aftyde

Hi All, What would be the best tool to use with a 80 track modded TI disk controller. I understand I can expect 1440 sectors for an 80 track DSSD disk. Small, but better than 720! I have tried a bunch of tools and none of them seem to allow for an 80 track input. Advice??? Cheers, Arthur...

I haven't tried to update it - and all the functions you mention seem to work. I am waiting on floppy emulators for my PEB - is there an easy way to update the cart?

Hi All, Ordered a cart a while back - finally got the system built up enough to try it out. There seems to be a diagnostic you access by pressing FCTN-6 that verifies the GROM and ROM. GROM fails, ROM verifies. The message is "Do not use the Cartridge until the problem is resolved!" Do I care about this message? It seems to be working fine - but who knows... Please advise! Cheers, Arthur...

Agreed - also worth mentioning that with Lotharek drives - the combination of disk images and HDX means you can do all sorts of cool things on the real iron and then upload the disk images directly for manipulation in Image Tool or Classic99. Would still love to see 80 col support on the HW in an extB environment. For me - editing in a text editor and then pasting it into an emulator is hard. Meaning - when it comes to programming basic I like the interactive nature of the interpreter. Of course, when it comes to pascal it's much easier to paste into Classic99 - and, I would guess there is no hope in updating the 1984 UCSD Pascal IV system...

It seems that with all the development on RXB that F18A support might be something to put high on the list. I've been trying to get my hands on a Mechatronics or SNUG EVPC2 card for quite a while; no bueno... fairly happy with the F18A in my other system. For development I tend to use Classic99. Being able to paste code into the Pascal editor for example is a win.

In my main TI PEB I have a P-GRAM+ card and love the thing. I can essentially load any module from disk and access it. Given that I have never seen another P-GRAM+ card in the wild - is there another simple way to load and try carts that doesn't require burning and swapping ROMS???

Hi All, Anyone have experience with word processing on a TI with spell check? I had tried numerous programs downloaded from WHT and was never able to get any of them to work. BA Writer seems really interesting, seems to support the F18A but again - spelling... LOL Any advice? Cheers, Arthur...

Anyone know if p-code generated from MS Basic or non-UCSD sources has a shot at running on a P-Card. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa240843(v=vs.60).aspx The mainbyte page talks about UCSD basic and pascal generating p-code, but I have never seen USCD basic on the TI99. Anyone know the details?

Sadly, I was the lone TI user in my small Michigan suburb. I sold counterfeit Jordache t-shirts in a flea market (1981) for the entire summer to buy the thing. I thought there might be an advantage to it as it had 4x more memory than the TRS-80 Model 1. I remember my math teacher stopping by to see it and asking why I hadn't bought an Apple. (duh, 4x the cost) I did a LOT of programming on the thing, eventually bought xbasic - and my first job as a programmer (1983) was porting programs from the color computer to the TI for Aardvark Software in Walled Lake MI. All my software was on tape - and I even published a small programming column in a local gaming magazine. Eventually I transitioned to a C64, and then an Apple ][+ clone, then a ][e - was a big Apple CP/M fan. The TI wound up in a box - and eventually I gave it to my cousin (who I am sure never used it). My aunt however did take me out to Taco Bueno for making the gesture... Still - the TI launched a long and profitable career in IT. I am working on my 2nd TI system. Have a PEB on order, a couple of consoles (waiting for a unit nice enough to warrant the F18A) - and will kit it out with Lotharek floppy emulators and other cool stuff. I'd love to find a DSDD drive controller.

Hi All, Just wondering - would make writing basic code so much easier. Cheers, Arthur...

I'll be using two Lotharek floppy emulators - they do the drive select from jumpers on the board. I found that using twist cables inverted the selections on the Lothareks and make it really hard to configure the drives properly. So the plan is to connect them both to the IDC connector, and then add a 3rd TI drive which has the edge card connector. I believe I need to open the drive and change a jumper to make it DSK3. I still need to pull the thing out of storage - but it's a unit like this...

web site for IEC?

