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Balance of Values - A Plea for the Next TI-99 Supercomputer


Switch1995

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Necessity is the mother of invention, so as I see it, a better question than, "What features do you think should be in the next TI?" would be, "What is it you wish you could do on the current TI but can't?" Then we can hone in on the most critically needed upgrades.

 

THAT is a good way to look at things! And with what I would like to do, I'm thinking that after work tonight I'm going to have to start researching exactly what PGRAM card can do. I may be wrong, but I think I've read here and there that it has a battery backed memory that you can store programs in, has an onboard MBP type clock and works and with BOOT which would be available instantly upon turning on the computer.

 

I think I also read that someone has bare boards for this thing, or at least the files to get them made and that all the parts are readily available.

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The most successful hardware projects are those that provide an immediate added value to existing software without the need to write anything new. The F18A is a great example because not only does it add VGA output it also removes sprite flicker in existing games. Rocky007's mouse interface for the joystick port would be another.

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What I find fascinating is that a similar discussion has been raging for YEARS in the CoCo community about a possible "CoCo 4" to the point where not much has gotten done.

 

Similar flights of fancy have "plagued" Amiga community for years, but to the point that people have actually done something and taken things in different directions: AROS and AROS68k, MorphOS, AmigaOS4, ad naseum, and it seems that each camp cannot get along with the other.

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The most successful hardware projects are those that provide an immediate added value to existing software without the need to write anything new. The F18A is a great example because not only does it add VGA output it also removes sprite flicker in existing games. Rocky007's mouse interface for the joystick port would be another.

 

Do you have specs on that? I have been thinking about a quadrature mouse interface for the TI.

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The most successful hardware projects are those that provide an immediate added value to existing software without the need to write anything new. The F18A is a great example because not only does it add VGA output it also removes sprite flicker in existing games. Rocky007's mouse interface for the joystick port would be another.

 

Agree. The problem then becomes that there is not a lot you can do as far as hardware upgrades that *existing* software can take advantage of. Keyboard kits, joystick mods, the VDP (and only because it is socketed), and some sort of disk / RS232 replacement. We have most, if not all, of that stuff. Uber RAM cards / cartridges, etc. all require new or modified software to take advantage of them.

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Agree. The problem then becomes that there is not a lot you can do as far as hardware upgrades that *existing* software can take advantage of. Keyboard kits, joystick mods, the VDP (and only because it is socketed), and some sort of disk / RS232 replacement. We have most, if not all, of that stuff. Uber RAM cards / cartridges, etc. all require new or modified software to take advantage of them.

 

One item that many of us do NOT have, just popped up again recently on my radar that appears to fit the bill nicely. The PGRAM+ card for the P-Box... it has LOTS of software that will work with it. :) Hell even R.I. users could stuff RXB into it if they wanted.

 

From what little I know about it, I understand it can store multiple programs for instant retrieval later, due to it's battery backed RAM. So I guess the average guy can have almost anything, kind of like a custom 512K cart that can be endlessly modified with no need for a special chip burner. If a new version of a program comes out or you just want to change things up a little, no sweat, just load in the new version and you're good to go. I like the concept.

 

What I don't understand; is it easy to put the programs on it? I seem to remember a thread about a year or so ago where someone was having some problems. I remember a lot of lingo about memory locations and crap like that. WOULD AN AVERAGE GUY BE ABLE TO USE IT?

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Well, you could start your understanding of the PGRAM+ by reading the manual.

 

ftp://ftp.whtech.com/datasheets%20and%20manuals/Hardware/Horizon%20-%20Bud%20Mills%20Services/pgram+%20operating%20&%20construction%20guide.pdf

 

It's actually very simple to use. I had two of them for about 20 years, so I think I know them pretty well. Advanced users can so some really great things with them as well, I learned to program GPL by starting with the examples in the manual and entering them into the PGRAM+'s built in memory editor. In fact, the memory editor in the XB v2.7 cart is the exact same one used in the PGRAM+. It was pretty easy to lift out of the source code for the PGRAM+ DSR. When you're done reading the manual and have questions, ask specific ones and I will answer them.

