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Ed in SoDak

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Posts posted by Ed in SoDak

  1. Posted

    Stan Veit who published Computer Shopper supported many systems in his large-format and thick magazine. He serialized the story of his own involvement in the early years in the industry and I think he covered the TI as well as the beginnings of Apple Computer. That was republished as a book and is still being sold last time I checked. Unless you have the original Computer Shopper issues, you'd have to acquire the book, as it's no longer online that I've found.

     

    Then there's Bill Gaskill's Timeline written in 1993, found on www.99er.net: http://www.99er.net/hist1.html

     

    Both of the above histories would make good reference material if you chose to pursue the idea further or give you a bar to aim for with fleshing out the subject.

     

    I think many of TI's employees from that era always carried a torch for the TI99. I believe a few of them are members here.

     

    My own recollection was seeing a 99/4 in a Sears store, thinking "This is really neat but no way can I afford it" I had to wait until they hit the flea market tables a few years later in the mid-1980's.

    -Ed

    • Like 1

  2. Posted

    If it weren't for other unwashed resellers copying the stupid-high prices, I'd just say the seller likes the item much more than you do, so much he wants to keep it! Sometimes I think their spouse demanded a hoard of stuff be downsized. So it gets listed with a price so high, the item won't be sold.

     

    On a metal detector forum, there's a guy who posts WTB ads for $600+ machines, for which he offers to buy for $50 or $100. Hoping to snag a clueless seller I guess, so there's all kinds of players.

     

    -Ed

  3. Posted

    What's the need for a calc-cart that ties up the port unless it made use of the TI's high-precision math or allowed saving a custom calculation/program to cassette or disk. Looks more like a Port Dream that somebody sketched up. TigerCub wrote a multimemory calculator program for the TI that would probably blow that plug-in doohickey away.

     

    Now that embedded keypad and port hack is another thing entirely!

     

    Early calculators had a very simple keyboard. I often thought about rewiring one to the TI to act as a sort of Function/Key pad to make those double-key entries into a single key press. One key to Break, Edit, Insert, Erase, navigate, etc. but I think you'd need double-pole switches on the keys for it to be so easy in use.

     

    -Ed

  4. Posted

    I have one in storage, was working when put away. Probably a user in the cosmetics department, but it had 32k, rs232, TI DSSD card and at least one drive or maybe two half-height drives, flex card and cable. I'd verify operation before selling, which of course means I have to drag it out first and hook it up. I'm in western South Dakota.

     

    I'll shoot you a PM, but won't stand in the way of a better offer coming along that's closer to you or potentially nicer.

    -Ed

  6. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    I made good use of mine, I think I paid $50 for it with the 16k and some program cassettes. I kept watch for closeouts and bought a good assortment of books and tapes before they disappeared from the dealer shelves.

     

    I wrote a programmable timer for it to use in my photo darkroom. Soldered connections and a hacked-on TI keyboard made it much more reliable and useful.

     

    At least a few mourned its passing, judging by this article reprint. Interesting reading.

     

    post-38786-0-09978800-1405487409_thumb.jpg

     

    post-38786-0-05312300-1405487467_thumb.jpg

     

    post-38786-0-69772900-1405487491_thumb.jpg

     

    post-38786-0-37680200-1405487507_thumb.jpg

     

    post-38786-0-22169000-1405487530_thumb.jpg

     

    post-38786-0-42334700-1405487546_thumb.jpg

    • Like 3

  8. Posted

    The Timex in my pics on the previous page truly is crude beyond the norm and looks the part, I have to laugh at my construction of it every time I view the pics. But it effectively dealt with most all of the TS-1000's reliability issues. The power wires were soldered and taken to a switch. I also soldered on the RAM pack so it never wobbled. Mounted inside the case, there was nothing to bump into. The heat issues required more heatsinking, which along with the open-air bottom let it run for hours without a crash. Hacking on a TI keyboard and typing in FAST mode really sped up code entry and eliminated ribbon connector or keyswitch problems. For loading tapes, I added a meter marked with the proper volume level. Video involved getting the cable positioned just right and fine tuning of the TV set. I'm guessing the foil inside the case must have helped a little, but with the open bottom, who knows?

    -Ed

    • Like 1

  10. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    Are you including the file you wish to load in your code?

     

    CALL INIT :: CALL LOAD("DSK1.FILE")

     

    Following this, you'd have to link to the file you just loaded with CALL LINK("START") or whatever the entry point of the EA/3-type program happens to be. Use of the label START is sort of the TI's defacto standard, but it can actually be anything the original programmer of the routine has specified.

     

    Correct me if I got the syntax wrong!

     

    The double colon :: is a statement separator for TI EXB. If you skip some spaces around the double colon when entering it, the parser will generally correct it automatically when you hit Enter. Used primarily to save memory, also as a typing expedient and a way to keep a short section of code all in a single line. Colons serve several purposes in TI BASIC and EXB programs, the other major use is to serve as a return in PRINT or DISPLAY AT statements. No need to go there in further detail right now. Colons outside of quotes are treated as statement separators and must come in pairs, with a space before and after, thusly- ::

     

    You could also enter it as

    10 CALL INIT

    20 CALL LOAD("DSK1.THEFILE")

     

    Use whatever line numbers work for your program, this is just an example. Use of the double colon lets you place the two statements into a single line number. Either way should do the same thing, but having them on one line saves memory and is perhaps easier to read and understand what the code is doing.

