Some slight confusion with MAME HSGPL

[jenorton]

Hi:

I think I'm getting the hang of loading and saving carts with the MAME HSGPL, thanks to MIZapf's excellent starting instructions.

Here's where I am still unsure.

There are indications that you can do up to 16 cartridges in the HSGPL.  However, the banks are numbered 00 through 11 (hex), which is more then 16.

So, do I load grom0-2 into all those banks?  Or, do I leave some of them alone.

When saving a cartridge dump from a loaded module, do I just select the areas that are not empty?  My first attemps saved several files, but, I did not change the default selections for rom and grom.  Can I load more than one cartridge into a bank, or does each bank only hold one cartridge?

The instructions from the SNUG web site are very technical, and they talk about starting addresses and headers and such.  In short, they seem rather esoteric in nature.

Also, can I put Extended Basic, and Terminal Emulator II in this setup and use features like the TE2's Text-To-Speech?

I will experiment as well, but, it would be helpful if I had a little more information for someone not as familiar with the inner workings of the system.

One good thing about this is, I cannot break it.  If I save my nvram files, I can blow my working setup away and recreate a working one.  My impression is that, if I had a real HSGPL, I could really mess it up if I selected the wrong options int the configuration program.

Thanks!

[jenorton]

Additional note:

 

I tried connecting the TE2 cartridge and the system just showed a black screen, so I couldn't try to dump it.

 

Also, should it show TI Basic on every bank?

 

Interestingly, with the saved nvram from whtech, I could load the TE2 cartridge, system didn't lock up.  Haven't tried to dump it yet.  

[+mizapf]

You have to load a copy of GROM0 into every bank that you intend to activate. Otherwise the console will lock up.

The banks are numbered 0-15 for the GROM; 16 and 17 for GRAM.

Saving cartridges usually involves saving the occupied GROMs and ROMs; saving more will do no harm.

You can only load one cartridge into a bank, because cartridges may use the same GROMs and then overwrite each other.

Extended Basic and TE-II: in two separate banks

But you can use all devices and subprograms from another bank. I just tried to open SPEECH in Extended Basic, and it worked.

Here is a disk image with GROM 0-2 (BASIC), Extended Basic, and TE-II.

 

contents.dsk