Omega-TI Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I've been trying to figure out 'what's next' on my list of 'gotta have it's". So, while I'm still patiently waiting for the Myarc DSDD/80 FDC clone to be released, I figure it's time to prioritize other things. Anyway I'm trying to figure out where on the list to put a SAMS clone, if and when one is re-released. Part of my criteria is: "What's it good for?" To answer that question, I'd like to see a list of programs that actually use that cards potential. Does anyone have a list of SAMS card capable programs similar to the list for F18A compatible programs? Also, I thought I read somewhere (memory failing) about a gadget that ties two P-Boxes together for people who have run out of room to plug in more cards. Anyone have any information on that? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 To answer your PEB gadget question. is Yes there is one and Ksarul has them and is working on final testing before he released them for purchase. the original post can be found HERE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I played Monopoly once which uses SAMS. Pretty sweet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I think I recall a disk copy program that uses the SAMS card as well but I would need to dig around to see if my memory is serving me correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 MIDI Master uses it, IIRC, as do RXB (and Rich's In the Dark game), Turbo Forth, the RAG Assembler, and the C Compiler. There are others too. . .but those are programs I remember off the top of my head 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 There are a bunch of utilities that Bruce Harrison wrote that take advantage of the SAMS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 During a long discussion today with Chris Bobbitt, he let me read the original documentation to the AEMS board. I found an interesting tidbit in there that I didn't know--Winfried Winkler made his Extended BASIC 3 AMS-aware. If you have a cartridge with XB3 and a machine with AMS memory, try a SIZE command. You might be surprised when it shows you 512K (or possibly 1024K, as that amount wasn't possible with the original boards) of memory. . .talk about a huge program memory space that is implemented in a different way than Rich did it with RXB. With that, it seems there are now two useful directions to use AMS memory in the BASIC environment--the RXB way and the XB3 way. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMole Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 If you have a cartridge with XB3 and a machine with AMS memory, try a SIZE command. You might be surprised when it shows you 512K (or possibly 1024K, as that amount wasn't possible with the original boards) of memory. . .talk about a huge program memory space that is implemented in a different way than Rich did it with RXB. Are you saying that in XB3, you can treat the AMS as one big block of memory for code, variables, etc... ? That would be very impressive! I'm sure that will have required extensive changes to the interpreter and garbage collector (and any other parts of the system that handle memory allocation). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 When I was beta testing the program for Winfried (long before the final version that Asgard released), he told me that one of the things he'd done to it was to rewrite the memory-handling routines to make it use the memory expansion as its default memory space for a lot of its activities, without the TI XB detour through the VDP. Chris Bobbitt sent me an AEMS card to pass to Winfried so that he could add AMS memory support, but Life got in the way of me following what happened at that point (divorce and transfer from Europe to the US), so my hobby time was limited for a couple of years. I never got to see the final version until I assembled a SNUG TI a few years later. I only got my hands on a physical cartridge when I built one earlier this year using the XB3 Suite image Gazoo created for it. A 128K AEMS will show about 115K of PROGRAM space. . .and the larger cards will show considerably more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Is Expanded BASIC #3.0 the same program as Winfred Winkler's XB3? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Expanded BASIC 3 in Gazoo's images is Winfried Winkler's XB3. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 TurboForth via the word >MAP Also, there is a library for the SAMS for TurboForth. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 SIZE doesn't show the additional available memory for the SAMS Card with Expanded BASIC #3.0. It shows the usual memory allocation. I have it installed on my HSGPL with a 1 Meg SAMS Card in the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Thanks--that indicates that the manual entry is either wrong (possible) or that it doesn't register memory sizes other than 128K or 512K (also possible). I will have to do some further testing, as I have one of the original AEMS boards to use as a test object. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Also, you have to enter CALLINIT before SIZE to see low memory. Otherwise you get a "Low Memory not Initialized" message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I can't find anything in the manual about AMS support, but it should be easy to test in an emulator. Does anyone have an xb3.rpk file? ExtendedBasic3.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 The note I found was in the two-page AEMS installation manual, not in the XB3 one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I scanned the AEMS installation manual today (it was just two pages). That is where I found my interesting reference. Arcadeshopper, do you have an AMS you can test your original Asgard XB3 cartridge with to see if there is some different code in there than was in the version we're using now? Asgard AEMS Installation Manual.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Over the past couple of years, reading messages and descriptions about this gadget, I'm sold. I'm going to want one when a new run is ever produced. I'm thinking that with some of the new goodies in the pipeline, this thing would be an attainable path for many TI'ers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 I scanned the AEMS installation manual today (it was just two pages). That is where I found my interesting reference. Arcadeshopper, do you have an AMS you can test your original Asgard XB3 cartridge with to see if there is some different code in there than was in the version we're using now? I have neither i have just gazoo's version of the xb3 and the biggest ram I have is a foundation 128.. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 BRAINSTORMING SESSION This is directed mostly at you programming gurus. Now that you guys have the 1.6 version of the F18A available with all it's new abilities... What kinds of things do you envision happening or what things would you do with the F18A and a newly released SAMS card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I have found something, maybe that fits to AEMS. (?) AMS.PC99.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I have neither i have just gazoo's version of the xb3 and the biggest ram I have is a foundation 128.. Greg btw i did size on both my systems and it was pretty much identical.. so 128k does me no good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Note--it is looking for AMS memory, not any of the other expanded memory cards. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 ah, OK. I thought, as there inside the TIdisks are docs talking about @ASGARD^EXPANDED^MEMORY^SYSTEM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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