Subject: Re: [TI994A] WinXP TI peripheral

From: R Halter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:23:31 -0600

I forgot to check my mail yesterday.  Guess what was in there?  I got my 
serial cable (and a db9 to db25 adapter).

Sewell did, in fact, update my order to the 6' cable, so no worries 
there.  Now I just need to bring my "monitor" back to the living room, 
hook it all up, and see if it's what I needed.  ^_^

(keeping my fingers crossed)

-- 
"You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it 
means."
  -- Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), "The Princess Bride"

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From: Owen Brand <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:23:27 -0500

Hey, great news ... You have MFM yet?

Owen Brand
**Oprysoft**
Opry99er.com

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From: R Halter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:12:26 -0600

> Hey, great news ... You have MFM yet?

Yes...  On my PC.  >_<

Also, apparently I fail at typing in assembly programs using the 
Line-By-Line Assembler (I don't have E/A, but Mini Memory ((which 
supposedly allows you to type in assembly progs, using the LBL 
Assembler)) ).  I spent about 10 minutes trying to enter the first line 
for "Bargainmodem," and kept getting "*ERROR*" before I could even 
finish typing it.  >_<

I was just getting ready to watch your YouTube video again, to see if 
there's some way I can transfer the needed progs over to my TI without 
having to put them on a disk first.  (I've had no luck hooking up my 
SS/SD TI floppy drive to my Win98SE machine, which is the only one that 
has a floppy drive connecter on the MB)

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From: R Halter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:24:13 -0600

Watching the video again, I realized that when you replaced the MFM 
diskette, the second disk had been sitting on top of your cassette 
player.  In the future, you may not want to leave diskettes on top of 
the cassette drive's speaker, as the magnet in the speaker is surely not 
good for the disks (I ruined a C64 disk that way...).

Anyway, if I send you a blank disk, do you think you could put a copy of 
MFM on it for me?

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From: Owen Brand <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:25:07 -0500

Seriously, just let me send you a copy of MFM on floppy.  You are  
going to drive yourself crazy messing around with this shit.  I ripped  
all my hair out until Ernie Pergrem sent me a copy.  It is a complete  
waste of time to try to do TI transfers without either MFM or TELCO.   
You will go crazy, I promise you.

Owen Brand
**Oprysoft**
Opry99er.com

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From: Owen Brand <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:29:51 -0500

I'll just make you a copy... Remember to back it up before using it.   
The contents contained therein are GOLD.  You have a 3.5 " floppy drive?

Owen Brand
**Oprysoft**
Opry99er.com

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From: Owen Brand <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:31:48 -0500

Apologies fir the language... I thought I was writing a personal email.

Owen Brand
**Oprysoft**
Opry99er.com

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From: R Halter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:40:07 -0600

>  The contents contained therein are GOLD.  You have a 3.5 " floppy drive?

Unfortunately, no.  Only the 5.25" SS/SD drive on my TI.  :(

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From: R Halter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:41:36 -0600

> Apologies fir the language... I thought I was writing a personal email.

Don't worry about it.  I heard worse when I was in high school -- back 
when the TI was still available in stores.  ^_~

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From: Owen Brand <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:42:32 -0500

I'm sure you know this, but in LBL you have very specific instruction  
rules.  You must start at the memory location specified by LBL.  Each  
line must be entered into memory before the next line can be written.  
It is a bit tough to convert standard A/L programs to be use by LBL  
without a bit of experience and knowing how to manipulate memory  
locations.  I suggest finding a PDF version of "Introduction to  
Assembly" by Lottrup.  I think it is available on 99er.com or maybe  
Planet99.  It is the best book available for learning on the Line by  
Line and Minimem.

Owen Brand
**Oprysoft**
Opry99er.com

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From: Owen Brand <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:52:13 -0500

5.25 is fine... I can make that work.  I asked about 3.5 because they  
are more reliable and last longer.  But I have a bunch of brand new  
5.25s as well.  I'll make you up two identical disks so you won't have  
to back it up.... Since you have a single disk drive system, that  
makes it a pain in the aZZ to do backups... Swapping disks over and  
over an over, file by file....  Hope you don't mind bright orange  
diskettes.  :)

Owen Brand
**Oprysoft**
Opry99er.com

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From: R Halter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:14:36 -0600

Owen Brand wrote:
> to back it up.... Since you have a single disk drive system, that makes 
> it a pain in the aZZ to do backups... Swapping disks over and over an 
> over, file by file....  Hope you don't mind bright orange diskettes.  :)

LOL, orange is fine.  But really, I don't mind the file/disk copy.  The 
files are so small, it really doesn't take long to do it -- or maybe I'm 
just used to modern, bloated files that take 5 minutes to copy one 200MB 
file from one drive to another.  ^_~

I'll give you my address in a personal email (unless you already have it?)

