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Ed in SoDak

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Posts posted by Ed in SoDak

  2. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    I changed the first Gosub to Goto, and of course changed the Return on line 100 to Goto 10 and it worked that way too.

     

    Take out the Else and have two If/Then/Gosub. Hmmm, that may not work either.

     

    10 A=INT(RND*10)+1
    20 IF A>5 THEN A$="GREATER THAN" :: GOSUB 100 :: If A<=5 THEN A$="LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO" :: GOSUB 110
    30 PRINT A;"IS ";A$;5
    40 GOTO 10
    100 PRINT "> TEST" :: RETURN
    110 PRINT "<= TEST" :: RETURN

     

    Or you could break line 20 into two separate lines with an If/Then/Gosub statement for each result.

     

    -Ed

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    He has 32k but didn't mention any carts. So he might be stuck shopping for something. I was going for the low-buck approach (mail out a couple free starter disks) if he happened to already have an EXB or E/A cart. If all he has is a console and a stock-equipped TI PEB but no carts, the XB2.7 suite or FinalGrom are excellent alternatives for a one-cart answer!

    -Ed

     

  4. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    Care package received from Ian TMA-1! After a couple days ironing out wifi security protocols (WEP vs WPA et al) I'm in! I'm right now on Heatwave reading all the posts. On a stock TI99/4A with PEB no less. Wifi on the TI with only this dinky card to pull it off, whoda thunk it? I'm totally blown away, thanks so much for the experience!

     

    Doing same on my various Macs is also no problem and hate to say it, but perhaps more convenient, since reading a scrolling post in 40 columns often requires I call up Review Log in Telco to actually see/read it. Way back when, I could read almost as quick as my 2400-baud modem could scroll. Even at 2400, this ESP module seems faster. Zterm on the Mac would allow 80 columns and a smoother log review.

     

    Reminds me that back in the '90s I would log the whole session to the printer for a quick review and/or to disk and read it afterwards at my leisure or copy off the salient stuff. After all, for quite awhile I was paying through the nose for connect time. That would make me want to get on, grab it all and get back off quick. Though I jumped on it when Delphi finally offered Unlimited Connect Time for only $20 a month. I caught heck from the wife for that $120 connect bill one month before they provided that. |:) whoops!

     

    I'll post up some of the nitty gritty details next day or so. It wasn't as smooth as we hoped, but now that I've plowed the road, I can relate some pitfalls I encountered that others will be able to avoid and head straight to the goodness of Telnet. For now, I will relate the main issue was my death-grip on my old Macs. I refuse to relinquish my favorite os9 Classic apps, but come to find my primary Mac is too old for 802.11.g. The result being it doesn't support WPA security, which this flavor of ESP requires to access my wifi. We found a way around that, for now, at least by using newer Macs while surfing Telnet on my TI and changing the Wifi back to WEP afterwards. I suspect this is a niche problem and most users won't see it.

     

    Meh, while typing all this, Heatwave logged me off for inactivity! Oh, the agony!

     

    Before I go, a Big Thanks to Tim for maintaining Heatwave al these years and taking the time to drag up my so-soon-forgotten password so I could experience it on the genuine article!

    -Ed

     

     

     

    KaBoing.jpg

    • Like 4

  6. Posted

    These days, a modern phone is about the equivalent in terms of resolution and is likely less invasive to the originals. Plus, he may not have a current flatbed, but who doesn't have a phone? Just make sure it's held parallel and not too close to avoid lens distortion. Set exposure for a decent white without bleeding out the inks.

     

    I appreciate all the effort it takes to share it all, whichever method is employed.

    -Ed

     

     

    • Like 1

  7. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    Either Manager 1 or 2 will get the job done. DM1 is limited to single-sided formatting only while DM2 will handle double-sided drives as well. You didn't state capacity of your drive(s) so for now it may not matter, but DM2 is probably the better choice going forward.

     

    There's several choices of better managers on floppy that will run under XB, if you have that cart or the Editor/Assembler cart. Once I got my hands on one of those, I pretty much parked my DM2 cart. I keep it around as a quick and dirty option when I don't feel like hunting down the correct floppy that has a manager program on it. I generally just keep my XB cart in the slot since both it and the TI port are showing their age and I like to save wear on them.

     

    Do you have any disks that are already formatted? And maybe a way to get stuff from the internet onto them? A bit of a cart before the horse question, since that might also require a term program, such as the TEI/TEII cart (to start) and the correct cable to connect to your main computer using its own terminal emulator to transfer the files. Or some other flavor of the above such as Final Grom, etc.

