Ed in SoDak

I grabbed a second copy to try on another Mac. I don't think tucows is charging. The $18.95 appears to be what the user might send to the author, though I don't know where that amount came from, since the program itself nor the brief manual mention any payment. There is an address and email for contacts. I don't know what difference there is between the demo and the full version, if any. Though the filename says it's a demo, it seems to have all the functions mentioned in the manual. When first run, no password is needed. You may continue to use it this way. If you click the password button, you are asked to enter the old password to reset it and enter a new one. It seemed to take anything (or nothing) as the "old" password. Once you set a "new" password, then you must enter it each time it is run. This is covered in the manual. -Ed

I'm calling it good, since I can move on from dissecting my setup to dismembering the sidecar - gently, of course! Your programs will help verify if the repair worked. -Ed

Dad's MacPro doesn't have Airport built-in? I used the "Assist me" button in the Network pref pane and it set it all up. -Ed

I grabbed it from tucows. No charge to d/l or "buy" speel. ResEdit found the word to open the new password dialog and I was in. You need the password every time you run it. It's hypercard-based, but is a standalone program. I couldn't open it using Hypercard 2.4.1. Opened fine under Classic on a G4 ppc Powerbook. Nice graphics, but I'm not a diary type. Very-polished-looking! (Chicks dig that) Myself, I like Datebook better since it shows a week's worth of entries or a 6-month calendar on one screen. I used it as a weather log for a decade when I was heavy into gardening and still refer back to it. -Ed

All zeros from 16-31. The ones I let run to completion ended with 51 98 "Q" -Ed

That'll be great and save me from switching back and forth from sidecar to sidecar+PEB32k to just PEB and around again. Usually I also forgot to turn something back on, which caused me a few retries along the way, when I didn't realize my oversight till after I'd switched it to the other method. Really glad I have such long cables for the drives and my firehose extender. My PEB is currently on the floor on its side, like a tower pc. So popping the lid and sliding a card or two out or in and getting at cables is simplicity, albeit tedious after a dozen iterations or so. It was tempting to drag out a second console and set one up for MiniMem and the other for XB/PEB. I may yet, though it'll be "cozy" in the man cave, surrounded by TI and Mac, with hardly room left for my beer and TV remote. I did hook up cassette, so I can at least spare retyping the program each try. -Ed

And on Stuart's link to the MiniMem code is great! Right above that on the page is his logic probe tests of a TI controller set up as a "sidecar." It's starting to sink in on how to go about that process. Thanks, Stuart! -Ed

Thanks as ever, Mizapf! I'd read in another controller thread (there seem to be several right now) about changing the 17 to a 16, etc. I had tried that a bit on my previous testing but not with the XB version last night. But last night, I did try changing the CRU using MiniMem from 1000 to 1500. And all were zeros. I thought I might come across the second controller when both were mounted or the 32k. I probably didn't search high enough. With the working PEB on and sidecar removed, I did use the XB test to see the DSK... and other info as I had seen in my reading of these threads. So my guess was the sidecar's problem is blocking something. But yet the 32k is recognized, so that theory has a hole in it. And the two controllers not conflicting like the RS232 and sidecar did is of note. To this layperson, anyway! And no, I don't know what CRU the sidecar is supposed to reside in. Which was another reason for trying other CRUs. And both controllers at the same time. I'll carry on awhile and maybe learn more. -Ed

Marc, that's a valid point. I'd mentioned the absent LED, and hoped for a disk LED instead, but obviously the sidecar ain't gettin' that far. Funny TI didn't provide one. What would it take, a dime's worth of parts? I mean, the thing's built like a tank and couldn't have been easy nor cheap to produce with those tri-level boards. It wasn't a total waste of time trying, since I learned a bit about using MiniMem and XB to poke around. Probably the first time I used MiniMem for this purpose. Here's an interesting tidbit. At first I guessed the PEB's controller card had to be extracted, then found it was the RS232 the sidecar was conflicting with. I was able to reinsert the contoller card and still boot with the sidecar controller attached as well. This made me wonder if the sidcar's CRU was actually 1100 or something else. But changing CRU using Minimem made no difference that I could tell. And the PEB controller was not recognized until the sidecar was removed from the chain. Merely turning it off didn't do it. On to the tests! Using both Stuart's MiniMem method and Mizapf's XB program gave all zeros. Just before the XB program ended, it displayed EE 00. Repeating both tests with sidecar out and PEB controller in produced the expected DSR codes. With the MiniMem, the PEB's controller card lit up and stayed on as soon as I entered the 1. I was able to turn it back off with 0. With that, it's time to start pulling chips while I wait for the replacements to arrive. Or try a logic probe first as another learning exercise. I'll get more out of this sidecar as a learning test bed than I'd expect to have a use for it if I actually fix it! -Ed

