Stuart

Borrow away, as indeed I borrowed bits from other sources ...

Take a look at this ... amplifier and speaker in the console. http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/197252-fitting-the-f18a-and-an-amplifier-into-the-4a-console-ii/

I've got a mouse-driven menu and sketch application running on the 4A now. The PC serial mouse connects directly to the serial port on the nanoPEB. Video link here. There's a code listing here: http://www.avjd51.ds...ng_serial_mouse. Stuart.

You could trace the tracks to the on/off switch on the card, and check the voltage there? Have you got a CF reader on the PC that you can test the CF card with? Copy a volume off and look at it using TI99 or something to check it isn't garbage?

I think Mark has just set a new standard for how off-topic a thread can go ... You might even say he 'went off on a tangent'..... <groan> I wish I'd thought of that! Why? 'cos it's a sine of bad humour?

I think Mark has just set a new standard for how off-topic a thread can go ... You might even say he 'went off on a tangent'..... Groan ....

I think Mark has just set a new standard for how off-topic a thread can go ...

Familiar enough to have converted the XOPs and TMS9995 MID instructions it uses to BLWPs for the 4A (I could give you a copy of the 4A version Monday when I get home). I could sort of follow how most of the floating point stuff works, but would have had great trouble trying to write it myself! I had several eureka moments doing the conversion when the function behind some bits of code suddenly fell into place ... usually late at night when you're trying to forget about it and get to sleep ... Stuart.

I'm sure you've been pointed to FP routines before, Mark? You could for example base it on the routines in the Powertran Cortex Basic - <http://www.powertran...from Source.zip>, and look in fp.asm. It also has trigometric functions which from memory are based on lookup tables. Stuart. TITL 'FLOATING POINT ROUTINES - CORTEX BASIC REV. 1.1' IDT 'FP' * * FAD ;ADD TO FPAC * FSD ;SUBTRACT FROM FPAC * FMD ;MULTIPLY FPAC * FDD ;DIVIDE FPAC * FLDD ;LOAD FPAC * FSRD ;STORE FPAC * FNEG ;NEGATE FPAC * FCLR ;CLEAR FPAC * FNRM ;NORMALIZE FPAC * FSCL ;SCALE FPAC * FLOAT ;FLOAT FPAC * FADDI ;3 WRD ADDITION * FSUBI ;3 WRD SUBTRACTION * * THE FLOATING POINT ACCUMULATOR IS THE FIRST 3 * WORDS OF THE FLOATING POINT REGISTERS (R0,R1,R2). * * ALL FLOATING POINT OPERATIONS ASSUME NORMALIZED * NUMBERS AS INPUTS AND ALL RESULTS ARE NORMALIZED. * * THE FORM OF A FLOATING POINT NUMBER IS AS FOLLOWS: * * 1ST WORD SCCC CCCC MMMM MMMM * 2ND WORD MMMM MMMM MMMM MMMM * 3RD WORD MMMM MMMM MMMM MMMM * * WHERE S = SIGN BIT * C = 7 BIT, EXCESS >40 CHARACTERISTIC * M = 40 BIT UNSIGNED MAGNITUDE MANTISSA * 0 <= M < 1 * * A NUMBER IS NORMALIZED WHEN THE 1ST HEX DIGIT * OF THE MANTISSA IS NON-ZERO. * * A TRUE ZERO (ALL ZERO'S) IS USED FOR ZERO.

If you have to bodge it, as it looks as if the loader isn't updating the value of FFADDR, how about adding ... RLABEL EQU $ ... at the end of your relocatable section, then after the second section, add ... AORG (address at which FFADR is stored) DATA RLABEL Might work? Stuart

Yeah. It's a great assembler, especially when you consider it was just an 'add on' to the main-course! There are some undocumented features in the assembler. For example, IIRC, it supports conditional assembly and macros; they're just undocumented (and maybe unstable) so we don't know how to use them. If you look at the ASM994A exe in a hex editor you'll find references (IIRC) to IF THEN ELSE et al, so they're actually reserved key-words/directives in ASM994A, hence the full on tilt when encountered in your source code! The IF/THEN/ELSE does work. I've used it in Cortex BASIC for conditional compilation for the TI-99 and my TM990 system. Note that the "IF", "THEN" and "ELSE" need to be indented by two spaces. ************* TM990 EQU 1 **** Set to 1 to assemble for the TM990 ************* **** Set to 0 to assemble for the TI-99 IF TM990 ELSE *TI-99 DEF START For the TI-99 so program can be run from E/A option 3. REF KSCAN TI-99 key scan routine. REF DSRLNK File I/O operations. ENDIF *CRU definitions. EIA02 EQU >0040 Main 9902 hardware base address. *Memory mapped I/O definitions. IF TM990 VRAMW EQU >E400 VDP VRAM data write address. VDPREG EQU >E402 VDP VRAM address and register access address. VRAMR EQU >E404 VDP VRAM data read address. VDPSTTS EQU >E406 VDP status read address. ELSE *TI-99 VRAMW EQU >8C00 VDP VRAM data write address. VDPREG EQU >8C02 VDP VRAM address and register access address. VRAMR EQU >8800 VDP VRAM data read address. VDPSTTS EQU >8802 VDP status read address. ENDIF Stuart.