     

    I helped a fellow AA member a week or so ago with a couple floppies, I'd extend the same favor to you. It would help to know whether your drive(s) are single- or double-sided. That could help you a lot if all you have is blank, unformatted disks.

    -Ed

  8. Posted

     

    12 minutes ago, Ksarul said:

    I keep one of the multifunction tools at my desk that spreads the combs open and that will also perforate the pages. I get a lot of strange looks in its direction from folks coming to my cube who have no idea what it is or does. . .

    I don't blame them. It looks more like a torture device than an office tool. :-o I had forgotten the big perforator also did the comb spreading. Big honkin' piece of kit!

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    You've never seen SYSTEX? You need to get out more. :waving:

     

    My most-used XB programs I wrote were my programmable multi-step Timer for my darkroom and Catman, which appended floppy disk directories into a single DV80 file and also converted them into a TI-Base format searchable, sortable database.

     

    My darkroom & photo biz was shut down with the proliferation of digital cameras  and color printers. And once I had my floppy collection listed, I no longer needed Catman much, though I still refer to the master list to see if I have a program and which disk it's on.

    -Ed

    • Like 2

  10. Posted

    2 hours ago, Toucan said:

    Attached is a PDF of the pages relating to the security part. I used my phone to take the pics, let me know how it comes out.

    security2.pdf 2.31 MB · 9 downloads

    Perfectly readable. Phone cameras are quite good these days.

     

    A tip from my flatbed scanning days- when there's a ghost of the opposite side showing through thin paper, inserting a black sheet behind the page helps remove that.

     

    When using a camera as a copier, overexposing a bit will whiten the paper. The camera is metering to produce a midtone, it's compensating for all that white and underexposing as a result.

     

    For the plastic finger binders, there's a tool that spreads the fingers all at once for easily inserting and removing the pages singly or all at once. That would speed the copying process since you wouldn't have to deal with flipping each page through the binder's fingers while trying not to snag the holes. The black backing sheet could be taped to a flat surface, then just lay each page in turn on the black and click!

     

    For those who are printing their own pages to build a booklet, they make a special perforator that punches all those rectangular holes in one chomp. The plastic binders come in several sizes depending on how many sheets they will hold.

  11. Posted

    Holy Buckets! I'm floored. What a treasure trove! Be sure to thank the Esteemed Mr. Wilson, not only for his active participation in the events unfolding at the time, but also for saving and sharing it for all of us, through your own efforts in making it available. Why not invite CB to join in the discussion? If he's willing to be overwhelmed with the response!

    -Ed

    • Like 3

  12. Posted

    Arrgh. At least you've absolved the PEB since other cards seem to work. What's the current plan? Borrow a working controller? Hard to imagine the short cable going bad, but it's possible one of the connectors has been bent so as to no longer make contact or it's simply a bit dirty. I'd think all the swapping has rubbed away any minor contact grundge issues. You're getting some function since the drive is lit up and the motor spins. Is there any side-to-side slop when attaching it, that perhaps it's not aligning well with the connector fingers on the drives? Again, not likely, but easy to check.

     

    I wondered about the pic you posted on the bottom of the first page of this thread showing the WD1171 chip having an exposed window, but I see that in at least one other pic on Mainbyte's pages. Thierry's site seems to show it covered by tape, but the pic is very low-res. I've never opened my own controller to compare.

     

    I own a non-working sidecar disk controller that also uses the WD1771, but don't recall if the chip is socketed or soldered in or if the window is exposed or not. Chip-level troubleshooting takes some sleuthing with a logic probe and/or an oscilloscope and good knowledge of what to look for. Card replacement is probably the easiest way to go. Stephen Shaw had some good info on tracing out and repairing wonky controllers.

    -Ed

    • Thanks 1

  13. Posted

    The disk sizes say only SSSD. Are you physically flipping the disk over, like a phono record or cassette tape? If so, you have a homemade "flippy" disk. I used to do that before upgrading to double-sided drives. It works by punching an extra index hole and write-protect notch in the floppy's jacket (but not the disk inside!) You need to make an index hole on both sides of the jacket so the LED can shine through. The bad part is the disk rotates opposite directions when flipped, which can sometimes move some grit around. Pretty common on Apple II, which only had single-sided drives. They used to sell a puncher made to do just that. I still have mine stashed somewhere...

     

    Instead of cutting the modulator cable to convert to composite, you can solder your RCA cables onto the correct spots on the circuit inside the modulator and have it both ways.

