jedimatt42

Randy, those podcasts are really entertaining. It was great to hear Jim and Mark. I learned quite a bit. Very appreciated, all of you. Looking forward to the next installments. And looking forward to rifling through the previous episodes to learn about other systems. Thanks! [email protected]

The Geneve GPL ( version 6.50 ) has an option ( F5 ) labelled GPL w/ROMPAGE. It takes me to the title screen when I press it. What is it supposed to do? And on a hopefully related note, how many cartridge port rom pages does GPL on the Geneve support? The memory map indicates just the 16k worth. Thanks, [email protected]

I finally took the time to tidy up the Gotek LCD drive mods into a single unit, which gave me room to put a real 3.5" floppy back in. I used to have the select button dangling out on a breadboard, and the display wedged into the second 3.5" frame. Now I have the I2C LCD1602 displays on some aluminium standoffs mounted on the 3.5" to 5.25" drive bay adapter, and the select switch is added right inside the gotek drive itself. [email protected]

That was so easy to dislike for soooo many reasons.

While I was goofing around making Christmas dinner, Google Photos 'assistant' made this little video for me. It is like it read my mind. The parts that are overdriven and/or blurry are the fault of my cellphone camera. But you can see some of the artifacts that is apparent in Parsec. https://goo.gl/photos/ToJNd3P1uDMRJ4918 [email protected]

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! [email protected]

Here is a short video of the output in MDOS 80 column and in GPL mode. I zoom in on a few artifacts that I'm not sure who's fault they are... video link: https://goo.gl/photos/8eDQpAt38YwU1fmf8 Here is the hardware. A little solder-breadboard that has the LM1881, 2 0.1uf caps, and a 680ohm resister. I also wired my DB9 harness to it ( for my monitor cable ) and the harness that came with the GBS8200. I used the power harness to steal power from the upscaler. So, my little board is basically a $5 version of this Sync Strike product, without all the extra connectors. I got 5 of the LM1881 chips off ebay for $3. sync strike: http://arcadeforge.net/Scaler-and-Strike-Devices/Sync-Strike::15.html And if you want a complete off the shelf solution: http://arcadeforge.net/SLG-in-a-Box/SLG-in-a-Box::71.html I'm about to order the SLG3000 scan line generator because I think that will help clean up the appearance of PARSEC. When I figure out how to grab a frame some some video, I'll highlight what I'm talking about. Something is 'sharpening' the image in a way that cause a little bounce in side scrolling.

Funny you should mention the jumper, I was just hanging up some RED Christmas ornaments, and that caused some mental recall. I had read about the jumper in the manual. I moved the jumper, saw all that wonderful color, and was just popping on here to report that the problem is solved! The color is good, now I can see the hot dogs or whatever they are in Burgertime Thanks for the tip! So, in summary, with an LM1881 chip used to clean up the composite-sync signal from the Geneve, the GBS-8200 up scalar can be used to connect a Geneve to a VGA display. There are some artifacts I notice in Parsec. But it works respectably. [email protected]

I personally like that the fbForth cartridge doesn't require any of the other files distributed with it. The blocks file I use is usually on the HDX1. drive/pc. It is nice that I can get into forth without loading anything from disk. From what I can tell of the CODE: and ;CODE words, they optimize compiling words that are mostly composed of numbers as in machine code. So I would be cautious of trading an always used thing for a sometimes used thing. I'm hoping to get more time for fbForth after the new year.

I received the LM1881 chips Friday, and was able to wire it up tonight. It was successful. Mostly. The sync is totally cleared up. I wired up the LM1881 following this diagram: http://www.gamesx.com/misctech/lm1881.htm I powered that little circuit off of the GBS8200 power header as I'm using the barrel connector to supply power to the GBS8200. I said mostly, because I don't get any red, and I haven't nailed down if that is my Geneve, or the GBS8200 that has an issue. I'll have to break out the oscilloscope and see if a red signal is getting to the GBS board at all. I've already double checked my 8 pin din cable, and my little LM1881 circuit. The lack of red was apparent when I entered GPL and brought up the TI title screen. No amount of adjustment on the GBS8200 fixes it (there are 3 little intensity controls for R G and B). So it must be an input problem. Browsing the internet, it looks like a lot of the SCART cables have the LM1881 embedded in them. More fun to be had. Anyway, the sync signal can be cleaned up and made compatible using this LM1881 circuit.

So, the SUPER-SPEZIAL exposed GROM images in an eprom as GROM? That's very cool. It doesn't look like there are any custom chips on it. Is that the nutshell version of it?

I want to rant about texting, and how it just works, but mostly texting just works, and that is why people rely on it. Everything else has proven to have presence issues. But that is off topic a bit. It is just that voice chat, video chat, apps all fall back on having IM chat capability. It seems like Google Hangouts is what Omega is looking for. All the necessary features are free. Skype is free to use for all of these purposes as well. Including group sessions now too. Those are both excellent programs that both support things like screen sharing as well. ( it's video quality screen sharing, so not usually pixel perfect unless your bandwidth is high )

Well, I went ahead and came up with these... That I printed on 2x4 inch transparent Avery labels. At the correct viewing angle they are mostly transparent. It is difficult to photograph as such.

So, now I have two PEBs, and it won't be hard to tell which is which, I'm sure I'll always know, but I can't help but think it would look cool to add a case badge. One of them is the older TI-99/4 expansion system, where the second is the new switch model that is just labelled a texas instruments expansion system. So, I plan to put the Geneve logo on it. Does anyone have a good image for a TI-99/4a badge? [email protected]

That's awesome! Congratulations! This basic has some cool features like PLOT. It reminds me more of the Apple II basic I used at school one year. That was the only other basic I spent any time on besides TI-XB.