Just adding, in case it is useful, that our colleague in France (Guillame?) has written a little assembler program that will let you change volumes within XB. See http://gtello.pagesperso-orange.fr/ti99_e.htm and scroll down to the section "The CF7+ card".

XB will only autoload from dsk1. So it will load from whichever volume is mapped to dsk1 at the time. If you wanted to autoload a program from another disk (volume), and you don't want to map that volume as dsk1, could the autoload program on dsk1 simply contain the instruction RUN "DSK2.NAME"? Or maybe it gives you a menu of the programs you can run from the other disks, depending on what you're trying to achieve?

Soft copy of TI Invaders source code attached. This will assemble with Asm994a, and load with the E/A cartridge option 3 (program name SLOAD). Runs on Classic99 and Win994A. Will presumably run on the real hardware as well, but haven't tried it myself. Some more details at the top of the file. ** Retroclouds ** could you put in a copy in the TI-99/4A Development Resources sticky beneath the scanned copy in Section 7, Tutorials? Stuart. TI Invaders (TI-99_4A Disk Version).txt

I've got the source already typed in and working. I'll try to upload a copy tonight. [The source verbatim won't assemble using the assemblers we have available now so I've had to make a few tweaks to get it to work. See [http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/TI994A/message/6947]].

Where is the fun in that, I ask you?! Exactly!

Just making sure you know that commented assembly source code for a disk version of TI Invaders is available ...?

It certainly is. I had to wire up an adaptor for the serial port as I think the TM990 is wired up as 'terminal' that was intended to connect to a mainframe.

I've been playing around with an old PC serial mouse and have it connected to my TM990 system, with a simple little sketch program on the TMS9918 VDP using a sprite for the mouse pointer. When I get my hands on a nanoPEB I'll try porting it across the TI-99.

There's the: -- Mechatronics Eprommer (http://home.arcor.de/cziepke/ti99/ti/dia07.htm) -- Unreleased TI Eprom Programmer Card (.jpg"]http://aug.99er.net/images/Unreleased/ti998se18[1].jpg) -- Sideport Eprom Programmer I knocked up (http://www.avjd51.dsl.pipex.com/ti/ti.htm#eprom_programmer) Possibly others? Stuart.

The EPROM programmer I use for bigger EPROMs - search ebay for "G540 USB EPROM" and you'll find it.

Personally I think you'd be better off learning how to use the CF7 - it's not that difficult. If you're having problems, explain what you're trying to do and people will give you a step-by-step guide as to how to do it. You'll have problems getting hold of a PEB system (memory, disk controller + drives) in Europe as there aren't many of them around. Plenty of them in the US - but it will cost a small fortune to ship one over because they're so heavy.

I asked a similar question on this thread: <http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ti99-4a/message/44814>. Paolo Bagnaresi suggested " I seem to remember that the loader of an END START program doesn't load the UTILITIES in low memory. The Utilities include, among others, GPLLNK. We are talking about E/A module, of course. As a test, and assuming your program is fully relocatable (no AORG in it) you can try loading first another normally relocatable program first (no END START in it) and then your END START program. This time your program should find the GPLLNK among the Utilities, which will be loaded by the first program." Never did get round to trying Paolo's suggestion ... Stuart.

Does anyone have, or know anything about, TMS9900 chips with the additional marking "MP9514". It will probably be a ceramic chip with a gold top. I've been contacted by a chap who's after one to repair some equipment. Apparently it's not interchangeable with the standard TMS9900 chip (although its still 64-pin, 0.6" wide). I seem to recall that the MP number relates to a mask number so its probably different internally somehow. Stuart.

Maplin do them, but could probably pick up cheaper on Ebay. Stuart.