pcard PCARD & Psys Questions

[+hloberg]

working on the Pcard & Geneve Psys. Making progress but one thing I can't find info on is how to look at or modify the SYSTEM.STARTUP. tried Editor but that don't help. and SETUP doesn't seem to address the startup file.

any experts?

by the way, when I get this all streamlined, documented and working I'm going to post on my project blog series of post on the PCARD and Geneve Psys. It's not that bad and the Psys seems to work OK. oddly,the Geneve Psys seems just a little slower than the PCard in MAME.

Edited December 16, 2021 by hloberg

[+9640News]

Not an expert myself.  Do you have the source code?  The source is at BeeryMiller/PSYSTEM (github.com) if that would help you any.  

 

Have you been able to assemble/compile/run any program yet?  I bought a book trying to understand the system, but never had any luck.

 

Beery

[+hloberg]

looked at some of the code but really have gleaned anything about the startup. as for not is working so far only Freeform spreadsheet and Pilot doesn't work. They both give stack errors when run in Psys but run fine in Pcard. but that could be due to the setup file for psys v. pcard. I'm looking into that.

also the backspace doesn't seem to work in the menu, also could be a setup issue. in the setup you define the chars for the arrow keys etc...

system.startup is like an autoexec.bat for psys/pcard. I have a modified startup that does some interesting things like redirects PIO. would like edit. I know I saw a document somewhere on how to edit but can't remember where. still looking.

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by hloberg

[+hloberg]

OK, as long as you stick with the basics that comes with the psys and it runs fine. try anything else and you get any form of error.

of course I have fiddled with but haven't gone thru the complete edit to compile process to see if that really does work. I'll try that in a couple days.

did find something interesting, you can make PASCAL files to at least 1440 blocks in size with the MKVOL tool and the file seems stable. got everything in one file that way. you can also have up to 6 drives as files, each with there own unique name.

oh, one other thing I haven't completely figured out if can be done is using the printer. getting there though.

[+hloberg]

OK, it looks like the editor>compiler works. And here is a GDRIVE with PSYS on it that you can add to the already existing MAME/MESS emulation package from my PROJECTS blog as HD3. 

GDRIVE.zip

original PROJECT blog post:

NOTE: I plan to create a more detailed discussion on the PSYS later on my PROJECT blog.

you can download the pcard/psystem manuals here: aa-ti994a.oratronik.de/UCSD_Pascal.zip

 

to run the psys change to drive G:/psys. then execute batch file RUNMAIN. this will take you to the main menu of the PSYS.

I gotta tell you, you can tell the manuals for the p-card/p-system were written by engineers (snark). they bury really important information as passing comments in the manuals and have almost no examples. they just leave you to figure it out.

SO, here are a bunch of helpful notes I pulled from the manuals.  

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number Name Description- this is an alternate way of identifying a drive
#1 CONSOLE: Keyboard and display with echo
#2 SYSTERM: Keyboard and display without echo
#4 (volume name): 1st disk drive (this is your main boot drive)
#5 (volume name): 2nd disk drive (to refer to DSK1. just refer as DSK1. in pSYSTEM runtime)
#6 PRINTER: 9600 baud RS232 input/output
#7 REMIN: 300 baud RS232 input
#8 REMOUT: 300 baud RS232 output
#9 (diskette name): 3rd disk drive
#10 (diskette name): 4th disk drive
#11 (diskette name): 5th disk drive
#12 (diskette name): 6rd disk drive
#14 OS: Operating System
#31 TAPE: Audio cassette tape
#32 TP: Solid State Thermal Printer

139, 8B=cursor down
137, 89=cursor up
138, 8A=cursor right
136, 88=cursor left & bs
10, 0A=ETX

#4=1st disk
#5=2nd disk
#9=3rd disk
#10=4th disk
#11=5th disk
#12=6th disk

runtime = PSYSTEM v4 v5 v9 v10 v11 v12

volumes can be any name not just PASCAL

 

= is wildcard in Filer
 
H at main menu exits psystem

? gets next page of commands on main menu

 

to use vol name: NAMEOFVOL:
the TIBASIC program on G: MKVOL creates blank psys vol:
for 1440 psys create 2880 on HD.
for 720 psys create 1430 file on DSSD.
for 320 psys create 720 file on SSSD.
format for creating files: drive.dir.filename

 

E)ditor - file name #x:filename to load a file.

