CantStopClicking

I thought I'd let anyone else know of the troubles I ran into with my F18A installation. First and foremost; this is an absolutely awesome piece of hardware, but then I knew that when I bought it. If you don't have one, you should! --------------- Anyhow, I started the project, oh about 3-4 years ago, and unfortunately, it never seemed to work right from day one, for me. It was very intermittent. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. And when I say it wouldn't, I mean the console wouldn't turn on, zero video, zero sound, zero anything but a power light on the TI power supply. I'd wiggle the cable, turn it off, turn it on, sometimes it would come back, other times it wouldn't. I tried different monitors, different video cables, I even changed out the VGA ribbon cable (internal one), to no avail. I tested it with the bare motherboard on the desk, and it would work. Soon as I put it in the TI case, it would flake out again. I did use the original RF shield, and really wanted that in there. I checked for shorts to see if it was hitting the F18A, but there was plenty of clearance. I tried just about everything, and figured it was a faulty TI socket, gave up, and let it sit for a couple years (sad I know). However, since I had the burning desire to get that thing working, I sat down yesterday and fiddled with it until I finally found the problem! The stupid VGA ribbon connector was shorting out on the RF shield! Both of my VGA ribbon connectors (two completely different brands) both exhibited the same problem. Let me repeat that, the ribbon cable, not the F18A was shorting out. Certainly wasn't my first thought, or tenth... Hopefully, this will help someone else cut down a couple years of wasted non-enjoyment, out of the awesome F18A. Here was my final solution, and it hasn't flaked out since! (double yay)

Yeah, it's ugly! And, no, it doesn't work. I received it that way and the person I got it from did not modify it either. So, either it was from the factory that way (I highly suspect) or someone did a hell of a hack job before him. I don't know how or where he got it. At the time, I know he was a member of the Ventura/Oxnard TI-UG. I'm going to plug it in and see what it does. if I remember right, the FDC light comes on solid and that's about it. I will be back (maybe not everyday, but certainly not let a year or two go by in between) -Dano

Another try, from Mac, BUT this time "More Reply Options" actually opened a new and proper window. Yay!

Tried from the Mac, same error message. Ok, so can someone walk me through how to attach a picture? (yeah, I feel stupid - and is probably something stupid) In the meantime, I'll just post it to my website. Apologies for the rather lame site right now, I hate web design, but can't afford to have someone else do it. Too many damn hats to wear! lol -Dano

Filename is: IMG_6639.JPG (it is from my Mac, but submitted from my PC Interface - FireFox <- the latest crappy version 57.xx) Tried PNG too, same. If I click "More Reply Options" I get some server error. I'll try from my Mac. Thanks for helping, I vaguely remember pulling my hair out trying to attach images last time I was here (year or more).

I don't have "add to post button", I have "Post" and "More Reply Options". Since there's no add attachment, I'm just dragging and dropping. I see my photo in the post, but soon as I hit "POST", I get that stupid error. !@#$$@#$!@#$

"An error occurred." "You are not allow to use that image extension on this community." <--- WTF does that mean? "on this community" Seriously, a JPG??? I give up... sorry no pic's for you!

Ok, WTF!!! Why are my images getting jacked? And why is this so difficult???

Here's my ugly duckling: Totally don't remember how to attach thumbnails here... sorry if these come across gigantic. Plus I keep getting logged out while typing my messages, WTH?!?!? Third try... Is there something going on with AA tonight? -Dano

Is it safe to say... this thread got shot down? (i know i know....too soon)

Hah, good luck there! Unless something has popped up in the last couple of years (that I've been missing) I've never ever heard of anyone with a schematic of pretty much anything CorComp. I have yet another CorComp FDC, different that the two already posted. Although, the one with the two push-button switches has got me intrigued, never seen a CC-FDC with that arrangement. Any more info on that guy?? I'll try to snap a couple of pic's of my (I'm guessing prototype or very early design) CC-FDC. FWIW, it doesn't work either. And actually, almost sounds like the problem I had with mine. Let me dig that out. Will be back... -Dano

Just thought I'd pop in and say Hello & Happy New Year! It's been awhile since I've got on here, and read or posted. Life, well... it got in the way. I've started putting my kits back on a (un)popular selling site; the TI-Starter Kit, Floppy Cables, and the Dual Disk Drive kit, so far. I have no idea if there's still much interest in those items, but I've got some stock left and am unloading it. May or may not continue to offer them, supply and demand will tell. Unfortunately, communication via the said site is extremely difficult. I'm working with someone right now to try and build a custom floppy cable setup. Without violating certain rules here or there, I hope they will find me and I can properly support them. If you have custom floppy cable requests, I'd much rather interact some other way, than *that* site. (like here or my website). If anyone has PM'd me in the past, I've not had a chance to read them, if they still exist. I sincerely apologize, I wasn't trying to ignore anyone, I just have had a lot on my plate. Being perpetually un/der-employed has sure made things difficult. I've built a small workshop that I can finally setup my equipment and leave it out! Unlike before, where I had to share space and had absolutely no breathing room. Looks like lots has been happening! I'm anxious to *try* and catch up. Thanks for listening and may this Year be better than the last!!!

