FarmerPotato

My utility Supersave won’t help you make the final cartridge image (though that would have been a neat addition) but you can take the E/A utilities library out of it for your own use. Then you would have no more REFs.

Has somebody preserved these files from the Geneve9640 Yahoo group ? I think the download goes away tonight. I get an error when I try to download Part 1 of the disk image. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Geneve9640/files/MdosGpl/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9sb2dpbi55YWhvby5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACZI443fMXqbPErUEgMWnjDlxYqstO6aJVdUTqxuyRjkdYQ9Jdae8afYHk5N7td9WG3rAJbwe2DmJ1HXYRw1P9xtOriQ0Lq7ToKPuL91EHkbV-brV8jKOFP3GctXCJUOHlJBMbgQWXerM6iCtDz1jvScNXkiPqFBuCrljbPTpzJ1

Is this program available? Also, has anybody heard from Bill Gaskill lately? He used to regularly attend the Chicago TI Faire. He was also a member of the Front Range 99'ers, and I learned PR*Base and TI-BASE from his demos.

Here is a guide to old floppies. Teac 55 on this page. You need the 55-A or 55-B models. Or 55-BR. the 80- track E and F models are another story. G are right out ( high density 1.2MB) https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Teac_FD-55_series

Do you mean that inside EA load and Run, you run it once by entering “START” but it never works from the title menu? it might be that VDP is not set up the way you think it is, from your experience running it from EA. THAT IS, the screen image table and charset is not where you think it is. So maybe your program appears to do nothing? Good practice is for a cartridge to assume nothing. It should set up all VDP registers the way it wants, load a charset, clear the screen etc. we can help you with sample code. or you could look the source for the Hopper cartridge.

On the Geneve (back in the day), I replaced Dark Red with Brown at boot time. I'd been using it to stand in for brown anyway.

What's in those horizontal bus bars? Is it voltages for the 4116s? Address or data lines from the 9918A? Is there a PCB photo pinpointing how these lines get to the 4116s? This is a practical question - I have tried to route a PCB with 6 x 4464s and my attempts are a mess.

You refer to DSDD or HD? our controller supports DSSD for 180K, the DSDD does 360K, those with 80 track upgrades get 720K. We can’t use 1.2M drives, for various reasons of not supported. Even in 3.5 were using the older 800K type. somewhere there is a list of floppy models supported by the controller. For instance some TEAC models work , up to revision F but not R... I was given a pile of R. I just found schematics for either the Lewisville prototype PBOX card, or Hexbus floppy, with 16 sector tracks from NEC 765 controller. Fun.

I have TI floppy controller and one Myarc HFDC. But all my floppy drives don’t work. Except for a 3.5” DSK3 from Texin Treasures. I had 2 external DSK1/2 from the CorComp 9900 MPES until 1 died. 2 lived on with Cryoflux , but now refuses to work in the PBOX. It’s jumpered at DSK1. (I/O error 06, device error) I am in need of floppy drives. I was given 3 new old stock IBM PC (5150) drives but those are single sided.

This one is titled 99/4 Servicing Manual. It is a mixture of 99/4 and 99/4A information. It does have troubleshooting charts in the back. There is a lot of basic information up front. Page 68 mentions differences between VDP circuitry from the /4 to the /4A. From the table of contents, Page 123 is supposed to begin the 99/4 schematics (figures 44-49), but they have been deleted and only the 99/4A schematics are present. One servicing procedure says to use a "RAM Trap". This must have been a fixture that tested the 4116 and 6810 RAM pins. TI-99_4 Servicing Manual.PDF

Here is a short guide to using some TIPC comm programs to access a 990. The dialup number with 599 exchange, is probably for Plano, TX. 990-TIPC File Communications Procedure.PDF

TIVAD Integrated Modem This is a TI product spec, written in 1979, for 300 and 1200 baud modem ICs. It contains all the background necessary for engineers to create modem chips. Read it if you want to know all about how these modems operated! I think it culminated in the TMS99532A and TMS99534A, 18-pin ICs implementing a 300 baud FSK modem, and TMS99542 (DIP-24) giving 1200 baud PSK. https://www.datasheets360.com/pdf/3420971083270410976 https://www.datasheets360.com/pdf/-2730485558514058814 found on https://www.datasheets360.com/browse/parts?char=t&pg=10179 IEEE publication https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4071278/references#references TIVAD Program Specification.PDF

In my garage, I just found a TI-58/59 Service Manual. I was going to scan it, but there are already good scans out there. For instance, https://airy.rskey.org/CALCDOCS//TI/ti59-service-manual.pdf The fuzzy pictures in that scan are just as fuzzy in the original. Maybe the board layouts could be higher resolution, but those are quite readable. The original is not much better (chip numbers really have poorly reproduced markings.)

