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Seeking Super Space II by DataBioTics


FDOS

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Now that I have a Super Space II, I really need help resolving a serious problem I have with it.  I guess no-one is still following or paying attention to this thread any longer.  Meaning I should initiate a new topic.  I will do so after lunch today.

 

Retro Bill

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3 hours ago, Ksarul said:

We're still following it, Bill--new posts in an old thread get just as much attention as a new thread would--with the added advantage of having all of the data in one place.

That's great because this has not been a good day for me.  The serious problem is as follows; first off the original battery is absolutely dead (assuming it's never been replaced prior to yesterday); the replacement seems to be good, but I performed the test on page 8 of the manual; results are first step good, second step failed.  In which case, they say replace battery, but it still tests like new, so something else has to be the problem.  If not the Super Space II, then maybe something in my console causes the reprint to report all "0's" ?  I'm using the following TI-99/4A (Silver & Black) with F18A & USB wireless keyboard, TI Speech and NanoPEB (V2, F18a V1).  I also get the same results with the TI Speech & NanoPEB removed.  I haven't, yet, tried the only other working TI-99/4A (beige).  Any suggestions on how I should proceed will be welcome.

 

Retro Bill

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It is possible that the motherboard you have in there is a QI board--and if so, @OLD CS1 is right about the problem being there. Also, if the old battery leaked at all, the battery may be good but is not making good contact. You might want to take a close look at the battery holder and the area around it for corrosion residue.

 

Those are my first thoughts on this one.

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This might be something we can recreate the logic for to create reproduction CRU banked carts with current PAL/GALs.  The CRU writes are pretty simple.  We'd just have to figure out DBT's pinout on the cartridge (what they have hooked to where).  I did pinout the TI Workshop cart at one time (earlier in this thread) - I have no idea why it had all almost all the cart address lines on it for the PAL, but I'm gathering it only manipulated three of them.  

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11 hours ago, adamantyr said:

I'm happy to get the cart to someone who could really use it! I suppose it's no surprise the original battery is completely dead. Hopefully you can get it working with a replacement.

 

Adam

Yes, I am the guy!  I'm very happy to inform you that I now have your (now mine) Super Space II working 100% for my BCART operations!  Now I'm having FUN again.  Once I discovered that the test sequence on page 8 in the manual is wrong, and did it the correct way; I also found that the ROM/BANK test I have for Super Cart is also wrong, so I rewrote it, and now I can test and use all 4 banks, as intended.  So, no more complaining.

 

Retro Bill

 

P.S.  BTW the batteries I ordered on-line arrived (BR2325), but the manual says they should last two or three years with normal use, so I'm set for a couple of decades.

Edited by FDOS
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On 5/9/2020 at 7:33 PM, Ksarul said:

It is possible that the motherboard you have in there is a QI board--and if so, @OLD CS1 is right about the problem being there. Also, if the old battery leaked at all, the battery may be good but is not making good contact. You might want to take a close look at the battery holder and the area around it for corrosion residue.

 

Those are my first thoughts on this one.

Not to worry.   As I told Adam, once I discovered that the test sequence on page 8 in the manual is wrong, and did it the correct way; I also found that the ROM/BANK test I have for Super Cart is also wrong, so I rewrote it, and now I can test and use all 4 banks, as intended.  I did all of this early this morning, so I'm happy and ready to go back to bed.

 

Retro Bill  (Smiling)

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1 hour ago, acadiel said:

This might be something we can recreate the logic for to create reproduction CRU banked carts with current PAL/GALs.  The CRU writes are pretty simple.  We'd just have to figure out DBT's pinout on the cartridge (what they have hooked to where).  I did pinout the TI Workshop cart at one time (earlier in this thread) - I have no idea why it had all almost all the cart address lines on it for the PAL, but I'm gathering it only manipulated three of them.  

I wish all you guys complete success, as now that I have my Super Space II working they way I need it to, the PAL is the only serious concern I have with it, as I have enough batteries for it to last a couple of decades.

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Obviously, I was sleep deprived yesterday, as I've now discovered that Super Space II is not memory mapped to >6000->7FFF, like I assumed (I know and accept it).  This means that only bank 0 is useful for BCART, I only hope that I or some kind sole can modify the BCART source code to use it accordingly; otherwise the PAL would have to be modified for memory mapping, and I certainly can't do that.  Not so happy now.

 

Retro Bill

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On 5/12/2020 at 6:59 AM, FDOS said:

Obviously, I was sleep deprived yesterday, as I've now discovered that Super Space II is not memory mapped to >6000->7FFF, like I assumed (I know and accept it).  This means that only bank 0 is useful for BCART, I only hope that I or some kind sole can modify the BCART source code to use it accordingly; otherwise the PAL would have to be modified for memory mapping, and I certainly can't do that.  Not so happy now.

 

Retro Bill

 

What's the problem? All the supercarts are mapped to >6000 to >7FFF (8k), you just can only have one page at a time. Were you thinking you'd have the entire 32k accessible at one time?

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  • 2 years later...
On 3/29/2020 at 6:41 PM, acadiel said:

TI Workshop uses a PAL16R4A-2CN.  64K.  27512 EPROM.  None of my programmers can read/write these.  There likely needs to be an older model for this kind.

 

PAL16R4A-2CN Pinout:

 

1 - N/C

2 - DBIN

3 - A12

4 - A11

5 - A10

6 - A3

7 - A8

8 - A1

9 - A0

10 - GND

11 - VCC

12 - N/C

13 - N/C

14 - N/C

15 - A13

16 - A14

17 - A15

18 - CRUCLK

19 - A4

20 - GND

 

No idea why they hooked up all these address lines when they only really needed to control four of them.  Plus, they left out A2, A5, A6, A7, and A9.  Thoughts?

 

 

4AC02758-08DF-44AD-A204-CC31271A329D.jpeg

F9803E94-9BD4-45B4-B5F2-312B5C15E44D.jpeg

I hate to necropost… but I just built this beautiful gizmo - a DuPAL, which will let me “brute force” the PAL in my TI Workshop cart.

 

Gotta wait for my MAX232 (legitimate ones) to come in… and will try to dump this PAL16R4.

 

I’ve been in a dumping mood lately… Hexbus CPU ROMs, now PALs.  :)

 

022691BA-6341-434C-889D-E1CBDE806B48.jpeg

8CAB9E85-6781-441E-9C27-F10C2868BD5C.jpeg

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