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FarmerPotato

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Posts posted by FarmerPotato

  2. Posted

     

    I did. There are pieces of the case inside the inner envelope and more pieces rattling around inside. He answered me and was surprised since he "didn’t realize the thing was so fragile inside. It was double wrapped." :roll:

     

    At this point it is a gamble for $250, and if it requires repair I am out that, as well. I really wanted this card.

     

     

    Suggest to the seller that he use your $250 to buy a nice flat panel display or a new phone BUT have it sent in a bubble mailer, instead of a cardboard box.

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    While watching that video I was wondering - do most people prefer the scrolling tables? They always kind of annoyed me, although I see the advantage in terms of offering better graphics. The best compromise I've seen did a sort of split screen where the flippers at the bottom were always visible, which I appreciated, but what do other people think?

     

    I hate scrolling pinball.

     

    I double hate the new video multi-pinball that have a 60" LCD screen in the form of an actual pinball field, and they still feel the need to scroll.

  5. Posted

    A variation on BLWP (from FORTI's interrupt service routine)

    LI R1,$+8
MOV *SP,R0
BLWP R0
* PC continues here:

    BLWP takes WP from R0, PC from R1,

    This gets a workspace pointer from the FORTH stack and performs an approximation of LWP, a TMS9995 instruction, on the TMS9900.

     

    It's used to run the same routine on different workspace contexts.

     

    Afterward you can put a return address in R14.

    CLR *SP     set status
LI R14,NEXT
RTWP

  6. Posted

    Myword - 80 column text editor similar to TI Writer, with formatter output that can display to the 80 column screen. I wrote all of my college reports with MyWord!

     

     

    I got through the first few years of college typing everything in MyWord.

     

    Then there is Fast-Term for Geneve (FTG) which operates perfectly at 9600 baud. I used this a lot to connect to Unix systems. Curiously, FTG has convenient key bindings for the Michigan Terminal System on the IBM/9000 mainframe, and the DELETE key sends the escape sequence for the PDP-11 network gateways in use in 1987 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Paul Charlton's alma mater.)

    • Like 3

  9. Posted

    That was me with the original tip on the 25LS2521s, in the SAMS thread. The original tip goes to the folks at Unicorn Electronics though, as they were the ones who gave me the original tip. . .and they are a great source for older parts too.

     

    I see $0.20 each or 0.25 after shipping for the eBay auction. Still a good deal.
    For comparison,
    The PDIP-N HCT688 is available from TI direct for $0.75 or 0.53 in qty 100.
    SOIC HCT688 is $0.90, or 0.45 in qty 100.

  10. Posted · Edited by FarmerPotato

    The first link now points to "The listing you’re looking for is no longer available. Check out this similar item we found for you." I so hate Ebay.

     

    Sounds like you got a really sweet box! I think mine is barely passable - it's nice to have but it always felt overpriced to me. ;)

     

    Here's the rather bland official page. Shows more than the eBay listing (minus the $700 price. FYI the last eBay auction went unsold at $1600.) This unit is going to last me many more years.

    http://www.ni.com/en-us/support/model.vb-8012.html

     

    TechShop had many of these rolled out in US locations before they shut down. I wonder if those made their way onto the surplus market.

     

    The question is, if Tursi thinks his $350 logic probe was overpriced (and I think it looks like pretty good value!) where the heck can you get one at that level of performance?

     

    My Red Pitaya promised "open instruments" in 2014 but it still cost that much by the time it shipped and I had to buy the logic analyzer add-on for $100 + $25 software license. Just the Zynq-7Z020 CPU/FPGA is $125 at DigiKey.

     

    Here is the Analog Discovery line I considered. $200-$350 for not much functionality.

    https://store.digilentinc.com/all-products/scopes-instruments/

     

    The NI MY-RIO platform is nearly as capable as the VB-8012 as a logic analyzer (Same CPU, Fewer gates Xilinx Zynq-7Z010, and a lesser A/D still from Analog Devices) but lacks logic analyzer software. It has 40 digital I/Os on 3.3V. Some students at UT Austin were doing a logic analyzer app, but it seems to have disappeared. Student price is up to $535 now (used to be $350 at the UT ECE department when they first used it.)

    https://store.digilentinc.com/ni-myrio-student-edition/

     

    Check out this list of cool instruments, including the Gabotronics XProtoLab Oscilloscope Watch that didn't ship.

    https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1320482

     

     

    The el cheapo 2 MSPS XProtoLab board from HardKernel is $30 with 8 digital inputs. ATMega 16MHz.

    https://wiki.odroid.com/accessory/development/xprotolab

     

    There is a $59 one from Gabotronics. http://www.gabotronics.com/oscilloscopes/xprotolab-portable.htm

     

     

    Disclaimer: I did work for NI during the period this VB-8012 was rolled out and I have a lot of Digilent stuff.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted · Edited by FarmerPotato

    Self-indulgent post, because I already bought this listing:




    I have coveted this Virtualbench since using it in 2015.

    It has 34 logic analyzer inputs, 2 analog 100 MHz, function generator, multimeter, DC power supply (software controlled), protocol analysis etc.


