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Help with running floppies.


DaveH48

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So i have recently aquired a TI Peripheral Expansion unit and external 2 drive floppy with a buncha software. Unfortunately, i am a newb to basic and have only run carts in the 4A before.

 

Can anyone help me out with pointers or links to a detailed guide on how to run games and software from floppy?

 

I believe I have most of the carts/disks needed to do it, just cant figure it out. I have run some catalogs and scans with the disk manager and know at least the drive built into the PEB does work.

 

I have tried the OLD DSK1.FILENAME command in basic but usually get

(Check program in memory)

I/O error 50.

And trying to run them in editor/assemble gives me error code 7.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

 

20200411_222012.jpg

Edited by DaveH48
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9 minutes ago, DaveH48 said:

So i have recently aquired a TI Peripheral Expansion unit and external 2 drive floppy

I'm having a hard time completely understanding this, but from what I can gather is you have *an* external floppy?  (I'm not sure you can have more than one external drive with the TI disk controller).  Anyway, the external drive is always DSK3. if I recall correctly. 

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Many programs can load from extended basic or editor assembler.

Extended basic loads a LOAD program when you start it.

To catalog you need a program. Either type in the one in the disk controller manual or you can run a disk manager. There's a disk manager cart from TI or dm1000 or dm2000..

Depending on the program file you either load it in basic or editor assembler.

If you have a specific program we can be more specific..

Greg

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

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You can have 3 drives on the TI controller

4 on corcomp or myarc

 

Drives are all attached to the same cable bus the internal and external connectors are the same..

 

Drives are all upper case DSK1 DSK2 and DSK3

 

Drives are indexed by drive select cable has to be straight through no twists..

 

You set the drive number on the drive.

 

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, WhataKowinkydink said:

I'm having a hard time completely understanding this, but from what I can gather is you have *an* external floppy?  (I'm not sure you can have more than one external drive with the TI disk controller).  Anyway, the external drive is always DSK3. if I recall correctly. 

I have the PEB and a seperate enclosure with 2 drives that i assumed plugged into the RS-232 expansion port. It was included in the lot that i picked up, but perhaps it went to something else. Its unbranded so its hard to tell.

20200412_001414.jpg

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When I run the disk manager cartridge, and call for a catalog from DSK1, the floppy drive in the expansion bay runs, and I get a list with the correct files that are labeled on the outside of the disk. And the same happens when I run the 

OLD DSK1.FILENAME command in basic, so it is the correct drive number.

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When you type in OLD DSK1.FILENAME, you're supposed to instead type in the name of an actual file on a disk. FILENAME is just given as an example.

 

Sounds like no manuals were included with your system. Here's a good place to start: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/153704-ti-994a-development-resources/

 

It's not always obvious what's needed to run a particular file. That comes with learning and practice. Did you receive any other disks than those shown? On the second Editor/Assembler disk, there should be a game program called TOMB. Insert the E/A cartridge and load this program using the LOAD AND RUN option, typing in DSK1.TOMB when asked for the filename.

 

Do you have any blank disks? Your Disk Manager cart will show if it has been formatted or not. If the disk has a name and shows space available, it has been formatted and is ready to use. Go to console TI BASIC or insert the Extended BASIC cart and write a short program.

10 CALL CLEAR

20 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"

Now SAVE it to disk by typing SAVE DSK1.WORLD or call it HELLO or TEST or any name you wish 10 characters in length or shorter. Type BYE and enter to clear memory, then bring your program back in by typing OLD DSK1.WORLD or whatever you named your first program. Your Disk Manager cart will now show this program and its type and how large it is.

 

When you catalog this disk you'll see your test program your wrote in either console or Extended Basic has a filetype of PROGRAM. But, so does the E/A program TOMB! This can lead to confusion at first when learning the ropes.

 

If your blank disk is factory-fresh, it will need formatting before using, again using the Disk Manager cart. Choose FORMAT from the menu and follow the on-screen prompts, give the disk a name like DISKONE or whatever, just like our program example above.

 

This is short and sweet, but it might help get you doing a few things till you get some reading and practice in.

-Ed

 

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12 minutes ago, Ed in SoDak said:

When you type in OLD DSK1.FILENAME, you're supposed to instead type in the name of an actual file on a disk. FILENAME is just given as an example.