Looks like I won't know how the sync splitter chip works for me until next month... Ordered through ebay from China today. I put the sync from the geneve under the oscilloscope, and it makes me think this should work out. ( I'm hopeful ) The geneve sync looked fairly noisy. And I was able to get a recognizable cursor blinking using the composite-video line as sync. Just too noisy to be useful.

When I was a kid, my father told me that this TI computer would last forever because they made electronics for NASA. I don't know if that is true or not. Looking at my TI Program Recorder ( which works fine BTW. I was just being a bit chicken ), it has 3 power source options. Battery, AC, and 8V DC. Who does that? It was good to hear the other tails contrasting the TI recorder still working while other vendors didn't do so well. We benefit from a forgotten art of build quality.

I bought a Nintendo 3DS, that I have barely used. Why is this the greatest thing? Like most of my life, the good happens in an awesome chain of events. A little RPG on the 3DS made me think about ToD. That caused me to find SHIFT838 Newsletters. ( Thank you so much Chris! ) Then I found MESS and Classic99, and it played right into an obsessive behavior I had been missing. From there to Atariage, and I was sold that real iron was alive and well. Which to close 2015, all led to entering the 2015 Holiday Demo Contest, which was probably the most fun the software developer ( my day job ) side of me has had in 8 years. I now have a ton of projects, and a ton to learn. [email protected]

Doubting that USPS can find a PEB they were oh so close to successfully delivering: (This is like the opposite of one of those Charlie Brown, Happiness Is... books)

I have the sister to the GBS 8220, the GBS 8200. And I'm trying to hook it up to my Geneve for VGA output. The composite-sync signal ( pin 8 ) on the Geneve seems to be incompatible. But pin 4 is a full composite-video signal, and there is a little chip that should be able to turn that into a good composite-sync signal. the LM1881. Has anyone tried this? had experience with the LM1881 sync splitter chip? Or used a confirmed alternative technique to get good high-res output from a geneve on a VGA or HDMI display? I think this current thread is saying that Arcadeshopper has used SCART cables with SCART to HDMI device with his Geneve, but I cannot tell from the language. Was that with a Geneve or just with Amigas? Resources: http://www.gamesx.com/misctech/lm1881.htm https://ianstedman.wordpress.com/gbs-82xx-experiments/

So I finally got around to trying this. And it doens't really work.. setdsk 128 works fine... and then I can operate on 80 track disks... but I cannot boot an AUTOEXEC off of an 80 track disk because setdsk 128 hasn't been run yet. The CYA feature to set tracks checks if you have a HFDC first. Since I'm using a TIFDC only, it does not allow me to go any further. To recap: The Geneve will load SYSTEM/SYS off of the TIFDC/80-TRACK-MOD with an 80 track HFE in my Gotek drive. SYSTEM/SYS will not load the AUTOEXEC from the 80 track HFE. All boots fine from a 40 track HFE I can call setdsk 128 and load goodies off of 80 track HFEs after boot is complete. Since there was some literature that said CYA was about eliminating the practice of hex editing SYSTEM/SYS, is there information somewhere on the old hex-editing tricks that might work for this scenario?

Thanks! Great to here!

So I just received a nice black and silver TI Program Recorder from ebay, but I'm a little scared to turn it on... It looks like there is a rubber belt driving it ( not having taken it apart to really tell... ) How has that belt held up for folks over 30+ years?

My first and primary use case for wanting a feature in this area, is to support source control tools like git. In particular, visual diffs of the code from revision to revision, and reverting to a previous revision. The features you have sited, would serve that quite well. The second use case, would be exchanging snippets through the web. The features you have sited, would serve that quite well, as well. Learning how to use the TIB, and working with INTERPRET sounds like a good exercise for the student. Or maybe something for the Tutorial Blog

D/V80 file support for code import and export... I'd like to see the following: export & import: preserves block numbers ( since they can be referenced in the code ) supports binary blocks (escaped or something) words that split across a line are preserved. import: can consume hand crafted files ( minimal required markup ) fails fast, leaves current block file unchanged if input file doesn't meat requirements can import results from any options on export tolerate extra whitespace-only after 64 characters. export: omit empty blocks trim to the right lines that don't need 64 characters. FIAD workflows (Classic99 or HDX): paste code into/from forums into PC hosted files. live edit in PC programming editors (relying on things like Classic99 FIAD options to read .txt as D/V80. I would be totally satisfied by literal block dumping with only a block header, and user requirements that there are no characters on a line beyond 64. It would be nice if the block doesn't have 16 lines, then only the first n lines less than 16 are required in the import file. I'd prefer not to require line numbers within the block on import, it makes code refactoring on a PC difficult. It would be nice if there could be comments lines that import would ignore so that it is easier to annotate code for forum posts.. as well as ignoring any blank extra lines between blocks, so that hand created D/V80 files are not finicky. Super cool pie in the sky behaviors I'd like to see: Pretty printed output that establishes a mythical forth 'style guide' with indentation and such, disregarding on output that the block becomes much greater than 16 lines, but most lines become effectively shorter. With the counter balance feature of importing these into a 'packed', no extra whitespace, blocks. I've also thought it would be cool to be able to simply compile directly from dv/80, given we have the option to BSAVE to blocks. In this model, the dynamic development workflow that makes forth soooo cool is fairly obliterated though. It becomes a more traditional big-bang flow of source -> compile -> run, forget all, repeat. ( so I give that idea almost no priority ) And of course the number one #1 requirement is that it is something you enjoy working on that works for you, and that you would use. [email protected]