    There's a favorable tear down here:



    My best tool so far was a Red Pitaya 8 digital/2 analog logic analyzer/scope. https://www.redpitaya.com/

    It was a Kickstarter in 2013. I was able to use the Red Pitaya logic analyzer to debug my port of the MeCrisp FORTH package from MyStorm to IceStorm v1 (watching the ARM M4 boot up and write debug chars to serial port), but I need a bigger logic analyzer.


    I like the logic analyzer that Tursi uses. http://www.pctestinstruments.com/

    I considered buying one. But I have a crush on this VB-8012.


    Incidentally, a similar Zynq-7020 chip (ARM A9 CPU + Artix-7 FPGA) is used in VB and Red Pitaya.

    • Like 5

  13. Posted

    Hi Matt,

     

    Trivia: the Myarc Personality Card used crubase >1000 to intercept DSK1 etc. Probably the first example of doing so.

     

    I was lucky to have one, ca 1984, and a copy of BUGOUT, to poke around in the DSR ROM. That was my lesson on how DSRs worked.

     

    I agree with your idea on coexistence of peripherals. I use NanoPEB but it's a dead end.

    For myself, I would not want to make a device that plugged into your 32k expansion header AND clashed with the 32k space.

    • Like 3

  15. Posted

    For INKEY$ and the like on other platforms, here is an article by our friend Regena in late 1987.

     

    https://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue89/The_Beginners_Page.php

     

    I'd like to think she wrote out the appropriate CALL KEY code for TI-99/4A, but that the Compute editor removed it.

     

    For those who weren't around then: C. Regena was a legendary magazine author, whose mystique was built up by the editor of 99er magazine with tales of how her prolific manuscripts arrived mysteriously signed only "Regena", while actually she was a well known writer for other computer magazines.

     

  16. Posted · Edited by FarmerPotato

    Well, the problem is, how do you know when there's a cartridge at that address space, so you don't conflict? Without modifications to the console you can't tell, and you can't disable the ROM plugged into the cart port.

     

    Classic99 shouldn't be allowing the map into cartridge space, but I didn't write the SAMS support. I'll check that. ;)

     

    When the CPU reads from the cartridge port, what do the data lines look like on the side port? I think the cartridge port data lines and side port data lines are the same wire. This could be read by a sideport peripheral connected directly to the data bus -- but not by a Pbox card where there are LS245 buffers in the flex cable and the card itself.

     

    I'm imagining the CPU reading from >6000 and expecting to find >AA. A really smart sideport peripheral would detect the first read cycle on that address, monitor the data bus to see if the cartridge ROM supplies >AA, and stand down. Or discover what happens when it contends for the data bus :)

     

    This doesn't solve contention in the case that you want the sideport ROM to be there at startup. By the time the smart peripheral waits to see if the cartridge responds, it will be too late for it to supply a byte. So it would fail to be included in the cartridge menu scan.

     

    It would apply in the case where SAMS is told to map into the cartridge space after startup. I don't really see a sensible use case here, unless this imaginary sidecar device provides a menu loader in addition to a cartridge library, and you don't ever exoect to plug in a cartridge like E/A or XB.

     

    Just an idea.

     

    Supposing a more sophisticated future SAMS implementation,

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

     

    Without getting into a pointless political debate, history has shown that tariffs and trade wars have a history of affecting the computer industry.

     

    Reagan pressured Japan into increasing the cost of computer chips tp "protect" American chip manfacturers back in 1987. But there were only two chip makers (Micron & T.I.) meaning not only were there were no new chip factories but even domestic chips went up in price. That's why computers and memory upgrades that rely on Japanese RAM chips were so expensive at the time. And yes so were Nintendo game carts as well.

     

    Once the Clinton Administrarion ended the tariffs, computer prices started to go down just in time for the Internet boom...

     

    My first paying job was reclaiming 4116 RAM chips at a recycling shop during the 1988 price spike. Old boards would come in, go through a hot plate, hundreds of random chips would be dumped on my desk. I picked out all the 4116s or better, straightened the pins, put them in tubes, and they sold immediately to assembly shops to go back into memory boards. All the other chips (74LS etc) went on the retail shelf untested. I picked out some nice looking 6802, 8008 etc. Straightening 4116 pins kept me in enough work hours (at minimum wage) to buy a Geneve 9640.

     

    I maintained inventory and price lists in Wordstar for CP/M, on a machine that was spared from recycling. (We also saved a Sol-1 which I kick myself for not taking home.)

    • Like 2

  19. Posted

    910mp is a great monitor.

     

    I also have one and a 510mp (15" version). I need to open it up though the colors are off and I suspect it needs a cap job.

     

    I got the Samsung Syncmaster 910MP from the May eBay auction. This is the one with SCART, VGA, AV inputs.
    It's DOA.
    The menu functions all work.
    It detects my F18A VGA input as 640x480 32.3 kHz NN (matching what another Samsung VGA monitor detects.)
    However, in PC mode it is all black. Same result for other VGA sources so it's not the F18A.
    In AV mode it has a static filled black and white image (from composite.)
    I have ordered a re-cap kit for it. When that's in hand I'll open up the 910MP for inspection. Any other advice on what to look for?

