Classic99, a 4A System and HDX Server

[Willsy]

Friends

 

I decided to find out if Classic99 and a real 4A could work with the *same physical* files, hosted on a PC and served to the TI using Fred Kaal's HDX Server.

 

The answer is yes. You can develop code on the PC, and when you want to test it on the real 4A, there is no need to transfer with a TIFILES header and run it through Archiver blah blah blah... Just connect the TI to the PC with a serial cable, and type OLD HDX1.<filename>

 

You can then modify the *same* file *on the TI* if you want, and later re-load it in Classic99 to continue work!

 

Fantastic.

 

Here is a video proof-of-concept:

 

 

Enjoy. This is a REALLY cool system. Much nicer than a nanoPEB in my view, because to transfer all your old 5.25" disk files to the PC with HDX you need to do nothing more than copy them using DM2K.

 

Awesome.

 

Mark

Edited June 25, 2011 by Willsy

[Willsy]

My next task is to resurrect an old laptop that I have in the garage (it has a serial port) and install it as a permanent file server. I'll probably remove the hard disk completely, as they can't be trusted long term. I'll install Windows on a USB key and have it boot from that. I'll host all the TI files on an SD card.

 

With such a setup, one can simply copy all their old floppy disks to the PC using subdirectories and not have to rely on 25 year old disk drives and disks.

 

I'll go on the lookout for a really tiny (i.e. miniature) PC, one that I can attach to the back of the PEB. It can sit there with no keyboard or screen attached and just serve files from solid-state media.

 

Nice!

[matthew180]

Flash devices of *any* kind, like hard disks, can not be trusted long-term either. Personally I don't use any mass storage device for more then 3 years. Hard drives are so cheap and easy to image these days, it is just not worth having one crash on you. And flash devices have a finite number of writes, and if you use them as the primary storage device for an OS (especially a Windows OS), you are going to wear them out a lot faster than, say, in a digital camera or as a periodic backup device.

 

I'll go on the lookout for a really tiny (i.e. miniature) PC, one that I can attach to the back of the PEB. It can sit there with no keyboard or screen attached and just serve files from solid-state media.

 

Seems that part of the advantage of getting the files to a PC would be to have them available via your network, and even more so to your primary computer so you can take advantage of the enhanced development cycle. Just using HDX as a hard-disk replacement, isolated to the 99/4A itself, seems to defeat half of the advantage. Also, I don't know if Fred has a Unix version of the software, but running a "blind" Windows machine would be a total pain in the ass, IMO.

 

Recently I picked up a Roland DXP-3300 XY Plotter (very cool, D-size bed on the thing!) and it has a serial port. With a $20 serial-to-bluetooth adapter, I now have a wireless plotter. And on the PC side the connection is a bluetooth-to-USB adapter (small, cheap) that create a virtual COM port, so I don't have to mess around with a real serial port; which is not really a problem other than they are going away fast from modern motherboards. My 1.5-year-old motherboard only had a serial port header and I had to dig up the cable to bring it to the back panel. Anyway, the bluetooth solution was cheap, it works, it is modern, and wireless is nice!

[idflyfish]

Nice video Mark! My hats off to Fred...beautiful.

[marc.hull]

Enjoy. This is a REALLY cool system. Much nicer than a nanoPEB in my view, because to transfer all your old 5.25" disk files to the PC with HDX you need to do nothing more than copy them using DM2K.

Awesome.

Mark

 

Agreed. Internet to PC to TI without trouble and you get to use your other toys at the same time . Thanks for the video K....

 

I will definitely be contacting Fred.

[+Vorticon]

Well, I finally got my RS232 card modified with the HDX hardware and firmware, and it works just as advertised, although for some reason only my really old Compaq Armada with Win 2000 was able to connect to it via the serial port. I had no success with WIn XP on a somewhat newer laptop for some reason. I'm probably going to get a USB to serial adapter and see if I can get my relatively new desktop with Win 7 to talk to the HDX. This will be relatively handy since my TI shares the monitor with it, and the HDX server can simply run in the background.