**Use INSERT to begin editing a new file.
In INSERT use Ctrl-C to save the file. if you hit Esc the file is erased.

The Q at main Edit menu and then Update to save file to disk.

 

Fctn-1 <del> Deletes a char
Fctn-2 <ins> Inserts a char
Fctn-3 <flush> Stops writing the output to the screen
Fctn-4 <break> Stops a program and initializes the system
Fctn-5 <stop> Suspends a program until a key is pressed
Fctn-6 <alpha-lock> Toggle upper to lower-case and bacK
Fctn-7 <screen left> Scrolls screen left by 20 columns
Fctn-8 <screen right> Scrolls screen right by 20 columns
Fctn-9 <line delete> Deletes the current line
Ctrl-C <etx/eof> end of a file - also used to exit Insert mode and save file
Ctrl-. <esc> Tells a program to ignore the previous text
Ctrl-I <tab> Moves the cursor to the next tab

 

Problems:

In main menu Ctrl+left arrow moves cursor to the left but doesn't show. Just start typing to change characters. but it still my error out.

if you forget the # in assigning console number to a command, it sometimes locks up the computer.

 

Have fun and let me know your experiences with it.

 

[+hloberg]

FYI: I never did figure out how to edit the SYSTEM.STARTUP file which is really irritating since I swore I once saw a text on the process. 

next I move on with converting some of my XB games to AdvBASIC. I found the XB games run up to 5 times faster in AdvBASIC! Also another stab at making sense of funnelweb 80 and C and turning that into a package.

[+hloberg]

post of tutorial and bug list for PSYS

 

[+9640News]

The PSYS.zip file in the above link has a file of zero bytes in it.  Looks like something happened to the upload.

 

[+Vorticon]

On 12/17/2021 at 5:38 PM, hloberg said:

FYI: I never did figure out how to edit the SYSTEM.STARTUP file which is really irritating since I swore I once saw a text on the process. 

next I move on with converting some of my XB games to AdvBASIC. I found the XB games run up to 5 times faster in AdvBASIC! Also another stab at making sense of funnelweb 80 and C and turning that into a package.

Message apersson on AA. He's the pcode guru for the TI.

[+Lee Stewart]

2 hours ago, Vorticon said:

Message apersson on AA. He's the pcode guru for the TI.

 

Indeed, @apersson850 be the P-Code guru.

 

...lee

[+hloberg]

4 hours ago, 9640News said:

The PSYS.zip file in the above link has a file of zero bytes in it.  Looks like something happened to the upload.

 

all fixed.

had a little issue with a bad copy from an sd-card. fortunately I'm a paranoid and makes LOTS of backups when working on something. 

[+hloberg]

4 hours ago, Vorticon said:

Message apersson on AA. He's the pcode guru for the TI.

thanks, I'll DM him when I come back around to the p-card plus a few other questions. Finding I kinda like working with the p-card (as opposed to the psystem on the Geneve which is a tad bit buggy). the p-card is, different, in a good way.

Edited December 23, 2021 by hloberg

[+9640News]

36 minutes ago, hloberg said:

thanks, I'll DM him when I come back around to the p-card plus a few other questions. Finding I kinda like working with the p-card (as opposed to the psystem on the Geneve which is a tad bit buggy). the p-card is, different, in a good way.

If I may, and if you have the capability, can I suggest you create a short video launching the program, using the editor, saving a file, compiling the file, and then executing it as a youtube video?  if you do, I would then like to link to the video from my website 9640news.com as a reference.

 

And FWIW, I got further along with the PSYSTEM tonight on the Geneve than I ever have.  I was able to get a directory listing and was able to X)ecute / run the SETUP.CODE file.

