aftyde

Agreed - but I'm not saying we use Ethernet (though PEB over IP would be cool) - just the cable between a small circuit board (perhaps stuffed into a speech synth box) and a PEB card.

I'd advance purchase such a thing - I never understood why the firehose couldn't be replaced with a simple multiplexed connection running over an ethernet cable.

Hi All, Have been debugging floppy weirdness for months. Are there any tools out there that will look at a real floppy and tell the format type, interleave, skew, GAP3 length, format value and other details? I have picked through details on diskette formats and can't seem to find one place that adequately documents the format. I'm hoping I can take an actual known good floppy, and create a known good image that will read, write and init on my system. For some strange reason, I can't init a disk. Can read and write to it no problem. Passes all non-destructive tests. However a init always formats and kicks back an error 16 when verifying. Have tried swapping controllers, cables, PEB. console, moving cards around, cleaning edge connectors... have not yet found a virgin but that may be next. Cheers, Arthur...

Ah, sorry - it takes the HDX1 fine... in TI-Base to set the program and data drives you normally might set (at the TI-Base command line or in a script) SET PRGDISK=DSK1. SET DATDISK=DSK2. It will however be happy with anything... SET PRGDISK=DSK1. SET DATDISK=HDX1. works - but it won't access the file properly. I see the same behavior in Classic99 when using any disk for data. It might be the '/' - hard to say...

The problem is that the database application sees HDX1.AFTBASE/D as different than DSK1.AFTBASE/D, it'll work with the diskette based file but NOT with the HDX based file even though both are identical. I think it's a DSR problem.

HDX is a requirement - it's almost as good as having a network stack. Wish it was easier to come by though - I have one in my system at home, but have been waiting a long time to get one for my system here in the US. Unfortunately, dsk2pc looks for the HDX device - so I have been unable to upload a disk image to my PC without having the modified RS-232 card. For disk images, if you have a Lotharek - it's invaluable. The ability to just pull down a disk image onto a mounted .hfe is significantly easier than copying around and converting disk images. HDX however isn't without it's problems. I have had issues with programs that r/w from floppies not being able to use the HDX device properly. TI-Base dies when manipulating databases on hard disks and HDX, but works great with floppy disk images of any size (on a Myarc controller) - go figure...

Whoops - you are right actually... I was debugging a SSSD 90K TI drive that went south on me when I was tinkering with the timings. Lotharek's were OK.

I am counting on the Lotharek to maintain a steady data transfer rate. I'm guessing (hoping) that since it's reading from a flash card no matter what diskette image is mounted - that it probably regulates the speed at which it talks to the controller. I have tried, for example with the Corcomp - to change the step speed from 10ms to 3 or 6 - and the Lotharek didn't seem to like that. The Corcomp diagnostic sees the disk "spinning" at exactly 300 RPM and it seems to like the step rate at 10ms. I'd certainly be willing to burn some ROMs for the TI controller and experiment a bit. I recall reading about that... The Lotharek supports 2880 with the Myarc controller 80 track DSDD mode. The Lotharek is a floppy disk emulator - I've tried it with TI (40 and 80 track), Corcomp (40 track DS), and Myarc (40/80 DSDD). I have no idea how the Myarc controller achieves 2880 but it seems to work as I have database files in excess of 1800 that seem to work OK.

Hi All, Way out of my depth here... but I read that the 80 track mod for the TI controller basically boiled down to a two byte change in the ROM. That got me thinking - with the Lotharek Floppy Drive emulator - you can define any sort of diskette you want and mount the thing. So - what if I did something like this... and created an 80 track, 80 sector (256 bytes per sector) image... That would be a 12800 sector floppy image - enough space where I'd stop complaining for a while... So I'm wondering - what outlandish figures could I pop into a ROM, match to the Lotharek and give it a go. Would probably need tidir support for formatting these images as the Lotharek tanks on disk init commands. (but seems to read and write to converted images with no issue) Possible - or wishful thinking? Cheers, Arthur...