---

From: R Halter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:48:32 -0600

Owen Brand wrote:
> rules.  You must start at the memory location specified by LBL.

I figured this out after awhile (and some swearing -- I tend to lose 
patience pretty quickly, with electronics).  After I failed at this, I 
even went through all my disks, to see if maybe I already had a copy of 
MFM somewhere.  I got about 1/2 of the way through them before it 
occurred to me to print the disk catalogs up, to attach to the disk 
sleeves.  >_<

I found some interesting stuff on those diskettes, though.  Apparently, 
the person who owned most of my current equipment before me, had a GRAM 
Kracker.

Example:
DSK1 -  DISKNAME= EAGAMES11
AVAILABLE=  11  USED= 347

  FILENAME  SIZE    TYPE    P
---------- ---- ---------- -
CENTIPEDE    63 DIS/FIX 80
DCO          28 DIS/FIX 80
HOPPERDOC    33 DIS/VAR 80
HOPPERSO     29 DIS/FIX 80
INIT         36 DIS/FIX 80
LOAD          7 PROGRAM
OMEGADOC     20 DIS/VAR 80
OMEGASS      35 DIS/FIX 80
QBERT        55 DIS/FIX 80
TOMBO        41 DIS/FIX 80

On other disks, I see "T/ISLE1" and "T/ISLE2," "ASTEROIDS," "BUCK" (size 
is 204, I'm thinking it's the "Buck Rogers" game), "DEMON" (of course 
"Super Demon Attack" *was* released on disk, so not necessarily a GK 
rip), and "JAWBREAKER."

Also some interesting-sounding stuff, like "DISASEMBLR" (which I found 
referenced online) and "DISKO" (the only mention I found of this was in 
a response to Bryan on comp.sys.ti, written by Paul Urbanus), "SHMOO," 
"BUMBLEBEE," "OTHELLO2," "HAUNTHOUSE" (an XB text-adventure game, with a 
little bit of graphical assistance), "SKUNK-2720" ( O_o ), and "WHO_AM_I?"

It looks like I'm going to have quite a bit to keep me busy, just 
checking out all these programs and files.  ^_^

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From: Owen Brand <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:00:21 -0500

Great stuff!!  Glad you have some stuff to keep you busy until MFM  
arrives.  :). I will be going to the post office to mail a couple  
packages on Monday... I have to send some old TI magazines to a friend  
of mine... I will also send your MFM disks as well... Come to think of  
it, do you need anything else currently?

Owen Brand
**Oprysoft**
Opry99er.com

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From: R Halter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:24:38 -0600

> it, do you need anything else currently?  

Nothing I know of.  BTW, I just found out that "OMEGASS" is "Beyond 
Parsec."  It doesn't seem to play well with Mini-Memory, however.  And 
"QBERT" and "CENTIPEDE" are knock-offs called "Cubit" and "Arthropod." 
They play fairly well, all things considered.

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From: fdos <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:10:36 -0700

Now I know why I'm crazy as a loon. :-)

I do admit that MFM is absolutely the easiest way to transfer TI files 
to/from a PC via a serial connection.  Being the loon that I am my first 
serial communications file transfers were done using PORT on my Geneve 
to/from a Linux PC at 38,400 bps via a 4 Port Serial Communications 
Server.  Talk about hair-pulling setups while following the docs step by 
step!

Once I discovered MFM the only hair-pulling experience came during 
Hyperterm setup to 19,200 bps serial communications with the TI.  Then I 
found a real easy way to transfer files; TI99-PC.  Almost as easy as 
PC-Transfer which I used eons ago, but it doesn't work with my HFDC 
cards. :-(

Bill S

Owen Brand wrote:
>  
> 
> Seriously, just let me send you a copy of MFM on floppy.  You are going 
> to drive yourself crazy messing around with this shit.  I ripped all my 
> hair out until Ernie Pergrem sent me a copy.  It is a complete waste of 
> time to try to do TI transfers without either MFM or TELCO.  You will go 
> crazy, I promise you.  
> 
> Owen Brand
> **Oprysoft**
> Opry99er.com <http://Opry99er.com>
> 
> On Jan 15, 2010, at 11:12 AM, R Halter <[email-masked] 
> <mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
> 
>>  
>>
>> Owen Brand wrote:
>> >
>> >

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From: fdos <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:16:46 -0700

I don't see any that look like GK created files.

Bill S

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From: "sconner3uk" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:17:39 -0000

>>I spent about 10 minutes trying to enter the first line for "Bargainmodem," and kept getting "*ERROR*" before I could even  finish typing it.<<

You're aware that if a line doesn't start with a label, you need to type a <space> first? You'll get the error otherwise ...

Stuart.