[M100] 4 REXes available

[Josh Malone]

Hello all,

Well, I was hoping to have more stock before I sent this, but circumstances
will prevent me from building more for a while and I need to pay the the
Digikey bill :)

I have 4 REX units available for sale. Programmed for Tandy 100/102. Price
is $65 plus $7 priority shipping. Please mail me off-list to inquire.
Payment via PayPal only for now. U.S. shipping only, again, for now.

I *will* be building more, but it will be a few weeks or more. :(

Thanks for everyone's support. I appreciate it!

-Josh

Re: [M100] DVI help

[Brian White]

No problem of course. It's nice to think of another couple units working
and another couple people learning how something old worked and carrying it
forward another few years.

-- 
bkw



On Feb 19, 2018 9:11 PM, "Randall Kindig"  wrote:

> Brian, you are absolutely correct.  You sent me everything I possibly
> needed to understand how this should work and I managed to ignore some of
> it.
>
> I really, really appreciate all your help.
>
> I’m just pumped that both DVI’s work when for a while I thought neither
> did.
>
> I will check the disk to see if has the 200 files on it, although I don’t
> have plans to get a T200.  I had one a few years ago and sold it.
>
> Thanks again!
>
> Randy
>
> On Feb 19, 2018, at 2:42 AM, Brian White  wrote:
>
> The manual, which is on-line btw, does mention somewhere in there that the
> first step loads software from the disk to the dvi. Then the 2nd step loads
> from the dvi to the M100. It also shows the backup procedure and all kinds
> of other stuff.
>
> Also, 3 observable things do happen when the M100 is loaded successfully,
> it's just that none of them obviously look like "Everything worked, we're
> ready."
>
> 1) The M100 menu screen blanks and redraws.
>
> 2) The free memory display on the M100 menu reduces by about 5K.
>
> 3) The TV screen clears. The the Microsoft/Tandy boilerplate goes away
> leaving only a cursor.
>
> I should have thought to ask if you saw these in the first place. I did
> say "nothing happens" but that still isn't good enough because how could
> you know what counts as "something" when it's just things like that?
>
> Though, I believe this is all in the video I posted. Did I ever post a
> link here? I don't remember, maybe I only posted that to facebook...
> https://youtu.be/Mt6AmyLKkXQ
> Not wait, I did post it here because didn't you point out that it looked
> like I was using the serial port? So you saw the entire boot process. So
> you have no excuse after all :)
>
> The service manual is also on-line which describes even more about how the
> dvi works.
>
> http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/pdf/Tandy/Disk%20Video%
> 20Interface%20Manual.pdf
>
> http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/pdf/Tandy/Disk%20Video%
> 20Interface%20Service%20Manual.pdf
>
> It went similar with me. I thought I had 2 dead DVIs and 3 bad original
> system disks, Then it turned out I had 2 good dvis, 3 good original system
> disks, and merely one bad drive in one dvi. But I also had an unconfirmed
> cable I made myself too, not one anyone else claimed was correct and
> tested. I had no reason to believe I had it wired right. Now after finding
> some 360K drives on ebay and finding just enough documentation on-line to
> set the jumpers right, I have 2 fully working dvis, with 2 drives each no
> less.
>
> Now the last thing is, does your system disk contain files with 200 in the
> name, like FMT200 and BAK200 ? And if not, do you have or plan to have a
> 200? There are two versions of the system disk. One is for 100 & 102 only,
> the other is for 100, 102, & 200. If you don't have the 100/200 system disk
> I can make a copy.
>
> --
> bkw
>
> On Feb 18, 2018 6:31 PM, "Randall Kindig" 
> wrote:
>
>> Wow, I hooked up the original DVI box now that I know how all this works,
>> and since I verified the cable/M100/boot disk combination that works.
>>
>> Guess what, it works too!!
>>
>> I think what was throwing me was that when you reset the M100, the disk
>> light on the DVI doesn’t even come on most times.  You just hear a very
>> brief disk noise from it, a second or two, and that must be all it takes to
>> load the DISK BASIC.  You then go into BASIC on the M100, type SCREEN 1,1
>> and voila!
>>
>> I had originally assumed the disk drive light would come on and that it
>> would take several seconds to load DISK BASIC, so I was looking for that
>> behavior.
>>
>> I now have a preponderance of riches.  Two working DVI boxes.  I’ll
>> probably sell a fully tested system on eBay with cable, boot disk, M100,
>> DVI and recover some of the funds I spent on all this.
>>
>> Thanks to everyone who helped with this. Especially you, Brian.  I owe
>> you that beer :)
>>
>> Randy
>>
>>
>>
>> On Feb 18, 2018, at 5:45 PM, Randall Kindig 
>> wrote:
>>
>> This worked perfectly, Brian!  I now have a backup system disk and both
>> have the write-protect tab on them.
>>
>> thanks!
>>
>> By the way, the system is consistently booting now.  Just had to shake
>> the dust off of it, I guess.
>>
>> Still would like to see if I can get the other DVI box working.
>>
>> Randy
>>
>>
>> On Feb 17, 2018, at 10:24 PM, Brian White  wrote:
>>
>> The easiest way is using the backup program on the system disk.
>>
>> It's possible but I think it's probably more difficult with a modern pc.
>> I don't think just any modern floppy controller chip can do it, and you
>> need a 360K drive too, ideally, not