 

Sounds like no manuals were included with your system. Here's a good place to start: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/153704-ti-994a-development-resources/

 

It's not always obvious what's needed to run a particular file. That comes with learning and practice. Did you receive any other disks than those shown? On the second Editor/Assembler disk, there should be a game program called TOMB. Insert the E/A cartridge and load this program using the LOAD AND RUN option, typing in DSK1.TOMB when asked for the filename.

 

Do you have any blank disks? Your Disk Manager cart will show if it has been formatted or not. If the disk has a name and shows space available, it has been formatted and is ready to use. Go to console TI BASIC or insert the Extended BASIC cart and write a short program.

10 CALL CLEAR

20 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"

Now SAVE it to disk by typing SAVE DSK1.WORLD or call it HELLO or TEST or any name you wish 10 characters in length or shorter. Type BYE and enter to clear memory, then bring your program back in by typing OLD DSK1.WORLD or whatever you named your first program. Your Disk Manager cart will now show this program and its type and how large it is.

 

When you catalog this disk you'll see your test program your wrote in either console or Extended Basic has a filetype of PROGRAM. But, so does the E/A program TOMB! This can lead to confusion at first when learning the ropes.

 

If your blank disk is factory-fresh, it will need formatting before using, again using the Disk Manager cart. Choose FORMAT from the menu and follow the on-screen prompts, give the disk a name like DISKONE or whatever, just like our program example above.

 

This is short and sweet, but it might help get you doing a few things till you get some reading and practice in.

-Ed

 

Lol, no i dont actually type "FILENAME" I use the name of the program files either listed on the sleeve or label of the disk, or what appears in the "catalog" list in the Disk Manager program.

 

I have wrote a few programs copying code from books so i will try writing something small and try saving and and then loading it for some practice.

Thanks for the response.

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My guess is those require the Extended Basic cart. Otherwise, looks like you're doing it right. When I made a printed catalog of my disks, I added a note what was required to run them.

 

BTW, the PARTB DIS/VAR80 file is a text file, not a program.

 

The external drives would connect to the Disk Controller card. That's the one nearest the drive inside the PEB. They also require a power supply and of course a proper disk drive cable to match the controller card.

 

Many details to learn!

-Ed

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7 minutes ago, Ed in SoDak said:

My guess is those require the Extended Basic cart. Otherwise, looks like you're doing it right. When I made a printed catalog of my disks, I added a note what was required to run them.

 

BTW, the PARTB DIS/VAR80 file is a text file, not a program.

 

The external drives would connect to the Disk Controller card. That's the one nearest the drive inside the PEB. They also require a power supply and of course a proper disk drive cable to match the controller card.

 

Many details to learn!

-Ed

Ok, there was a cable hanging from the RS232 when I got it, thats why I assumed it plugged in there, but I just looked at it and sure enough, it doesnt connect to the drive. Will have to check if theres another proper cable in the box of stuff later. Also, I have the extended basic cart but hadnt thought to try that yet. Will give it a shot tomm and post an update.

Thanks again.

Edited by DaveH48
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Lol, no i dont actually type "FILENAME" I use the name of the program files either listed on the sleeve or label of the disk, or what appears in the "catalog" list in the Disk Manager program.
 
I have wrote a few programs copying code from books so i will try writing something small and try saving and and then loading it for some practice.
Thanks for the response.
Make sure you are typing in UPPERCASE the filenames and devices are all upper case. The lowercase character set is like smaller uppercase. It's one of the most common mistakes.. alpha lock down

And then you need alpha lock up to use joysticks.... Mistake number 2

Greg

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

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RS232 is for printers, modems and linking to your PC with a null-modem cable.

 

If the previous owner had the external drives connected, then they should already be set up as DSK2 and DSK3, saving you that headache at least! And hopefully a working power supply as well.

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RS232 is for printers, modems and linking to your PC with a null-modem cable.
 
If the previous owner had the external drives connected, then they should already be set up as DSK2 and DSK3, saving you that headache at least! And hopefully a working power supply as well.
PC with a straight through cable..

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Got my first PEB in '86, I recall it took me a good bit of head-scratching figuring out what some mystery file or program needed to run. Sometimes I found out much later certain disks required add-ons or other software I didn't own. Part of the fun is in the discovery of it all!

-Ed

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Yea, this system is kinda funky. The combo of cartridges and floppies makes things kinda nuts. Im fairly well versed in DOS but this Basic stuff just makes me wanna punch something.
They have two carts that give you a dos lake interface but they're not very useful for loading basic programs..

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