A new 99er in Europe

[+Torrax]

I have used SD Formatter to fix a few problematic SD Cards/USB sticks.  Just use the defaults and make sure you select the right drive letter for your SD card.  Some of the smaller cards might be reset to FAT16 after using this.  You can then do a quick FAT32 format from windows to fix this.

 

https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

 

[youxia]

The cards were formatted properly, I've been using the SD Formatter too.

[tmop69]

13 hours ago, youxia said:

I dug out a 2GB card from some other device, formatted it in FAT 32, put a handful games on it, but get the same behaviour like before. It's a micro SD though (I use it with an adapter), do you think this could be a factor?

 

The first screen says something like Press Enter To start, but when I do, nopthing happens. It might be because of my general problem though.

 

That Manic Miner is just a "fake". It's just the title, you cannot play it.

 

[youxia]

1 hour ago, tmop69 said:

That Manic Miner is just a "fake". It's just the title, you cannot play it.

Ah, that's good to know. At least the TI is working properly...but the mystery only-one-file-on-SD problem remains.

 

EDIT: One more question: does FinalGrom make much sense without the 32k expansion (I'm only interested in games)?

Edited May 21, 2022 by youxia

[blackbox]

First take an SD  card, preferably 2 or 4M, that has original factory format and has never been reFORMATted nor Windows Encrypted.  
DELETE everything on the card.
UNZIP the attached file and copy the contents of this zip file into the root directory of the card.
Do not modify anything, do not rename anything.
Your flashram99 should list several playable games which do not need 32k.
If this solves your problem then we have at least moved forward.
Life is a lot easier with Flash or Final if you have a small 32k ram- ensure however that you use an external power supply for a 32k ram, even if they appear to work without.
My experience of SD cards is that once you format them with a PC you may as well throw them out. (The SD Association formatter should however be OK!).
The SD Association point out that using an OS disk formatter will remove the card's "protected area" and result in lower performance. I concur- it may work sometimes but has never worked for me.  The card should not have been encrypted with Windows Bitlocker.



flash99.zip Edited May 21, 2022 by blackbox

[youxia]

Thanks for the files, but I suppose these are the same I was trying so far, they fail to load in the same manner. I did format this 2GB card I have back and forth already with all possible combos of FAT16/32 & SD Formatter and Win formatter too, no dice.

 

I can try and buy a completely new 2-4GB card, even though they are pretty rare around here - I can see only one listing for a new 4GB card. But, do you guys think it will really make a difference to using some old card with SD formatter? Are these devices that sensitive? I mean, I read a bit about F99 and haven't seen this kind of no-Windows! warnings mentioned.

 

Also, does it have to be 2-4GB? For example, this guy says 4-8GB is preferable, and endlos99's page doesn't mention any size limits. They also say it's better to format in FAT32, and for that I need to use the Windows formatter..

 

An, again, is it better to get the "big" sized one than the microSD (which are the ones I've been trying so far, with one 32GB exception)? Has anybody used microSD's succesfuly with F99?

 

About the 32kb expansion, I'm asking because I had an offer of buying FinalGrom. But if I'd also need the expansion to run most games that run on FinalGrom, but not the Flashrom, then it's all becoming a bit too pricey for me.

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by youxia

[HOME AUTOMATION]

2 hours ago, youxia said:

But if I'd also need the expansion to run most games that run on FinalGrom, but not the Flashrom, then it's all becoming a bit too pricey for me.

Neither the FG99/FR99, specifically provide or require 32K expansion memory(HIGH, LOW). The programs you run are what may or may not require the 32K expansion, whether or not you run them from the FG99/FR99, or run them from disk.

 

Very few of the CARTRIDGES made for the 4/4a require the 32K memory expansion(Editor/Assembler, TI-WRITER, LOGO, etc.). Almost all carts will run from FG99.

 

I'm afraid that GAMES are not too big on my list these days. The FG99, can provide many PAGES of ROM/RAM, so, some newer homebrew games may be written to take advantage of that, rather than 32K, expansion memory. The cart. based DSR/DESIRE DEMO for one. Also for some MULTICART images.

 

Although some GAMES have been converted to run using 32K, in place of GROM, for use on the FR99. The titles that have been converted, are a sub-set of the entire TI library, chosen by others!

 

The main improvements to the FG99(IMHO), are it's ability to emulate GROM, support for multi-page images, save a modified image back to the SD card(requires program support), and the upper 4K cart. RAM, needed for the MINIMEMORY image.

