512K Cartridge Status

[Gazoo]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-AM29F040B-120JC-AMD-32-PIN-PLCC-PACKAGE-FLASH-MEMORY-NEW-/111226225455?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e599832f

 

These chips are ideal for the ubergrom cart. I've bought several sets so far, they program without fail and work rock-solidly.

 

Gazoo

[+acadiel]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-AM29F040B-120JC-AMD-32-PIN-PLCC-PACKAGE-FLASH-MEMORY-NEW-/111226225455?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e599832f

 

These chips are ideal for the ubergrom cart. I've bought several sets so far, they program without fail and work rock-solidly.

 

Gazoo

 

There's a certain member of this group that bought thousands of these... I'm sure he can probably sell some cheaply and will chime in if so inclined.

[+Ksarul]

Note that the ones Gazoo is looking at are the 29F variant. The ones I have are the 49F type. He seems to be having much better luck with the 29Fs than he is with the dozen or so 49Fs that I've sent him, Acadiel.

[Gazoo]

Note that the ones Gazoo is looking at are the 29F variant. The ones I have are the 49F type. He seems to be having much better luck with the 29Fs than he is with the dozen or so 49Fs that I've sent him, Acadiel.

 

Yes, they're about a buck each as opposed to 25 cents each. But they are much more reliable, in my opinion. Every one has programmed flawlessly so far, and performed 100% in the cart. I'm going with them.

 

Gazoo

[dphirschler]

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

[+arcadeshopper]

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

 

not 32k mem exp.. 32k is 4 banks of 8k ram in the cartridge ram/rom space (6000h) ..

 

http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/supercart/supercart_4bank.html

is a howtobuildyourown sacrificing a munchman or tiinvaders cart..

Edited September 2, 2014 by arcadeshopper

[+Ksarul]

I did this Supercart board just to make the process of creating one a bit easier--and for anyone wanting to build one, you still need to acquire an E/A GROM to make it work.

[+acadiel]

 

Yes, they're about a buck each as opposed to 25 cents each. But they are much more reliable, in my opinion. Every one has programmed flawlessly so far, and performed 100% in the cart. I'm going with them.

 

Gazoo

 

Ah, gotcha.

 

What's the real difference between the 29F and the 49F ones? I'm assuming same pinout, since you can drop them in as a replacement.

[Gazoo]

 

Ah, gotcha.

 

What's the real difference between the 29F and the 49F ones? I'm assuming same pinout, since you can drop them in as a replacement.

 

Different manufacturer, Atmel (AT49F040) vs. AMD (AM29F040B).

 

Gazoo

[+InsaneMultitasker]

 

Different manufacturer, Atmel (AT49F040) vs. AMD (AM29F040B).

 

Gazoo

Are the "sector" sizes the same?

[Gazoo]

Just finished up the docs.

 

 

 

XB v2.7 Suite.doc

 

Gazoo

 

 

Edited September 6, 2014 by Gazoo

[slinkeey]

I stumbled on this.

 

It looks like a FPGA based cart. Willsy might know more about it.

 

Edited September 9, 2014 by slinkeey

[Omega-TI]

 

 

<< AWESOME PHOTO >>

 

OH, what a thing of beauty! I wonder what's with the leads?

I love it "Forth Guru".

[Willsy]

The leads are just there for power, so we can power it up without it being in a TI and without worrying about the TI bus (for now).

 

It's four (yes, 4) Forth processors inside a cartridge. The 4 processors operate *completely* independently of each other (true parallel processing). They share a common memory map so that they can interact with each other; the entire memory map is accessible from the TI side. Registers (on the TI side of the 8K cart space) are used for things like starting and stopping the cores, paging memory in/out etc.

 

Here's the thing: It's *seriously* fast. About 250 MIPs. We're used to the notion of Forth code being compiled (by the Forth compiler that is built into Forth) into code that the processor can execute, but these cores *are* Forth cores. In other words, Forth is the *machine code*. Words such as DUP SWAP DROP etc. are machine code to it in the same way that MOV INC DEC etc. are machine code to the 9900.

 

It has connectors for things like SD card reader and LCD displays.

 

We have no clue what we're going to do with it yet.

 

This whole thing started up as a conversation in the pub over a couple of pints.

