TI-99/22 project

[stevee671]

I envisioned the SD card as something that would get filled up, installed in the machine a never come back out, unless something new comes along. Otherwise, why remove it constantly like a standard cartridge. That makes no sense.

[+OLD CS1]

If I might be sold bold: ZeroZap should be built-in.

[stevee671]

30 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

If I might be sold bold: ZeroZap should be built-in.

You know, it really should! 

 

[+FarmerPotato]

32 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

If I might be sold bold: ZeroZap should be built-in.

I put ZeroZap in the cartridge slot just to troll you. 

[+FarmerPotato]

1 hour ago, stevee671 said:

I envisioned the SD card as something that would get filled up, installed in the machine a never come back out, unless something new comes along. Otherwise, why remove it constantly like a standard cartridge. That makes no sense.

It makes sense to me.   Physicality.  Sneakernet.  Not taking away some conveniences that got replaced by software. (See: volume knobs, on-off switches...)  Also programming languages built in, but that's EEPROM/Flash.  

 

Granted that SD card is good for primary storage, the use case I have in mind is:  

 

You take out the card, put it in a PC or laptop, and use any of the great tools to manipulate disk images.   Drop in new ones.   The card's filesystem is left as FAT32, but holds a collection of directories of Single-file DSK and MFM images, then Classic99-style FIAD (files in a directory) some with TIFILES headers.   I'm sure I will be swapping cards in and out frequently. 

 

GeneveOS gets updated often enough that you would want to grab the new version, try it out. 

 

There's a small amount of non-volatile RAM to store preferences, such as what to load on boot. 

 

[+FarmerPotato]

Here's an aspect that I think is important in a new machine:

 

It should be its own primary development environment. 

 

That means assemblers and programming languages built-in and pleasant to use.  Also, it should be a development environment for any other 9900.  

[+OLD CS1]

21 minutes ago, FarmerPotato said:

I put ZeroZap in the cartridge slot just to troll you. 

Obvious troll is obvious

[stevee671]

I finally got ahold of Dan Werner! Here is the latest board in it's case.

 

     

Edited August 26 by stevee671

[+dhe]

I'm a big fan of lifting off the top and the board sitting there waiting to be probed.

[+OLD CS1]

9 minutes ago, dhe said:

I'm a big fan of lifting off the top and the board sitting there waiting to be probed.

Kinky.  I like the expansion port in the back.  That is PEB-compatible, right?

[stevee671]

3 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

Kinky.  I like the expansion port in the back.  That is PEB-compatible, right?

Yes it is.

[nuxi]

3 hours ago, stevee671 said:

I finally got ahold of Dan Werner! Here is the latest board in it's case.

 

     

It's the same version number as on github, and I don't see any bodge wires in the pic. So I guess it's time to get a pcb and order some parts!

[stevee671]

Just now, nuxi said:

It's the same version number as on github, and I don't see any bodge wires in the pic. So I guess it's time to get a pcb and order some parts!

I was planning on making another order of boards and making them available.

[nuxi]

4 minutes ago, stevee671 said:

I was planning on making another order of boards and making them available.

Sounds good! Count me in.

[RickyDean]

I'd like one too!!

[+dhe]

Count me in for a board!

[pjduplooy]

Can anyone give me an indication of what the costs involved are.  I am in South Africa, and if it is not too expensive I might get a board.

[Artoj]

With all of my work on new/old boards, this one would be great to have, count me in, I guess a new geometry for the rear connector needs to be designed, this will be fun, LOL, regards Arto.

[stevee671]

Here's some notes from my conversation with Dan Werner, the creator of this board.

 

There are TWO cartridge ports - One just ahead of the I/O (not installed in the pic) and a J15 header behind the XB EPROM in the photos above. Can they work concurrently? I have no idea.

There are three GROM sockets, U26, U27 and U28. You can use physical 99/4A GROMs in these sockets. If you have them, it is recommended that you use them.

If you do not have GROMS, that's where the Unicorn Board steps in. The ESP32 holds the GROM information. NOTE: after you power on the system, you may have to RESET the machine a couple of times. This is due to the ESP32 startup time.

As evidenced in the photo, Extended Basic is on board.

All files to burn the information on the EPROMs is on the Github.

The I/O port, of course, is for hooking up the PEB or similar.

 

Edited August 27 by stevee671

[stevee671]

One more thing:

 

I am getting requests for these boards. I don't mind ordering the boards, but I do have to recuperate my costs, shipping and time. Of course, the more quantity of boards ordered, the cost per board goes down.

