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TIPI - TI-99/4A to Raspberry PI interface development


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Certificate99 works now...  It opens and closes the printer device 3 times... I convert on device close. So that was causing 3 documents to be generated. :( 

 

I extended the option set that PI.PIO understands to include a '.SP' option ( spool )  So when prompted to enter your printer device for a problem program like this:

 

PI.PIO.CR.SP

 

This disables conversion on close, and resumes use of the previous spool on open. To then flush to PDF, you just go into BASIC and open and close the device without the '.SP' option.

OPEN #1:"PI.PIO"
CLOSE #1

 

A sample from certificate 99:  print_2020_01_01_T23_43_16.pdf

 

Some programs will have issue with modern printers having margins... So I need to look into tuning that... 

 

-M@

 

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5 hours ago, jedimatt42 said:

Some programs will have issue with modern printers having margins... So I need to look into tuning that... 

 

If possible to implement, an 80% toggle for use with graphics based programs might do the trick.  People could always enlarge to fit any available space with the PC's PDF program during the printing process.

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11 hours ago, jedimatt42 said:

 

TIPI is at crubase >1000. I have a rarely used TI floppy controller in there >1100. No others.

 

Yes, by 128KOS, I assumed you also meant Myarc BASIC v2 for the 4A... as far as I can tell Myarc BASIC on the 4A and 128KOS on the 4A are synonymous.  Please correct me if there is a possible ambiguity.

 

-M@

 

 

The software (128KOS and the image files) goes together, but rarely have I seen Myarc Basic called 128KOS.  I wanted to make sure we were on the same page, so thanks for your answer Matt.

 

I do have a couple of questions regarding the Foundation 128K with TIPI which someone other than Matt could probably answer.  I knew the Foundation 128K would run Myarc Basic, however either the DSR for the Foundation 128K is a bit different or the card does not map at multiple CRU's like the Myarc 512K card does.  As we learned a year or so ago, the Myarc 512K sees multiple CRU's.  Would anyone know if using a Foundation 128K Eprom in a Myarc 512K card (assuming the same eprom chip is used) would prevent the Myarc 512K card from answering at CRU >1000?  I think this is controlled by hardware wiring and would not prevent the conflict, but asking for confirmation.

 

About a month ago, I burned a Myarc 512K eprom with a modification to look at a device name of TIPI.128KOS, but without success. The TIPI was at a higher CRU to not conflict with the other controller cards or the Myarc 512K in the system. I wanted to be able to boot Myarc Basic from the TIPI.  Seeing an earlier note, I may be able to test DSK0 which may be another option I had not considered.  For those that may not be aware, the powerup routine of the Myarc 512K card copies a few hundred bytes from the eprom into the module header space at >6000 to create the menu option for subsequent selection and loading of the rest of the files with my understanding it loads 128KOS as the first file.

 

Anyways, was looking for a way to have the Myarc 512K card and the TIPI present in a system and being able to boot from a mass storage device instead of from a floppy drive.

 

Beery

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1 hour ago, --- Ω --- said:

This is so great, I'm freaking out here!  Will this come in the form of a regular TIPI update?  I've already created a folder on my TIPI's SD card called "PDFS" so I'm ready!  ?:thumbsup:

 

Yes, it will be a regular update (it'll take a long time to install though!), and it will create the directories it needs where it needs them, and update the configurations to share the folder as PDFS separate from the share for TI files.

 

So, undo your gun jumping. 

 

----

This update will install a large number of thirdparty packages. And then it will checkout some GPL software from Github, and compile it. And then it updates the samba configuration. 

I will also produce a fresh SD-Image. As far as I can tell all the upgrade failures that have happened over the years now have been due to intermittent network connectivity (a.k.a. 4A too far from your WiFi)

 

----

As for 80% scaling option... if it comes to things like that, I'll have to add a page on the TIPI web interface for users to control complex options.. I don't want it to come to that.. I'm hoping properly specified paper size and margins will do the trick. 

 

-M@   

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10 minutes ago, BeeryMiller said:

 

The software (128KOS and the image files) goes together, but rarely have I seen Myarc Basic called 128KOS.  I wanted to make sure we were on the same page, so thanks for your answer Matt.

 

I do have a couple of questions regarding the Foundation 128K with TIPI which someone other than Matt could probably answer.  I knew the Foundation 128K would run Myarc Basic, however either the DSR for the Foundation 128K is a bit different or the card does not map at multiple CRU's like the Myarc 512K card does.  As we learned a year or so ago, the Myarc 512K sees multiple CRU's.  Would anyone know if using a Foundation 128K Eprom in a Myarc 512K card (assuming the same eprom chip is used) would prevent the Myarc 512K card from answering at CRU >1000?  I think this is controlled by hardware wiring and would not prevent the conflict, but asking for confirmation.

