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9640News

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Posts posted by 9640News

  2. Posted

    Michael,

     

    Not sure what is going on yet, but I configured my Geneve with a Myarc HFDC. I tried formatting. The Lotharek stepped through both sides of all 40 tracks formatting. Then, when it went back to sector 0, the MDOS formatting routine gave me an error.

     

    Not sure why yet.

    ​Either way, here is the file formatted, but with no correct writes on sector 0. Not sure if this will help you or not.

    ​Beery

     

    DSDD2.hfe

  3. Posted

    My BBS software I am using rolled out a web server interface. Very basic, but TI'ers do not need anything too fancy.

     

    Well, with something Chris shared the other day, I was able to add a script to my webpage that will allow anyone using a web browser to login into the BBS.

     

    So, check out http://9640news.ddns.net:8080/(save the link as a favorite!!!) and you can follow the link and automatically log into the BBS.

     

    The BBS is carrying TI/Geneve messages in addition to the Usenet comp.sys.ti group, retronet's network for the TI group, and it has almost all the YahooGroup content for the Geneve and TI-99/4A present.

     

    The actual website is under construction as the web server was a very new feature, but in the future, it will have more content. Right now, it just has a few documents for the Geneve as well as a portal to log into the BBS. You can probably log in even with a mobile device. File downloading (not sure about uploading) is the only issue I am aware at the moment.

     

    Beery

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    Does the Geneve you are getting include a keyboard?

     

    You should be able to find the manual for the Geneve on ftp.whtech.com that will give you some limited information.

    When you get your Geneve in, post some pictures so we can see what upgrades it has on it like the extra 32K CPU ram or extra 64K vdp ram. There are other potential upgrades as well.

    I think the 32K CPU ram upgrade will dictate what version(s) of MDOS you can use.

     

    Beery

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    Do you need it formatted by the HFDC and by something like MDM V so it uses the Myarc DSDD 320K format?

     

    I should be able to take a Corcomp 360K “blank”, stick it into a HFDC GoTek and use MDM V to format it. Just need to find some time, which has been hard lately.

     

    MDM5 (V1.25) with what I had on my TI system, offers both 16 sectors per track and 18 sectors per track for formatting.

     

    Beery

  8. Posted

     

    I still need to finish the Geneve USB keybaord adapter using the same board as the TI994a USB keyboard adapter and it outputs to that same DIN connector..

     

    Greg

     

    Definitely up for one of those when you get it made and available. My keyboard sucks, and I have taken an air hose to clean it out several times which still is not enough. Bought another keyboard I thought would work, but while the description said AT/XT switchable, the "switchable" was via some autodetect code on the board and not a physical switch. Did not recognize the Geneve........

  10. Posted

    Michael,

     

    I just realized my Geneve system has two controller cards present in the system at the moment. A Myarc HFDC and a Myarc FDC. The Myarc FDC is what is connected to the Lotharek device. I'm going to have to do some card pulling and moving cables to get this setup to get you the file you need. It will likely not happen until this weekend. My TI system had just the Myarc HFDC in it, but no Lotharek.

     

    For the others inquiring, the Lotharek with the SD card will allow you to reformat an existing image. If you have HyperCopy, you can even set the interlace and skew but this can only be done with the TI FDC, CorComp FDC, and Myarc FDC. The Myarc HFDC is not supported under HyperCopy for formatting.

     

    Beery

  13. Posted

    If you want to maintain the interest of this community, any real hardware would need to be compatible with with minimally existing TI-99/4A software. Compatibility with the Geneve would be secondary. The concern I have would be are there enough programmers in this community to have a desire to write anything to use the extra features for a new computer. Maybe some would modify some existing programs, but how much new stuff from scratch? I get the perception people are pulled pretty thin right now with the current projects that are pushing through.

     

    From where I sit, this community has seen some recent projects be successful. Not sure if any have exceeded the 100 or 200 unit marks, but still successful and very well received. So, this begs me to question if the hard $$ cost for any design would allow someone to break even on something that would likely be much more expensive. It is one thing if you are doing this as a personal hobby/interest, but if your intent is to make it available to others and if your satisfaction is going to be gauged by how many users commit to getting a unit and using it, be careful As an example, there is someone on here, do not recall who, that has a redesigned motherboard I believe would go into a PC case with loads of features that was TI-99/4A compatible.

     

    It is something I would purchase but not sure where it stands as of late as I have not heard any reports in the last couple of months. What that guy did, and I do not recall his name, was develop what looks by pictures to be an amazing piece of hardware he should personally be satisfied in what he accomplished. Now, regarding any commercial introduction, if that was his intent to cover his time and efforts, he will likely be hard pressed to cover all his costs. I gather though this was a project for himself with the primary goal, and offerings to others were secondary.