I know I've been pretty silent lately but, I really am trying to get re-involved.... I can make you any type of 3.5" (or 5.25 for that matter) cable you need. Have the connectors and cable so I can make it to any length or combination of "twists" for the TI (or without). I should have my TI listings back on eBay here in the next week or so, with some of the items I use to offer regularly, available again. PM me if you're in the need. Cheers! -Dano

Stay away from the TI joysticks, they're pain inflicter's and you'll regret spending anything more than $0.00 on them. Get a good Atari compatible one and either make yourself an adapter or obtain one (it's a simple DIY project). Cheers! -Dano PS: Oh, and you can get by without a cassette recorder if you can utilize something modern with audio in/out (like your phone). Many existing cassettes have been converted to WAV format.

I'm confused. Isn't that the purpose of the Rave99 speech card? Or did you mean the Rave99 by itself? (minus removing an external and placing it on the Rave board) Mine works quite well. -Dano

Wow, great job on your learning assembly. Christ, I've been trying to write my name on the screen in assembly and it's taken me 20+ years. I finally did it the other day! Nothing else worked but I did get that far... Looking forward to your updates and thanks for sharing your progress! -Dano

Looks very intriguing. Can 9958's still be sourced somewhere??? Not that I have any skills nor time but I figured it was as rare as hen's teeth and never even bothered investigating any further. Slightly off-topic... I know this has been brought up before and it's not mean to fan the flame but, damn I wish I had a F18A type replacement for the Geneve. Trying to hook the Geneve up to a 21st century monitor is a real bitch! I've got a solution but it ain't pretty (no pun intended - it really isn't pretty). Thanks for sharing regardless! -Dano

Dude! Sweet! In Ω's splashy fashion.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arf2TxeYPDs

Yep, to what everyone else said... Welcome to AA! The first step is admitting it! Your best medicine is $ for the next item. -Dano

Wow, what a cool thing for Chris to provide! What would it take to get Chris on AtariAge??? and join in on the fun!!! I've converted hundred's of diskette's to DSK image. I have one thing to say CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN your drive! Between every disk swap as any garbage from the current disk will destroy the next one. Also, I leave a my bare drive out so I can gently flex the disk on troublesome disks (as a extreme last resort). I found that if I had questionable disk; I would be lucky to get one good read and then fail from then on. I put those failed ones in a separate stack, and as the last resort use my "flex" method. I also have about 10 physical disk drives that I cycle through and can general now guess which drive will work best with flaky disks (pun intended). Anyhow, if you need any help with that process, let me know. I've got the equipment to do it. Don't use the TI to do disk images, too slow, to unreliable. Use a PC with Paoblo's Bagnaresi's TI99PC utility. Or something on a PC. The drives are much more forgiving, much quicker, and storage is no problem. Quicker is important, the longer that a bad disk spins in the drive the less likely it's going to come through. My $0.02 worth! THANKS FOR SHARING AND DOING THE COMMUNITY SUCH A HUGE FAVOR! -Dano

One of the only reasons I still use Windows. Thankfully I can run it in a lightweight VM on my Mac. This program is indeed a must have. Kudo's to Fred! -D

Totally second "Scan Tailor"!!! -D

I'm sorry it took me so long to reply. I forgot to mention that I do have Xcode 5.1 installed on my Mac with Mountain Lion (10.8.5) so I theoretically could recompile. However, I've never compiled anything besides on terminal and gcc. Haven't messed with Xcode at all. I will try your new version when ready. And/or let me know if it would help if I compiled on 5.1? Cheers! -Dano

I've been totally waiting for a native Mac app!!! However, I can't use this because I'm not running 10.9 or newer OS-X. Is there ANY possibility you (or me) could recompile this so it'll work with Mt. Lion? I just can't stand where Apple has gone with the newer OS's and refuse to upgrade until they get their head out of their a$$'s (which very well may be never). Last good Mac OS-X was Snow Leopard unfortunately its planned obsolescence renders that path into the ground. Sigh, stuck to Parallels VM and XP and TI-DIR (Fred Kaal's app rocks - don't get me wrong). Regardless, thanks for your contribution! Cheers! -Dano

Cool and Thank you! I've read the first two but the DSDD manual looks new to me, nice. I guess I'm a little surprised that there's one, 1, uno page of info for Level-1 routines. And every document I've found, quotes the same stuff. I was hoping for a little more detail. Reminds me of purchasing Editor Assembler (back in the day) to learn assembly, DOH! But, I'm NOT complaining, I just don't know how to apply that single page of information into something I can tie in with extremely limited assembly knowledge. That'll come with time I'm sure... Until then, I search for more examples... Cheers! -D