 

About a month ago, I burned a Myarc 512K eprom with a modification to look at a device name of TIPI.128KOS, but without success. The TIPI was at a higher CRU to not conflict with the other controller cards or the Myarc 512K in the system. I wanted to be able to boot Myarc Basic from the TIPI.  Seeing an earlier note, I may be able to test DSK0 which may be another option I had not considered.  For those that may not be aware, the powerup routine of the Myarc 512K card copies a few hundred bytes from the eprom into the module header space at >6000 to create the menu option for subsequent selection and loading of the rest of the files with my understanding it loads 128KOS as the first file.

 

Anyways, was looking for a way to have the Myarc 512K card and the TIPI present in a system and being able to boot from a mass storage device instead of from a floppy drive.

 

Beery

 

A Foundation DSR ROM in your Myarc card won't help you. The DSR doesn't seem to know anything about what CRU it is at... A Foundation DSR will prevent your Myarc 512k card from being able to support the loading process as the Foundation DSR doesn't have any of the loader code in it... It didn't do RAM DISK anything like Myarc.  We have to put a Myarc DSR in the Foundation card to get it to run Myarc Basic. The 512k card sounds like it wants to be the DSK1 emulator...  The link to the Myarc 512k manual on http://ftp.whtech.com/datasheets and manuals/Hardware/Myarc/Myarc 512k memory expansion card.txt is useless. :(  It is just a text file with a link to another URL that is now dead. 

 

-M@

 

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So, back to printing... 

 

I don't know the history of all this, but in the place where I live, our grocery stores carry a paper size called 'Letter' which is 8.5" x 11"  -- ink jet printers had horrible margin requirements, and then they got better, and my laser printer probably prints close to the edge too... 

 

In other parts of the world, default paper size is A4 ( like some genious saw the value in a standard scale... )   .... So when did that happen? were documents in the 80s produced for A4 track feed paper ?  Or did you just tolerate US tom-foolery and buy US paper sizes?   I don't see retro software asking about paper size much... 

 

The RetroPrinter project is geared up for A4. But I think I've hacked it to be US Letter.     80x66 standard characters according to the epson FX-80 manual. 

 

-M@

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2 hours ago, jedimatt42 said:

So, back to printing... 

 

I don't know the history of all this, but in the place where I live, our grocery stores carry a paper size called 'Letter' which is 8.5" x 11"  -- ink jet printers had horrible margin requirements, and then they got better, and my laser printer probably prints close to the edge too... 

 

In other parts of the world, default paper size is A4 ( like some genious saw the value in a standard scale... )   .... So when did that happen? were documents in the 80s produced for A4 track feed paper ?  Or did you just tolerate US tom-foolery and buy US paper sizes?   I don't see retro software asking about paper size much... 

 

The RetroPrinter project is geared up for A4. But I think I've hacked it to be US Letter.     80x66 standard characters according to the epson FX-80 manual. 

 

-M@

 

This probably all started with typewriter spacing, which made the American (12-point) pica type size for typewriters equal to 1/6 inch high with a pitch of 10 characters/inch. This size makes 6 lines of typing equivalent to 1 inch vertically and, of course, 3 lines, 1/2 inch. This allows 60 lines of typing to occupy 10 inches of paper vertically with a 1/2-inch margin at top and bottom of paper 11 inches high—or 66 lines of type with no vertical margin for the same paper height. The 10 pitch of pica typing allowed 75 characters/line with the same 1/2-inch margins, horizontally, on paper 8.5 inches wide. One-inch margins all around on 8.5"x11" paper would require typing 54 lines of 65 characters each. The 80 characters by 66 lines for the Epson FX-80, then, is 1/4-inch horizontal margins and no vertical margins.

 

Of course, most printing before and after typewriters did not have this straitjacket of mono-spaced pica fonts. Even typewriters evolved with different type sizes (my dad typed his sermons on a typewriter with elite, 12-pitch type) and, later, multiple font sizes with proportional spacing (IBM Selectric).

 

Interestingly, at least to me—my dad was a printer as well as a preacher, the pica, though 12 points, was not exactly 1/6 inch. It was defined as 0.16604 inch, which is slightly less (3704 ppm) than 1/6 inch. Keeping to this US Type Founders Association (USTFA) definition, but taking a slight liberty, Donald Knuth defined 1 pica for his computer typesetting system,TeX , as 12/72.27 inch (24 ppm larger), which is interesting to me because it is a repeating decimal that includes repeats of the USTFA’s definition separated by the digits, 400: 0.1660440016604400 ... —Oh, and the denominator is a palindrome.