 

Are there other PCODE programs out on the internet one may find useful that could be run on the Geneve?

 

Beery

[+hloberg]

57 minutes ago, 9640News said:

If I may, and if you have the capability, can I suggest you create a short video launching the program, using the editor, saving a file, compiling the file, and then executing it as a youtube video?  if you do, I would then like to link to the video from my website 9640news.com as a reference.

 

And FWIW, I got further along with the PSYSTEM tonight on the Geneve than I ever have.  I was able to get a directory listing and was able to X)ecute / run the SETUP.CODE file.

 

Are there other PCODE programs out on the internet one may find useful that could be run on the Geneve?

 

Beery

what I have on the .hd are the ones that I tested and work. the spreadsheet, pilot, and a few others I tried with the geneve psystem always blew up with memory errors. the same programs worked fine with the p-card.

still, I am attaching a crap load of files such as the ones I mentioned above and a lot others. like I said, i found most won't run but maybe seeing the error might tip you off what's wrong.

by the way, the 2 biggest problems with the psystem is it's lack of blinking cursor, you never knew where you were and the arrow keys don't work so there is no way to edit a file once it has originally been typed in. Fix those 2 and the psystem would be very much more improved.

FYI: I did try fixing the arrow key issue through the SETUP but it never seemed to work.

I've been getting request for videos on several things so I guess it's time to learn how to create them. but it'll be a little while. I have a water color class and a robotics class to teach come the beginning of the new year and gotta study up on both.

 

utils.zip

Edited December 24, 2021 by hloberg

[apersson850]

Creating a SYSTEM.STARTUP file is almost as easy as creating any program at all.

You write the program as a normal source file, using the system's Editor. Save the file with any file name you find appropriate, e.g. STARTER. That will create the file STARTER.TEXT.

Now run the Complier to create the code file STARTER.CODE.

Once this is done, you use the Filer to copy the file STARTER.CODE to the * volume, i.e. the disk you have in #4: (or DSK1 in "standard" TI language) when you boot the system. Once it's there, use the Filer's command to change the name of *STARTER.CODE to *SYSTEM.STARTUP.

Now you are done. The next time you boot the system, either by powering on or by pressing Initialize from the system prompt, the p-system will do all the normal startup things, then run your SYSTEM.STARTUP as the very last thing, before it hands over to the system's command line.

 

It's of course also possible to use the chain command to run an application from here. In such a case, you get what was called a turnkey system, i.e. a p-system which started directly into an application. Then the user doesn't have to/can't run anything else from the systems's menu.

 

So to create the startup program is simple enough. What to acutally put into it to do what you want to do may be something else. Setting up the PRINTER: port is one common task in a startup program. Reading a real time clock and automatically set the system's date may be another, if you have such a clock in your TI.

Edited December 25, 2021 by apersson850

[+hloberg]

@apersson850 if you will, could you go over editing, step by step, a file example. I think I'm almost figuring it out on the Geneve psystem. gotta tell ya' the missing cursor sure makes it tough, but I'm getting there.

here's the example:

 

PROGRAM HELLO;

WRITELN ('HELLO WORLD');

END.

 

change WORLD to THERE on line 2.

thanks, HLO

 

by the way, I just tried copying the SYSTEM.CHARAC file from a good P-Card disk to the geneve psystem. it didn't help.

also, when, and if, I get it all working I'm going to post an addendum to the PSYSTEM tutorial.

 

[+9640News]

OK, I went looking through the source code to PSYSTEM looking for the flashing cursor routine.  In the source code in BIOS2, there is only one routine that calls the MDOS XOP KSCAN command library.  It handles the flashing cursor looking at the clock timer at >F131.  If the byte is >30 to >34 one state of the cursor, and >35 to >39 another state of the flashing cycle.  That code is apparently working as the cursor does indeed flash when the PSYSTEM is first run waiting for the keypress.

 

I believe the flashing cursor issue is likely in one of the SYSTEM.* files, but that is only a best guess at the moment.

