Shift838 Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 On 1/1/2021 at 1:05 PM, Hans23 said: Hey, does anyone have experience with building an F18A from the design files at CircuitMaker? The soldering job seems doable, but is this the latest version and will it run with the firmware published on Matthew's site? Thanks, Hans From my understanding the board you found is not the latest and it was pretty much forgot about after the newer F18A came out. Not sure if the code will even work on it. I found it a few months back and discussed it with Matt and if i recall that is what he told me. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans23 Posted February 11, 2021 Author Share Posted February 11, 2021 It does not look too bad! I'm going to put the machine together and try out whether it does more than display the title screen 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimhearne Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 3 minutes ago, Shift838 said: From my understanding the board you found is not the latest and it was pretty much forgot about after the newer F18A came out. Not sure if the code will even work on it. I found it a few months back and discussed it with Matt and if i recall that is what he told me. I wouldn't think the board is much different as it's the same Revision 1.3 as the real F18A i have. Looks like Hans has just proved that... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimhearne Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 5 minutes ago, Hans23 said: It does not look too bad! I'm going to put the machine together and try out whether it does more than display the title screen Well done. Jim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans23 Posted February 11, 2021 Author Share Posted February 11, 2021 Alright, it seems that the board just works: I've prepared this form to collect your interest in getting one of the few boards that I can build: https://forms.gle/4mf8oDwQdvX7REQR8 Cheers, Hans 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gferluga Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 Impressive and very promising... I'm ready to buy one, even if beta or prototype. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 1 hour ago, Hans23 said: Alright, it seems that the board just works: I've prepared this form to collect your interest in getting one of the few boards that I can build: https://forms.gle/4mf8oDwQdvX7REQR8 Cheers, Hans Han, does it do GMODE 2 or, maybe it's 2 GMODE in Turboforth? 80 column? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans23 Posted February 11, 2021 Author Share Posted February 11, 2021 4 minutes ago, GDMike said: does it do GMODE 2 or, maybe it's 2 GMODE in Turboforth? 80 column? The photo is with TurboForth in 80 column mode. I somehow displaced my FinalGROM99 SD-Card - Is there some program that I could run to show off the F18A capabilities? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 If you are at the prompt in tf, just call 2 GMODE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 (edited) Good question. But at least it works. I'm so happy for you ?...or me too if I can get one built. Edited February 11, 2021 by GDMike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+retroclouds Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, Hans23 said: The photo is with TurboForth in 80 column mode. I somehow displaced my FinalGROM99 SD-Card - Is there some program that I could run to show off the F18A capabilities? Rasmus did quite a few F18a demos. If you look at http://js99er.net under software - F18A specific, you can run the demos in the emulator and compare. They should also be available as cartridge images. Perhaps Rasmus can chime in on that. Edited February 12, 2021 by retroclouds link added 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightengale Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Looks good!? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans23 Posted February 12, 2021 Author Share Posted February 12, 2021 If you want to make your own boards, here are the Gerbers that I've used to get mine produced. F18A_rev_B_-_Hans_Gerber.Zip 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 19 hours ago, Hans23 said: The photo is with TurboForth in 80 column mode. I somehow displaced my FinalGROM99 SD-Card - Is there some program that I could run to show off the F18A capabilities? I have plenty of demos. Does "I somehow displaced my FinalGROM99 SD-Card" mean you cannot use cartridge images? super-mario-bros-8.bin F18ADEMOS.dsk F18ADEMOS2.dsk racing.dsk raycaster8.bin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans23 Posted February 12, 2021 Author Share Posted February 12, 2021 25 minutes ago, Asmusr said: I have plenty of demos. Does "I somehow displaced my FinalGROM99 SD-Card" mean you cannot use cartridge images? It just meant "I need to find and download that ZIP file with the collection of everything" which I have since done. I'll try the stuff you've attached, thank you! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomad99 Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Happy to compensate you for your time and acquire a board if they are proven to work with TI-99/4A. Have been searching for one of these for quite some time - trying to get 80-column support for my old gear. Many thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Hans23 said: It just meant "I need to find and download that ZIP file with the collection of everything" which I have since done. I'll try the stuff you've attached, thank you! OK. Do you use version 1.9 of the F18A firmware? Some of the demos have been done for earlier versions of the firmware, and in 1.9 some features were removed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans23 Posted February 12, 2021 Author Share Posted February 12, 2021 57 minutes ago, Asmusr said: Do you use version 1.9 of the F18A firmware? Some of the demos have been done for earlier versions of the firmware, and in 1.9 some features were removed. I'm using 1.9, and I've noted that some of the demos don't work. Does it make sense to downgrade to 1.8? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 26 minutes ago, Hans23 said: I'm using 1.9, and I've noted that some of the demos don't work. Does it make sense to downgrade to 1.8? No I, think we should all use the latest version. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dhe Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 I want to thanks Han23 for taking a stab at this. I signed up for the F18A waiting list back in '17. I'm not really looking for a super video display, my needs are more along the lines of I want to be able to use a cheap, plentiful VGA monitor type solution. When PC99 first came out, and I displayed it on a VGA monitor, I remember my first thought was OMG - I can see single pixels! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomad99 Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Equally - many many many thanks Hans!!! Hoping for success. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I had been hoping for a F-18A since 2017 also just never found one. This would be a welcome change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+pixelpedant Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I have to say, I feel like the difference that getting even just a dozen more F18A boards out there will make is huge. Since as it is, we've got various now regular forum and community members who are active enthusiasts, and who've never had access to the things the F18A offers. Even just getting several of those folks an F18A does a lot to expand the user base for 80 column or F18A-palettised (or otherwise F18A-using) software. So I'm very glad to see it. So all the credit in the world to Hans for pursuing this. For one thing, I'll be glad to see the user base for T80XB software grow a little more. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans23 Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 Thank you all for the encouragement! It certainly creates a wee bit of pressure, but I'm not complaining. Just be advised that it will take me time to get these boards built. I've run into a bit of an issue: I am unable to find pin headers that are suitable to make the F18A board's height small enough to fit it under the RF shield. Are you folks leaving the RF shield off anyway, or would you be concerned with that? I would appreciate knowing how Matthew solved this issue (i.e. are his too high as well?). Even though I have a bunch of working boards now, I've made a mistake when ordering one of the voltage regulators. The BOM does not specify the complete type, and I did not look closely before ordering. It is kind of a miracle that some boards even run, but I'm now putting further testing on hold until I have the correct regulators. I'm optimistic that I'll get these things sorted out, though. It will just take time. Cheers, Hans 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 @Hans23 I have found these two images if them helps: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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