@ Marc My hopes were to show signs of life in the sidecar ROMs, not sure if these software experiments will disclose anything or not, but it's non-invasive at least, so it can't hurt to try. @ Stuart, Thanks for clearing up my error code confusion. It's been awhile since I've been playing on the iron and I've forgotten a lot! @ Mizapf, Thanks for your efforts too! My supper's on the fry right now too, so I'll try your test and Stuart's MM test later tonight. -Ed

Hokay! Had a spare moment today so I tried the sidecar/PEB combo. First off, I withdrew the PEB controller just enough to disconnect it. Daisy-chained the PEB off the sidecar, I powered the sidecar, PEB and console in various orders. If the PEB was powered, the console showed only a blue screen, no title screen, locked before booting. Just turning off the PEB "freed" the console to proceed to the title screen. Leaving the PEB off till I had the title screen, then powering it, the console was again locked up. Next I tried also unseating the PEB's RS232 card. That worked! and I was able to boot up and show the 32k in the PEB with a SIZE command. So, on to try Mizapf's XB test code. It worked and I got 0,131,224,0 as the result. I see these are different numbers than what the PEB's TI controller produced (170,2,0,0) in my earlier test above. But not zeros! Does this tell you disk gurus anything? Does this absolve the ROMS, perhaps? And still leaving the 244/245 as suspects? I also tried activating DSK1 from XB and this time it produced error 00 instead of the 50 I was getting before. I've had the boards out and flipping them over for inspection. Don't think I bodged anything, but that's always a possibility. -Ed

Here is a recent thread with pics and links on the CorComp card and some of its variations. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/273707-in-need-of-corcomp-fdc-pics/

With the decision to just replace the 244 and 245, the testing and logic probe is more for my own education, though it would be nice to verify if the problem is with those two chips. My PEB has TI 32k, disk controller and RS232. I've been messing around with only the sidecar controller attached, so no 32k. It's worth a shot to connect both the sidecar and the PEB, but with the PEB's controller removed. That should work. I see the sidecar does not have an access LED, so disk activity is all I have to go by. I also have the Minimem, so I'll look into Stuart's method of using that cart. Somewhere I have another sidecar. I'm pretty sure it's the 32k, but could be the RS232, it's been awhile since I looked at it. It didn't seem to work either as I recall and has been stored for decades, like the sidecar controller was until recently, when I came across it and got curious about it. Thanks again guys! Maybe I'll learn something along the way! -Ed

Digi-key has the same TI chips with less shipping since they'll ship small orders 1st class. I've used them before, so will order my chips from there. I tried the XB code Mizapf posted above, using SXB. CALL INIT CALL LOAD(-16384,2,12,17,0,29,0,4,91) CALL LOAD(-31804,192,0) CALL PEEK(16384,A,B,C,D) PRINT A;B;C;D The CALL INIT caused a Syntax Error. So I left it out. On two attempts, it locked up upon entering the -31804 line. Leaving it out gave 0,0,0,0 for the peek command. Just the 16k console RAM, if that matters. I repeated it with the PEB instead of the sidecar. This time it worked and gave 170,2,0,0. So I'm guessing it needs the 32k? I suppose I could pull the PEB's disk controller and insert the sidecar to try again with 32k card in play. Not tonight, though. While dinking around, I had the sidecar on for awhile, the transformer was warmer than I might expect, but not hot by any means. The regulator was cool and no ICs felt warm at all. I did notice the 244/245 pins were oddly discolored a sort of dark gray, like they had overheated at some point, but the original fuse is intact. The other IC pins were shiny like you'd expect. Dug out a couple logic probe circuits from the magazines. One uses just a 2N222, a couple LEDs and a few other parts good for TTL and CMOS. Can't get much simpler or cheaper than that! Another uses a 74L04 Hex Inverter IC, which might be harder to find. I'll keep looking for other circuits. -Ed

Congrats! I binge read them all this week. Thanks for the new issue! -Ed

My Triton SXB has only a © 1982 TI 1987 TPC on a very basic label in a beige shell, no date code or serial nor box where it would normally be stamped. -Ed

Glad you got juice and not smoke! The RF modulator is easy to figure out. I traced the wires from the console and soldered on a couple RCA cables and modified the cover a bit so they would pass. One cable is line level output for sound and other is composite video. I didn't need a new cable and still have RF output if needed. To derive component-level Y/Pb/Pr would probably require a converter of some kind. -Ed

