Hi James, > At present I'm using a null modem cable, linked to a Linux box running > minicom.
- Can you run at the maximum 19,200bd? - If not, what is the fastest that works for you? - Is your Linux box using a 'real' RS232 com port or a USB<>RS232 adapter? If yours is working properly maybe you can help Mark Wickens; he's also using minicom but is only getting reliable transfers at 1200bd or below (he's also on your side of the pond). > Hyper terminal was a nightmare! Any idea what made it a nightmare? I've used it a fair bit with no issues, although TS-DOS with one of the TPDD emulators is more convenient since you run it only from the M100 end (once it's installed) and it handles all file types. There's an article on Bitchin100 about using Hyperterminal; I'd be interested to know if it can be improved: http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=Text_File_Transfer_using_Hyperterminal Note that if you're using TELCOM to transfer files (regardless what's at the other end) you will only be able to transfer text files or BASIC programs in text format (.DO extension). Machine-language .CO files or tokenized .BA BASIC files contain control characters that cause havoc with the transfer. There are several dedicated transfer clients for the Model T that talk to a real or emulated TPDD drive; the most popular are menu-driven TS-DOS (preferably in ROM but also available to run in RAM) and CLI Teeny. Teeny is essentially a stripped-down version of TS-DOS that lets you Load, Save and Kill files to/from/on a TPDD or a TPDD emulator; if you have an MS-DOS or compatible Windows system then Teeny can install itself from the server. At the other end the best and most flexible server is John H.'s LaddieAlpha (although some of the documentation still refers to its predecessor, Laddiecon); if you have a DOS or pre-XP Windows box then there is also Desklink. BTW, one way around running software like Desklink and the Teeny installer that requires 'real' MS-DOS to run on a Linux or late Windows box is to make an MS-DOS bootable USB drive; unfortunately last time I checked USB com port support in DOS is not easy, cheap or reliable so you'd need a 'real' com port. These days file transfer between a ModelT and a PC running DOS, Windows, Linux or even OS/X is pretty straightforward, with various options to choose from; unfortunately many folks still have trouble getting it to work well. Have you read the relevant articles on Bitchin100? http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=Model_T_File_Transfer Good luck; sorry to hear about your frustration with REX. m ----- Original Message ----- From: James Zeun To: Model 100 Discussion Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2015 9:34 AM Subject: Re: [M100] Update on my M100 and REX I don't think you ever ran any utilities to rebuild your REX did you? Nope, you might have to talk me through that, but i'm more then willing to give it a shot! Never used TS-DOS, TPDD? Tandy Portable Disk Drive? I actually have one and i have a cable for it, I just dont know if it works as I dont have any software for it and have never used one before. A friend just donated it to me. At present I'm using a null modem cable, linked to a Linux box running minicom. It's been the only fool proof way of getting data off and on the machine so far. Hyper terminal was a nightmare! I keep seeing people mention Teeny and I've been meaning to look in to it. See my original plan was to get the REX, get lots of space for programs and then download them and start learning out to use them. But I've sort of got hung up on the REX part haha Cheers James On 26 May 2015 at 13:15, Stephen Adolph <[email protected]> wrote: I could send you that software if you wanted to try it. You would need a working TPDD device, like laddiealpha running on a PC, plus a serial cable. I'm guessing you have the serial cable sorted out but have you ever run TS-DOS or Teeny on the M100, and connected to a "remote TPDD" on your PC? Steve On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 8:07 AM, Stephen Adolph <[email protected]> wrote: James, just checked the hundred or so email here. I don't think you ever ran any utilities to rebuild your REX did you? In some cases I send out software that retests and rebuilds REX, but if you never did that then it should be still "as shipped". steve On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 7:59 AM, James Zeun <[email protected]> wrote: I just looked back, here is the link. This guys board looks just like mine, except I have more ram fitted http://www.mvcsys.de/doc/remem_install.html On 26 May 2015 at 12:52, James Zeun <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Steve Under other circumstances, say if we lived in the same country, I would post you the machine and the REX to you, no questions asked. But given the distance and the age of the M100, I dont think it would be good for the computer or my nerves. As I would be having kittens, wondering if it was going to get lost in the post. Plus there is the matter of shipping, I can see posting the M100 would be expensive. This is a totally new platform to me, while I know what a binary is, I've not really encountered HEX files before. Aside from HEX archives on the Macintosh Plus. My understanding of ROMs and checksums is not shall we say that good, in fact it's down right rubbish! The closest I've come to playing with ROMS is on a BBC Micro computer and even then i was only fitting them. So I think it is fair to say your knowledge on