More or less what I was talking about, but I still think the ModelT<>Laptop/Raspi/$9.00special/whatever connection should be wireless instead of the M100 being tethered to the display via RS-232/USB etc. Also, it should be more than just a dumb terminal if you want to run any modelT software, especially when disconnected, but we have John's Laddie programs for that.
For me the wireless part is what makes it all worth while; if I have to be connected with cables to the display, power brick etc. I might as well just use a laptop or tablet in the first place. As I said, various versions of the external display and storage components exist right now using Linux, Android or even MS-DOS, so maybe it is really just a matter of software... When I had it set up, for the remote display all I had to do was turn on the M100 with its BT adapter and switch the TV to its VGA input (connected to the laptop behind the TV running a BT terminal program). To up/download files and programs I just had to start the ModelT's terminal program and switch the laptop to 'file server' mode; presumably that could have been made a little slicker but at the time I couldn't get TS-DOS running reliably over Bluetooth. m ----- Original Message ----- From: David Flippo To: Model 100 Discussion Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 1:47 PM Subject: Re: [M100] TDock Being new to this forum, I'll add my 1.5 cents to the TDock discussion. It seems, the most straight forward approach, both hardware, and software, would be a serial to USB interface to a Raspi; the Raspi being the emulator. The Raspi would offer all of the hardware add-ons WiFi, HDMI/ Composite display, SD, etc capability. The 100/102/200, would need a simple serial interface program, developed to communicate through the serial interface, to the Raspi. In effect the 100/102/200, is acting as a dump terminal. The software for the Raspi emulator would, or might be the only software challenge. This approach would provide a more simple portability interface, both hardware wise, and wouldn't be limited to physical portability also. Dave Sent from my iPad On May 20, 2015, at 9:49 AM, Ken Pettit <[email protected]> wrote: Hey Mike, I suppose you could use serial port + Bluetooth to drive an 80x25 character display. But I wonder how slow it would be to do scrolling, etc. I was already worried about how slow a parallel port implementation would be relative to a true system bus connection. And I think the tricky part about what you said is the word "internal" as it relates to Bluetooth. Most people don't want to take their machines apart and take a soldering iron to them, myself included and I even have the skills to do it (or at least I tell myself I do ;) As far as the how, the SysROM has multiple RST 7 hooks for sending characters to the LCD. And it uses RAM variables to record the current screen dimensions (which are initialized to 40x8). Redirecting to anything other than the internal LCD (i.e. DVI system bus, parallel port, serial port, etc.) requires installing a relatively small .CO program and RST7 hooks to intercept the data going to the LCD. And BASIC has a WIDTH command for setting the width to either 40 or 80. But the WIDTH command will fail unless you have actually installed a RST7 hook to handle it. Ken On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 9:09 AM, MikeS <[email protected]> wrote: ----- Original Message ----- From: Gmail To: Model 100 Discussion Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 11:22 AM Subject: Re: [M100] TDock Ken, Tell me more! Pretty well everything that's being discussed is already available today; connect to an old laptop via Bluetooth and you've got your display interface, USB/SD/HD storage, WiFi etc. If that $9.00 SBC becomes a reality it should be able to do the same thing, sort of a wireless super-NADSbox.. That's the way I'd go, a separately powered portable standalone device linked to the ModelT via (internal) Bluetooth. When I put the M100's display up on the big screen TV it was usually for playing M100 format text games and puzzles while reclining on the couch so 80 column mode wasn't really an issue for me, but I did investigate the 80 column screen mode a bit way back when with no success. I then assumed it was part of the DVI DOS but I gather it's actually included in the basic BASIC; any hints about how to get at it, preferably redirecting out the serial port? And of course then there's the issue of drawing graphics on an 80x25 equivalent display... ;-) m ---------------- Hi Bob, Actually no ROM changes are needed. The existing ROM already supports 80x25 text mode displays (though not for the MENU program). Ken Sent from my iPhone On May 20, 2015, at 7:18 AM, Bob Pigford <[email protected]> wrote: I agree with Van and others: TDOCK needs to be a Dock (not portable) and may be powered with a wall wart. For me, an 80 X 25 display would be the ultimate goal, not just duplicating the ModelT screen on a larger display. For instance, I think one might already be able to run VirtualT on a Raspberry Pi and have a virtual ModelT on a larger screen, but what is the point in that. I want to have the great ModelT keyboard, serial & parallel ports, etc, on my desk while looking at a full screen of characters. The hardest part of that might be the changes to the ROM. I will point out that Steve鈥檚 REX can be operated in ROM replacement mode such that a custom modified 鈥渟oft鈥� ROM (adjusted for 80 X 25 display) can be used without actually creating or requiring a new physical ROM. SD card storage in TDOCK would also be terrific freeing the serial port for BlueM. I think that HDMI may be the best video solution for TDOCK, and there are many small HDMI screen choices available. For example, see http://www.adafruit.com/category/63 If you only have a VGA screen, then an HDMI to VGA adapter could be used. I am doing this now with a RPi and a VGA screen. I think that Wifi and internet connectivity delivered directly from TDOCK might be way down the road, but Ken鈥檚 initial design could allow design 鈥渟pace鈥� for that later enhancement. As to Ken鈥檚 question about I/O capability (like A/D and digital pins), that would be nice but not necessary. If you want to touch the real world of sensors, motors, and the like, a serial connection to an Arduino will suffice (cheap hardware and easier programming on the ModelT end). Of course, if a Raspberry Pi were to be used as the engine under the TDOCK hood, I/O pins and HDMI are already there, as well as USB ports for add-ons like Wifi. \
