paid about $260 for mine early last year and I thought that was a bit on the high side. Looks like two somebodies wanted this one really bad.

I've got about 10 good rolls of it for mine. It does show up every now and again on eBay too--and there were some third-party sources for it as well, so it helps to look for it by width of roll. I think there is even one source still making it new. . .as it apparently has uses in things other than the TI thermal printer.

When the boards get here in about two weeks, I will. Later this week I'll also post a picture of my new 128K cards for the PEB, as I got the boards for that one in this week. . .

Note, that is NOT a Geneve9640. It is a SNUG ASCSI2 board. It is usable with a TI-99/4A, a Geneve 9640, or a 99/8 though.

These should work with either machine, Jens-Eike. I made sure I brought the AMA, AMB, and AMC signals up to the positions for all of the signal tie posts. Do you have a card-edge on your 99/8 or a 50-pin Centronics type connector? I plan on doing a short run of purpose-built PEB cards and side connectors for the flat-cable Armadillo interface mode sometime later this spring. Then you should be able to use it with a PEB directly. I had 30 of them made this time, but I can always do another run if there is enough demand for them. These have gold fingers and holes, as do all of the boards I've done from my current source.

There haven't been any prototyping boards available for the TI in a long time. They rarely show up on eBay, and many of the ones that do show up are the ones from TI that need you to add an edge-connector in order to connect them to the PEB bus. I just sent a layout for a new Prototyping board off for manufacture. Once I get them anyone needing one should contact me--the price was reasonable (they cost $22 each, shipped to a US address--overseas will be somewhat more, depending on where it has to go and what the postal rates are). These have traces for all of the buffer chips set up already, places for both 5V and 12V power, and an LED. All signals are available at a row between the buffers and the prototyping area to make things easier to work with. Each signal is labeled. This should make certain types of programming projects a bit easier to realize when they have an associated hardware component.

The one you pictured was a Yamaichi, Acadiel--they are about the best sockets around (and there are several variants).

Acadiel had a similar problem for a while with programming the PLCCs. I'm pretty sure he solved it by using a high-quality PLCC socket on his EPROMMER--the $8 to $10 ones from eBay weren't cutting it. Sometimes the load took--and sometimes it didn't. Once it was successfully loaded, he didn't have any further issues. Have you tried one of the other PLCCs I sent as spares? It is also possible you got one with some bad memory cells.

And two of those three auctions you pointed to are for little more than the cost of shipping--which means there is no way you will ever find them for less than that. Even someone offering the disks themselves for free will want you to pay shipping to you--they are not going to pay to make you happy here. . .with no effort on your part. The only way you might get them for no cost is if you happen to find someone local to you--and you meet up with them for the transfer. That's a real low probability event too. I wish you luck, but the parameters you've set yourself give you a very low probability of success.

A resounding hurrah to all of the winners! Every one of you deserved it!

Our original discussions on this discussed using the 644, but as the 1284 was available for only a minimal increase in overall cost, we decided to go for maximum capability.

I wasn't expecting you to do that at all, Tursi, it was just a thought that paralleled the real iron applications. As long as we can program for both inverted and non-inverted, all is good. Besides--if I can shoehorn an octal latch into one of my boards, we could go up to 2 Megabytes per cartridge. I'd have to put a 42-pin socket on there for the EPROM though (using a 27C160). That would probably be sheer overkill though. . .LOL