this subject surpassed mine in leaps and bounds. Which is probably why your building the REX and I'm not :-P I am very happy to post you the REX, as I would like to know what the heck is going on myself. Is my machine faulty? is the REX faulty? Are all European M100's built like mine? Could the REX not working in my machine, be an indication of an inherit incompatibility between US and EU models? Am I going to struggle with other expansion modules? One way or the other its all a process of learning more about these little machines. I've done a little research on EU M100's and found another guy here in the UK who has a machine like mine. I think I sent you a link / picture of it a while back. So we at least know mine isn't a one off. The guy in question was trying to fit something to his machine but discovered his mobo didn't match up with the US machines. The REX is installed like it is shown in the wiki page, with the two lines on the PCB lining up with the gaps in the plastic surround. I wont deny getting stung with the extra charges really wasn't great, since then it's sort of felt like everything that could go wrong HAS. It's been a struggle to keep up my enthusiasm but I do like using this little computer, it's leagues better then the Amstrad NC100 and other machines of that ilk. If you want to email me your address, I will sort out sending you the REX, is there any point me posting you the new ROM as well? Cheers James On 26 May 2015 at 12:00, Stephen Adolph <[email protected]> wrote: James, Sorry, I thought you would understand that the 32k file is a binary file, and the file you extracted from your now modified laptop would be hex ascii. And yes, the goal is for you to be able to verify that you got what you asked for, and that involves confirming that your installed ROM matches the binary that I sent. Does that clarify? There are lots of things online to help you out. I used winhex to convert your file from hex ascii to binary, then compute the hash 16. Your extracted ROM has a checksum of A8AF - as expected. So, as I said in the off list thread, I can't do anything further. You have hardware that I have never seen, which could be defective for all I know. It also could be a broken REX. If you want you can send REX to me on your dime and I can test it out. If it is "no fault found" then I suppose you would want a refund which I am fine with but you will need to contact Ken and understand what he is willing to do. I am assuming that REX is correctly installed. Did you check that? Please go to to the wiki to understand how to install REX. If you'd rather avoid shipping costs I'm happy to refund my portion of this now. In the past I have had people send me their machines to debug, which generally is a learning opportunity. But since you are in the UK and already unhappy about the money you have spent, I'm not interested in pursuing this option as there are no guarantees that anything can be made to work for you. If I had more of these different UK machine data points, I would be comfortable with saying that REX does NOT WORK in a UK machine. But, with a data point of ONE unit, I don't think it is correct to make that statement. ..Steve On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 5:32 AM, James Zeun <[email protected]> wrote: Hey guys! So since posting in April that I was having trouble getting REX to work, there's been a little progress, but not a lot. Stephen kindly supplied me with a ROM file that was compatible with the REX and using a company Kurt had told me about. I had a new System ROM burnt for my machine. The ROM arrived last week and after installing it, the REX still doesn't respond to the CALL63012 command. When I input that command, the machine locks up and only by pressing the RESET can I get it back. This also has the side effect of wiping clean the computers memory, which I thought was interesting, because pressing the RESET shouldn't do that. Only a hard reset zaps your ram (unless I'm mistaken?). Stephen asked me if i could do a system dump and compare results with (I believe) the original file he sent me. However I'm not entirely clear on the method he wants me to use, e.g Am I comparing the file sizes of each file or something more involved like comparing the contents? The latter of which I wouldn't have a clue about. The system dump I made over the weekend curiously comes to 64kb, while the image file Stephen sent me weights in at 32kb. I'm a little confused why the dumped file is twice the size, surely it should be the same size as the file Stephen sent me. File size aside, everything else about the ROM seems to work, except I'm still having issue with the REX. So either the fault is with the module or my M100, or there is something else about the EU M100 that makes it incompatible with REX. As its been established the motherboard and the system rom of my machine differ from US machines. The only part of that which bothers me, is compatibility. It just seems like bad business sense to make US and EU machines so radically different. that they can't share addon modules. Well thats the slog so far, big thanks to those people who have helped me on this. It sucks big time that it didn't worked out the box, but at least we know that EU M100's are funny buggers...well mine is at least! lol -- My retro tech blog and general ramblings http://bytemyvdu.wordpress.com/ -- My retro tech blog and general ramblings http://bytemyvdu.wordpress.com/ -- My retro tech blog and general ramblings http://bytemyvdu.wordpress.com/
