TIPI/32K in the Speech Synthesizer Enclosure (REVIEW)

[Sinphaltimus]

EDIT: Nope, looking at ArcadeShopper.com seems this is a custom TIPI+32k on the pcb. 

 

I just now stumbled upon this after being AFF for a while. Too many pages to read through everything. So I have one, maybe two questions.

1. Is the 32k expansion fitted inside a standard model without modifications?

2. If yes, then couldn't one not just remvoe it and replace with the SAMS side port?

 

Either way, I'm hot for one of these now. I reserved my nanoPEB for the portability, this may just put my nanoPEB to bed for good.

[wierd_w]

If you dont want to shred an actual speech car, you could always print one of the enclosures I conjured up instead.

 

(It does not have to be beige; You could print it out of any color PLA.)

 

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by wierd_w

[wierd_w]

sin it was buried a few pages back, here's the post with the functional top.  Use the bottom part linked prior; there was a collision issue with a large chip on the bottom of the tipi/32k board that was not present in the reference .stp files the board's designer sent me. The revised bottom should work.

[+arcadeshopper]

It does.. I have these in my store if you don't have your own printer

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

[wierd_w]

I had to navigate quite a lot, but this should be a hotlink right into shopper's store for that item.

[Calab]

On 10/22/2021 at 11:44 AM, J-Data said:

...  Obviously you'll need to get the polarity right, but there's no harm by putting it in backwards.  Anyone see an issue leaving this to the user?

It would be nice if the polarity was marked on the board... I'm removing my socket and soldering the LED in, but I don't know which way around to put it. My TI-99 is in storage, so I can't just plug it in and see which way works.

My guess is that the CATHODE is the lead connected to Q1 and the ANODE is connected to R2.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Calab
Reversed the connections on my guess

[+acadiel]

2 minutes ago, Calab said:

It would be nice if the polarity was marked on the board... I'm removing my socket and soldering the LED in, but I don't know which way around to put it. My TI-99 is in storage, so I can't just plug it in and see which way works.

My guess is that the Anode is the lead connected to Q1 and the Cathode is connected to R2.

Find the negative plane on the board - the negative on the LED should be the same with a continuity meter and make it beep.  Usually.

 

(For everyone else, here’s a cool reference - find the flat side to determine the negative if you don’t have short/long leads).

 

[Calab]

Just now, acadiel said:

Find the negative plane on the board - the negative on the LED should be the same with a continuity meter and make it beep.  Usually.

Looks like GND is connected to the LED through Q1... I've reversed the connections in my guess posted earlier.

 

[GDMike]

my old ramdisk had it's LED ground coming off Q1 unlike what I figured should have been going to ground through a resistor? I suppose it doesn't matter, but schematics I've always seen show LED grounds through resistor. 

[CLBrown]

So, maybe I missed this...  But is anyone making and/or selling TIPI/32K labels? 

 

I found the perfect labels...  brushed aluminum, right size to cover the Speech box markings but not much larger...  but they are laser-printer-only labels, and I only have an inkjet.   I've failed to find any inkjet labels which meet the requirements.

 

So, I was hoping someone else had done so and (having no doubt had to purchase a boatload of blank labels) was capitalizing on that by printing and selling them to other owners.

 

But so far, I haven't found that. 

 

I could try printing on white labels and faking the brushed aluminum background through printing, but that would be a "well, I surrender" move on my part. 

 

Anyone here have a solution?

Edited November 19, 2023 by CLBrown

[+arcadeshopper]

On 11/19/2023 at 1:09 PM, CLBrown said:

So, maybe I missed this...  But is anyone making and/or selling TIPI/32K labels? 

 

I found the perfect labels...  brushed aluminum, right size to cover the Speech box markings but not much larger...  but they are laser-printer-only labels, and I only have an inkjet.   I've failed to find any inkjet labels which meet the requirements.

 

So, I was hoping someone else had done so and (having no doubt had to purchase a boatload of blank labels) was capitalizing on that by printing and selling them to other owners.

 

But so far, I haven't found that. 

 

I could try printing on white labels and faking the brushed aluminum background through printing, but that would be a "well, I surrender" move on my part. 

 

Anyone here have a solution?

no but if you send me the laser label source I might be convinced to make some

 

[CLBrown]

On 11/22/2023 at 11:11 AM, arcadeshopper said:

no but if you send me the laser label source I might be convinced to make some

 

Here's the label I found.   I like it better than some of the other "silvery" labels, due to the brushed finish.

 

https://www.myassettag.com/blank-brushed-matte-polyester-address-labels-sheet/sku-LZR-AT-BRUSH-D

 

An interesting alternative would be to go to these guys, who do the printing for you (using polyester transfer ribbons rather than printing) which might work better.

