Omega-TI Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Things are really hopping in the TI community right now, especially since Ralph's FlashROM 99 has opened up so many possibilities. Just look at all the easy to obtain programs a person can already use with a stock TI and the FR99. Now, with Jedi Matt's future Mini side-car 32K expansion, the stage will be set for people with space limitations, or those in Europe who cannot easily or cheaply obtain a big and bulky P-Box to do so much more. Now that they can easily download programs for their TI, one thing is missing... a mini side-car HDX compliant RS-232 device. Think about it, with a gadget like that, they would be able to save and load programs, call the BBS or even use Stuarts Internet browser, the programs are already there waiting to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 yea baby! I brought this up some time ago as well. I would think especially with all the OpenSource hardware components available someone may be able to make something like the HDX Rs232 but in a SideCar option. I have seen multiple projects like this for Atari, Commdore and more all over the web. I thought about a small mini sidecar that was modulular based. So a user could have the ability to add a 32k expansion, RS232/HDX interface and maybe even a DiskController all in a mini sidecar that would not take up hardly any space and be extremely light. Not to mention it could possible even be a DIY as well. So a super small Micro 99'er PEB! With all the hardware Genius' in our TI community I would think it's possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Fred already designed a 16550 uart version for the pbox.. prob not a big stretch to migrate it to a sideport? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Fred already designed a 16550 uart version for the pbox.. prob not a big stretch to migrate it to a sideport? Greg Hmmm, last time we had a 16550 introduced into the TI community it was in the V2 Nano-PEB and it was incompatible with most everything. If a side-car unit came out, I'd want it to at least be usable with existing software and HDX compatible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 This is hdx compatible Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 This is hdx compatible Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk Really! Now that would be cool for sure. The Nano-PEB was only partially compatible IIRC, in that you could copy stuff using a special program, but one could not run programs directly from it. On a side-car unit, without disk drives, being able to directly load & save would be a must. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 (edited) One more comment, if someone decided to setup a console, system with 32K and side-car HDX/RS-232 in this configuration without disk drives, they would actually have more available memory for Extended BASIC programs. Stack memory using a floppy drive controller Stack memory using an HDX without a floppy drive controller An extra 2088K Now that experiment was done a long time ago, and I'm not going to rip my FDC out to check, but I wonder if you would get a memory gain with Cortex BASIC 80? Imagine, a little extra memory in your 80 column BASIC (using an F18A) on your FlashROM 99. Sounds good to me! Edited July 27, 2016 by --- Ω --- 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 2k or 2088 bytes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 2k or 2088 bytes HA HA! So true, a typo on my part... or maybe just wishful thinking! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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