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TIPI - TI-99/4A to Raspberry PI interface development


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I did all of my boards in ExpressPCB and Copper Connection, unfortunately, or I would send you mine.

I enjoyed using Copper Connection, but decided to move to Kicad so there isn't a money barrier to open source EDA files...

 

Thanks for the offer... I'll just build the component :) Then it will be in my projects on github if others want to copy them.

 

I didn't see anything in the hardware design guide for the pitch of the PEB edge card connector? Is it the same 2.54" as the sideport?

 

Thanks!

-M@

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I enjoyed using Copper Connection, but decided to move to Kicad so there isn't a money barrier to open source EDA files...

 

Thanks for the offer... I'll just build the component :) Then it will be in my projects on github if others want to copy them.

 

I didn't see anything in the hardware design guide for the pitch of the PEB edge card connector? Is it the same 2.54" as the sideport?

 

Thanks!

-M@

 

Yes, the PEB edge connector is 100mil pitch or 2.54", just like the side port.

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The hardest part is to get the outside dimensions of the board connector just right to fit into the PEB connector and to be easy to insert while you do it. And the connector is definitely on .100 centers (2.54mm). TI pretty much standardized on that type of connector with the entire TI-99 family. . .

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The hardest part is to get the outside dimensions of the board connector just right to fit into the PEB connector and to be easy to insert while you do it. And the connector is definitely on .100 centers (2.54mm). TI pretty much standardized on that type of connector with the entire TI-99 family. . .

I'll have to check my layouts against your 2014 prototype board, and your SAMS 2016 board. :) Should make for a couple good references.

 

I notice the TI boards have a angle cut on the edge connector... We'll see how I do at this.

 

---

 

Today's milestone: PROGRAM image save. :) It made for a good excuse to play some Tunnels of Doom :)

 

-M@

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Very cool. I bet it costs more to have fingers (edge connectors) made on the boards from Oshpark. The process is different to plate them - there's typically some nickel plating for durability on the fingers, then gold if you choose to plate them in gold that is. They have to route around the connector portion since the fingers all connected together for plating when they panelize your board. As for the little angle on the connector, that should be done as part of the routing. The beveling is another step.

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They (OSHPark) doesn't seem to offer any options with regard to edge connectors... I've printed those little adapters from my sideport header format to TI sideport edge connector, and it looks like they 'refined' my design so the cut isn't right through the copper. The fingers appear to be plated the same as solder pads, which they describe as: Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold. There is pretty good evidence that OSHPark doesn't extend and join when they panelize. But that may be worth considering if I shop around for other printers.

 

-M@

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The hardest part is to get the outside dimensions of the board connector just right to fit into the PEB connector and to be easy to insert while you do it. And the connector is definitely on .100 centers (2.54mm). TI pretty much standardized on that type of connector with the entire TI-99 family. . .

I've been working off of figure H.1 from Tony Lewis's "Interface Standard & Design Guide for TI 99/4A Peripherals".

 

If you know of any issues with that, a heads up would be great :)

 

-M@

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Tony got it right. I've just been refining the edges on my designs to get the angles at the corners for easier insertion and to eliminate a couple of thousandths of an inch on the sides to give it just the right amount of wiggle--enough to slide in without deeply scoring the edges of the connector socket while not giving enough to allow a possible pin short.

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Tony got it right. I've just been refining the edges on my designs to get the angles at the corners for easier insertion and to eliminate a couple of thousandths of an inch on the sides to give it just the right amount of wiggle--enough to slide in without deeply scoring the edges of the connector socket while not giving enough to allow a possible pin short.

Awesome! Thanks, that helps.

 

-M@

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? Opinions, or precidence...

 

I want to include non-TIFILES in directory listings. I want to support some automatic transformations.

 

allow files with plain/ascii mime-type to show up in the listing as D/V 80 ( if the longest line is less <= 80 characters ) or D/V 254 with some sort of forced wrapping if the lines are longer.

 

If not plain/ascii mime-type I'm struggling with what makes sense. I could go with DIS/FIX 128, I could also allow loading them as ?/FIX(nn) where I don't care what the DISPLAY or INTERNAL mode is, and I can divide the binary data by whatever the record length is as specified in the pab.

I realize I have to default to something for the recordlength, since so much code expects the controller to fill that in based on the file... so I'd default to 128.

 

It seems like there is a precidence of treating foreign binary files from other platforms as DIS/FIX 128. one example is SIDPLAYER.

 

1 use case isn't really a precidence, to me, so if there are others, that would be great... On the Geneve, there were GIF loaders and MAC PIC loaders... what file type was used for them?

 

-M@

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Dis/Fix128 is the "standard" used by terminal emulators to exchange non-TI files. Most terminal emulators do not transfer a TIFILES header when sending DF128 files for this reason, though in some programs you can override the setting to force a header if you need it (i.e., I would do this if I sent a DF128 file to my PC for use in Classic99). I suspect this type was chosen for the reason Lee cites above and being a fixed file, records can be accessed sequentially or randomly.

 

The only caveat to fixed files is that you cannot determine the true file size since the last record could have anywhere from 1-1278 extra bytes. Clearing residual bytes is a good practice though not foolproof.

 

Plain ascii sounds easy -I would probably go with DV80 to allow loading/viewing, if that is your intent here. Do any of the emulators, like Classic99, provide this sort of conversion?

Edited by InsaneMultitasker
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I just took a look at the classic99 options again... I knew there were options to read and right DV80 to/from windows .txt files.

But I just learned there is also an option to treat files without .txt extension as DF128. That is enough evidence for me. :)

 

I was going to use libmagic to detect file contents, but sticking with a few known extensions for text files is also what classic99 does, and will probably be less astonishing.

 

-M@

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Back in my heavy BBSing days, I had two E/A5 programs on my TI one was 80TO128 the other was 128TO80 both of those programs came in quite handy when converting downloaded PC text documents to the TI. Sadly I cannot find them at the moment, but I believe I uploaded them to the BBS a couple of years ago.

Cool, I'll try to make them unnecessary. :)

 

-M@

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Dis/Fix128 is the "standard" used by terminal emulators to exchange non-TI files. Most terminal emulators do not transfer a TIFILES header when sending DF128 files for this reason, though in some programs you can override the setting to force a header if you need it (i.e., I would do this if I sent a DF128 file to my PC for use in Classic99). I suspect this type was chosen for the reason Lee cites above and being a fixed file, records can be accessed sequentially or randomly.

 

I haven't tested it for a long time, but as noted above, Classic99 should be able to treat files without a TIFILES header as DF128, if it helps avoiding creating files with unnecessary headers. If it doesn't work, I'll fix it. ;)

 

The Windows text as DV80 I use all the time, though. ;) In fact I made a video demonstrating using them for Editor/Assembler. ;)

 

Edited by Tursi
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