The disadvantage of the HDX is that it does require physical proximity to a laptop or PC, which can be problematic from a desk real estate standpoint.

The advantage, as compared to the CF7 for example, is that you still get to have your PEB and full use of all the enhanced cards you may have (SID, IDE, SAMS, PCODE etc...).

Now I should mention that Paolo's TI99-PC for Windows is another alternative for file transfers if you have a PC with a floppy drive (3.5" or 5.25"), and it has the advantage of creating real disk images from any emulator disk image. I know most people look for the reverse operation, but I'm still a sucker for keeping my TI software on floppies There is just something about a spinning floppy drive that keeps reminding me of the golden age of classic computing...

[Cory]

Like you, I love to keep my software on floppies and code directly on the real thing. That said, the killer app part of HDX is, IMHO, the ability to read and write the same file in Classic99 and on the TI transparently is just super cool and very efficient.

 

I can do power editing on the PC emulator, compile and test on classic99, then load and run on the TI without the overhead of file transfers etc..

 

Truly cool!

[moulinaie]

Friends

 

I decided to find out if Classic99 and a real 4A could work with the *same physical* files, hosted on a PC and served to the TI using Fred Kaal's HDX Server.

 

...

 

Enjoy. This is a REALLY cool system. Much nicer than a nanoPEB in my view, because to transfer all your old 5.25" disk files to the PC with HDX you need to do nothing more than copy them using DM2K.

 

Awesome.

 

Mark

 

Hello,

 

English not being my natural language, I have some problems to understand it all.

The global philosophy yes, but details not.

 

What hardware is required?

Can you precise that?

 

THanks a lot!

 

Guillaume;

Edited September 2, 2012 by moulinaie

[Willsy]

I think there is a software only solution, but I have not used that, so I will let others comment.

 

For the hardware solution, you need a modified RS232 card. The hardware is available from Fred Kaal. The hardware is a small board with an 8K ram (for holding the new DSR) and a battery for the RAM. The old TI DSR is removed.

 

The new DSR can support the HDX protocol on RS232/1. You must run a server program on your PC (your PC needs a serial port).

 

The server program needs to know where the TI files are stored on your PC. I set the file location to classic99/dsk3 and I configure DSK3 in Classic99 to use V9t9 format files. Now, Classic99 and HDX (the real 4A) can use the same files!

 

Because the new board sits on top of the old board, you must cut a hole in the top of the case of the RS232 card for the board, or, just run the card with no case...

 

RS232/2 remains the same and can be used for normal serial communications.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mark

[moulinaie]

...

Hope this helps.

 

Mark

 

This is more than clear now!

If the modified RS232 card is easely available, this is really a good solution: no floppy errors, no CF7 problems as I have because of lots of CF move between the TI and the PC and, as you say, the same physical file.

Great!

 

I have to think about that...

 

And, there is no limit for the amount of files? I mean that if my PC folder has 1.000.000 ti programs, I can access them all via HDX (it is not a floppy image).

 

Guillaume.

[ti99iuc]

Yes, intersting... i would want purchase the kit too for try...

someone know how to contact Fred Kaal ?

[+Lee Stewart]

Yes, intersting... i would want purchase the kit too for try...

someone know how to contact Fred Kaal ?

 

Fred's hardware project page that includes the above is here.

 

...lee

[ti99iuc]

Perfect thank you Lee... so it's the new website ... good, i must add the link at my favourites

[Willsy]

And, there is no limit for the amount of files? I mean that if my PC folder has 1.000.000 ti programs, I can access them all via HDX (it is not a floppy image).

 

I'm not aware of any limit - you might not want to catalog the disk from the 4A side, though!

 

The HDX DSR supports sub-directories, IIRC.

 

When I first got the HDX there were many bugs in the server end of the system. I sent detailed bug reports to Fred and he fixed them! It is now reliable system.

 

Mark

[+retroclouds]

I would be interested in such modified card as well. A group buy would be something we could consider.

Too bad Fred is not on this forum.

Edited September 3, 2012 by retroclouds

[+Vorticon]

 

RS232/2 remains the same and can be used for normal serial communications.

