OLD CS1
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Posts posted by OLD CS1
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3 minutes ago, Gary from OPA said:
All tho for the cartridge port or the sidecar there was never any prototyping boards made that would be neat idea for those wishing to do some testing of console only projects.
Some feller around here did make some cartridge break-out boards for us. Cannot recall who it was, but I bought one.
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2 minutes ago, Gary from OPA said:
Did @OLD CS1 you test running your nano PEB with NO CF Adapter attached to see if both DSR's appear the >1100 one and the >1300 one and if a command like CALL FORMAT works from TI BASIC even without the CF Adapter?
Without the CF card or the CF adapter, the whole system hangs on startup. @Tursi pointed out above that the nanoPEB sends a command to the IDE and waits forever for a response.
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31 minutes ago, Stuart said:
I suspect probably not - it has to be present, but not necessarily formatted. Otherwise you're in a chicken and egg situation ... if it is unformatted and therefore not recognised, you can't call CALL FORMAT to format the first volume.
Good point. Technically, there is no recognizable format to it. For instance, it should not be formatted FAT or anything like that.
It would have been nice, but also increased its complexity, to be able to just drop disk images on a FAT-formatted CF card with names like "0000.dsk" or the like. Would have made moving data back and forth easier, but then TI99Dir does a great job for this.
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On 4/11/2024 at 9:23 AM, zzip said:
Sure but floppy emulators aren't cheap apparently!
The problem is not just the floppies, but the entire infrastructure which underpins the system. Slow networking, fragile network cabling (the "slower than AOL dial-up" leads me to think it is an RS-422-type of system, or pre-Ethernet, with ancient cabling,)* and non-extensible networking are other factors. The system actually runs the subway part of the rail network. They would like to extend the train control system to street-level, but the system cannot handle it. As well, they state the system was built to last 20 to 25 years, so they likely chose the most stable hardware and software setup they could, when the project was initiated, which I expect was three to five years prior to "its installation in the Market Street subway stop in 1998," (emphasis mine,) with no indication I see of when the system itself was actually instantiated.
Granted, a floppy simulator would address the issue of data degradation, but I would like to think they keep extra physical copies on-hand, as well as digital copies and equipment necessary to write new disks.
* It is worse than I thought: "The Automatic Train Control System is designed to communicate with light rail vehicles via a loop cable-based system. This is a type of wireless technology from the 1980s." (Emphasis mine.) It does not detail what the back-haul of this wireless system is -- nor does it give any implications of its level of security!
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10 hours ago, visrealm said:
Need to show those damnedable Mylar membranes.
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1 hour ago, stevelanc said:
I've not checked the content of the CF card itself, but whilst this might sound a silly question - does the CF card have to be properly formatted and loaded for it to be recognised?
Probably, but it appears the real problem is the missing DSR, and why only one is missing.
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On 4/11/2024 at 10:34 AM, zzip said:
Most likely it is a full application replacement.
But even if they just installed the application to hard drive, it wouldn't be as cheap as it seems, there's lives at risk so they'd have to do impact studies, thoroughly test and validate it, update all the documentation, retrain all the users and so on. Easily a multi-million dollar project.
Still a number of light industrial applications using 2000s, if not 1990s, technology because replacing it would mean re-outfitting an entire production area, possibly redesigning, retraining, plus the cost of the new stuff. I was talking to a colleague last week about a cutting (CNC, I think,) facility which has a working system. Margins are good enough to keep things going, but an upgrade to a modern system will cost in the hundreds of thousands, far, far more than the mere tens it cost to get started. They manage to keep things going by having a stock of old hardware, and figure it will be time to retire by the time they run out of hardware.
I used to do work for a frame shop with the same problem. Its cutting machine was run by a Pentium Pro system. The software was keyed to the motherboard and video card! I had to replace a couple of capacitors on it once. When its power supply popped, we were worried it had taken out the motherboard. Fortunately, the system survived up to the shop's closing.
Remember, up until 2019, our nuclear silos were run on 8-inch floppies.
Stick with what works until it no longer works.
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11 hours ago, RickyDean said:
Someone just suggested I might be a little rude here.
Pfft. It was a legitimate question, not a demand. The WHT SCSI promised DSK emulation which was never delivered. @Shift838 is quite capable and talented, two traits which, if motivated, could fulfill this promise, or could enlist the assistance of someone else. Or not. Whatever. Not sure why someone's jimmies would get rustled over this.
11 hours ago, RickyDean said:Apologies if someone took it that way.
Someone just needs a sensitivity adjustment.
In any case, I would love DSK emulation. I would trade up my WHT SCSI for it without a second thought. Though, just for a modern SCSI solution with a refresh in longevity, I might consider upgrading, anyway. I could easily offset the cost of a new SCSI card by selling my WHT SCSI. It has served me well and can serve someone else just as well.
To address a previous inquiry, I prefer SCSI over IDE as I would like the option of accessing more exotic storage mediums. I might never do it, but I would like the option.
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3 minutes ago, Gary from OPA said:
I would be pissed, too.
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Holy smokes. Between 3:14am and 3:45am we received 1.9 inches. Good bit of my front yard washed away last night, exposing some comms cabling. The back porch flooded the worst of all the time I have lived here, but all the modifications I have made to the yard kept my storage room, which sits lower than the yard, from flooding.
