CantStopClicking

Apparently not, but after that experience one might consider it!

Oh, cool. Good job! I have no clue on where one would start to write the code for that, would you mind sharing what you've written? And what did you write it in? Thanks again! -D

Gotta remember to hit that 'mute' button. -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

I think in general it was okay but it has some definite well known and documented bugs, so just be aware. In other words, if you run into a problem, it may in fact be a bug. The TI card has a documented bug (Interrupt line) as well but, that one is software patchable, and most programs are "aware" of it. I've been doing a bunch of hardware research and have found a number of references to the problem(s). Unfortunately I can't recall where I read them, I've been through at least half of all the Micropendiums and a ton of User Group newsletters and is now all blending together in my little brain. hehe I use to run a BBS (around 1985 or so) using AfterHours BBS software and a CorComp RS232 & DSDD controller. Spent ~$200 on a 300/1200 auto answer modem. Talk about speed! Eventually I added a CorComp 512k RAMdisk to offload the floppy access. Those were the days! -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

Very cool game! I only watched the demo video so far but I think I'll have to try this out, for reals! You Forth programmers amaze me. I just could never grasp the RPN for programming. I get it, with my financial calculator but, programming is another story. Regardless, thanks for sharing! -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

Out of curiosity, how does one get or update the dformat.code to format double-sided correctly? Or manually do it for that matter? I'd like to take advantage of DSDD since I have that capability. TIA, -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

I don't know that much about the CorComp RS232 but I've heard it has a number of bugs. If you can, I'd say get a real TI RS232, maybe not an option. Speeds, you are probably going to be limited to about 9600, 19200, maybe 38400 depending on a few factors but don't count on it. My two best methods for transferring files to real TI is either MFM (Magic File Manipulator) and TI99-PC which runs on a PC to write directly to a floppy disk. MFM is good start but you'll quickly find it's tedious, slow, and cumbersome. TI99-PC is by far the best route but requires a lot of trial and error with hardware. Do your research well on this as you may run in circles for awhile if you don't. As they say.... "Been there, done that." There are a couple of other methods as well but now that I have a dedicated machine to run TI99-PC and write directly to floppy disk, it's the quickest least headache way to do it. (In my opinion). VDM (Virtual Disk Manager) is another potentially useful app. I find it too slow for my needs (like MFM) DSKXFR is another but I have not used it so I have no advice. Most likely you'll need MFM to get "something" over to the TI serially. Then explore the other options. I don't have links, handy, for these apps but Google will surely get you results. Best of luck! -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

As cool as the translation services are they don't work well, if at all, with PDF's (i.e. the french magazine Hebdogiciel referred to above) nor have I found the translations very helpful with technical jargon. I've tried before but it's just too time consuming to try and figure out what's really being said and pull technical details out. I certainly wouldn't want to try and build a project based on mis-information or rather mis-understanding of the information. It helps in a pinch but I don't find it all that useful to me. Regardless, it's a good tip and I do use it here and there. :-) Too bad my brain doesn't have a cartridge port for French (or anything for that matter). -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

Too bad I didn't read this sooner. I just figured that out, the PEB slot, about a month ago. However, my problem now is; the stupid keyboard. I cannot get any of the function keys to work so it's completely useless to me. I've tried to get MESS to be "useable" for years and it's just not worth it. Disappointing because I think it covers a lot of hardware emulation better than others. That and the stupid windowing size is ridiculous, does it not scale right or am I the only one with these issues? I either get miniscule or full screen. Anything in between is out of focus, fuzzy, and un-readable. My solution - the real thing baby! It works every time. -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

That's more reasonable to me. Plus I love to build stuff! I'm relatively new here, but how does one contact Bud? EDIT: Ok, so my newness shows, didn't click on "Page 2" so I totally didn't see the previous posts regarding Bud... Does anyone have PCB drawings for this already? Or anything we could start with? I have no problem with original design - as I have nothing now. I'm in for trying! Anyone else? -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

Neat Stuff! Too bad I can't read French! :-/ Although, I can read Brian's site! Some good tech info there. I like the fact his docs are in TXT format. Scan's are nice but I'm finding a lot of really crappy scan's of documentation out there (makes them hard to read - especially on my iPhone). -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

Can't something more modern be built for a fraction of these eBay prices? I've never got the chance to own one and still would LOVE to but, I just can't bring myself to spend that much on something I can't see myself using - that much. I'd rather get a set of new tires for my car (I'll use that everyday!) or better yet, build my own GK! At least I'd have learned something for the money. hehe -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

Cool, thanks for the program and info! This will go well with my current experimenting. I have built a SuperCART, actually a couple, having battery issues with one and no idea why, gave up built another and it works - go figure! Now I'm working on a LOAD Interrupt circuit for assisting myself in my assembly learning and hardware building/modification urges. Now, if I just had more time, or better yet, ability to instantly learn and retain. Again, thanks for sharing and sorry for getting the thread off on a tangent. -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

What memory viewer do you speak of? Is it available somewhere? Sounds interesting. -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

Yeah, so far that seems to be the bigger issue; Getting copy protected disk/images to work under emulators. I'm using an Option Board to make my images (for a crude form of permanent archival). The kicker is.. the image format is proprietary to the Option Board (Central Point) and I haven't even begun to study its makeup. I've just started to get back into my TI system so I'm re-learning everything I've forgotten from 20 some years ago. For non-protected disks I just simply use TI99-PC, works great and is quick. Finding a system that it'll work on is the tricky part but, I have that now. I second your idea for dumping memory and use a loader for a EA5 file. I just don't know how. LOL But I'm willing to learn and experiment. I'm going to rip apart a 4a and install a load interrupt switch so I can start doing a little more hacking. I'm trying to also learn assembly so this will be a good experiment. I don't know if my image process will help in this particular situation but, if anyone needs images made from real floppies (or visa-versa) I've got the setup. Cheers! -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

I realize this may be a little late for this, but I DO have the ability to make mirror copies of real floppies, regardless of content or protection scheme. If that is what you were after? If so, let me know. I'd more than happy to help if so. -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

This sounds interesting. I haven't tried this method of transferring (yet) but it sure sounds like a great long term solution to being able to work and develop on PC and utilize on real TI hardware. (That's my preference) Has anyone tried to build Fred's 16C550 UART interface? More complicated but significantly higher speeds. I only have MFM and Virtual Disk Manager to compare serial speeds but...... its seriously slow. I find writing directly to floppy via TI99PC much faster. A lot of hassle though for development and testing. I gotta try the RS232 upgrade soon! -D "Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

Wow, this sounds super cool! +1 here!