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Geneve V0.99 Eprom


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I dropped (and then removed) some experimental TIPI DSR ROM binaries in this thread last week. Those experiments are ongoing, and there are no conclusive results as of yet. So these binaries are not 'generally available' yet.

 

The latest, generally available TIPI DSR ROM will always be on my https://jedimatt42.com/downloads.html web page. This will always be a version that is compatible with the TI-99/4A.  Tracking compatibility with the Geneve is up to you guys.

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2 hours ago, jedimatt42 said:

I dropped (and then removed) some experimental TIPI DSR ROM binaries in this thread last week. Those experiments are ongoing, and there are no conclusive results as of yet. So these binaries are not 'generally available' yet.

 

The latest, generally available TIPI DSR ROM will always be on my https://jedimatt42.com/downloads.html web page. This will always be a version that is compatible with the TI-99/4A.  Tracking compatibility with the Geneve is up to you guys.

Matt,

 

We appreciate your efforts getting us to where we are and I want to personally thank you for all you have done.  

 

Beery

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Just some background info as I spent several days doing a lot of testing of some eprom revisons both at the Geneve 0.99 bios level as well as some TIPI eprom revisions Matt was working up for us.  Again, I want to publicly thank Matt for his time and efforts further improving the TIPI.

 

Matt released PI updates starting from 2.20 going to 2.21, then to 2.22 as the testing identified other items that may be of benefit to TI-99/4A users.  On the TIPI eprom side, there were three updates I tested chasing around a booting issue on the Geneve that had the appearance of being a PFM issue.  The PFM is now known to not be the issue.  I also made a Geneve bios update of the V0.99 beta (not released, not ready), that addresses a powerup issue on the TIPI in the event a user ends up with a TIPI lockup and tried to reboot.  Matt described that issue in an earlier post somewhere that rarely impacted a TI-99/4A user, but with MDOS using the TIPI at CRU >1800, highlighted the issue.

 

I have two Geneve systems I will describe before I started additional testing.  I have a PFM+ Bootable Geneve with HFDC/SCSI/TIPI with PI-4B and a Geneve/HFDC/TIPI PI-3B system. 

 

For some unknown reason, the system with a PI-4B works fine with the 2-24-2021 TIPI eprom as far as booting from devices other than the TIPI with the 0.99 Bios eprom but does not work if the TIPI eprom is updated with an unreleased version we tested.  That unreleased eprom version will boot fine with a TIPI/PI-3B Geneve only system, but change it to a PI-4B, and it locks the system up.  We have thus far been unable to identify the cause from the log files the PI generates.  We thought at first it may have been speed related to the PFM and PI-4B when I first encountered the issue, however, subsequent testing has seemed to rule it out.  It seems to be a PI-4B issue, and we do not know why yet.

 

At this point in time, I would say do not invest in a PI-4B if you are going to use it on a Geneve.  As Matt has said elsewhere, it is overkill.

 

As far as why TIPI worked for some people, and not others likely revolve around the following factors.  Speed/Version of the PI, the number and types of peripheral cards in the PEBox, and the version of the TIPI eprom and PI versions users were using.  The faster a user accessed the TIPI dictated by fewer cards and with a slower PI at bootup, then booting problems were more likely to be seen.

 

Right now, trying to identify a solution that works for everyone, if one exists. I am sure there is a fix, but we do not know what it is at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I succeeded in booting MDOS 7.30 from tipi. I had to update the TIPI EPROM to the current tipi-dsr-2021-02-24.zip. 

 

My system details:

  • tipi version=2.5   reldate=2020-07-12      
  • Raspberry Pi3B
  • tipi card at cru 1800
  • Geneve with 32K upgrade, no other mods.
  • HFDC and MFM drive installed. 

 

 

With an older TIPI EPROM, I saw this exception in tipi.log.   Geneve does not boot.

 

2021-04-19 14:09:15,264 Pab         : INFO     opcode: Load, fileType: Sequential, mode: Update, dataType: Display, recordType: Fixed, recordLength: 0, recordNumber: 12288                                                                     
2021-04-19 14:09:15,268 TipiDisk    : INFO     LOAD image size 1024             
2021-04-19 14:09:15,400 TipiService : INFO     Request completed.               
2021-04-19 14:09:15,433 LevelTwo    : INFO     set path request                 
2021-04-19 14:09:15,566 TipiService : ERROR    Unhandled exception in main      
Traceback (most recent call last):                                              
  File "./TipiService.py", line 65, in <module>                                 
    if levelTwo.handle(msg):                                                    
  File "/home/tipi/tipi/services/LevelTwo.py", line 36, in handle               
    return handler()                                                            
  File "/home/tipi/tipi/services/LevelTwo.py", line 99, in handleSetPath        
    pathname = str(self.tipi_io.receive(), 'ascii').strip()                     
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xff in position 5: ordinal not in range(128)                                                     

 

 

So, all is now well here. I have 7.30!
 

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Matt has just released the 4-19-2021 version of the TIPI Eprom.  Testing thus far with this TIPI eprom has shown with the V0.99 Beta eprom released earlier, a user can boot their Geneve from the TIPI with only those two cards in their system using the V4-19-2121 eprom, version 2.23 TIPI code, and the 0.99 beta eprom.

 

If you are an individual that will need to order an updated eprom, then I suggest waiting for the next release of the Geneve Bios Eprom as I need to confer with @insanemultitasker on a couple pieces of information. There will be two version of the next eprom.  One for non-GenMod systems, and one for GenMod systems with some minor code updates.

 

Users upgrading their system should upgrade to the 2.23 version PI code first before updating to the 4-19-2021 on the Geneve.

 

 

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28 minutes ago, atrax27407 said:

FWIW, the Geneve Boot EPROM Vn .98 and 1.0 by Tony Knerr had a non-GenMod and GenMod version. I have both.

I learned the last few days, there is a test routine to determine if MDOS is booting from a GenMOD capable system so that it behaves different with SCSI routines.

I had to move things around so the test eprom test lined up with the test byte.  A routine was also added prior to the powerup code that confirms each card is turned off prior to running the powerup.

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