dphirschler

Nice collection! Aren’t there more educational carts than that? I’d suggest grouping them by subject, or perhaps by level. What’s the difference between Decimals and Decimals-1? Darryl

Holy crap, that is clever! Darryl

> I just curious, does anyone remember "WCM" in a hardware data library? It would be interesting to know, just for the hell of it. WCM is my friend’s initials. So he must have named the routine after himself. > Anyway, do you have your heart set on reproducing the original diskette or would you settle on a substitute loader? Certainly, I’d be happy with another loader program. But I am more interested in solving this puzzle. This was a cool loader. And if something is wrong with it with today’s emulation software and updated hardware, I’d like to know why. At the moment, I suspect the disk transferring software… especially since it seems to be behaving the same in MESS, on the NanoPEB, and on real hardware. The only thing common there is the software used to transfer the floppy. I vaguely remember attaching machine code to XB programs somehow (using Disko perhaps?). It would load with the XB program, but would show up as garbled characters in the listing. I don’t see any of that here. That’s the main reason I suspect the TI99-PC disk transferring software. Perhaps it sees XB programs and ignores the non-ascii characters when transferring(?). We did all kinds of goofy things back then just because we could. I used ‘@’ as a variable name. We named disks “NONO…..1” (note the period chars were illegal) using Disko. Attached machine code to XB programs in weird ways. Ripped carts using the Widget and load interrupt switch. And who knows what else? I know we also had some game loaders that required Mini-Mem, but I cannot remember why. Maybe that was one of the cart ripper programs. Darryl

Could this loader have been dependent on the presence of a Gram Kracker? We (my friend and I) both had one. Darryl

Very likely. I remember having a battery backed clock. But I thought it was the Myarc. Could it be that the disk-reading software (TI99-PC) has a problem with these types of disks? It seemed to read them fine, and the loader program seemed to work... well, it maybe isn't loading the hidden code properly. How exactly did you discover it, Mizapf? But I also remember doing something to convert DIS/VAR to PGM format. I just don't remember what. I also remember having some game disks that were made to be loaded in Minimem. Darryl

I am a graphics guy, so I had to make my own template for TI cartridge labels. I never liked the original black labels. I always thought that adding color was a good thing, but the text was still hard to read since all the labels still looked the same except for color. And then they started adding different fonts for the games and then the labels really came to life. Parsec was instantly recognizable with its purple label and large yellow letters. So anyways, here is my first template of the original TI cart. And here is template number two. I don't think I ever noticed that they changed more than just the color of the background. The text "Command Module" was replaced by the more modern sounding "Solid State Cartridge". And here is my retro redesign using elements of both labels. Only slight changes such as bolder text and the slicker looking TI logo. Finally, here is my template of the newer labels using color, large fonts, and the more modern language. None of these are exact. I only estimated the colors, sizes, and layouts using Ebay photos. I'll make them more exact later on. I'd be interested in feedback on the labels. I plan on making some nice labels for my multicarts after I burn them. Darryl

Ahh! That rings a bell. I remember that. But we had this working on original equipment. Maybe a Myarc Mem Exp. at most. I tried loading the same files in MESS and they also failed. So I am not sure why it fails. Has anybody tried it on real equipment yet? My PEB is still dead so I cannot test it. I did try my super Scott Adams Adventure disk on the NanoPEB and it worked just fine, so I know the NanoPEB works now. Darryl

I am having trouble loading games from my NanoPEB. It boots up into my game disk just fine, just as it used to back in the day. But the games just don't load. Can it be a problem with the NanoPEB and the way this game disk was written? The game disk has a bunch of cart games (some Atarisoft, TI and Parker Bros games). And it is designed to auto load into XB giving you a menu. That much works. But when you select a game, it just goes blank. The loader/linker program was written by my friend long ago. The menu was written by me in XB. I haven't yet tried loading the games through EA yet. I suppose that is the next test. But I really wanted it to work like it used to. I'd appreciate it if some of you could test out my game disk on your NanoPEB/CF7+ and also on real hardware. I'll attach the dsk image. Darryl 07_games_bones.dsk