 

Gazoo

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Thanks Gazoo,

I printed up the docs and will be looking them over tonight. If I manage to score one of these I'll be a happy camper.

 

med_gallery_35324_1027_380936.jpg

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Ooohhhh. . .That makes a nice use-case for a protoboard. I'll have to look at that one and test it out on one of the boards I have here at the house. . .it should be an easy build too, once I have the parts for it and a wire-wrap tool. I actually found some Kynar wire at the nearby Radio Shack the last time I went in there to get a project box. That was a pleasant surprise, as was the level of stock in their electronics parts bins. Not much of it was useful to us, but I did find a few reasonably priced items I needed.

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This is what we need, something like it but designed for the TI99 power users:

 

mist_board.jpg

 

It is nice FPGA board optimized for the Motorola 68000 core and being used to emulate the Atari ST computers

 

See more info here: https://code.google.com/p/mist-board/ and: https://www.facebook.com/groups/105586892805903/?fref=nf# and: https://www.facebook.com/groups/105586892805903/?fref=nf#

 

This is something I think would be wonderful for the TI99 community, a similar setup, but since we already have the F18A and things like the UberGrom and NanoPEB, we just need a small little FPGA board, to emulate the core of TI99, the tms9900 (CPU) and 9901 (CRU) and 9919 (Sound) and the tiny scratchpad RAM, with a socket to plug the F18A and cartridge port to use normal cartridges and/or UberGrom and the normal edge connector to allow usage of NanoPEB or your old PEB, this would greatly cut the cost down, instead of doing a super complete thingie like the Geneve 9640.

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  • 7 years later...

I'm bumping my first ever post to atariage after taking a break from the hobby for several years.  TIPI is even better than I dreamed of in 2014.  I just started writing a program on the TI, edited it in the web interface, and reloaded on the TI in real time.  Mind. Is. Blown.  Awesome job to everyone who worked on that project.   Incredible.

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Welcome back.

Yes, I think that guy has a head as big as the moon by now..we might want to tone it down a bit. 

 

All kidding aside. Matt has done phenomenal stuff and I'm so fortunate to be able to use my computer in the way I do now.

 

 

Edited by GDMike
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10 hours ago, Switch1995 said:

I'm bumping my first ever post to atariage after taking a break from the hobby for several years.  TIPI is even better than I dreamed of in 2014.  I just started writing a program on the TI, edited it in the web interface, and reloaded on the TI in real time.  Mind. Is. Blown.  Awesome job to everyone who worked on that project.   Incredible.

Hey, thanks for your first post way back. I paused to think about how my project (Geneve 2020) sizes up in those categories. 

 

  1. Nostalgic Value
  2. Functional Value
  3. Collector Value
  4. Actual Value/Cost


if I made and sold 10 of them I’d be happy.  keeping my cost between $300-$500 for a working system is tough. 

 

Compatibility is also a very high bar. That’s  where all the  nostalgic value is generated. I don’t want to lose a single potentially interested person because of poor software compatibility. I’ve got several notebooks filled with my thinking on solving these problems. Some of them are very hard, like emulating the 8-bit memory mapped behavior, on a 16-bit bus.
 

A factor of my own is: what does a next-gen computer give back to the 4A community?
 

I considered it might become a fantastic programming and debugging platform for GPL or MDOS. But we already have awesome dev tools on PC and Mac. 
 

But exploiting new features is kind of the point. And takes the most programming time.

 

I hope Geneve 2020 generates new interest in software that runs on a 9640 (I aim at 100% MDOS compatibility) or uses the 9958. Perhaps it will be a fun platform for F18A programming. (You could swap out the video card)
 

I decided that all hardware that I make will be open source (OSH). On the slight probability of “back porting” to the 4A or maybe Geneve 9640.
 

 

Edited by FarmerPotato
Factors
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