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GRAM & BASIC & VDP


Opry99er

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Isn't it still the only cart that has RAM at >6000?

No GRAMULATOR, GRAM KRACKER and PGRAM all have RAM at >6000 and you can still use GROM in unused pages.

 

I have a supercart from DATABIOTICS with 32K of RAM in 4 8K pages, the other versions only had 8K in one page of RAM at >6000

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I have a working GK. If it doesn't involve using 5.1/4 inch floppies, I could possibly help this evening and take pictures.

Awesome! The first test will be to determine if we can break out of a BASIC program while it is in the module space.

 

Test #1:

 

Step #1: Write a BASIC program, use MSAVE6 to save it to GRAM 3

 

Step #2: Save module to disk (make sure no cartridges are inserted into the GRAM Kracker when you do this)

 

Step #3: Completely shut down your system, then start up and INIT your module space on the GRAM Kracker to make sure it is clean.

 

Step #4: LOAD the module from disk that you saved earlier. This will put the BASIC program in module space, cleanly, with no residuals of our previous efforts. We will know that the VDP contains no BASIC code at this point

 

Step #5: Run the module from the title selection screen. While running, try a FCTN+4 break of the program.

 

Step #6: If you were allowed to break out of the program, type LIST.

 

 

 

 

Then report your results here. :)

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Isn't it still the only cart that has RAM at >6000?

 

Glad RXB could answer that! I seem to also remember something about the UberGROM's capabilities but do not know it's exact memory locations, or even mine sometimes!

 

No GRAMULATOR, GRAM KRACKER and PGRAM all have RAM at >6000 and you can still use GROM in unused pages.

 

 

I've not used mine in ages because what little I did use it for has been replaced by a newer device with more capability.

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The SuperSpace and SuperSpace II put RAM at >6000. The former is only 8k, the latter (which I own) is 32k bank-switched via CRU.

 

Right. So my point was that these carts are not made entirely obsolete by the FinalGROM, which I assume is what Omega thought of when he wrote that the Supercart is out of date,

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Right. So my point was that these carts are not made entirely obsolete by the FinalGROM, which I assume is what Omega thought of when he wrote that the Supercart is out of date,

 

Indeed. Anyway, this whole idea of putting a BASIC program onto a cartridge has awakened my inner child's fascination.

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Indeed. Anyway, this whole idea of putting a BASIC program onto a cartridge has awakened my inner child's fascination.

 

The revelation for me was that the BASIC interpreter was designed to run TI BASIC code directly from GROM as well as from VDP. This might not have been news to some, but to me it was a real trip.

 

If BASIC code can run from a module, is there any limit to the size of a BASIC program, other than the maximum size GROM you can fit into a cartridge shell?

 

Now, Classic99 makes it possible for us to dump the contents of the VDP into a 16k block... thereby allowing us to put a BASIC program onto a cartridge in that way. This method takes that copy and re-populates the VDP with the snapshot it took at the breakpoint. This is fascinating in its own right, and really useful.

 

Running pure BASIC code from a cartridge though... I didnt know that was possible until recently. This was the catalyst for this thread. If I can prove it on a GRAM Kracker, then perhaps BASIC programs much more sizeable than the limits of the VDP are possible on a cartridge.

 

This is where it gets fun. Its a very intriguing prospect.... for those of us who happen to like console BASIC and have desire to write very large programs in the language. Surely that must be a massive number of people, right? ;)

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I'll see if I have them, I have saved them before. I do have floppies, but not sure if their good, no good working 5 1/4 drives to work with. Do have Gotek and HxD though.

Well, this didn't work out well last night, I worked on my truck till 9:30, then came in cleaned up and fired up the GK and TI played with the switches till I got a screen, and then played with the entry for the Flashgrom. each time I entered, I tried different Menu selections, all I got was moving graphics. So went to the PC and started looking for the utilities, found, not the Whtech ones, but a archived version of mine from when I had a working floppy 17 years ago. Used TIDir and looked inside the archive, tried to unark and when it kept getting to Msave6, TIDir would stop and I would get a message asking if I wanted to debug. So long story, short, at 11:30 I stopped and went to bed. Sorry.

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