 

Mark

I think you have to install an interrupt switch before you can use RS232/2 for regular serial communications because the interrupt trace is cut during the modification.

[+Gemintronic]

Flash devices of *any* kind, like hard disks, can not be trusted long-term either.

 

I think he was talking about booting from a USB stick. You can make a "mini" Windows environment usually called "WinPE" that does not usually write to the media. As you probably already know the limitation on flash memory is how many times it can be erased. No writes means no erase cycles.

Edited September 6, 2012 by theloon

[CantStopClicking]

This sounds interesting. I haven't tried this method of transferring (yet) but it sure sounds like a great long term solution to being able to work and develop on PC and utilize on real TI hardware. (That's my preference)

 

Has anyone tried to build Fred's 16C550 UART interface? More complicated but significantly higher speeds.

 

I only have MFM and Virtual Disk Manager to compare serial speeds but...... its seriously slow. I find writing directly to floppy via TI99PC much faster. A lot of hassle though for development and testing.

 

I gotta try the RS232 upgrade soon!

 

-D

 

"Long Live the TI-99/4a!"

[Barry Nelson]

So can the interrupt line be reconnected once the DSR is loaded?

What about replacing the RAM and battery with a X28HC64P-12 Encapsulation:DIP-14,5 Volt, Byte Alterable E2PROM, like this article shows:

Link to RS232 EEPROM replacement article

Could that be used instead of RAM?

[Gary from OPA]

I still would like to see the DSR on the NanoPEB that has a serial port upgraded to handle direct HDX setup.

 

Whenever I have time I going to disassmble the DSR myself and see if I can write in support.

[+arcadeshopper]

So can the interrupt line be reconnected once the DSR is loaded?

What about replacing the RAM and battery with a X28HC64P-12 Encapsulation:DIP-14,5 Volt, Byte Alterable E2PROM, like this article shows:

Link to RS232 EEPROM replacement article

Could that be used instead of RAM?

 

Yes, i turn it back on and off with a jumper in my builds.. you need it for comm software like telco/teii

 

ymmv on changing the circuit..the dsr should be loadable on anything in that memory space, getting it there would be the trick. If you could just use that as the pin compatible ram without a battery in the circuit then of course it would work..

[Omega-TI]

I was working on a real simple program today, using Classic 99 as I like to do the majority of my programming on it, but I needed the HDX, to load the program on the TI since Classic 99 only reads the clock and does not support writes. Anyway, I noticed a difference in the way the Classic 99 reads the time off it's clock, as opposed to the way Real Iron reads the clock

 

On Classic 99 it read the day of the week as 4 (incorrectly)...

 

And on the TI it reads it as a 3 (correctly)..

 

Has anyone else has ever noticed this?

 

BTW - the two screen captures really are the same exact program, pay no attention to the black screen image.. for some reason I could not adjust the TI screen capture properly.

 

P.S. - If you want to try to get the image to come out correctly, good luck. (It's included in the attached zip file).

TI Screen Capture.zip

[+Lee Stewart]

I was working on a real simple program today, using Classic 99 as I like to do the majority of my programming on it, but I needed the HDX, to load the program on the TI since Classic 99 only reads the clock and does not support writes. Anyway, I noticed a difference in the way the Classic 99 reads the time off it's clock, as opposed to the way Real Iron reads the clock

 

On Classic 99 it read the day of the week as 4 (incorrectly)...

 

Actually, that is correct for Classic99. The Classic99 manual clearly states that the days of the week are numbered 1 – 7, not 0 – 6.

 

...lee

[Omega-TI]

 

Actually, that is correct for Classic99. The Classic99 manual clearly states that the days of the week are numbered 1 – 7, not 0 – 6.

 

...lee

 

Interesting, the CorComp manual is wrong too, as referenced with << this one >> I just found... complete with hand written corrections from someone in the past who discovered this as well.

 

Tursi is usually spot on in his emulation, but this is certainly NOT his fault... his reference material was obviously BOGUS!

[Tursi]

Sorry about that. I've never had a clock, so I implemented from the documentation I had. Can we confirm then that days of the week on the CorComp clock should be 0-6?