  20. Posted

    Thanks for verifying these timings. I was especially interested in what you observed for the sound chip.

     

    One detail some might want elaborated: When the sound chip SN76489 takes READY low for 32 of its cycles, those are counted at 3.579MHz, or the equivalent of 26.76 cpu cycles at 3 MHz.

     

    Tursi recorded 27 cycles, and I guess sometimes plus one?

  21. Posted · Edited by FarmerPotato

    I am excited that not only are we getting F18As, but a ton of unexpected bonuses too!


    I pledged to buy 5 of them to boost the order, I'm still going to. I use my good F18A console for everything.


    I hope we can share good solutions to mounting an HDMI port on the plastic.

    • Like 2

  22. Posted · Edited by FarmerPotato

    Here's a utility I threw together to read .DSK files - it compiles under Cygwin and probably plenty of other environments.

     

    I needed it to quickly catalog disks that I was scanning with Kryoflux, and also used it to dump out some files or read FORTH screens.

     

    https://github.com/olsone/forti/blob/master/tidir.c

    $ ./tidir.exe mati00053.dsk
File size is 92160
DSK.00053       Free= 160 Used= 200   9S,40T,1S,1D
FDR Name       Size Type        P Sector(Offset)
--- ---------- ---- ----------- - --------------
  2 BOOT         21 Dis/Var  80    223001  22(13)
  3 BOOTBJ        6 Dis/Fix  80    364000  36(4)
  4 DRIVER       98 Dis/Var  80    3b0006  3b(60)
  5 UTILEQU       3 Dis/Var  80    9c1000  9c(1)
  6 UTILRAM       4 Dis/Var  80    9e2000  9e(2)
  7 UTILROM      48 Dis/Var  80    a1e002  a1(2e) 


    $ ./tidir.exe mati00053.dsk DRIVER > driver.txt
$ more.driver.txt       
       TITL 'FORTH DRIVER WITH UTIL'
       IDT  'FORTH'
************************************************************
TEMP0  EQU  0
TEMP1  EQU  1

    $ ./tidir.exe mati00053.dsk DRIVER > driver.txt

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    i guess i'm spoiled to modern bar code readers that read like a million symbologies, lol. I'll have to go look up this device!

     

    veering slightly off-topic but talking about readers, i had one of these (as attached) as a kid. i remember being bored pretty quick at a device that just reads books back to you ;)

     

    back to your regularly scheduled topic.

     

    The Magic Wand Speaking Reader indeed required the iron ink (as in check printing.) This made the sensor durable.

     

    A version of the Magic Wand which uses a red LED laser scanner exists. It can work from any photocopied material and read Magic Wand books.

     

    Also, an interface between the Magic Wand and the TI-99/4A joystick/cassette ports was made, with which the 4A could send commands and allophone strings for speaking. This was for testing the MWSR, not expanding the 4A, since the 4A with a speech synthesizer and TE2 was just as capable.

  24. Posted

    chaser2015 is pretty infamous on this board for some of the stuff they've pulled- i don't think i'd buy from that seller. ymmv tho.

    Oh crud... I referred my brother to chaser2015 to unload some unloved 4A items, in Colorado Springs.

    Something wasn't quite right about his enthusiastic response to common items.

    Fortunately chaser2015 didn't follow up. We will avoid this person.

    • Like 1

  25. Posted · Edited by FarmerPotato

    FarmerPotato, on 13 Jun 2018, said:

    Hi again,

     

    I think the answer hear(sic) would most likely be NO!

     

    My observations have shown that TI BASIC doesn't reproduce frequencies with great precision.

     

    The sound chip has a 10 bit counter value N. It can be from 0 to 1023. The math is: frequency = 111860.8 / N. This number is scaled down from the VDP crystal at 3.57955 MHz.

     

    The reproducible values include

     

    f=109.3458 Hz at N=1023, the lowest it can go.

    f=109.99 Hz at N=1017, the "textbook" (Editor/Assembler) value for low A.

    f=110.099 Hz at N=1016, a low A that is adjusted to tune with A440.

    f=329.0023 Hz at N=340

    f=329.9728 Hz at N=339

    f=330.9491 Hz at N=338

    f=438.6697 Hz at N=255

    f=440.3968 Hz at N=254

     

    I haven't checked which way TI BASIC might round the value from CALL SOUND, but I chose my frequency values to match integer values of N.

     

    I got the theory wrong before my experiment. Here is the right experiment to do around f=330:

     

    10 CALL SOUND(2000, 109.99, 0, 330.9491, 10)
    20 PRINT "BEAT"
    30 CALL SOUND(2000, 109.99, 0, 329.9728, 10)
    40 PRINT "NO BEAT"
    50 GOTO 10
    Sure enough, there it is. There's the beat!
    But it doesn't support my hypothesis that A110 should be retuned to match A440.
    • Like 1
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