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Stevie Development Thread


retroclouds

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Here's a preview of the new file picker functionality in Stevie.

I am browsing some random source code files scattered accross disk drives DSK1, DSK2, DSK3


Still have to display the file types and check the filesize code again, but all in all I'm quite pleased with how easy it is to jump from file to file.

With this functionality in place I do not think I'll be adding in-memory multi-file editing. This is so fast I do not really see a need for it.

 

Note that I have also removed the "master catalog" functionality introduced in Stevie 1.4

Don't think it was being really being and the new catalog function just works better IMHO.

 

 

I will be releasing Stevie 1.5 in the near future (after some more bugfixing that is).

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Not to derail this thread. But could not let pass this one. Here is a github Copilot suggestion on my code in Visual Studio code. Not too bad I would say. 

Obviously all of its knowledge is fed of the comments I have in my source code. Nonetheless, kinda scary how far next-token prediction has progressed.

In general the TMS9900 code suggestions it does, looks ok from syntax point of view (but obviously not always make sense). It even predicts whole code blocks. 

 

 

image.thumb.png.d0fd43e1b214a78028b9c43bf3fe9d86.png

 

image.thumb.png.46152f7bdd0e8cb8a55dc866417af66d.png

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...
On 2/4/2024 at 9:41 AM, retroclouds said:

ok, new version of Stevie is out. Grab it while you can 🙂

 

This is a great piece of software. 

In addition to the BIN file that is provided, is it also possible to have memory image files that can be loaded using the E/A option 5 as I would like to be able to load Stevie from within the 80 column boot menu?

Best regards

Roger

 

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Thanks. Stevie is designed to work as a 64k bankswitched cart and needs to run from cartridge space >6000.

As such it needs a cartridge like finalgrom99 (or flashrom99 haven’t tested that but should work as I’m not using any groms).

Best shot to use it from a boot menu, is to have a small #EA5 program that loads the cartridge image into the FG99 and starts it.

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20 hours ago, retroclouds said:

Renovating the house right now. But I should have some spare time coming up in 4 weeks. If no one beats me to it, I’ll create a small loader for the finalgrom99

Looking forward to seeing that loader.

Have fun renovating the house, well maybe not so much as the cost of materials and labour is crazy these days.

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Trying to read a disk catalog for any IDE partition doesn't work as Stevie recognizes the IDE partition (see screenshot) without reporting any device errors. It displays Reading catalog... in the bottom yellow status bar. This status remains for about 60 seconds when it times out without displaying the catalog file listing.

When this happens, Stevie is frozen with no keyboard response. I then have to reset the TI console.

My hardware also uses the 1 MB SAMS card with the built in 32K memory.

I also tried IDE partitions with and without subdirectories, different IDE partitions using other CF cards, all with the same result.

BTW, Stevie has no issues reading DSK catalogs from the TI FDC or from my 4000B Horizon Ramdisk.

The IDE card was built by Shift838 with IDE DSR v16 installed. There are no issues with it as the CALL IDEST checks out.

The IDE card is set to CRU >1200. The Horizon ramdisk is set to CRU >1000.

I have no DSK emulation set on for either the IDE card or the Horizon ramdisk.

DSK1 is the default TI FDC device at CRU >1100.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Roger

 

Stevie-screenshot.jpeg

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Thanks for reporting this. I have tested with both TIPI and the HRD4000B, but not with IDE.

Do have an IDE card but my IDE hard drive died before I could test with Stevie.

Anyway should be able to reproduce the reported behaviour.

I can imagine it might be an issue with the directory format, that is timestamp attributes.

Will take a look next month when I have spare time. I am sure this can be fixed.

 

 

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Thanks for the update. Stevie is awesome, a real jewel for TI users.

Stevie obviously recognizes the IDE hardware as it doesn't return any error such device not found.

It tries to read the IDE partition/drive, but simply times out after 60 seconds, and freezes the console.

As you noted, likely the directory format as the IDE card includes the RTC time stamp.

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/6/2024 at 6:25 PM, rgjt said:

Any updates yet regarding Stevie being able to read IDE drives?

 

Was able to solve the issue. Stevie is now able to read the catalog on IDE drives.

