On 1/29/22 02:43, Carlos M. Nunez, M.D. wrote:
To answer the question of what I envision doing with the Model 100…
The computer serves two purposes for me, the first being nostalgia. As I
mentioned, the Model 100 was my second computer, and I sometimes just like to
mess around and mentally time travel to my youth and the formative years in my
tech journey. I also like to code a little and mess with hardware a little. I
like to write simple programs in BASIC to teach myself things, and I’m learning
Assembly Language on my CoCo.
I’m also a bit of a tinkerer and maker. I like to build circuits and robots and
gadgets, mostly on the Arduino platform. I have recently begun assembling my
own PCBs with old school EPROMS that plug into the CoCo cartridge slot and can
run programs or hold data. I 3D print a lot of the non-electronic parts I use.
All of that being said, I am somewhere between novice and competent in most of
the things I’ve listed.
Now I have a few more simple questions to get me started…
1. Are there any recommended sources for a null modem cable?
http://tandy.wiki/Model_T_Serial_Cable
I would prefer the PC end to terminate in a USB plug, so I believe it will
require a serial to usb converter somewhere. Also, any good online information
and/or tutorials that walk through the null modem cable file transfer stuff?
That is kind of a large question with a lot of different answers, and
all answers are somewhat opinionated to the person answering.
A full answer covering all bases is so much I'm just not going to
bother, and instead I'll just say what I'd do.
First, transferring files *conveniently* involves using a tpdd emulator.
You install a tpdd client on the 100 and a tpdd server on the modern
machine, and they talk to each other.
There are several tpdd clients, several ways to get a tpdd client
installed onto the 100, and several tpdd servers.
The simplest and best way to get a tpdd client onto the 100 is to buy a
REX#, and it has TS-DOS in rom. That makes life better in several ways.
TS-DOS is the most user-friendly tpdd client, but it's one downside is
it uses a lot of ram, except, if you have the rom version then it uses
essentially no ram. And the REX#, having it in rom, means you never have
to bootstrap it to get it installed. It's always available even after
hard resets the wipe all ram.
If you don't have a REX# or REX Classic, the next best option is to use
a bootstrapper program on the modern machine that can install things
onto the 100. On linux or mac, there is a good bootstrapper built in to
dlplus. On Windows there is a powershell script called tsend.
The other half of the equation is a tpdd server. LaddieAlpha is the best
tpdd server for Windows. It also runs on linux and mac but needs some
fiddling with mono to get running, but since you already needed dlplus
for the bootstrapper, and dlplus is already a tpdd server, you can just
use that. However Laddie supports TS-DOS subdirectories and dlplus
doesn't yet.
Each of these has their own directions. Now I'm just going to dump a
bunch of links on you...
(serial cable already linked above)
http://tandy.wiki/TPDD_client (background, other tpdd clients besides
ts-dos)
http://tandy.wiki/TPDD_server (background, other tpdd servers besides
laddie or dlplus)
http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=Rex (you want a REX#)
https://github.com/bkw777/tsend (bootstrapper for windows)
bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=LaddieCon#LaddieAlpha (tpdd server
for windows)
https://github.com/bkw777/dlplus (bootstrapper and tpddserver for any
unix-like, including linux & mac)
There are a bunch of other options. For instance, the Backpack and
PDDuino that was just recently discussed here. They are small hardware
devices that emulate a TPDD drive and include bootstrappers to install
TS-DOS or other tpdd clients onto the 100 pretty conveniently just like
the actual TPDD2 had. If you have one of those, that's actually super
convenient, but you can't buy a Backpack right now, and although you can
build a PDDuino, it's a fair little project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3es0NLJmd2c
https://github.com/bkw777/PDDuino
There is an Android app called mComm that is both a tpdd server and
bootstrapper that runs on Android devices, but I think it has problems
on the last few versions of Android. There is an older Windows version
of mComm too, but I can't get it to work at all on current Windows10.
There is a python version which works, at least on linux, but requires a
little hacking to get it working and it doesn't include a bootstrapper.
http://www.club100.org/memfiles/index.php?direction=&order=&directory=Kurt%20McCullum
Most of the old DOS tpdd servers and bootstrappers are actually still
usable today even from linux by using a dos emulator. In a couple of
those links above I have some dosbox commandlines just to document the
flags to make the serial port work.
And of course there are several old articles that describe how to do a
plain text transfer with the telcom app and hyperterm, but remember what
I said about opinionated answers? My opinion is that is pointlessly
difficult and limited and error-prone when we have better options, so
that's why I didn't even mention that except to say "forget that" here. :)
http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=Text_File_Transfer_using_Hyperterminal
2. Aside from this mailing list, are there any other good Discord servers,
subreddits or forums that are active? I am already on the Slabtop Computer
Discord server, so looking any others.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Model.T.Computers
Wouldn't be surprised about a subreddit but I don't know.
3. Is there a new/different OS available for the Model 100? Do you have to swap
out the rom chip to do this?
Thanks in advance!
Until very recently, no, but now, amazingly, yes.
Revisit the REX link above, only this time you want REXCPM.
You could also possibly stretch the definition to include mforth
http://www.strangegizmo.com/products/mforth/
There was a thing called XOS which runs on the 200 not 100. Never used
it but it looks like an interesting feat.
https://github.com/LivingM100SIG/Living_M100SIG/blob/main/M100SIG/Lib-10-TANDY200/XOS-C.DOC
http://www.club100.org/library/libpg.html
--
bkw
