Asmusr

I learned a lot of nice tricks by watching Tursi's Classic99 Tips video:

I guess it would need a Z80 assembler export function in order to be really useful.

The latest beta version with two major new features: Undo/Redo support in the map editor Note that this works separately from undo support in the pattern editor, and that the undo history is cleared when you switch to another map. F18A Enhanced Color Mode (ECM) support with a choice between 2 or 3 bits per pixel In these modes the color of each pixel can be set independently from a palette of 4 or 8 colors. Each character can be set to use a different palette from a pool of 16 (ECM 2) or 8 (ECM 3) palettes. The colors of the palettes can be changed by double clicking on a color. The only export option that supports ECM modes is 'Assembler Data'. The extra color information is exported as one or two additional bit planes, ready to upload to VDP RAM on an F18A enhanced system. This is a beta version so I don't expect everything to work perfectly. More work could be put into preserving the colors when switching color mode. I would also like to add a nice ECM example. magellan-1.9b.zip

Very nice, and it's fine that you're using my sound player. At first I thought you were talking about the music player that I use for the opening music, which is Tursi's work. If you want to add the envelopes and vibrato you need another sound player. You can actually download the music in VGM format (http://www.smspower.org/Music/MarbleMadness-SMS), load it into the MOD2PSG2 player (http://www.smspower.org/Music/Mod2PSG2), and export as a ESPG2MOD file for playback in Tursi's player. The problem here is that the noise generator is different on the Sega than on the TI, so all the bass/noise notes must be adjusted by 15/16, which is a pain to do in the tracker. I think Tursi is also working on a VGM player for the TI that would work directly.

Naahh, I'm more interested in game programming than loaders.

Wow, that's a great design. Did you really draw it from scratch?

I think it's a great idea. Using the F18A's 4 color bitmap layer it should be possible to create a reasonable looking WIMP interface (perhaps WIJP - with Joystick instead of Mouse). For the GPU it should be an easy task to move windows around etc. - all controlled from the TI side. There is also some unused flash memory on the F18A that could be used for storing frequently used files, managed through this loader.

My babies

This short note appeared in the October issue of Retro Gamer Magazine in the homebrew section:

I don't think you should change anything because: 1. The flexibility of placing the name table on 1K boundaries is a good feature. 2. The software that sets those bits can easily be patched. 3. It is not desirable to have several functionally different firmware versions.

What I mean is that a bug in your GPU code, e.g. a missing IDLE, could cause it to execute random instructions based on whatever you have in VDP RAM. Some instructions may be CKON, CKOFF, and LDCR, you have no control over that.

Thank you, my concern was that I could accidentally brick the F18A if I my GPU code jumped to a random VPD RAM address, but it sounds like that's very unlikely.

Matthew, could you write a few lines about how the SPI_EN, SPI_DS, SPI_OUT and SPI_IN opcodes are working? Is it possible to brick the device if the GPU runs into random image data?

Mass Transfer is also setting VDP reg. 2 to 1. It can be patched by setting the word at >DDB4 to >0200 (in Classic99 debugger: CDDB4=0200).

The original BOOT is setting VR2 to 1 in 80 color mode and 0 in 40 column mode. The patched version sets it to 0 in both modes. Apparently on the 9938/58 the two least significant bits are ignored in 80 column mode, but on the F18A they will move the name table.

This version fixes the bug mentioned in the previous post. magellan-1.8.2.zip

Anyone looking for a cheap Speech Synthesizer? http://www.ebay.com/itm/TI-99-4A-HEXBUS-INTERFACE-PROTOTYPE-CIRCUIT-BOARD-PROTOTYPE-CASE-ONLY-TI99-/131040380441?pt=US_Vintage_Computing_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e829d8619

Such beauties! I wonder who's who?

Go for it - you might have to wait 6 months before they are available again.

Just a warning that a nasty bug exists since version 1.8: If you click Save without having opened a file it will overwrite your last opened file with an empty one. I will fix this ASAP.

Which program did you test it with? I just tried with RXB 2012 + 'In the dark' and it seems to work fine.

Considering that the file is for a 32K EPROM (actually it's only 25K, Classic99?), will it work if I write it to a 64K EPROM, which is all I have, and set the jumpers to 32K, or do I need to pad the file to 32K and duplicate it so it ends up being 64K?

Me too.

You can use this option in MESS: -peb:slot3 samsmem I haven't tested that it's actually working.