    -Ed

     

    • Like 2

  15. Posted

    45 minutes ago, atrax27407 said:

    The PEB will not usually power two full height drives. It will however, power two 1/2 height drives which usually require less voltage.

    He's only trying one at a time. On my old full-size drives way back before I got some half-height, I often had to adjust the speed trimmer and sure saw some PS sag that would slow down the drive.

     

    My own DSK1 and 2 are external. DSK3 is in the PEB so it's not used much.

     

    As a test to lighten the PEB's load, could pull the 32k card and anything else other than the controller and interface cards. Metering drive voltages while spinning would tell the tale.

    -Ed

  18. Posted

    Something to do might be to monitor the drive voltages when it's called into duty. If either sags, either the drive will spin slower or logic states might become unstable.

     

    Reading you had two full-height drives, I sorta assumed you had an external supply, maybe even an enclosure. I think the PEB's supply is minimal at best with powering drives. I did have one PEB working with dual half-heights in the bay, but now I have a full-height double-sided drive in there and it works fine.

     

    I've formatted two disks in SSSD. I can put a few things on one just to see if you can load them or get a directory, save a "Hello World" program to it, etc.

    -Ed

  19. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    At least part of the delay is normal. The TI will attempt to do what is asked, but only for a little while if it fails.

     

    Like starting Extended BASIC, it will look 5 or more seconds on drive 1 for a file named LOAD. If it's not found, the TI then ends the search (without error) and gives you the cursor.

     

    Trying to load a non-existent file OLD DSK1.NONESUCH it will make the attempt for a few seconds, then report the fail with Error 02, file not found. If the disk and directory are ok, it won't take long to give you the error report. Sometimes I just forget to close the drive door and get Error 06 after a fairly long attempt. If I manage to shut the door before it errors out, it'll go ahead with loading or whatever I've asked it to do.

     

    Another Captain Obvious comment: Is the disk label facing up?

    -Ed

     

     

  21. Posted

    Thanks for the correction, Omega. I knew there was an upgrade, just misremembered the format.

     

    While the original TI full-height drives were indeed just single-sided; double-sided full-height drives are around or used to be, anyway. I currently have one in my PEB, with two half-height DS drives in an external enclosure.

     

    You can squeeze dual half-height drives into the PEB, but it's just a bit much for the PEB's power supply. Depends a bit on the drives, some use less power than others.

    -Ed

    • Like 1

  22. Posted

    You can peer inside the drive's open door to look for two heads. Being full-height, it's as likely as not they are only single-sided drives. If that's the case, only one head will be seen, the other is simply a small felt pad. That would be SSSD, for 90K of storage.

     

    The TI controller typically does not care if the floppy is capable of DSDD. The limiting factor is what the drive itself can handle. It's easy to upgrade, any old PC floppy drive can be used, half- or full-height, most of which are double-sided.

     

    Then, as Omega noted, the stock TI disk controller maxes out with DSSD. Some of the third-party controllers can format DSDD. While I believe the TI controller can be upgraded to DSDD, I think those are pretty scarce. Pop the two latches under the read edge of the PEB's lid and it should be obvious by the name tag on the card which controller you have.

     

    Apparently your PEB did not include any floppies already formatted with files on them? PM me with your mailing address and I'll send a couple floppies your way.

    -Ed

  24. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    Interesting, although not meant to hijack the thread to discuss file conventions. I've never been able to use DSK format. A few years back, Lucien kindly wrote a Classic Mac OS9 program to allow me to open them and extract to individual V9T9 files. My own ports from hardware arrive in TIFILES. To use them, I must convert to V9T9. It's just the nature of my pre-Intel Mac.

     

    While I can run Classic99 on my Mac via VPC, it's a total sloth. TI99Dir is also not my preferred method. A lot of my old Delphi archived logs are stored on my floppies in Archiver format. Porting them to Mac, they come in as TIFILES archives. To me, that requires yet another step for people here to make use of them. It's also easier for me to transfer a TI disk to my Mac as a whole-disk archive, rather than individual files. I create and port the archives, then convert to V9T9, open and de-arc them in my emulators to now separate files all in V9T9.

     

    So it's a bit of a backwards step for me to convert them back one by one to TIFILES simply for posting here. I could post the TIFILES archives if that helps, except it puts the onus of the de-arc step onto those who grab 'em.

     

    Likewise, converting same to straight text is again a bit of few extra steps for me. It helps that AA now lets me attach files without having to append a ".txt" extension that the downloader had to remove before using them.

    -Ed

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