 

...and, now, back to your regularly scheduled program...

 

...lee

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11 hours ago, jedimatt42 said:

In other parts of the world, default paper size is A4 ( like some genious saw the value in a standard scale... )   .... So when did that happen? were documents in the 80s produced for A4 track feed paper ?  Or did you just tolerate US tom-foolery and buy US paper sizes?   I don't see retro software asking about paper size much... 

 

The RetroPrinter project is geared up for A4. But I think I've hacked it to be US Letter.     80x66 standard characters according to the epson FX-80 manual. 

 

I've seen A4 going back to the 80's.  Why?  Probably some german guy, Gutenberg, got a break on paper prices for a special Project.

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1 hour ago, BeeryMiller said:

I've seen A4 going back to the 80's.  Why?  ...

 

Because this is an international audience, and I want to understand usage and requirements. 

 

Ideallly, someone could point me at software or ti-writer data file that is built for printing on what was normal for the 80s around the globe. 

 

-M@

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In the US:

 

Letter/A-ANSI (8.5"x11"), Legal (8.5"x14"), and B-ANSI (11"x17") for consumer printers.

If you want "Very large" standard sizes, you get C (17"× 22"), D (22"×34"), E (34"×44") and F ANSI (28"×40").

There are other large sizes as well, but not frequently used except for special purposes.

 

In Europe:

 

They use the A-series size chart.

https://www.papersizes.org/a-paper-sizes.htm

 

 

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Sorry, all of you are missing the point of my question, I guess I thought it would be implied by the context of this thread... my bad... 

 

QUESTION:

 

What did your TI software expect regarding paper size? So that I may configure the TIPI printer emulation sufficiently.

 

-M@

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Sorry, all of you are missing the point of my question, I guess I thought it would be implied by the context of this thread... my bad... 
 
QUESTION:
 
What did your TI software expect regarding paper size? So that I may configure the TIPI printer emulation sufficiently.
 
-M@
Letter

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

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Everything US was 8.5 x 11.  I do think some users were able to use the TI-Formatter translitteration codes to change margins and maybe even page length/width, though I am not 100% sure.  That is likely what the Europeans did when printing out TI-Writer documents.

 

Banner programs and other graphic programs typically printed wherever the print head was positioned and would cross continuous feed paper without any white spacing.

 

If one listed a program to the printer, I do not recall there being margins, though at times I had wished there was especially with continuous feed paper.

 

With what you are doing, I am not sure you could cover all the bases.  I think between either printing out source code from the print function of TI-Writer or E/A editor, or separately through the formatter of TI-Writer would cover most cases with the exception of listing basic or extended basic programs to the printer.

 

Beery

 

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7 hours ago, BeeryMiller said:

I've seen A4 going back to the 80's.  Why?  Probably some german guy, Gutenberg, got a break on paper prices for a special Project.

 

The German Institute for Standardization (DIN = Deutsches Institut für Normung) issued the DIN 476 standard in 1922. It introduced the A, B, and C series for paper sizes, with DIN A0 covering exactly one square meter at a ratio of 1/sqrt(2) for the short to the long edge, and every DIN A(n+1) covering half of the area of DIN A(n). The ratio ensures that when you cut the paper from the middle of the long side to the middle of the opposing long side, you get two sheets of DIN A(n+1) with the same edge ratio. The B and C series are used for envelopes.

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I used an Epson MX80 (or was it an FX80?) in the early days and upgraded to a Star Micronics NX1000 dot matrix during my high school / college years.  I wrote all of my papers using Funnelweb's editor and later, MyWord for the Geneve.  The formatter output used a combination of FormFeeds (0x12 12d, IIRC) to force the printer to move paper to the top of the next page and a page length (line count) to manage the output on that page.  Margins and indentations and footers/headers could be set by formatting commands.

 

It's been a good 20+ years now but I am fairly certain 80 characters x 66 lines was the default for what was then 'standard' 8.5x11 tractor feed paper.  I don't recall ever specifying a specific paper type or page size. For graphics printing I made sure the print head was at the very top of the page before printing the image.

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Did you know that paper was invented in China around 100 A.D.? ;)

 

Back to topic: I do not remember a situation where the paper size mattered on my TI/Geneve. In Writer/MyWord, I set my own margins. I seem to remember that printer margins could also be set with ESC sequences, and I knew how to use them back in those days. I only used single sheet A4 paper and track feed A4 paper.

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