 

Still having issues with navigating the directories. I am sometimes getting a path not found error.
The behaviour is different compared to for example the HDR4000 or TIPI.

Need to do some more testing and check what else is in this release, because it's the first time I touched it in 2024.


EDIT: Also have some strange behavior on the IDE1 when trying to save INVADERS source code. It runs into a file error exactily after writing 1999 lines. I wonder if there's something in the IDE DSR that prevents writing DIS/VAR80 files with 2000 lines or more.

Edited by retroclouds
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/16/2024 at 5:15 PM, rgjt said:

When will you be releasing the new version?
BTW, do you have the lastest DSR version on your system, version 16?
If not, here it is.
 

idedsr16.zip 100.12 kB · 3 downloads

idedsrman.txt 26.96 kB · 4 downloads

 

Not sure about the release date yet.

I have it kinda working, but it’s more of a workaround really. I did not find the root cause yet and this makes it too unstable to my liking.

In between I have had a broken TI-99/4a console, so had to get a F18a installed in a second console.

 

Note that you can always get the latest build at github, but no guarantees to it working

 

 

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7 hours ago, retroclouds said:

 

Not sure about the release date yet.

I have it kinda working, but it’s more of a workaround really. I did not find the root cause yet and this makes it too unstable to my liking.

In between I have had a broken TI-99/4a console, so had to get a F18a installed in a second console.

 

Note that you can always get the latest build at github, but no guarantees to it working

 

 

Thanks for the update on Stevie. It's too bad about the broken console. Luckily you had a spare console as do I in the event that one console fails about 40+ years.

I will check out github. 

Thanks again.

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I've been trying out the latest Github version (1.6.3) with the IDE card and so far have not had any crashes going through different directories up or down.

I have not tried any large text files yet, but that will be on my list of things to try in the next few days.

So far it's been working with the F18A and the 1 MB SAMS card and also with the Horizon 4000B 8 MB card.

 

 

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I've played around with the latest build 241005 v1.6.3 with my system (F18A, IDE card, Horizon 4000B, 1 MB SAMS) and so far it's working.

I loaded the source files for the ARC program that has 2275 lines. Was able to copy a block of lines, move the block, paste the block at various locations, copy the block to the clipboard and paste from the clipboard without any issues.

Attached are some screen shots.

stevie-1.jpeg

stevie-2.jpeg

stevie-3.jpeg

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Thanks for testing, the feedback and the screenshots. It is very much appreciated. 

So it seems to work better on your system as it does with my IDE card.

 

Now to be honest, I do not have much experience with my IDE card yet (do have the latest DSR installed and used latest DU2K, DM2K for setup).

The behaviour I have with my IDE card is that it often can’t read the directory or the files. 

In that case if I move up the directory or redo the operation it suddenly works, but most often it does not.

 

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, what I implemented is a workaround really, because I do not yet understand the root cause of why it behaves like that on the IDE. Debugging is hard, because I can only run Stevie with IDE on a real machine. 

The Mame emulator would be an option for debugging, but would need to do the 9938 implementation first to get anything useful.

 

Better grab a good copy of the build that works for you 😀

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My IDE card is rock solid AFTER i reloaded the DSR and REFORMATED the card with its seprate partitions that are maxed out in their sizes.

Prior to that, I had some weird issues where the card would hang and corrupt files and directories especially after copying to and from the Horizon 4000B card. This no longer happens. 

I do not autoload off the IDE as I use the 4000B for that.

The CRU addresses for the cards are set as follows:

>1000 Horizon 4000B

>1100 TI HDC

>1200 IDE card

>1300 RS232 with the HDX1 upgrade.

Regardless, the system is currently rock solid without any issues.

Knock on wood. 

I have that "copy" that works on my system and named as THISWORKS. :lol:

 

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Well, I found a bug with the latest build 241005 regarding the Ruler option. When Ruler is selected with a file loaded or even without a file loaded, the screen becomes corrupt with a series of vertical lines as shown these screenshots.

I've tried this on DSK and IDE drives with the same result. Looks like the VDP ram is being overwritten. I tried an older version, 1.5.3 with the same results.

 

image.thumb.png.0e5ade96fb1ace5976d52c91a02aa85e.pngimage.thumb.png.e17ee1eb4e4e6602a3128c80dba5b816.png

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