2 Part Cascading Question - SGCPU

[Cory]

First question -

 

Is anyone willing to sell me their SGCPU card and or their HSGPL card?

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I figured that was a long shot so on to question 2.

 

How can we convince Michael Becker to make another run or release the schematics so we could make another run ourselves? I'm sure the cost of a 1-off board is on par with the asking price should one wish to sell theirs.

 

Wantingly yours,

 

Ck

[Willsy]

The HSGPL card is available through emulation, in MESS, along with the EVPC video card. The RAM disks and SCSI cards might be emulated in MESS, too. Can't remember. Best to check out with Michael Zapf, who hangs around on this forum (just check out the MESS threads).

 

It's probably a lot less painful to do it that way than make new boards, which would only be taken up by a miniscule handful of people. Whereas, in emulation, anyone can use it. Same for the Geneve (which is also emulated in MESS).

 

HTH

[+mizapf]

I cannot speak for the SNUG people - next one to ask would be Harald Glaab who also appeared here on the forum; I don't know whether Michael Becker also lurks here. From my last impressions I'd guess that there will be no further hardware manufacturing from them. I believe, though, that they'd be open for fair proposals, maybe a kind of licensing?

 

Keep in mind that you need a TI console to decompose in order to build up a SGCPU card.

 

SCSI emulation is on my list, but still way to go. As the lecture period is over now there's hope for some more time to spend on MESS.

[Omega-TI]

 

Keep in mind that you need a TI console to decompose in order to build up a SGCPU card.

 

 

I cannot remember, but don't you also need a separate video card to be able to use this?

[+mizapf]

Yes, the EVPC with a 9938 on board, and the HSGPL for the GROMs. Essentially, the SGCPU was just the final step to get rid of the console, just like the Geneve (hehe, I know Michael B. will be upset for me comparing the SGCPU with the Geneve ).

[Cory]

The HSGPL card is available through emulation, in MESS, along with the EVPC video card. The RAM disks and SCSI cards might be emulated in MESS, too. Can't remember. Best to check out with Michael Zapf, who hangs around on this forum (just check out the MESS threads).

 

It's probably a lot less painful to do it that way than make new boards, which would only be taken up by a miniscule handful of people. Whereas, in emulation, anyone can use it. Same for the Geneve (which is also emulated in MESS).

 

HTH

 

I will definitely check that out, but for some mysterious reason, I find my interest in the hobby directly and irrevocably bound to the real hardware. I run MESS and Classic99 and really appreciate the work that's been put into them, but I find that my interest quickly fades when I'm using emulation. There's some part of my brain that interrupts my playtime and tells me that if I'm in Linux or Windows that I should be coding in Java / Ruby / C#, not playing with my TI. I'm constantly exhausted by my internal argument and ultimately find myself defeated by a tyrant task master that insists on being practical.

 

When I'm on my hardware, that voice doesn't seem to bother me.

 

I see only two solutions to my problem - spend money on therapy or hardware. Although my wife votes for therapy, I'd rather spend it on making some cool vintage electronics.

[Cory]

I believe, though, that they'd be open for fair proposals, maybe a kind of licensing?

 

I'll reach out to Harald and Michael again and see if they would be interested in a licensing deal. I emailed Michael back in 2010 or 2011 and he promptly replied to me. I've emailed him a couple of times since then and have not received a reply. I'm guessing that he's not ignoring my emails, but rather is not seeing them or perhaps they are landing in his spam folder.

 

 

Keep in mind that you need a TI console to decompose in order to build up a SGCPU card.

 

Oh yes, forgot about that. Although that shouldn't be a problem. I have way too many consoles up in the attic. I've been meaning to get rid of them, but out of sight out of mind.

 

 

SCSI emulation is on my list, but still way to go. As the lecture period is over now there's hope for some more time to spend on MESS.

 

Can I ask a really stupid question here? What advantage does emulating SCSI have when we're in an emulator? Is it because certain hardware and software was designed to only talk to a SCSI controller and therefore will not run under emulation without it? Sorry for the dumb question, but you piqued my interest.

[+mizapf]

 

Can I ask a really stupid question here? What advantage does emulating SCSI have when we're in an emulator? Is it because certain hardware and software was designed to only talk to a SCSI controller and therefore will not run under emulation without it? Sorry for the dumb question, but you piqued my interest.

 

As we already have a working HFDC in the emulation there is not a high priority for the SCSI emulation (accordingly, it is a bit further down my list). But remember that we're not emulating stuff in MESS only to make it easier to use but to preserve the technology.

[RXB]

SCSI is much faster then HFDC and does not have the goofy restrictions of only 39 characters in a path to files.

 

The HFDC sucks as this forces you to create multiple Directories so you can stay within that 39 character limit for a path to files.

 

The HFDC also sucks at the number of files you can have and the size of the Hard Drive you can use, besides the slower access vs SCSI or IDE.

Edited July 26, 2014 by RXB

[+InsaneMultitasker]

SCSI is much faster then HFDC and does not have the goofy restrictions of only 39 characters in a path to files.

 

The HFDC sucks as this forces you to create multiple Directories so you can stay within that 39 character limit for a path to files.

 

The HFDC also sucks at the number of files you can have and the size of the Hard Drive you can use, besides the slower access vs SCSI or IDE.

 

Sorry, I disagree.

 

1. Not necessarily true. SCSI is not always faster. Also see #4.

2. The early SCSI EPROM may have allowed >39 characters but the later revisions were supposed to be reconfigured to adhere to the previous standard for compatibility with existing PABs.

3. The structures used by HFDC, IDE, and SCSI are identical from a file number perspective. Where are you getting the different number information?

4. Benchmarks do not equate to faster access during normal file IO operations. This is akin to past claims of SCSI being faster than a Horizon RAMdisk.

[RXB]

My SCSI on my Read TI sitting next to people that had HFDC were getting smoked.

I am using Baracuda Drives with my SCSI and granted my SCSI was using the better EPROM option of more then 39 character limit.

That option is just stupid as what is the point in hobbling a future for devices. That is like a speed limiter on your car.

 

I never claimed that SCSI is faster then Horizon RAMdisk as I owned a couple. Also my CorComp RAMdisk was slightly faster then my Horizon but much older.

Using RXB to load my 1Meg AMS from HFDC or the SCSI at a Faire testing both on my TI we showed the SCSI was considerably faster then HFDC.

They loaned me the HFDC so I could demo a version of RXB doing this demo:

 

This is like the Demo I did testing the HFDC and SCSI and people at the faire were impressed with the speed of the SCSI.

Never owned or used a IDE or even saw one that worked, just a prototype board so unknown how fast it is for me.

 

Looks like later verisons of the EPROM for SCSI slowed it down as the SCSI bus and Hard Drive buffers that are many times larger then HFDC MFM drives.