Good find - bought it. Yeah - I had made a few myself but without the skills and practice I keep hoping to find a pre-made production quality job. Debugging floppy interfaces when one wire is on the blink is a nasty nasty thing...

Hi All, Anyone know a source to order floppy cables for the TI? Looking for a straight through with two standard 3.5 style connectors for two internal drives (Lotharek) - some length, and then a connector for the PEB drive controller (standard 3.5 style). I've made the cables myself in the past but no longer have the crimping tool - and my cables seem to suck about 50% of the time... Looking for a company or person who makes great cables. Any pointers? Cheers, Arthur...

Looks like I figured it out... 80 track upgrade... http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/upgrade/upgrade.html

Hi All, I have two TI controllers... One has the John Guion ROM's with some traces added to the board and a single wire connected to the external bus. This allows access to four double-sided single-density (DSSD) drives and the use of "dskn" in lower case. The other is a mystery. I have de-shelled it and posted a picture. Two ROM's with wires headed out to a switch. Anyone know what this mod is supposed to do? Cheers, Arthur...

Personal Record Keeping has my vote ... LOL

Yep - here is what they look like installed. Highly recommended. .

Hi Lee - yep... I have one of the early HRD cards and apparently there is (might be) another manual for it... (one that is not on wht)

Learned programming on the TRS-80 (in the Radio Shack store - I was a persistent kid), and later on the Apple ][ in a summer course offered by the school. Worked that summer in a flea market to save the $ required - looked at all the computers out there and determined that the TI-99/4A was the best value (16K whereas all others has 8K at most). Learned BASIC, and Extended BASIC. Led to my first programming job at Aardvark Softrware in Walled Lake MI. Moved on to the C-64, then Apple ][+ (clones) and finally a genuine ][e (running CP/M and DOS 3.3). Eventually I bought a Leading Edge Model M PC as I didn't like the Mac (no slots, and non-obvious way to program / hack the OS). Then moved on to OS/2 and programming in REXX (mainframe also); so it's basically been Intel for the last 20 or so years. These days I run a mix of Linux, Win and OS/X. And I also run my TI-99/4A again... These days it runs my TI-BASE Database, acts as a console for my Xenserver machine, and occasionally I call out to BBS's with it.

Might be worthwhile to look at the PGRAM+ for inspiration - complete docs including file header info is on WHT.

Hi Everyone, Replaced the battery (all the AA holders had aged into uselessness) with a new 3 cell 3.6 V 800ma NiCD pack for a cordless phone. I had read somewhere that a solid set of batteries made a difference. I also went and re-soldered all the joints pointed out by Ed and some others that just looked suspect. Also re-seated all the chips and inspected for bad soldering on the stacked chips. I fire it up and it reports total memory 186K ramdisk 184K. I can fill it full of files and all the "check disk" (non destructive) tests pass. On MEMTEST, option D "24 Chips to Test on 18 test numbers" tests the first 180K and that seems to pass OK. The U11 test also passes... There were other programs that do memory tests on the disk I was able to find - and many of them fail. However, it seems like MEMTEST is the right one and the tests pass. So - unless corrupted files start showing up I'll assume it's OK. I copied TI-Base over to it and it runs almost as fast as in an emulator - usually it loads slowly but now it's lightening fast! (which makes me want a bigger memory card) Very much appreciate the advice and such - and if anyone runs across a manual or something I'd love to have a PDF. I got the card on eBay with no idea how to load it, use it, test it - and no idea what to expect in terms of memory. Cheers, Arthur...

Hi Gary, Ed, Really appreciate all the feedback - and I'll check the solder joints per suggestions. I have posted a pic of the back of the card. http://www.tyde.net/3.jpg I have also heard that some errors are caused by batteries. I have a very small Ni-MH 3.6V battery on it. I just picked up a proper 3.6V Nicad pack (which is a bit larger) and when it's fully charged will connect that and re-run the tests. Cheers, Arthur...