 

So, you should still be able to find original versions of the games that have been converted to use 32K, in substitution of GROM. These should run from FG99, without the requirement of the 32K memory expansion.

 

...Hope all this may help a little.

Edited May 21, 2022 by HOME AUTOMATION
CR, spelling, punct..

[blackbox]

I haven't used the micro cards here.

The warning about formatting SD Cards with ANY formatter other than the SD Association formatter (available for Windows) is from the SD Card standards body - although many of my devices also repeat this warning in their docs. It is not trivial. It is not specific to the TI.
If you have to format, make sure you are using the formatter from the "SD Association"

see https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

With the FlashROM the interface is more unforgiving than some devices re timing.

The cards also may have a short lifespan in certain uses - Pi users can find find they have to replace the cards (which hold the OS!) more than once a year- they have a limited number of writes. Restrict any on card editing or updates for a longer lifespan and ensure cards really are "ejected" before removing.

Yes 4-8 gig is the right size. I have found around half of 4G cards won't work with MY FG99, but they work on others which have mildly differing timing requirements, which seems to vary a bit from console to console as well as from Flash/Final module to module, as components do vary. There is historically quite a bit of discussion on the problems of finding a suitable SD card for the devices. Timing is everything. .

The FlashROM github official documentation does say:
"Note that some cards seem to have a difficult personality. If you absolutely cannot get a particular SD/SDHC card to work, just move on and use a different one. "

I have found that cards that won't work on my system will work on someone elses system without a problem, which makes recommendations difficult. My current cards are 4GB SanDisk, Panasonic and C-Team.: For me, no Hama card will work (but fine on audio/visual devices).

MOST classic games modules will be available to run from the FG99 without 32k ram but any games transferred from a disk will need 32k ram- this involves mostly the "unreleased" modules and any newer ones. All BINs from Basic/ExBas games will need 32k ram.

This link https://atariage.com/forums/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=464955 is a repository of Flashram binaries that do not require the 32k ram.

-from the FlashROM documents:
After inserting an SD card, push the FlashROM 99 reset button or power cycle the console.
Only push the reset button when the TI 99 title screen is shown.
Leave both TI 99 and SD card alone whenever the LED is lit and not blinking

regards

Edited May 21, 2022 by blackbox

[globeron]

I have not used the FlashRom for a while  everything with FinalGrom and works very well with 32K  and maybe get a good joystick. I am using Suzo the Arcade joysticks (and adaptor for DB9 to TI).   Join the game competition!

[youxia]

I got an 8GB SD card delivered today - new, and "big" format - and tried it out. Unfortunately the symptoms are the same as before, bothe when I tried it fresh out the box and after formatting in FAT32 with SD Formatter.

 

Most likely clutching at straws here, but could the fact that I'm using 110V stepdown converter could be affecting things somehow?

[GDMike]

I don't think I've ever formatted mine, just copied the right TI files  to my 256Mb sd

Edited May 25, 2022 by GDMike

[HOME AUTOMATION]

Perhaps newer card designs can lose backward compatibility. 

 

I'd go for older, mixed brands...

 

LOT OF 100 MIXED BRAND 2GB SD CARDS(ebay)

 

...I like to think BIG! You might want to try for a smaller lot.

[youxia]

So...finally, the mystery got solved. The problem was with the Flashrom board itself. I have a FinalGrom99 now, and it works fine with all the SD cards I've tried previously. Big thanks to @Hans23 for helping me out with this and selling me the FG99, which is otherwise unobtainium here in Europe.

 

Now I can finally enjoy this exciting, and fairly rare here, vintage machine

 

Got a question about a joystick. I understand that an adapter is needed. I can ask my cable-making guy to use this schematic and make me one, I'm just curious if it's okay to make it for one joystick only (ie not bother with the second male DB9)?

[+Ksarul]

4 hours ago, youxia said:

Got a question about a joystick. I understand that an adapter is needed. I can ask my cable-making guy to use this schematic and make me one, I'm just curious if it's okay to make it for one joystick only (ie not bother with the second male DB9)?

The adapter includes a number of diodes to eliminate potential crosstalk between the lines, but more importantly, there are games out there that require access to joystick 2, so a single adapter can bring you some unnecessary grief. Note that Joystick 2 is used in all two-player games and even as the only joystick in some one-player games (Parker Brothers games and Funware's Driving Demon game come immediately to mind). That said, an adapter that makes it capable to use both joysticks would be your best solution.