This is a set of TI internal documents for the 99/4 Video Tape Recorder Controller. The engineer was Bill Goodwill. It includes the schematic, drawings, and supporting design, test, and manufacturing documents. Also included are the common Design to Production Product Phaseover guidelines. The VCR Controller was to share the RS232 sidecar case and power supply. The drawings show its own back panel and cable assemblies. According to the Peripheral/Product Spec, the flex cable to the VCR emerges from the side port, so the VTR must be the last peripheral in a chain. I wonder if this was the origin for the P-Box flex cable? I found the documents in a single binder, in this order: VCR Schematic_1 VCR Schematic_2 VCR Schematic_3 VCR Operating, Product and Peripheral Specs VCR Owners Manual VCR Two BASIC Programs VCR Test Spec Design to Production Product Phaseover VCR Flex Cable Diagram VCR Back Panel VCR Parts List VCR Pert Chart VCR Cable Assembly VCR Relay Requirements Some BASIC programs are included. One parts list names a 4732 ROM (4K) that could have provided the DSR and BASIC support routines. Another parts list omits it. The Specs and Owners Manual describes a Command Module needed for programming. The Specs mention a DSR and refer to a MISSING VTR Peripheral Software Specification. An empty divider tab was labeled ROM/GROM LIST. The Test Specs describe a ROM at CRU >1C00. BASIC statements in the Owner's Manual include: CALL @VINIT CALL @VADDR CALL @VSEND CALL @VREW CALL @VSTOP CALL @VFWD CALL @VRLON CALL @VRLOFF The Test Specs show a lower level interface: CALL @CRON CALL @CROFF CALL @TEST I don't see how these would be CRU operations, because the addresses don't make sense. >3241 is passed. Enjoy this find. kl99, please store it in WHTECH or the Cyc where it can be preserved. Let me know if there are any problems with the scans (I scanned the drawings and schematics at higher resolution). Design to Production Product Phaseover.PDF VCR Back Panel.pdf VCR Cable Assembly.PDF VCR Flex Cable Diagram.pdf VCR Operating, Product and Peripheral Specs.PDF VCR Owners Manual.PDF VCR Parts List.PDF VCR Pert Chart.PDF VCR Relay Requirements.PDF VCR Schematic_1.PDF VCR Schematic_2.PDF VCR Schematic_3.PDF VCR Test Spec.PDF VCR Two BASIC Programs.pdf

It's very high impedance. TI has retired this part so long ago, they don't remember it. At least, there is some memory of them at Rochester Electronics (see what I did there) https://www.rocelec.com/search?q=tms27 (TI surplus, and licensed fab for obsolete parts)

Somewhat off-topic. Look at this lovely 404 page: http://www.ti.com/product/TMS27C010A/technicaldocuments?HQS=TI-null-null-octopart-df-pf-null-wwe I was searching for the datasheet for the 128K x 8 EPROM. (even though I only need 32K). Found it on octopart, but Mouser still links to TI. Our trustworthy 9900 seller polida2008 has them as fast as 100ns speeds, Qty 10 for $8.20 which is 0.82 ea. Not that you need anything faster than the -45 (450ns) on the 4A.

This monitor has decreased in price to $160 at Amazon.

That's getting close! I have bought STM32 boards from WaveShare before. Here is their store page: https://wvshare.aliexpress.com/store/418423?spm=2114.12010612.pcShopHead_8157629.0 Somehow, that board is cheaper on Amazon, than direct from China.

The 40x2 char lcd at crystal fonts is almost a fit at 7.25”. for a low-tech solution. You could get 8 labels. It’s not perfect.

I think this idea is pretty cool. Do you know of a display that would be the right size to go across the function strip? A character panel would be more in the spirit. I'm familiar with the 16x2 types, but a row of these would not neatly fit together to cover the whole function strip. And I feel like color OLED would be cheating (more CPU power than the 9900, more colors than the 9918). I have one of those 0.91" 240x320 ones.

I found a box of TI and TI-99/4A documents in my garage. Here is a scan of the Jan 1986 Front Range 99ers newsletter. I didn't see any FR99er newsletters in the cache at whtech. Since it was my users group from 1986-1991, I'd like it if there were some record of its existence in the repo. I enjoyed reading the Amarillo newsletters there. I'll be scanning away now... [UPDATE: Added Welcome Packet with an early history of the Users Group. Added April 1989 issue (My first attempt at editing!) I'll add other issues as I find them.] FrontRange99ers-1986-01.PDF Front Range 99ers Welcome Packet.PDF FrontRange99ers-1989-04.PDF FrontRange99ers-1988-05.PDF FrontRange99ers-1988-07.PDF FrontRange99ers-1989-06.PDF FrontRange99ers-1990-02.PDF FrontRange99ers-1990-03.PDF

Red cassette!

I loaded Markus of Marinus on a 4A with CF7+. The real cassette loaded on a vintage TI recorder, with some tweaks like Tone=9 Vol=8. Here is a classic99 DSK image. I made 2 wav files with Audacity, but I could not get either one to load into a real 4A. Get WAV files here, maybe you'll have better luck loading them. First try. About -5dB signal. No clipping. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xZWImt2_0FnDckSrThh-4DQvOERYrNeG Second try, more volume. About -3dB signal. No clipping. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Mt03tYCoXFYDwy5Wk2ZeY20lA1w96t2d Hope this helps! P.S. this is the TE2 version. I didn't realize there was a second side to it, without speech. markus.dsk

I would consider attending--that's a maybe. Either city works for me as a starting point.

Thank you! I'll save up my EPROMs for once a year burning I'm relying on the PLCC-32 EEPROMs these days.