Tursi Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Well, it's not clear to me if it's useful to you, but here's the one. Note that since they're PC99 files, they have a six byte header. TerryTurtle.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 9, 2016 Author Share Posted May 9, 2016 Oh, they're all suffixed with "GRM"? Well, then I will have another look. I would not expect a ROM image in a file named that way. Anyway, thanks so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+acadiel Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Hey guys. I linked to a MBX.zip file a couple times now in another thread that has the pure dumps of most of the carts :-) Directly from Michael Becker..... If I recall correctly, the disks have the original dumps on them as well as replacement cart headers and source code for a HSGPL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) Oh, they're all suffixed with "GRM"? Well, then I will have another look. I would not expect a ROM image in a file named that way. Anyway, thanks so far. All PC99 (ROM) files are suffixed with GRM, and the rest of the filename is my own invention so I knew what to do with each one, so don't get hung up on the naming. Edited May 10, 2016 by Tursi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+acadiel Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Well, it's not clear to me if it's useful to you, but here's the one. Note that since they're PC99 files, they have a six byte header. TerryTurtle.zip From the Gramulator manual (explaining the headers and order the GROM* files were in from PC99 carts): 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 13, 2016 Author Share Posted May 13, 2016 @Fritz442: Would you mind picking up your multimeter once more? Or anyone else? I'd like you to check the connections as shown below: - orange lines (starting at the rightmost circuit, pins 1, 4, 10, supposedly going to the ROM. Where do they end? By the way, these three pins are fed by three flipflops, one for each of the last three bits. This means that the mapper could work with values 0-7. It depends on the rest of the board what values are acceptable. - magenta pins: where do they come from? - yellow line: where does it end? Also, to determine the kind of ROM on the board: Could you figure out the address bus and data bus lines? I guess the pins 11-13 and 15-19 are the data bus, and address lines are on pins 2-10 and 21 and 23-27. You can check the data bus most easily against the GROMs (left side, pins 1-. The address bus is on the connector, pins 8-30 on top and pin 23 (bottom) Strangely, if that were the case, the address line A14 would be locked to Vcc (1). Could you have a quick look at the other cartridges whether pins 27 and 28 are always bridged? (Note that TI numbers the busses in the opposite direction, so A14 on the ROM is the 2^14 line (corresponding to TI's A1)) Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 @Fritz442: Would you mind picking up your multimeter once more? Or anyone else? I'd like you to check the connections as shown below: - orange lines (starting at the rightmost circuit, pins 1, 4, 10, supposedly going to the ROM. Where do they end? By the way, these three pins are fed by three flipflops, one for each of the last three bits. This means that the mapper could work with values 0-7. It depends on the rest of the board what values are acceptable. - magenta pins: where do they come from? - yellow line: where does it end? Also, to determine the kind of ROM on the board: Could you figure out the address bus and data bus lines? I guess the pins 11-13 and 15-19 are the data bus, and address lines are on pins 2-10 and 21 and 23-27. You can check the data bus most easily against the GROMs (left side, pins 1- . The address bus is on the connector, pins 8-30 on top and pin 23 (bottom) Strangely, if that were the case, the address line A14 would be locked to Vcc (1). Could you have a quick look at the other cartridges whether pins 27 and 28 are always bridged? (Note that TI numbers the busses in the opposite direction, so A14 on the ROM is the 2^14 line (corresponding to TI's A1)) Thanks! Hey Michael, I have a Bigfoot cart that is inoperable, give me till this weekend and i'll snatch all chips off there and post pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 13, 2016 Author Share Posted May 13, 2016 Thanks, Fritz442! I hope you don't take off all chips just for this purpose, since I just need the info about these few lines for now; should be a five minute job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Thanks, Fritz442! I hope you don't take off all chips just for this purpose, since I just need the info about these few lines for now; should be a five minute job. Oh no, you get 1 removed...you get them all...LOL 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 14, 2016 Author Share Posted May 14, 2016 OK, now this is some GIMP work on your photographs with both sides aligned over each other. The ZIP file contains the GIMP file (can't upload XCF ... I don't really understand this whitelist hassle; blacklist would be enough) with two layers, and the JPEG is reduced to a single layer, where I overlayed the other layer with a 50% transparency. pcb_mbx.zip 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 Phew, that was quite some work, but I think I've got an answer to all my questions now ... (created with LibreOffice Draw) 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 You guys are scary. I wonder what you could reverse engineer over beer and chips while locked in a basement over a single weekend. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 You guys are scary. I wonder what you could reverse engineer over beer and chips while locked in a basement over a single weekend. I would think the first order of the day would be the lock. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 And the second order of the day would be to capture the person who locked us in the basement and put them down there--with a much better lock. Then the rest of us could go out, have a few beers, and design some really neat stuff together. . .sort of like we do at the Chicago Faire already. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 Indeed, I hope that no one of my students sees what I do in my free time ... I'm not sure whether this would be helpful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 Great ... with Flottmann1's assistance we now have fresh, verified dumps of all MBX cartridges, replacing the hacked versions. Some of these carts only work with the MBX console, but I have one here on my shelf (thanks to Ksarul!), and maybe I'll find some time to analyze it and to create an emulation in MESS. Don't worry, the hacked versions will stay available as RPKs. There will be lots of ROM changes with the next MAME release for the TI family. When you upgrade, you'll have to download a new set of ROMs. I already uploaded them to WHTech as ti99_complete.zip, and I'll post another heads-up here shortly before the release. Talking about RPKs, I'm planning to add a new XML layout file to the RPKs which is fully compatible to the internal MAME softlist. Eventually, it will replace the current layout.xml, but this may take some more time, possibly the release after the next one. The new format is more flexible than the layout.xml, and better structured, so there is no reason to stick with layout.xml. For some transition time, both formats will be supported. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 If someone of you has the Popeye cartridge and can open it (without excerting major force), could you tell me whether it has GROMs and how many? The dumps that we have seem to be far too big (lot of stuff supposedly not belonging to it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 (edited) The Parker Brothers cartridges all have a pair of strange little chips in them that act a bit like GROMs. They are what give you the menu selections and the other static cartridge data (according to the documentation that was posted here a couple of years ago, and Parker Brothers called them CROMs, IIRC). There is also a picture of a Popeye cartridge board in this link. The guy mangled it to create a donor cartridge for his Java Grinder software on the TI. . . Edited May 21, 2016 by Ksarul 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flottmann1 Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 I have lying around a broken QBert here, will make Pictures from it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flottmann1 Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 (edited) here the Pictures from this rare Modul Edited May 21, 2016 by Flottmann1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flottmann1 Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 (edited) now I found an ever open Popeye Module, see here Edited May 22, 2016 by Flottmann1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 Looking at these gives me an idea. I think I shall take the giant box of cartridge boards I have leftover from the various homebrew cartridge projects and take pictures of the top and bottom of each board variety that I have for every cartridge type in the box. That will create the beginning of a nice virtual reference set for cartridge boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 22, 2016 Author Share Posted May 22, 2016 Maybe we can upload a copy of such a gallery to Ninerpedia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 Maybe we can upload a copy of such a gallery to Ninerpedia? Who do I talk to about fixing Nnerpedia? QUOTE "Note: The use of the REDO key was removed due to restricted buffer space." RXB 2015 E has the REDO Key and I fixed this issue with buffer space and CALL USER by manipulation of priorities. So works just like normal XB or RXB CALL USER. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted May 22, 2016 Author Share Posted May 22, 2016 Just to remind everyone here on the forum, Ninerpedia is a Wiki, and anyone caring for a good presentation of important facts and particularly of the own work is cordially invited to log in and add some text. The information about RXB is, indeed, a bit terse. @Rich: I just added the above line to the article as you suggested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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