TI99/4A

HxC Floppy emulator support for all others computers...
Jeff
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Re: TI99/4A

Post by Jeff »

yell0w_lantern wrote:Mailed. :mrgreen:
Demonatt.dsk : Seems ok with the last beta version (2.0.6.0)
DONKEY.DSK : Seems ok with the last beta version (2.0.6.0)
Demon Attack (1984)(Tandy)[26-3099].dsk : Detected as JV1 file. Is is a JV1 file (TSR80 and co)?
Popcorn (1982)(Tandy)[26-3090].dsk : Detected as JV1 file. Is is a JV1 file (TSR80 and co)?
Asteroid.dsk : Seems ok with the last beta version (2.0.6.0)

Are you sure that this image are not corrupted ?

kapitan-u
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Re: TI99/4A

Post by kapitan-u »

Hi!

I'm using TI99/4A with Expansion System and PHP1240 Disk Controller.
Reading is OK for V9T9 90 kb and PC99 255 kb, but write anlays corrupt the image.
I have latest HxC software and firmware.

Jeff
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Re: TI99/4A

Post by Jeff »

kapitan-u wrote:Hi!

I'm using TI99/4A with Expansion System and PHP1240 Disk Controller.
Reading is OK for V9T9 90 kb and PC99 255 kb, but write anlays corrupt the image.
I have latest HxC software and firmware.

Send me the image before and after.
which firmware have you exactly?

kapitan-u
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 6:08 am

Re: TI99/4A

Post by kapitan-u »

I'm sorry, normal writes are OK. Problem is with low level format. I'm attaching files before and after.
firmware is 1.8.2.40
Attachments
1.rar
(135.43 KiB) Downloaded 604 times

ti99iuc
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:19 pm

Re: TI99/4A

Post by ti99iuc »

Jeff wrote:
kapitan-u wrote:Hi!

I'm using TI99/4A with Expansion System and PHP1240 Disk Controller.
Reading is OK for V9T9 90 kb and PC99 255 kb, but write anlays corrupt the image.
I have latest HxC software and firmware.

Send me the image before and after.
which firmware have you exactly?
Hi !
any news about this problem ?

i have another problem about firmware update... when i updated from 1.6.0.0 to last firmware (i tried the betaversion also), my TI99 give me an Error in the Catalog Request...

i will try to found a 1.6.0.0 firmware again... just i wonder to know if it's normal.

Thank you

Jeff
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Re: TI99/4A

Post by Jeff »

What is your jumper setting? Hardware revision?

ti99iuc
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Re: TI99/4A

Post by ti99iuc »

Jeff wrote:What is your jumper setting? Hardware revision?
because my Card is into the TI99 PEB, i can't read the hardware revision succesfully at now...
maybe you could help me to understand where i should look please ? :)

about the jumper setting it's always been on dsk3.

Jeff
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Re: TI99/4A

Post by Jeff »

ti99iuc wrote:
Jeff wrote:What is your jumper setting? Hardware revision?
because my Card is into the TI99 PEB, i can't read the hardware revision succesfully at now...
maybe you could help me to understand where i should look please ? :)

about the jumper setting it's always been on dsk3.
When did you buy the hardware ?

I must know the exact position of the jumper on the hxc. (a picture please).

RAB54
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2014 3:28 am

Re: TI99/4A

Post by RAB54 »

I recently purchased a HxC Emulator and have quickly found
I am in totally in over my head.
Does anyone know what new/used emulator is worth?
I hate to sell it but I don't have much choice.
I haven't got a clue where to even start with it.
:(

ckoba
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Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:28 am

Re: TI99/4A

Post by ckoba »

I'd like to chime in and say that my newly-purchased-from-Lothartek HxC Revision F (with firmware 18.2.40) corrupts all TI images that I try to format, and will not successfully write to images I format before conversion.

This is with the stock TI floppy controller (so 1771 controller chip), stock controller ROMs (also broken with 80-track ROMs), and a straight cable. DIP switches are set (from 1 to 8) as 10000100 (so, ID0A and ID1B).

This exact same equipment can format and subsequently write using a standard 3.5" floppy drive.

What other information do I need to provide to help track this problem down?

Jeff
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Re: TI99/4A

Post by Jeff »

Can you share the formatted images ?

ckoba
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Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:28 am

Re: TI99/4A

Post by ckoba »

Jeff wrote:Can you share the formatted images ?
A zipfile containing the images is attached to this post.

They are:

* test.dsk and test80.dsk, which are V9T9-formatted source images used to create the resulting .hfe images. The former is 40-track-per-side single-sided single-density, and the latter is 80-track-per-side double-sided single-density.

* test_original.hfe and test80_original.hfe, which are the above source images converted to .hfe using HxCFloppyEmulator tool on MacOS.

* test_format.hfe and test80_format.hfe, which are copies of the above images that I attempted to format using TI's Disk Utility. The former was attempted reformat at 40/SSSD, the latter at 80/DSSD. Both failed with error 43, and subsequent attempts to query the images resulted in a "disk not formatted" error.

* test_save.hfe and test80_save.hfe, which are copies of the original images with two basic "hello world" files saved. Interestingly, this test did not fail this time. Perhaps my previous test was attempted with the already-corrupted-by-failed-format images.

Please let me know if you need more tests performed ...
Attachments
ti99_test_hfe.zip
TI 99/4A test images
(101.95 KiB) Downloaded 452 times

Jeff
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Re: TI99/4A

Post by Jeff »

all the disks seems to be perfectly formatted (see it into the track viewer), so i suppose that this is a SDCard write latency problem. Which SD are you using ? When did you got the error exactly ?

RAB54
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Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2014 3:28 am

Re: TI99/4A

Post by RAB54 »

I found some help with my HxC and have pretty much got the hang of it.
I appreciate your suggestions and look forward to using the drive more.
Thanks.

ckoba
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:28 am

Re: TI99/4A

Post by ckoba »

Jeff wrote:all the disks seems to be perfectly formatted (see it into the track viewer), so i suppose that this is a SDCard write latency problem. Which SD are you using ? When did you got the error exactly ?
I've tried this with a quasi-generic ("Silicon Power") class 4 8 gig card and a Transcend class 10 16 gig card, with identical results.

The error sequence works like this:

* Start up TI's "Disk Manager" (original or modified for additional drives, doesn't matter)
* Select "Disk Commands"
* Select "Initialize Disk"
* Set options appropriate to the image (40 or 80 tracks, single or double sided, always single density)
* Confirm format and it starts
* HxC seeks to the bottom track, reads, writes, reads
* Disk Manager reports "error 43" and fails. The image is now unusable.

However, this appears to be the case only with TI's "Disk Manager". Other formatting utilities (specifically "Disk Manager 2000", which despite the name doesn't seem to share code with TI version) do not fail.

So ... it doesn't appear to be related to the SD card (manufacturer or speed), but something specific to that particular formatting utility. Odd.

Edit: no, I was wrong. Formatting fails across-the-board. Initializing (simply resetting the initial directory track) works fine. I don't know enough about Shugart drives to understand what's different between low-level formatting and a simple byte-write, but clearly the HxC isn't responding the way the TI's 1771 controller expects it to.

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