 

https://duraready.com/holographic-metallic-labels/2022dbs-2.0-x-1.0-brushed-aluminum-polyester-label/

Edited November 25, 2023 by CLBrown

[CLBrown]

By the way, guys...  I've made full use of the speech box front "lid," beyond what most of you guys seem to have done.   The trick to this was using some "DIY cable" components from a company called "Adafruit."

 

These are customizable ribbon-cable-based solutions... you can buy various ends and various lengths of ribbons and mix-and-match.  In my case, for example, I picked up these three parts to make my front-mounted HDMI port on the speech box.

 

This part goes into the mini-HDMI port on the side of the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W I'm using.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3554

 

This is the cable length I used.  It worked just fine for me.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3560

 

And I used some VHB ("very high bond") tape to affix the underside of this to the flat surface inside of the door.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3551

 

I did the same thing using the micro-USB port, going to a standard type-A USB plug using the same length of ribbon cable.

The end result is what you see here:

 

 

 

 

I'm using the default Tipi MicroSD card image, but I installed a GUI on top of that as well... pretty easily done, following this procedure:  https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-install-a-desktop-on-raspberry-pi-os-lite/

 

I'm using a small portable monitor as my display with this particular system...   THIS one (you can see it folded up on top of the TI-99, in the images above:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B5LFQC2W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I've got a cable I bought from a UK vendor going to my standard video output (different from the traditional TI cable, it outputs on both left and right channels, albeit obviously not in actual STEREO)... and that's going to this RCA AV to HDMI converter.  I've tried several converters, but this is the first one which really seems to work well.  It also has the additional advantage of being able to capture the video output directly (saving it to USB).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VS779K4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

So... when I want to configure the contents of the RP02W, I just plug from the monitor to the HDMI port on the Tipi32K instead of the one on my A-to-D converter, and plug a USB keyboard/touchpad combo into that USB port, and I can do whatever I need on the Pi very easily.  I could even, potentially, put in an HDMI switch and have both running at once, just switching between viewing the Pi and viewing the TI's output.

 

Now, someday...  if the fates align... I hope to see that F18A rev 2 get released... and this is the machine that will be upgraded with that.  But since I've never gotten my hands on an F18A yet, and even if I could I'm still inclined to wait 'til the "improved version" finally hits the streets...  this works nicely for me, at least for the moment.

 

My other TI-99 will remain "real steel" without modifications (apart from my Shift838 speech card and a TipiPEB installed alongside my existing original TI cards (and Corcomp RS232).   The Tipi, in that case, will see less regular use, while on the one seen above, it's the fully replacment for the PEB and so forth.  (The housing I'm using above for the Tipi32K is the one which housed the speech which is now in my PEB through the Shift838 card.)

 

The main thing I wanted to share, here, was the cable/connectivity solution I came up with above, using those Adafruit DIY cables, to provide "super easy, barely an inconvenience" connectivity for my Pi without requiring any cutting on the Speech box apart from where I run power in at the back and a drilled hole for the LED, and without blocking the "daisy chaining" port on the right.  I can't claim credit for the concept.. the DIY cables are just a really nifty Raspberry-Pi-related concept... but I don't think I've seen anyone else take this approach on their Tipi32K, and I thought some of you guys might want to give it a shot!

 

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by CLBrown

[+jedimatt42]

If you have to use the desktop on the PI, I have failed.

[CLBrown]

8 hours ago, jedimatt42 said:

If you have to use the desktop on the PI, I have failed.

 

Oh, no...  you haven't "failed."  But there are things I can do that way which are easier for me. 

 

For example, I have a really huge pile of files and software saved on that little MicroSD card...  sorted in a nested structure, by category, and several tiers of subcategories...  including manuals for the various games and programs in PDF format.  At present, there's no practical way to open a PDF manual on a TI-99, is there?

 

I'm not complaining.  I'm saying that there are other things that can be done, too.

 

One of my biggest bi+ches about Microsoft's approach to computer operating system design has always been that they want to tell me how I get to use my computers.   Back when they had that company motto of "Where Do You Want To Go Today," it became sort of a running joke of "Where Do We Want You To Go Today?"

 

To this day, running "modern Windows" (10 & 11) on my PCs, I still use the old-style user interface (Go look up "Classic Shell" or its outgrowth, "OpenShell.")  And I still use the old-style search functionality, which they removed from Windows (hobbling it in many ways in the process) by using "Agent Ransack" as my search tool of choice, seldom if ever using the built-in search anymore (as it can fail to find even files I'm actually LOOKING AT AT THE TIME!)

