RXB Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Personally I would dump TI Basic for the simple reason instead to increase the extra 16K GROM to be 24K of OS in GPL and 8K ROM. i.e. GROM 0 (current OS), GROM 1 (currently TI BASIC), and GROM 2 (currently TI BASIC) also of course ROM 0 (Assembly OS) RXB can run 99% of TI Basic programs especially if you put my REA TI Basic support routines there at that GROM space (4K used), the computer does not know the difference between a CALL LINK called by TI Basic or XB, how they are handled in Assembly are the same. And with 12K of added OS GROM a better memory manager could be created to take advantage of the SAMS memory. Not to mention a F18 MK2 VDP memory manager also. So your board would be able to be the most advanced TI on a single board. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrice montupet Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 You mean that I should remove TI-Basic and replace it with RXB? It is a pretty good idea, I like RXB very much. Can you tell me the way to do? That's done, I succeed to reintegrate the third expansion slot 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 You mean that I should remove TI-Basic and replace it with RXB? It is a pretty good idea, I like RXB very much. Can you tell me the way to do? That's done, I succeed to reintegrate the third expansion slot No I said I have written Editor Assembly support that goes into where TI Basic Resides taking less than 4K space, and TI Basic currently takes 12K of the 16K space available. This leaves 12K of open spaces when TI Basic is removed. On a side note RXB can run 99% of TI Basic routines, and STANDARD XB CALL LINK will run those same LINKS but no TI Basic as XB does not support characters 144 to 159, which RXB does. Just socket TI Basic chips so can be replaced, in the future. (After RXB 2018 I am working on a upgrade to TI GPL OS) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrice montupet Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 Ok, now I understand better what you said, I"m french and sometimes it can happen to me to have some difficulties to understand exactly some sentences.All the IC are socketed, so upgrades are made easy. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+9640News Posted August 9, 2018 Share Posted August 9, 2018 Fabrice, Will your TI(ny) Computer be available for purchase? Or, is it more of just a personal project of your own? Beery 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrice montupet Posted August 9, 2018 Author Share Posted August 9, 2018 At the beginning, it was just a personal project for fun. But, as some of you were interested to get one, I have modified it for TMS9918A support (and not only the TMS9929A), it will be available for purchase. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrice montupet Posted September 9, 2018 Author Share Posted September 9, 2018 I introduce you the microcomputer TIny-99 / 4A version 2.3This project, following the TIny-99/4A v1 project, brings several modifications and improvements. Starting with a significant reduction in the size of the motherboard. It measures 25.1cm x 21.6 cm, a small size considering the number of embedded components.The micro-computer, still architectured around the TMS-9900 now has more memory. In addition to the 32KB memory expansion it adds 1MB of SAMS RAM memory, which can be extended to 4MB. Other new features: the Real Time Clock and two additional expansion slots which now increase to 3 the number of cards that can be plugged to the motherboard. The very first TIny-99/4A initially used the VDP TMS-9929A, now it can also receive a TMS-9918A (NTSC version). Some other details will be presented soon.Here is a picture of the first assembled motherboard of TIny-99/4A v2.3:For information, the motherboard is on 4 layers and represents nearly 400 components for a total of 2284 pins. Note: The small card (that only contains the 2 SAMS SRAM chips) that goes to the RAM expansion slot (near the 74LS612) not appears on the picture. I will take one soon) 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted September 9, 2018 Share Posted September 9, 2018 (edited) Now that is a thing of beauty right there! Nice job Fabrice! Edited October 4, 2018 by Shift838 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted September 9, 2018 Share Posted September 9, 2018 i am in awe. so cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjduplooy Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Now THAT is a thing of beauty Fabrice!!! I soooo want one. Do we have AtariAge on the Dark Web, where payment is accepted in bodyparts? (Just kidding). Awesome work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Yeah, it is fantastic, great job Fabrice, wow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Looks just right to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 This is fantastic. You know, I gave up my entire TI-99/4a collection, but I'd certainly be interested in one of these if it ever became available to purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aftyde Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 Incredible - I would definitely be interested in buying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillespieatari Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 Very nice project. I would be interested in buying one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+chue Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 TI(ny) writeup on HackADay: https://hackaday.com/2018/09/12/tiny-is-a-new-take-on-the-ti-99-4a/ 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Is there an estimated price as of yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrice montupet Posted September 15, 2018 Author Share Posted September 15, 2018 I'm sorry about the delay of my answer, I was very busy these last days.Thanks to all of you and your kind messages :-)I still haven't calculate the price, I will tell you more next days. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 Thank you, Fabrice! This is beautiful and I really must add one to my collection once they are available! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted September 17, 2018 Share Posted September 17, 2018 definitely following for the price announcement that is such a fabulous labor of love. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbite Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 <snipped>Back in the 70's TI made a device called the University Board. Basically a 9900, some ram, a small monitor in rom and a modified calculator. You would just key in assembly code on the calculator. Would you want to create Parsec? No, but it was pretty fun for learning assembly and testing yourself by writing small programs on paper and getting them to work. So, would I like to have a brand new University board, YEP! <snipped> Dan Not meaning to derail this thread, but... Interesting that you mentioned "...Would you want to create Parsec?..." on a University Board. Funny thing is, that - indirectly - the University Board played a big role in creating Parsec. During my first co-op/intern stint at TI Home Computer I borrowed a University Board and played with it (a lot!) after work. I cut my teeth on TMS9900 assembly language with the University Board, because at that time there was no 99/4A assembler package. Heck there wasn't even a 99/4A - only the 99/4. So the University Board was the only system I could take home and work on after a TI work day. After my first co-op term TI let me take it back to college with me. The result of that was a University board project that interfaced a PAIA 3 octave keyboard with two TMS9919 sound generators. When I returned to TI for a second co-op term the 99/4A was about to be released. While the Mini Memory was being developed we wanted users to be able to experiment with assembly language programming without needing a PEB. I remembered how much I liked the University Board line-by-line assembler, so we located the source code for it in TI and I ported it to the Mini-Memory. Shortly after we finished up with the Mini-Memory, TI management paired Jim Dramis and I together with the directive, "We want you to work together to make a space game". That was all of the direction we had. The experience gained, errors made, and hours spent, on the University board and LBL assembler were definitely a part - indirectly - of creating Parsec. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbite Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Fabrice - that is REALLY NICE work! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrice montupet Posted November 5, 2018 Author Share Posted November 5, 2018 Thank you Urbite! I received (and populated) the mini PCB for the SAMS memory expansion and the derivation of the cartridge connector (to fix on the case). So I can say that the electronic part of the computer is nearly completed, I am just waiting the keyboard PCB that I have realized and ordered.The small PC case that I had in sight to adapt it to my TIny-99/4A v2 motherboard is out of stock, I have to wait for it to be available.In the waiting I have made another case for the motherboard, a case which I planned to make later for a fully loaded setup, equipped with two 3.5" floppy drives and two SCSI hard drives. This Flex-ATX PC case is a little larger than the first one. The case is based on the Corsair Carbide Air 240, healy modified: The metal plate that holds the motherboard has been lowered to permits the housing of TI cards (they are higher than PC cards), holes cut on the front panel for the floppy disk drives and the cartridge port, and for Turbo LED segments too. Creation of a metallic cage for disk drives and a dock for inserting cartridges. The rear side has been modified too, for accessing to the several connectors (vidéo, joystick, keyboard, ...). Note that it's just a proof of concept and not an official computer case. The motherbard will be available with a SAMS card, a cartridge extender connector, power cables and a keyboard but without a case.Here is a picture: 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Oh my... fantastic ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 I really like this! C'est très bon, Fabrice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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