 

My first order of five sets are spoken for and they went quick.

 

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A SET OF 99/22 BOARDS (Main logic Board, Keyboard and Unicorn Board) PM ME. I am placing orders for these three sets. No mix or match. That gets confusing and I don't want to deal with custom orders.

 

I can compile a list and come up with a fair/reasonable price. 

 

Another thing, I'm in the US and prefer to ship to US and Canada.

 

If you user name is listed below, PM to confirm that you want a set.

 

Nuxi - 1 set

RickyDean - 1 set

dhe - 1 set

Artoj - 1 set

Gary from OPA - 1 set

FALCOR4 - 1 set

Edited August 27 by stevee671

[nuxi]

1 hour ago, stevee671 said:

Here's some notes from my conversation with Dan Werner, the creator of this board.

 

There are TWO cartridge ports - One just ahead of the I/O (not installed in the pic) and a J15 header behind the XB EPROM in the photos above. Can they work concurrently? I have no idea.

There are three GROM sockets, U26, U27 and U28. You can use physical 99/4A GROMs in these sockets. If you have them, it is recommended that you use them.

If you do not have GROMS, that's where the Unicorn Board steps in. The ESP32 holds the GROM information. NOTE: after you power on the system, you may have to RESET the machine a couple of times. This is due to the ESP32 startup time.

As evidenced in the photo, Extended Basic is on board.

All files to burn the information on the EPROMs is on the Github.

The I/O port, of course, is for hooking up the PEB or similar.

 

I'd suggest before going whole hog on a new/upgraded architecture, starting with a few additional quality of life upgrades like:

Cartridge ports on different GROM bases

Overclocking capability

Grommy compatibility

[Gary from OPA]

8 minutes ago, nuxi said:

I'd suggest before going whole hog on a new/upgraded architecture, starting with a few additional quality of life upgrades like:

Cartridge ports on different GROM bases

Overclocking capability

Grommy compatibility

Yes. I going to do the same for my board.

 

I already planning similar upgrades to my original 4a motherboard and was looking at socketing the whole board to test upgrades but this should be easier and more space to work with.

 

Grommy2 compatibly should work asis.

 

But the onboard xb would be best at a different grom base and also the addon unicorn board as well when using a grommy2 instead.

 

Over clocking should be easy enough it's best when building it to use the 4mhz versions of the 9900 and 9901 as well.

 

Another mod that should be tested is the one that reduces the number of wait states on the external now in the rear PEB connection.

Edited August 27 by Gary from OPA

[+OLD CS1]

34 minutes ago, Gary from OPA said:

 

Another mod that should be tested is the one that reduces the number of wait states on the external now in the rear PEB connection.

An OS upgrade, similar to that of the 99/8's speed setting could be used to do this.  Use a reserved, unused CRU address space for internal settings.  You could switch speeds, GROM bases, wait-states, &c.  It might not even need to be an OS upgrade, but a constantly active GROM-based^* utility which shows up in the MSS.  Probably no persistence for settings without additional hardware.  But having those settings in the CRU space would also make them available to new software.

 

* Being it is 99/4A, it could be ROM, too.

[Gary from OPA]

45 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

An OS upgrade, similar to that of the 99/8's speed setting could be used to do this.  Use a reserved, unused CRU address space for internal settings.  You could switch speeds, GROM bases, wait-states, &c.  It might not even need to be an OS upgrade, but a constantly active GROM-based^* utility which shows up in the MSS.  Probably no persistence for settings without additional hardware.  But having those settings in the CRU space would also make them available to new software.

 

* Being it is 99/4A, it could be ROM, too.

On my original 4a with the new grommy2 and the os I am working on I going to add speed control commands for user and software.

 

Changing the 3mhz to 4mhz on the fly can already easy be done the hardware mod for that is available and it uses one of the available unused pins on the 9901.

 

Next step is figure out software control for the wait states on the 8 bit bus allowing control from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 to zero. -- With 1 with being the most compatible, so at least being able to switch on the fly from 4 to 1 controllable by the second available pin on 9901 would be doable and worthwhile.

 

My idea is the first upgrades that should be added are ones that can be reproduced on the /4a motherboard as well to allow for compatible with users that want to take advantage of new things and don't mind getting their hands directly involved to install them on original hardware.

Edited August 27 by Gary from OPA

[nuxi]

38 minutes ago, Gary from OPA said:

My idea is the first upgrades that should be added are ones that can be reproduced on the /4a motherboard as well to allow for compatible with users that want to take advantage of new things and don't mind getting their hands directly involved to install them on original hardware.

This exactly.