     

    Something I have thought about, and I do not know what the specific limits of MESS or MAME's use of the source code may be, but if you are thinking about a greater computer, design it in emulation mode first. Cut out all of the MESS or MAME source fluff for hardware you would not use. Then, add or expand video processor capability with more memory, more graphic features, etc you want to explore in your hardware design. I'm guessing there are plenty of pieces of code one could use out of another piece of hardware source code in MAME/MESS to make that all work. Once you have a working emulation, and you know how things are supposed to work, I would think a hardware design then would be appropriate. You could also gauge people's interest if you had some neat demo software for it without having invested in the hardware and prototype costs which is real $$$ out of the pocket.

     

    For example on mods, expand the 9938 to have 9958 capability where more displayable colors are an option. Also, you could tie in with the 9958 the ability to "bring in" an external video source. This would then give the ability to have an emulated TI-99/4A with 9958 capability with more video capability perhaps even streaming video. You could add some newer hardware for mass device storage whether it be USB or some other option.

     

    Something with more speed, more CPU memory, and more Video memory may lay the groundwork for a web browser.

     

    Anyways, just throwing out some thoughts. Minimally, I think such an emulated system would need to be Raspberry PI and Windows compatible in the software. Probably lesser so with a Mac version.

     

    I'll be following the thread. Just my penny's worth.

     

    Beery

  14. Posted

    Not having played the game, if the chess pieces during the moves were sprites (magnified maybe), it may be interesting to see the move when it takes place. Too many pieces to have all the pieces sprites, so I think it would only work during the actual movement of the piece. Maybe a chat window on the side if both players are online at the same time.

     

    Just ideas........

     

    Beery

    • Like 3

  18. Posted

    it's some html5, css, etc code from R&M Software. Pretty easy to implement.

     

    Thanks for the info. I'm waiting to be whitelisted by the developer to see if Mystic's http server code is sufficient to handle the html code.

     

    Separately, I have a webpage for the 9640News up and available, but have not promoted it as it is VERY VERY basic.

     

    Beery

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    I have added the new Web-Telnet client. You can now connect to FuSiON BBS directly from the site.

     

    I just connected to Fusion through your website. Interesting. What software/etc. are you using to do that? Is it going through the Pi, or through a Windows computer?

     

    Beery

  23. Posted

    Tim, and Michael both have helped to the extent that they can with Rompage and Genmod. Maybe the TI cards do need extra decoding. I am inclined to believe Michael. Maybe your page reservation tool was the fallback everyone used, and if it can be found, I'll give it a try. I would love for this to all work, and will provide any information I can to anyone trying. BUT...

     

    Tim, and Michael both have helped to the extent that they can with Rompage and Genmod. Maybe the TI cards do need extra decoding. I am inclined to believe Michael. Maybe your page reservation tool was the fallback everyone used, and if it can be found, I'll give it a try. I would love for this to all work, and will provide any information I can to anyone trying. BUT...

     

    [email protected]

     

    The LOCK program I mentioned would not directly impact anything on the TIMODE side of the Geneve as I recall. The LOCK program's purpose was to reserve very specific Geneve memory pages from being used in MDOS mode. It was a program that ran, and then was put to sleep I believe. Otherwise, there were a few bytes on those memory pages depending upon the card(s) not properly decoded would change memory. The issue was if you loaded a program and it mapped over those memory pages (>3A, >3C, >7A, >7C, >FA(?), >FC(?)) , you could end up having code changing across a few bytes. This was/is why the Memex with GenMod needed an update to the Eprom boot loader. The modification changed the memory check from checking pages >00 to >3F, to >00 to >39 as page >3A would get memory errors.

     

    To detect if you had a card not fully decoded on a fully expanded Geneve, you could run MEMTEST for the MEMEX on a GenMod system and see if you were getting memory errors on the pages listed above. I do not think page >FA and >FC was an issue. There may be a chance Tim has mapped out some of those pages from the available list of memory pages in some of latter versions of MDOS. Again, that would only address the MDOS mode side of things..

     

    Come to think of it, I am not entirely sure if pages >3A and >3C are mapped, and if so where, in TIMODE on the Geneve. If they are mapped and a card was not fully decoded, there could be memory changing issues. Not an issue with RomPage itself, but an issue with the card not being fully decoded. That would likely be a case where page >3C was not fully decoded similar to the way the Rave Speech card was not fully decoded unless modified. Page >3A should not be an issue as if that were the case, any non decoded card on a non expanded Geneve would have had issues.

     

    Beery

     

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    This is my position to the community:

     

    At this time, the designer of TIPI-PEB won't be able to provide support for use with the Geneve.

     

    I feel it is important that people understand that sentence. I'm trying to communicate with precision.

     

    I will not hold up release of the PEB version for compatibility issues with the Geneve.

     

    If later we learn something such as a required hardware change, I may or may not pursue it.

     

    [email protected]

     

    FYI, I have no issues. You are the developer and I would not want you to hold it up either.

     

    Beery

    • Like 2
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