9640News

I don't think it matters if a couple cases of verified selective non-enforcement can be found. Getting a patent attorney to fight the litigation is going to be easily starting at 5 figures to retain and the bills go higher. I would not take the risk. I would find another solution and go a different route. Protect thyself! Beery

The Gotek will only work as DS/DD if your controller supports DS/DD. What disk controller do you have in your PEBox?

Should this HDMI issue become a problem, I would rather see the MK2 modified to use a VGA output and wait another 3 to 6 months for its release for a design to use the VGA instead. Beery

Do a search for "HDMI Licensing, LLC lawsuit" and you will find some links. I found this one to be interesting at https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/a-lesson-in-hdmi/36568/25with the notes below. Make me wonder if what they describe as an "adopter" could make/assemble the device and one would then be in the clear. Mansa, all you need to do in order to verify adopter status is look at this list: http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/adopters_founders.aspx3 I’ve never heard of them wanting to preapprove importations. They don’t preapprove ours, nor have I ever asked them to. We have never had the slightest hiccup in our imports – no demands to prove anything, no extra documentation asked for or required, nothing. My understanding is that if the shipper is an adopter (or if you are, but you probably don’t want to pay $10K for that), you will have no issues with customs seizures. If the shipper is not an adopter, you need to prove that the goods were made by an adopter, and this information should be verifiable through the party that sends them to you. I hope that helps. Kurt BJC

Hmmm, I see your point. Was not thinking so much about a Geneve upgrade as I was thinking of the TI-99/4A upgrade route. Still though, those mouse support going from an original 9918 device to a 9938/9958 device in our world would be very limited to a specific and very small Geneve user base. On the other hand, if it were an upgrade from the Yamaho V9938 to a "super" V9938, then any of those devices that had been built with a 9938 would be able to use the mouse support if those devices had the other hardware designed into them. Myself, I am not familiar with other non Geneve 9938 hardware to know if there is market demand. Beery

On a unit with a real 9938 that has the extra hardware for the mouse, yes, you would lose it. I did not see indication the MK2 brought out anything to use a mouse in the future. Beery

If code was going to be added to bring it up to V9938, take it all the way to the V9958. V9938 software to my knowledge is fully compatible with the V9958, and you get a bit of a boost in video graphic capabilities as I recall. Beery

Keep in mind the F18A does not mimic all the V9938 capabilities unless I missed something. I thought he said he was using the same core. So, if you were a Geneve or TIM user, you would lose a number of graphic modes. Now, if he updated the core to support everything on the 9938, then that does open other opportunities. Beery

Keep in mind there is also the My-Word source code that is out there if someone wants to work with it for a TI-99/4A with SAM system. Beery

Great news and great detective work solving the issue. Looks like I will be ordering two after all!!!! Beery

The "most" standard Geneve is one with the V0.98 eprom. It had 512K ram + another 32K high speed ram along with 128K VDP ram. Upgraded Geneves couild have the V1.00 eprom, Memex mods, more ram, an additional 32K high speed ram chip double stacked on the existing 32K chip, another 64K vdp ram, a gal chip upgrade on the VDP wait states, and there may be other upgrades I am not aware. In my earlier email reference above with the V1.00 eprom, I do not know if the rewritten boot eprom that added a host of other booting opportunities from other devices, would incur the same issue(s) Matt observed. If that source code was available and there were issues, one "might" be able to program around the problem. It is just an unknown factor someone besides Matt would need to explore. It could be something as simple as not running the TIPI power up routine when initially loading MDOS or it may be something unsolveable. Beery

Hmmm. At least I have the 4A!!! Does anyone recall if the V1.00 boot eprom source was made available for the Geneve? I know eprom dump was made available, just not sure if the source was provided as well. Beery Beery

I am asking because I do not know. Does the Raspberry PI itself support a USB to serial cable interface?

Fourth reason? Must be a way to hide the porn........

Very nice. Initial testing and use of the current Apps no issue?

I would be interested in a 504K Memex if you or someone else had one. Beery

Please keep in mind my thoughts with the Geneve were the possibility of using it in GPL mode under Rompage so that it would use TI-99/4A programs. That would require no MDOS updates, etc. Any programming on the MDOS side would be trying to understand the communication I/O when using the TIPI DSR. Beery

Ron did consider this and that was why a number of cards required modification. If someone had the GenMod package, and ran Memtest, they would see if there were bad memory pages at >3A, >3C, >7A, >7C, >BA, >BC, >FA, >FC. I think page >BA was already mapped out, and not 100% sure if pages from >F8 to >FF were useable. They may be good memory, but may not be useable. I know you would never want to use page >FF as that was the page referenced when no memory was mapped because you had to have something in the mapper. Beery

Which eprom version are you using with your GenMod Geneve? The only other thing I could think to suggest, to confirm no decoding issues, is to run MEMTEST to make sure there are no pages with errors. With a GenMod, no pages at >3A and up to >FF should have been tested as the GenMod stock eprom was modified for the GenMod. Still, running the MEMTEST program would confirm no memory issues that could have caused the system to fail. Beery

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like a bit more involved than I thought............. Beery

I have a few questions regarding the 3D printers. For something like the coaster, what kind of cost is it to make something like that? I have debated the idea of a 3D printer for the past year, and I am trying to get a handle on the economics for the materials. Secondly, do the 3D printers include software for designing objects? Or, is it limited to an application that prints the file and you need other software to design objects? Thanks for any feedback. Beery

I guess Charles Earl is still checking with the ex? I guess she ended up with the equipment, or stored it "somewhere".............. Beery

Yesterday evening, I completed the task of uploading all the comp.sys.ti messages previously provided to my BBS along with the TI99 Listserv messages from the late 90's. There were like 15,000+ comp.sys.ti messages and 8,000+ TI99 listserv messages. I also have the Yahoogroup archives from the Geneve group as well as the TI-99/4A group on the BBS as well, captured for historical purposes. These messages are in "JAM" format, so if anyone is wanting to host a BBS, it is very easy to zip the files up for each category, and be on your way. Myself, I use Mystic BBS which has both 32 and 64 bit Window versions, as well as a Linux version that can run on a Raspberry PI. Even if you are not wanting to run a BBS where users can call you, if you setup a system, you can run what they call a point from my system and I can forward the email traffic. This would give you active access to comp.sys.ti, various Retronet groups supporting the TI-99/4A and other orphans, the yahoogroup messages, etc. If interested, let me know. My BBS can be reached via telnet at 9640news.ddns.net Port 9640. Beery

Yeah, that would be best.

Dynamic Systems Research was a one-man company. For those that did not know it, Ron developed hardware technology that made cat-scan renderings possible. He had another company attempt to steal his design and patent his work, then Ron later won the patent lawsuit and got their names stripped from the patent and his placed on it. I lost contact with Ron after he won the patent case, but before damages were assessed. If he won the triple damage claim, he was looking at a 9 figure settlement. Minimally, I think he was looking at an 8 figure settlement. He passed away before I heard the final outcome and I did not bring the subject up with his wife after I learned he had passed. Additionally, for those that did not know it, Ron had contracted Legionnaires and was in a coma for something close to a year before he came out of it. When he did, he had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. He could be fine one moment, but if he pushed himself too far and stressed himself out, he could be out of it for days or a week or more recovering. At one point in time, he was seriously looking at the Geneve for some special security needs. As there were very few 9900 coders out there, it was a system that by default, was less likely to have people that could write viruses or malware to hack the system, etc. He shelved most of that work when he was dealing with the lawsuit. Beery