Yeah, I really should add a logic probe to the arsenal. A lot of my test equipment is for servicing tubes or testing transistors. I never did move on to those new-fangled ICs. Other than swapping in new ones for the guessed-at suspects, I'm typically clueless. I even bought a 300-in-one electronics trainer with a breadboard to try learning more, but never got too serious. I should drag it back out for another go. My old electronics magazines published dozens of plans for probes. Most are pretty simple. I found the 244/245 chips at Newark for under 2 bucks, but $5.50 shipping. On the plus side, they are actual TI-branded. -Ed

I never played the original game, so my foilage critique is merely paleontologically aimed. Just funning you! Perhaps there were cactii back then of which I am unaware. My attempts at humor aside, I enjoyed playing your game. I kept the early version too, so I can play it to soothe my wounds after the trouncing my Rex gets in version 1.1. If I were a Rex, I fear I would not fare well in the Cretaceous without a spacebar "cheat" to help me! -Ed

The first version I just held down the spacebar and got to 12230. Then I let go and ran into a cactus! The second version I will be lucky to hit 200. I converted it to V9T9 format, then loaded into XB with John Johnson's BOOT program. Very smooth scrolling and animation! I did not know TI-Rex ran among the cactii. I thought he preferred to amble through the palm fronds and gingko. -Ed

Interesting read! Stuart directed me here from my thread about my dead-in-the-water TI php1850 sidecar disk controller. Any updates on fixing the CorComp cards? I'm guessing the TI won't have any PAL chips. <pray> -Ed

Thanks Mizapf for the code I can use and the explanations! I did a bit of my own sleuthing today and found some info in the MG Explorer docs. Then a HEXtoDEC converter got me the 16384 location, and the CRU 1100 address, but I was pretty much drawing a blank after that. I have an original (actually purchased!) Explorer disk and manual, but with no working drive, well... I pondered piggybacking the PEB with its controller onto the sidecar, but figured that wouldn't work or just the PEB disk controller would respond. Load Explorer and then unplug the PEB? Too risky. This takes me back to locating which 4116 RAM was dead on a Timex 1500. My first approach was piggybacking some spare 4116s I had from a TI99. When one of those proved to be shorted, or I crossed-up some pins while testing; which burned my finger and also smoked a transistor, that method was out! Next up was looking for shorts and such with my DMM. I found some discrepancies comparing the chips, but nothing I could write home about. So I ordered a shitpot of 4116s and also the various transistors, ready to swap in all of 'em if needed, plus sockets. To finally fix that little beast, my buddy Ian from Canada and I were bashing our heads till I had a little brainstorm. We added a 16k RAMpack (which I'd learned on the Timex 1500, gets mapped in before the internal RAM). We loaded Ian's nifty memory-check program into it, then investigated the internal 16K. The bad chip was found by noting which digit of the R/W test was failing. This spared me from removing all eight chips and got it working with only one RAM chip needed. This got me to wondering about a similar software approach of looking into the ROMs or DSR on the TI's sidecar. On the shotgun side of shooting in some parts, good advice from Ksarul to start early in the chain and those chips should be available. Not so sure about the ROMS, if we end up there. -Ed

How would a guy go about testing the ROMs and the 74244 & 74245 chips Marc mentioned? I have a couple DMMs, one can measure a small range of frequencies. No logic probe, but one might be useful here. More knowledge and a scope is also lacking. Otherwise, about all I got is a shotgun approach of finding and swapping in replacements for the suspects. What about peeking into the sidecar's DSR to see if there's a response? -Ed

Wow, I'm getting lots of help here, thanks! Mark and Mizapf, thanks for pointing out things to check. It's looking like a plug'n'play solution is not in the cards. I'd guess the ROMS are even more unobtainium than the 1771, the only socketed chip. I'd as likely bodge the ribbon wire while replacing soldered-in chips. No big deal, it's been sitting for over three decades now. -Ed

Upon choosing XB, it comes to the cursor with no delay nor action from the drives. Entering OLD DSK1.L or the same for DSK2, it gives an error code 50. "The drive specified could not be found with OLD." The drives are connected same as I have them to my PEB, they have their own power supply, so I merely moved the drive's cable to the sidecar, which replaced the PEB. No disk was inserted, I don't think that should matter till I at least see the drive LED turn on. So it also doesn't matter what filename I use, since it's not reading either drive to begin looking for a specific file. I guess it could be related to some signal or line the SSSD drive provides which my DSSD drives do not, but that doesn't make sense. -Ed