 

 

 

[+hloberg]

22 hours ago, hloberg said:

@apersson850 if you will, could you go over editing, step by step, a file example. I think I'm almost figuring it out on the Geneve psystem. gotta tell ya' the missing cursor sure makes it tough, but I'm getting there.

here's the example:

 

PROGRAM HELLO;

WRITELN ('HELLO WORLD');

END.

 

change WORLD to THERE on line 2.

thanks, HLO

 

by the way, I just tried copying the SYSTEM.CHARAC file from a good P-Card disk to the geneve psystem. it didn't help.

also, when, and if, I get it all working I'm going to post an addendum to the PSYSTEM tutorial.

 

OK, I figured it out. I can now edit using P-Card. Whoopy!

the problem comes with the psystem with the arrow keys not working right. In the P-Card you can move down to the next line using the arrows but can't in psystem where the arrows just display odd characters.

[+hloberg]

47 minutes ago, 9640News said:

OK, I went looking through the source code to PSYSTEM looking for the flashing cursor routine.  In the source code in BIOS2, there is only one routine that calls the MDOS XOP KSCAN command library.  It handles the flashing cursor looking at the clock timer at >F131.  If the byte is >30 to >34 one state of the cursor, and >35 to >39 another state of the flashing cycle.  That code is apparently working as the cursor does indeed flash when the PSYSTEM is first run waiting for the keypress.

 

I believe the flashing cursor issue is likely in one of the SYSTEM.* files, but that is only a best guess at the moment.

 

 

 

 I tried copying the SYSTEM.CHARAC from the p-card to the psystem but that didn't do anything.

@9640News was there ever any specific documents for the geneve psystem. there are some differences such as reference to a .NFC(?) file in the setup. also a few added commands & some missing. It also might be some of those differences that maybe got screwed up?

Edited December 27, 2021 by hloberg

[+9640News]

55 minutes ago, hloberg said:

 I tried copying the SYSTEM.CHARAC from the p-card to the psystem but that didn't do anything.

@9640News was there ever any specific documents for the geneve psystem. there are some differences such as reference to a .NFC(?) file in the setup. also a few added commands & some missing. It also might be some of those differences that maybe got screwed up?

There were never any documents with the PSYSTEM that I am aware.  We just got the source files and that was it.

Beery

[+hloberg]

26 minutes ago, 9640News said:

There were never any documents with the PSYSTEM that I am aware.  We just got the source files and that was it.

Beery

so does that mean that the SYSTEM files were probably just copied from the P-card to the psystem? isn't the char set different between the TI99 and the geneve?

[+9640News]

1 hour ago, hloberg said:

so does that mean that the SYSTEM files were probably just copied from the P-card to the psystem? isn't the char set different between the TI99 and the geneve?

I have no idea where those files originated.

[+hloberg]

Eureka!!! I don't know why I didn't try this before but pressing ENTER acts as a Down Arrow in the Editor in Psys on the Geneve. Add using ctrl+left for backspace and have a crude and workable way to edit an already created files with the X(change command in Edit. on the p-card you have all 4 way arrows but at least this works now if you are willing to retype the whole line you want to edit.

Now if could only get a visible cursor things be good.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by hloberg

[+hloberg]

well I messed with several of the settings in SETUP to see if I could get that cursor to show, no luck. there is a setting for TICK COUNT and CLOCK, neither made any change. played with the various settings for the arrows, etc... no help either.

Odd thing, in SETUP you can set the memory to 64k or extended. was set to extended and if you change to 64k it just locks up the system. also in the code is references to reading the Geneve keyboard and the TI99 keyboard? wonder if at some time they were considering releasing their psystem for the TI99 too?

also with memory set to extended may be why several of the other non-system programs blow up with memory errors. may be the memory is mapped different in some places? they probably thought you would just recompile the programs on the Geneve, maybe?

oh and another thing, I completely removed the SYSTEM.CHARAC and it seem to have no effect what so ever on the psystem. I doubt it ever reads it and just uses the geneve default character set. may also be why changing the characters for the arrows in SETUP never changed anything.

Edited December 28, 2021 by hloberg

[+dhe]

Is the psystem source code in github?