I'd like one, but I bet they are all gone now. Darryl

I found documentation for the 512K cart last night buried in one of the pages in the thread. But it was WIP (unifinished). Is there a final documentation? Why don't you put it (and supercart roms) on the first post so everybody knows where to look for the most up-to-date files. Darryl

So who won the auction? Anybody here? Darryl

Woo hoo! I have my NanoPEB! Now what? LOL... Reading the documentation now. First observations: It has a power plug and a small switch. Didn't come with a wall transformer. Hopefully this is explained in the docs. Wasn't packaged very well. The padded envelope looks like it might have come open during shipping. Glad the Nano made it. Was there a power supply that got lost? I'll never know. Can you guys recommend one? Does it matter if it is 1.2 or 2.2 Amps? This is the one I am looking at: http://www.amazon.com/iMBAPrice%C2%AE-5V-Wall-Power-Adapter/dp/B00GUO5WUI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410227751&sr=8-1&keywords=5v+power+adapter+2.1mm It sure plugs in tight! I feel like I might break it trying to get it unplugged. Sure would be nice if it came in a case. I have some case ideas, but I have no means to build one Darryl

I have a copy of it if anybody wants to try it. Darryl

Just wow. I want in on this! Darryl

So I am attempting the speech-in-console mod. So far I’ve done this: -De-cased the speech synth -Snipped, de-soldered, and removed the edge connector -Cleaned everything up. Next I need to find a nice piece of ribbon cable. Any suggestions here? Darryl

I haven’t yet checked the power supply lines, so no answers there yet. But I did have an opportunity to check out my system using a genuine TI FDC. This time I saw the disk spinning in the drive. But DM2 still reported an error. But I no longer suspect the floppy drives, and I am feeling good about the Myarc controller too. Now I am hopeful of a PEB power supply issue. If it is the PEB PSU, what are my options? Should I look into the Mainbyte 2amp PEB PSU mod? Is that even an option if the PSU is already failing? Can a standard PC PSU be installed in the PEB? Darryl

OK, well, I replaced the quartz crystal oscillator and everything works exactly as before (black/white image). So no improvement. Either the TI is outputting slightly non-standard NTSC or the converter box is finicky. Darryl

If it's any help, I have a sizable collection if the Plato diskettes... possibly all of them. I remember spending an entire afternoon way back just copying them from my dad's collection. But at the moment they are locked away on TI disks and I am still resurrecting my PEB... And also building a windows xp machine with 5.25" floppy drive for transferring. But when I get them transferred, I will donate them to the project. Darryl

Just so I get this straight, this 32k supercart will behave like an e/a cart with a 32k men exp, right? If that's the case, then I will be wanting one of these. Darryl

This may sound completely crazy, but... I've seen other circuit boards designed and built on this forum. Maybe it's time for a Mitsumi citcuit board replacement project. Possible? Other than that, the only option I know of it wait for a beige console to go up on Ebay and look for the ones with an "under" shot. You can usually tell if it has that brown color or a green circuit board. Darryl

This may sound stupid, but have you tried replacing the black keys (on a good keyboard) with beige keys? Darryl

That's great news! Thanks! Darryl

I need the manual for the Myarc 32/128k Memory Expansion card. I cannot find mine. I need to test it out. I want to know a) if it works, and 2) how much RAM it has. I opened it up and the RAM chips say the following: Japan 8648 HM50464P-15 U1005ZZ Guessing these are 64K chips, so since there are 16 of them means this is a 128K card... right? Darryl

I'll help out. But first I am gonna dig a little. I might have this manual. I had a fair amount of MG stuff back in the day. And I recognized the screen from MG Explorer put up recently (or maybe not so recently, but i just saw the thread for the first time). So I am pretty sure I have the software too. Darryl.

I just discovered this process which restores the yellowed beige plastic. Since my beige console is already taken apart, I am going to try it. Has anybody else here tried it? I may also try it on my cassette recorder, which has uneven yellowing on the different pieces. The keys in particular are more yellow than the main shell. http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/ Darryl