 

Our wives don't know a thing about it.

 

Let that be a lesson to you as to what dangerous places pubs are!

[+Ksarul]

I like this one, Willsy! So many interesting things going on with the cartridge port lately. . .30 years after Black Friday, and the community is still kicking and doing thing that were unimaginable back in the day.

 

I definitely wants one of these once they're ready. . .

[Willsy]

They're cool aren't they! Oh, and I forgot to mention, not only is there four Forth processors in there, but each processor can execute up to 3 instructions in a single clock cycle.

[slinkeey]

This really shows that our little TI is still very valuable for learning about relevant technologies, like FPGAs and etc.

 

I always like messing around with things, but never come up with an application. I suppose interfacing the TI is about as relevant as anything else one could come up with, when it comes to learning.

 

---

 

So forth runs on the cart instead of on the TI. Interesting. The TI is basically a terminal, hey? So you basically have to create client software on the TI in order to interact with the Forth computer.

Edited September 9, 2014 by slinkeey

[+Ksarul]

With the Forth computer on the cartridge, you can turn the cartridge port into an I/O device supporting neat things like SD cards that you could plug straight into the cartridge, a USB port with built-in drivers for all kinds of nifty devices, or pretty much any other thing that needs a fast computer to talk to it. . .and then feed that resultant data to your happy little TI.

[Willsy]

So forth runs on the cart instead of on the TI. Interesting. The TI is basically a terminal, hey? So you basically have to create client software on the TI in order to interact with the Forth computer.

 

There will also be a Forth system running on the TI side, too. Something similar to TurboForth (but completely new, not derived from TurboForth). You'll program both the TI and the Forth cores in the same way. Via colon definitions.

 

For example:

 

 

: TEST ... ... ... ;

This code would run on the normal TI

 

 

1: FRED ... ... ... ;

This could would be compiled into Forth core code and uploaded to core 1.

 

 

: COOL TEST FRED ;

 

This word, when executed will execute TEST (which runs on the 9900) and then make core 1 run FRED. Additional words will allow the 9900 side to wait for core code to complete execution before continuing (synchronous execution) if desired, and so on.

 

That's the plan, anyway.

[Willsy]

With the Forth computer on the cartridge, you can turn the cartridge port into an I/O device supporting neat things like SD cards that you could plug straight into the cartridge, a USB port with built-in drivers for all kinds of nifty devices, or pretty much any other thing that needs a fast computer to talk to it. . .and then feed that resultant data to your happy little TI.

 

Exactly. The first thing I want to put on it is an SD card reader writer, and make the Forth system that runs on the TI side much more like an early DOS system, so it'll kind of be like an operating system. It's all pie-in-the-sky at the moment though. Just a fun project for Gary and I to work on.

[+Ksarul]

That's the fun part about this hobby, Willsy--you get to have that wild idea and turn it into something real at your own pace. I love this hobby!

 

And with the way you have the cores talking to the TI, you could call it Concurrent TurboForth. . .

[+Ksarul]

I received 200 of the ÜberGROM boards in the mail today. Looks like I am going to have a lot of fun soldering this weekend, as I sold the last of the previous batch last weekend. . .this batch was done in the same blue mask I used for the PEB boards. They look beautiful (and pictures will follow once I've got a couple of them assembled). This should be enough of them to cover demand for a long time. . .

[Omega-TI]

 

Exactly. The first thing I want to put on it is an SD card reader writer, and make the Forth system that runs on the TI side much more like an early DOS system, so it'll kind of be like an operating system.

 

That's just plain DEVIOUS, everyone would want one!

[dphirschler]

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

[+Ksarul]

I actually have to go through the thread and take all of the lessons learned and input them into the document. There won't be a true final version until Tursi has sufficient free time to code the rest of the loader he's been working on for the GROM side. Other than that, though, the manual will be pretty much done once I put the tweaks from this thread into it.

 

One note: the manual is for the ÜberGROM (Blue Boards--or Green if you got boards from the first run). The description of the banking is relevant to the Red 512K boards though, as it is the same method for both boards. The Black 128Kx4 boards use the Inverted Guidry banking--which is also described in the manual for reference purposes. I should probably write up a manual for the other board types so that people have one easy place to get their questions answered.