Ksarul

You know I'll make extras for mangling, Acadiel--that is what they are for in any event!

That's why I said I could do a quick layout in ExpressPCB to create one that works nicely.

That's actually a very nice idea, Rich--something like that would have been the killer app to get folks to switch over to AMS/SAMS memory cards. Utilities get programmers and geeks to switch over--but games, those speak to the masses. :) It would actually make sense to do that even now--as you could also put your resulting files into one of the 512K carts and run everything from there (in addition to a disk-based option)--with both media feeding the files into AMS memory to execute. I suspect that you, Gazoo , and Tursi are the only GPL programmers left who could pull it off though.

Selections "D" and "G" are both Hopper. Is this intentional? Nice menu! I like it.

Mine arrived this week too--many thanks!

It depends on what you want to hoist into its place, Lee. If it is something important, I would say do it. If it is just a nice to have, and that item would work fine outside of bank 0, then it really just depends on how much work you want to put into it.

That's what I suspected--you are not successfully loading the Assembly loader (YLOAD). You may not be seeing the lower memory where it is supposed to load in the 32K card (most likely problem), which can be a result of the card slot it is in (you're checking that, which is good), or dirty contacts (which you've already addressed). The last possibility is that the portion of your Extended BASIC cartridge that initiates the load (the part storing the CALL INIT :: CALL LOAD("DSK1.YLOAD")) is defective. I have a lot of Extended BASIC carts floating around if it turns out to be there. Do you have access to another memory card? That would be another important check--or try to run the Diagnostics module or the CorComp PDM (if you have either of those) to test the card in system. You can also run the 32K Diagnostic program from the Mini Memory if you have that and the Diagnostics Disk.

Note that the five existing side-port cartridges don't use these signals, Acadiel (the fifth one is the Hamsoft module). Another good idea is to look at how the p-Code card powers up, as it has 8 GROMs on it. That may give you a good set of external GROM-control circuitry. . .although I think a lot of it is in the PAL on the p-Code card, IIRC.

Nice idea on the 2MB in the console. . .it could even work as AMS style RAM for compatibility with existing software. . .

The AMS is only a half-size card now--and that has a lot of open real estate. I wouldn't quite put it in the Synth case in any event. I'd modify a synth case to put a Tiger Vision/Exceltek cartridge sized slot in the top and build the rest as a pass-through box with the receiving socket in the middle of the board. You'd just have a double speech synthesizer attached to the side of the machine--and you could make the cartridges with boards in them relatively tall in a custom case, with cartridges in a shorter one.

Microssoft started out as a company that did BASIC conversions for lots of different flavors of home/hobbyist computers. It made sense for TI to contract the development work out to them when the 99/4 was in development, as they were the experts in that field at the time. On most other systems. Microsoft got their way and just adapted their own interpreter to the new architecture--the TI variant required ANSI though, which wasn't widely used in the micro systems of the day. The only other machine I know of that used it was the COSMAC ELF. . .

Here's a source with 50 of them for $35. These are right angle: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321239023349? And these are the straight ones--and they're just over $31 for a group of 50. . . http://www.ebay.com/itm/321240738967? The same source has the 36-pin cartridge port connectors in both variants as well.

Or build a short bridge board like the GROM Busters that has a 44-pin socket that you can connect a side-port cartridge to. You could do neat/crazy stuff like make an AMS sidecar or cartridges that used up to 40K of non-banked space, or lots of other possibilities. . .and it also works as a pass-through, so it could still work with a PEB, although you'd have to make a 32K plug-in for it to avoid putting a memory card in the PEB when you're not using one of the side-port cartridges.

Nice listing of programs, Gazoo! My boys will really like that one!

True, but the lack of the power supply is just one of the factors one has to consider when looking at the price on these. The current batch does make a good option or those needing a spare too. . .they are cheap enough.

Excellent! I like this thought. . .

I used the 80-column version on my Geneve, but I haven't used it in a long time. . .and you didn't have an option for I have it but I don't use it in the poll.

My boys spent most of this weekend playing that and Burger Time on my TI. . .they are really getting into it now. . .

Good idea there, Acadiel, the space is big enough that it is a minimal imposition.

Many thanks for an excellent development tool, Harry! Rich, talking GPL is fine--and you have taught us a lot about it. It is TI programming after all, which is why we come to this forum in the first place. My only thought for some of the flak you've taken over time is something I also tell my wife: it isn't the intended content of the message that gets to be a problem, it is the way you approach it. There are good ways (and you've often chosen those, and the discussion has been VERY good) and there are not so good ways (and you've hit on those a few times too--and those were the conversations that devolved into unholy messes). I really like your input. My only recommendation would be to look at your message and read it a bit critically before you post. You'll catch a lot of the potential misunderstandings that way, and the conversations will be better overall. I make mistakes too (we all do). And look at another bright side item--Once we've tested Gazoo's ÜberGROM image, I'll be asking him to do one with RXB in it and another with Winfried Winkler's XB3, so that all three of the viable strains of Extended BASIC are readily available in cartridge form. Your strong advocacy of RXB in a cartridge was one of the reasons I didn't give up on the project when it ran into some development issues. Now we have the wonderful XB Game Developer's Package to compile things into Assembly. Maybe you could develop something that would compile into GPL to give budding GPL programmers a similar programming environment? I would really like that one, Rich! Hoist it into one of the ÜberGROMs and you'd have a huge space for your program files and keep it AMS aware to use the extra space there and you'd have something awesome. . .

I didn't either. . .

I could always do a quick layout for a male side-port connector with a box header to snap a cable into. I could even do one with a bend if that would be useful. This is actually easy to do because I already have a 50-pin variant I did for the 99/8 side connector a few years ago.

Many thanks for doing the image building work, Gazoo! Note that the non-inverted image should work fine with both the ÜberGROM and the 512K cartridge.

Excellent. That image should also work with the 512K cart (when burned to a 512Kx8 EPROM).

Price went up $3 today sometime after he sold the fourth one. . .