Good discussion point - I love my FR99. The problem is, mostly - I don't use carts other than EB v2.7 Suite and EA. So for me it's BAWriter80, TI-Base, and I'm having fun with RXB and Cortex Basic. I only need the FR99 and my EB 2.7 Suite cart. Everything else is back in the bin. (would love to see Multiplan on FR99 (hint). Would also like to see the FR99 reduced in size a bit so it might fit better into a standard cart footprint. I have the 3d printed black case - and it's an ugly baby! What I need, and will ALWAYS need is storage. I have two systems, one in Manila and the other here in the US. In Manila, I have the Myarc controller and a WHT SCSI connected to a SQ 44MB drive. So 2880 sector diskette images (on the lotharek) and a hard drive has me happy. Here in the US I am suffering with a Corcomp DSDD 1440 sector diskette solution (Lotharek) and that's it. My primary database is already pushing 1900. Given that almost every other computer has a solution for this - I am surprised we are so behind the curve. Yes, the CF7 is a possible option. My experience though, and I have four of these things, is they are wonky and unreliable - and if you toast one the maker won't respond to fix requests. (meaning - I send a note saying "I am a moron and plugged 12v into it - can I send you a pile of money and you please fix for me" never gets responded to)

Without exception every NIB or NOS console I have purchased on eBay was broken. Not a problem actually - sometimes I'll pick one up just for the shiny new case or keyboard.

Would that be one of these??? http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATMEL-ATMEGA1284P-replaces-ATMEGA644P-ATMEGA32-ATMEGA16-/270792917133

I have an Ubergrom board with the AT49f040 (blank) - is there a post that details what image or the process I need to use to turn this into a RXB cart? Cheers, Arthur...

This weekend I accomplished a number of small projects. One was the installation of a decent fan in my PEB - amazing, no more jet engine. Scraped, cleaned, and relabeled all the cards in the PEB. Lastly, I installed the MG ROM's into my Corcomp DSDD controller and popped that in to see how well it'll work with the Lotharek drives - jury is still out on that one...

hahahaha - OK, I have some extra power supplies (both internal and external - I'll swap them out at the next opportunity). I did slap the top of the computer with my hand - and that seems to have temporarily fixed the problem.

Is there a source for IDE cards? I have a TI Base DB that is growing beyond the 2880 sector limit... Help!

Hey All, I have an intermittent problem - I'll be using a cart based program and all of a sudden the screen blanks and I'm at the F18 V1.6 Title Screen with Tursi's name on it. Is my F18 failing? Cheers, Arthur...

Think you can brew up a P-Code card based on my earlier scan - I suck at this... but I did manage to get them to print! Which is sort of a win! New labels for mem, disk, serial and hopefully P-Code.

Anyone know what the exact size of the label should be? H and W?

Any chance the card will fit into a TI clamshell? That might be a good thing. That's awesome - the Myarc DDCC is the only card I have that completely and perfectly works with the Lotharek floppy emulators. All other controllers read and write, but only the Myarc will init a .hfe disk image. If I had access to these boards - I'd chuck all the other controllers back into the history bin.

Looks fantastic! What are the fonts used? I have two TI controllers - one with the Guion mod (adds access to a 4th drive and lower case disk designations. You can have a DSK1 and a dsk1 responding as different drives) and the 80 Track Mod (DSK1 and DSK2 to 80 track and DSK3 to 40 track). I'd like to doctor the label in a manner consistent with your design.

Right here... http://atariage.com/forums/topic/257515-good-quality-scans-of-p-box-card-labels/

Good suggestions - tried both, including new cables. What is odd is I can (on the Lotharek) I can write to files, read files, the works. I can't init a disk image. I have heard that this just doesn't work.

Good deal - question though - what sort of controller and have you tried to format / initialize a disk image (mounted on the Lotharek) using DM2 or some other program?