     

    It sounds to me as though you are simply leaving off the assembly language file you want to have loaded, with the subsequent error as a result.

  11. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    I got my start with a Timex in '83 I think. I did quite a bit with it, considering it's flaky and persnickety nature. I moved to TI in '84 when my dad and I both picked up cassette-based systems. Back then, he wintered in Mesa AZ, and he hit the huge flea markets hard to find us both a PEB with drives and lots of whistles which arrived here in '85. Along with a fairly complete vintage woodworking power tool setup. All of this stuff is still here and much is still in use. Our mutual interest in the TI really helped us bond in his later years.

     

    Around '92, I began to lean towards Mac, starting with a 512k that had a 10meg hard drive 3rd party upgrade that ran using the Mac's serial port. By then, I had my TI on the early internet using Delphi as the link and co-hosted on a chat or two about fossils through Delphi's TI roundtable.

     

    I've gathered quite a pile of stuff for a lot of different systems over the years. Like others here, I became a rescue, repository or haven for discarded hardware. I'd convinced my old bosses to go Mac back in '87, and I became the recipient of much of their discarded hardware when they upgraded. I never lacked having a cheap or free but still good Mac or three after that, lol!

     

    General vintage stuff, yeah got that too. Antique radios back to late 1920's, Zenith, vintage stereo, thousands of old magazines, yada yada. Not a hoarder, though, nope, not me! People `gave` me this stuff to save it from the landfill, how can I just toss it??? ;)

    -Ed

    • Like 1

  14. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

     

    Thanks for the notification. The perfect gift for myself - owner of a PEB without any floppy drives. :)

    Yeah, buying a TI is kinda like buying a car piecemeal.

    You buy a car and the salesman says, "Here's your brand new car! You've made an excellent choice! Now, if you want to actually drive it off the lot, maybe I can interest you in an engine for it? And maybe a gas tank to go with that? It comes with pedals as Standard Equipment, but most people find that an Internal Combustion Engine Upgrade is very helpful. (Ignition Module and Fuel Delivery Module are Optional Accessories which are required to use the Optional Internal Combustion Engine Upgrade) Oh, and don't forget to buy a steering wheel unless you brought along some Vice grips!" :-D

     

    -Ed

    • Like 2

  15. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    Winner winner, chicken dinner!

     

    I'm happy to help, but I think you made better progress than I did! You must have 20 dud copies of Solitare.xxx floating around by now, lol.

     

    I've "Mac'd my head" against a wall many a time and it can be frustrating until all the proper pieces are in place and set up correctly. I renamed my computer Whack 'n' Toss for when I get too fed up with it. But it's always a good feeling to finally figure something out that opens the way to a bunch of new things to try out.

     

    I keep a cheat sheet for some of the oddball things which I don't need to do very often. I forget how the heck I did something and have to reinvent the wheel till I remember my cheats file, except I also forgot where that is! Then it's Find File to the rescue once again.

     

    It's been fun for me as well, digging out some of my old discarded Macs that once upon a time were my primary work machines. I got a lot done with all of them. I guess that's why they never hit the trash heap, as they still hold a value to me. I still use some of the programs from those early years, and my current Mac is a Mirror Door Mac, one of the last models that still supports the Classic OS. I refuse to leave my favorite old, but clean and simple apps behind.

     

    -Ed

  16. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    Well done, thanks for sharing. Helped make up for not catching any fireworks yesterday.

    -Ed

     

    Edit: I meant watching, not actually catching firecrackers with my teeth or anything foolish like that, no siree, not me! Anyone know a good dentist? :-D

  21. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    Since we're dealing with software and hardware that's going on 20+ years old, you can expect the unexpected to happen. :-o I still use Stuffit Expander 5.5 myself, but is it compatible with your PB180 and System 7.5? The same applies to whatever archive scheme that was used by the person who uploaded these vintage files to some website or other.

     

    There are standards, but they change over time. Some things might go fine for you on the first try, while others remain a mystery until you learn the ropes.

     

    Take the Expander link that Osgeld posted as an example. On my system, it opened just fine with a double-click. This expanded the 808k .bin file to an 808k installer file. Running the installer created a 1.2 meg Expander application and 88k of documentation files.

     

    If you didn't get an installer when you double-clicked the .bin, that means it may or may not be recognized by System 7.5, i.e., the installer program or the archive .bin format happens to be of a newer type that requires System 7.6 or later. Such info is often not included on the website where you found the download, or you may have to hunt around for the details of what is required or supported.

     

    It's not easy at first, especially when dealing with files that were improperly submitted, poorly documented and you have no idea what's required on your end, even when things are as they should be, but you're lacking some once-common utility program such as Stuffit.