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37 minutes ago, Tursi said:
None of my programming friends whom I have talked to have yet been able to tell me a single use case for AI saving them time, save creating a code framework - a task that takes mere minutes anyway.
hehehe a number of my programmer friends say they spend more time fixing AI code than it would take to write their own. IIRC, Google has directed its programmers to not use AI for code.
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14 hours ago, MikeV said:
The WHT original did not have DSK1 emulation (which is very handy). Will your revision have that capability?
I would actually trade up from the WHT SCSI for this. This emulation was something I harped on for ages, much to the consternation of the Great Gazoo
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3 hours ago, Stuart said:
If you find that the disk DSR is active even if a CF card is not detected, then @stevelanc might want to try the Extended BASIC program here: http://www.stuartconner.me.uk/ti/ti.htm#checking_disk_controller_card_dsr to see if any of the DSR at all at >1100 can be read.
Unfortunately, it appears that if the CF card adapter or card are missing, the nanoPEB does not initialize and causes the console to hang.
It struck me that, if the ROM is divided into two sections for the DSR, then perhaps the decoder circuitry has problem. I dunno enough about this unit to troubleshoot it.
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1 hour ago, RickyDean said:
But isn't the DSR supposed to be in the Winbond flash eprom? That would mean that either it has an issue in the chip, or it was miss burned or something right? I don't think the CF adapter is involved in that, unless there is a check in the eprom or Xilinx chip to test for the CF before presenting the 1100 DSR info?
That is what I am wondering. I am not sure what the behavior of a properly working nanoPEB is if the CF adapter is not in place. My theory is that if the device does not detect the CF adapter or card, then it does not activate the DSR. That is what I want to test.
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2 minutes ago, stevelanc said:
So it clearly recognises it is there
It is not recognizing the DSK DSRs, nor the BASIC subprograms. It could be due to a faulty CF interface, so the unit does not activate the DSRs. I would have to test that. Otherwise, it could also just be a bum unit.
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5 minutes ago, Ksarul said:
Placement of the later style DataBioTics labels was a bit hit-and-miss. I have seen a lot of them with the laarge-style labels on the top (like the right-hand cartridge) and a smaller number with the label across the front of the cartridge (like the left-hand label). Both placements are period-correct, so I would just use the method that looks best to you when making replacements. Note also that a lot of DBT cartridges had earlier end-label variants, which were of much higher production quality.
That makes sense. I do not see any reason to replace these two, in particular. I actually thought the MP label was missing until I pulled them all out. It feels like its label is pretty well attached to the top and I might not be able to remove or move it without causing damage, so I think it can stay. Maybe I will use my larger label maker to do a better end label for viewing in the case.
I made a nice-looking replacement for Beyond Parsec, but the one on it now I made back in around 1989. I think it can stay for a while.
I have several DBT carts with the nicer labels.
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I have been going through and making replacement labels for my cartridges which have damaged or missing labels. I was about to sit down and work on Micro-Pinball (II in the game, but not the label,) when I realized, hey, Micro-Tennis has the same label but in a different position. I thought MP was missing an end label up to that point.
Can someone tell me which of these cartridges has its label in the proper position?
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6 hours ago, Stuart said:
So if you run that with the NanoPEB, does it list two DSRs - >1100 for the disk and >1300 for the RS-232?
Yes. But, there is also PIO. Does the nanoPEB DSR translate PIO to RS232?
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4 minutes ago, Stuart said:
So if you run that with the NanoPEB, does it list two DSRs - >1100 for the disk and >1300 for the RS-232?
I ain't tried it in a while, but will when I get home.
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Also, a program like DU2K or CFDX (I think,) both of which are available in cartridge form (e.g. Extended BASIC v2.7 Suite) can query DSRs and list them by CRU address.
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12 minutes ago, Punishermark said:
There is a company that sells new keyboard membranes.
https://www.amazon.com/Commodore-SX64-Replacement-Keyboard-Membrane/dp/B0CKYQQQLZ
Neat! Does he sell outside of Amazon?
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This will be pretty cool. I used GEOS v2.0 on my Commodore 64 in junior high through graduation, then GEOS 128 through my early college years. I have always dreamed of a release for the TI-99/4A.
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4 hours ago, Gary from OPA said:
Someone just returned a rear projection tv from 2002 at Costco 😭💀
I wish I had the balls to do this. But then, I would be a completely different person whom I would not like.
(Okay, making assumptions... maybe he had the life-time replacement plan.)
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36 minutes ago, Gary from OPA said:
It seems today's generation can't stand watching a new movie filmed totally in black and white.
FTA:
Quote"[...]The cinematography is so annoying."
I imagine a bleached blonde saying this with her eyes barely open, eyes rolled so all I can see is the whites, head cocked, one arm up at an angle to her body, with her hand limp-wristed pointed at me up-side down, one side of her mouth drooped like a stroke patient, her voice fried with the upward Kardashian inflection which infected every mentally deficient Valley Girl since the early 2000s.
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Off-Topic / Dumping Thread
in TI-99/4A Computers
Posted
Just euthanize them.