 

https://open-shell.github.io/Open-Shell-Menu/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/open-shell-brings-back-the-glory-days-of-the-windows-start-menu/

https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

 

So, I consider "my computers" and "my hardware" to be MINE, and I always set them up however I see best.   If that means occasionally using the Pi OS interface GUI directly...  that's on me.  It's an OPTION for everyone else.    There's nothing wrong with people having as many options, as many choices, as possible... and letting them decide how they want to use their hardware, rather than having to use it as someone else envisions that they "ought to."

 

The tools you've provided are excellent, and cover a LOT of what people need or want to do.  But you can't do EVERYTHING, nor should anyone expect you to.  And it's just a lot easier for me to use it this way.  Why shouldn't I do things however works best for me? 

Edited November 25, 2023 by CLBrown
Added reference links

[CLBrown]

On 11/25/2023 at 1:10 AM, jedimatt42 said:

If you have to use the desktop on the PI, I have failed.

By the way, I've tried doing everything from within the Tipi (TI-99 proper) interface for a couple of day, avoiding anything else.

 

And I've come to the conclusion that the biggest "shortcoming" of the Tipi is "CALL TIPI's" lack of the same " file browser" interface seen in the web client's interface. Having the same ability to browse through a hiererarchical file system using a mininalistuc GUI style interface, and to alias directories from there to "disk numbers"...  that's an invaluable element of the "web client" and adding that functionality into the internal TI "CALL TIPI" interface would tremendously improve the useability of the Tipi to those who want to do everything solely from within the TI.

 

Yeah, you can manually type in aliases... but that requires you to have all those file paths memorized up-front, or to be looking them up on the Pi through other means. Not a huge deal if you only have a few files in there , in just a few directory paths, but less useful if you have a lot of stuff stored in there and don't want to have to memorize every path. 

[+arcadeshopper]

On 12/4/2023 at 8:10 AM, CLBrown said:

By the way, I've tried doing everything from within the Tipi (TI-99 proper) interface for a couple of day, avoiding anything else.

 

And I've come to the conclusion that the biggest "shortcoming" of the Tipi is "CALL TIPI's" lack of the same " file browser" interface seen in the web client's interface. Having the same ability to browse through a hiererarchical file system using a mininalistuc GUI style interface, and to alias directories from there to "disk numbers"...  that's an invaluable element of the "web client" and adding that functionality into the internal TI "CALL TIPI" interface would tremendously improve the useability of the Tipi to those who want to do everything solely from within the TI.

 

Yeah, you can manually type in aliases... but that requires you to have all those file paths memorized up-front, or to be looking them up on the Pi through other means. Not a huge deal if you only have a few files in there , in just a few directory paths, but less useful if you have a lot of stuff stored in there and don't want to have to memorize every path. 

the functionality you are looking for is in force command (cartridge for fg99 or equiv)  https://github.com/jedimatt42/fcmd/releases/tag/v2.5

 

also tipimap which is a xb program i made to map drives easily its here: https://ftp.whtech.com/Users/Gregory McGill/TIPIMAP/TIPIMAP

[CLBrown]

True enough, but why not implement it directly into the TIPI subroutines, which are stored on the Tipi, and are always present regardless of which version of BASIC you're running? 

 

Force Command is great, as is Tipimap, but both are fixes for the absence of something which, to me, would better be included on the TIPI up-front.

 

My solution at the moment is to access the web interface through my smartphone.  This works well...  but my point remains, this is functionality which really makes sense to be built directly into the Tipi without requiring any other program or device. 

 

Perhaps there's some reason it can't be, though I can't see any reason that should be the case.   I'm nowhere nearly as expert on this subject matter as many others here are, so maybe I'm just missing something.   Is there some limitation to what the Tipi can do which precludes integrating this functionality directly into the Tipi firmware subroutines?

 

If the limitation is in the size of the Tipi routine itself, why not implement another subroutine...  let's call it "CALL MAPDIR"...  with this functionality?

 

I'm saying this is important enough of a feature to be built in, without needing any other program or any external device or so forth. 

 

My opinion.  That's all.  

Edited December 6, 2023 by CLBrown

[+jedimatt42]

This is the wrong thread to talk about TIPI features. 

 

This thread is about an enclosure. 

 

The developer of the TIPI (me) generally doesn't read this thread. 

 

I am happy to debate features in the TIPI Support Thread.

 

Edit: well, I guess this is a review thread for the combo board. So your review stands as your review. 

 

Adding browsing to TIPICFG has been on the list for years. It just hasn't risen to a priority.