     

    If something doesn't work straight off, try another way. While trying some things in order to better help you, I found a download that wouldn't expand with a double-click, but worked fine when I dragged its icon directly onto the Expander application itself. Go figure! Another .dmg archive I downloaded was intended to open as a disk image, but failed, so this file might be corrupt or improperly submitted and you'll get nowhere trying it further. There's many other files to try and with experience and practice, you'll find software that's both correctly uploaded and compatible with your system.

     

    Maybe look around for an earlier version of Stuffit, or alternatively, get the newer system 7.6.1 for your laptop. Many things to try when you're new at it all. Just don't expect across-the-board compatibility with a computer as old as yours. You'll need to learn the ropes as to what will work with the least hassle and until you learn more, stick to those types of archives, sites, filetypes, etc.

     

    I always kept my "dud" downloads around, as quite often I upgraded my system later on and knew more about what I was doing so I was able to go back and finally try out things I'd downloaded years before.

     

    At least now we know you can get files from your PC onto a floppy your Mac will read and that helps us a lot. I'll send you a PM a bit later with some stuff you can use immediately without needing to expand/etc beforehand.

     

    -Ed

    • Like 1

  22. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    I'm not current on finding/using old Mac programs off the 'net. I got most of mine on floppies 20-odd years ago or grabbed 'em back when these old programs were the latest/greatest.

     

    As far as getting them off your PC onto floppies, is that where you're having problems? I am not a Windows user, but I'd think you should be able to choose the floppy as the destination for whatever test files you start with and copy them to it. Much like copying something from a CD to your PC harddrive. If that's where the snag is happening, maybe some Windows-savvy member will chime in.

     

    Your Mac should be able to open that floppy and you can drag the files to where you want to store them on your Mac. Double-click the floppy disk icon to open it as a window, then simply drag and drop the files onto your hard drive. Usually, if there's multiple related files, it's best to first make a new folder on your hard drive and drag the files into it. You can name that folder whatever you like, usually it's the name of the program. That helps keep associated files together in one place and not mivxed in with other Mac files. You can always move them again later or rename/add/delete folders, etc.

     

    Basically you're just copying files from your PC onto a floppy and inserting the disk in the Mac and copying it from there to your laptop's hard drive. No special program should be required to do this. Once the files are on your Mac, what you do next depends on the file itself. Often the icon will give a clue if it's a program/application or a doc/text file or whatever. Maybe there's some YouTube Mac tutorials or other ways to become familiar with the classic Mac experience. A total Mac newbie would normally need at least some introduction to it.

     

    The Mac often has some good built-in Help files, usually it's on right of the menu items on top of your screen, and will show the Help file for whatever program you're in at the moment.

     

    There's a lot to know about configuring your Mac to your liking and needs. It's all fairly simple, but can be set up quite differently from one machine to the next. Your System Folder might have a standard default setup, or any number of things could be either disabled or added in by the previous owner. For now, we'll assume you're using a pretty much stock configuration.

     

    If we can get you saving some stuff onto PC disks and getting them onto your Mac, we can email some things to get you going. If I'll need to make physical floppies to snail-mail to you, it won't be right away, I have way too many irons in the fire at the moment! Maybe others here would be in a better position to provide you with some basics in a more timely manner.

     

    Many times, downloaded files are in some sort of archive or installer format. On the Mac, it's often a Stuffit file format. The Stuffit and Extractor programs may already be on your Mac, or you might need to locate a suitable version of it. Installer programs don't need anything extra, just duble click and maybe tell it where you want to install the software. Usually double-clicking any Mac file will automatically find and run the program you need to use it. But not always! If you run into a snag with this, I can probably recognize the file type and program required.

     

    Do you have any links to some of the things you've been downloading or looking at?

     

    -Ed

  24. Posted · Edited by Ed in SoDak

    Low-End Mac is where I go to get basic info on all the Mac models through the years. Here's yours: http://lowendmac.com/1992/powerbook-180/

     

    There's an article in the list on that page about transferring stuff: http://lowendmac.com/2007/vintage-mac-networking-and-file-exchange/

     

    Do you know which System software is installed? Probably it's 7.6.1, but could be older 7.1 or possibly newer System 8. At some point Macs were able to accept a PC-format 3.5" disk and read/write to it. Make a test disk on your PC and put a file or two on it and see if the 180 will read it. Sometimes the floppy drives are worn out and may damage a disk, so start with something unimportant. Other times, your laptop may or may not have a floppy drive installed, they plug into a port on the side similar to the battery.

     

    Another way to tell, if you put a blank disk in the Mac and choose to format it, you will see an option for PC-format which also verifies your Mac will read them. If that's the case, you can transfer stuff easily. The on-screen icon for the disk will show the letters PC or if it's a Mac disk, it will just have a plain disk icon.

     

    Older Macs could only handle 800k, these might not be able to read PC-type disks. But if it's a 1.4 meg drive, it probably can use PC disks.

     

    I have a bunch of programs for the older Macs. We'll figure out the best way to get some of them to you.

    -Ed

    • Like 1
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