Re: [M100] WP-2 and WP-3 conversion script

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Cool!

I don't know if you're aware but I did some reverse engineering of the
WP-2 file format.

http://bitchin100.com/files/wp2/wp2format.html

BTW, what disk service are you using?

-- John.

[M100] Gmane archival restored

[John R. Hogerhuis]

The archival of new messages to Gmane.org has been restored.

Unfortunately there is a gap going back to 2011 at least.

For now that just means you are free to search and/or read the list
via Gmane. It's one-way though, you cannot post from Gmane.

As soon as I can get the intervening messages into the required format
I'll request the admins to merge it and then we'll have full search
again.

I also have a request into my web host about the broken GNU Mailman
built-in search which some of you have noticed. There's an open
ticket, I don't know when or if they'll resolve it. Either way Gmane
is better, it's just that the archive has the gap until I can get to
the multiple gzip files downloaded and organized as Gmane requires.

-- John.

Re: [M100] WP2DOS

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Maybe the cable is not full null.

For what it's worth LaddieAlpha supports WP2

-- John.

On Thursday, March 19, 2015, Jim Toth  wrote:

>  I can do file transfers using a WP-2, an old MSDOS computer, a null
> modem cable, and Desk-Link.  If I switch from Desk-Link to WP2DOS and
> change nothing else, I get only I/O errors.  Any ideas?
>

[M100] List archives are searchable now

[John R. Hogerhuis]

My web host support just let me know that the list archives are searchable.

http://lists.bitchin100.com/private.cgi/m100-bitchin100.com/

You need to log in with your Bitchin100 email address and password.

If you have forgotten it there's a "remind me of my password" link at
the bottom of the page.


As I mentioned the other day, the list is also currently being
subscribed to by Gmane, so for very old and very new posts you can
browse or search there.

Eventually we'll get the missing years added to the Gmane archive as
well and you'll be able to search the full history.

Cheers,

-- John.

Re: [M100] Screen dim and flickers randomly

[John R. Hogerhuis]

I agree with Bob. Make sure you let it sit with good batteries and power
supple overnight to prime the nicd after all that time in storage.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Screen dim and flickers randomly

[John R. Hogerhuis]

The memory power switch should always be on unless you're placing the
laptop into storage or you're having trouble cold starting the system.

On Friday, March 20, 2015, Joe Grubbs  wrote:

> I forget the rule of thumb--in order to charge the NiCd, does the backup
> switch need to be on or off? Or does it not actually matter?
>
>

Re: [M100] WP2DOS

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 8:43 PM, Jim Toth  wrote:
> John, you were right.  I tried several null modem cables, and the only one
> that worked with WP2DOS was one that I got from Club100 a long time ago.  I
> think Rick made it himself, so it's surely full null.
>
>

Actually Rick's cables were not "full null"

They looped back DTR/DSR, and I think CTS/RTS. So they don't pass
through the flow control signals at all they just "fake out" the
laptop to think the signal is coming from the other end but really the
laptop (WP2 in this case) is generating its own signal that it
receives. This keeps the WP2 from getting stuck.

For your purpose with WP2DOS (or LaddieAlpha) I think that's fine. For
certain purpose, like HTERM which relies on genuine flow control being
passed through, it wouldn't work.

-- John.

[M100] Ladroid progress

[John R. Hogerhuis]

IMG_0335.JPG




HTERM -> BlueM -> Ladroid on Galaxy Note -> SSH -> Linux server

Lots to do to make it user friendly but it's working!

-- John.

Re: [M100] Ladroid progress

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Hello Russell --

The cable to the BCR provides power to BlueM. The Bluetooth module which
Steve designed is attached to the serial port.

Steve designed BlueM so it can also accept power from an unused serial port
pin. This requires to open the laptop and solder an internal wire to the
serial port that can provide the +5V to power the BlueM. Eventually I will
do that so there's no wire going to BCR.

I think it could also be connected to a battery.

-- John.

On Wednesday, March 25, 2015, Russell Flowers  wrote:

> Awesome!
>
> In the picture it looks like there is a cable coming from the barcode wand
> port and going back to the M100... but I don't think there is a port there
> is there? Did you stick Bluetooth module in the battery compartment?
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 25, 2015 at 3:01 AM, John R. Hogerhuis  > wrote:=
>
> HTERM -> BlueM -> Ladroid on Galaxy Note -> SSH -> Linux server
>>
>> Lots to do to make it user friendly but it's working!
>>
>> -- John.
>>
>
>

Re: [M100] Mike's M100 ROM adapter

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Of course!

On Saturday, March 28, 2015, Stephen Adolph  wrote:

> https://www.oshpark.com/shared_projects/Kil9S1ya
>
> Hi, Mike agreed to share his design on Oshpark.
> I think what would be good it so point this page to the Bitchin100 wiki
> and provide information there for how to build and use it.
>
> Make sense?  John, would that be ok?
> Steve
>

Re: [M100] Received my REX but there's a problem

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 10:40 AM, James Zeun  wrote:
> Ken
>
> It might seem daft but if you have the time, could you walk me through HOW
> you tested it. I've been working with Stephen on getting this chip to be
> seen by my computer but had little luck thus far.
>
> Cheers
> James
>

Steve and Ken will get you sorted eventually but since you posted to
the list, my own thoughts...

The only problem I have had with my REX units was upon initial install.

It generally required ensuring correct orientation, making sure there
was good contact with the pins of the OptROM socket, and sometimes
doing a cold start.

Sometimes just unplugging and plugging in a few times does the trick.
I think these were contact issues.

Also I recall a spacer being involved that keeps the board from going
too low in the socket.

Obviously the big difference between whatever Ken did to test and what
you are doing is you don't have Ken's laptop :-)

Also it's possible that the REX board has been damaged sometime after
Ken tested it. This could happen because of electrostatic discharge or
flex of the REX board while installing or removing. No idea the
likelihood of those eventualities.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Received my REX but there's a problem

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 12:45 PM, James Zeun  wrote:
> Well i think we might have figured out why the REX is not working. I sent a
> photo of my TRS80 M100 to Stephen and he asked me what the heck I was using.
> Turns out the guts of my M100 resemble a Kyotronic KC-85 more then they do a
> Tandy M100.

Why didn't I think of that...

Re: [M100] Received my REX but there's a problem

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 1:21 PM, Ken Pettit  wrote:
> So the reason the REX is not working might simply be the fact that the
> System ROM calls in REXMGR are all wrong and not so much a hardware issue.
> Aren't the European models lacking a modem?  This would mean the system ROM
> is different than the "standard" M100 ROM.
>
> Oh, and the way I tested the REX was basically the same as what you had
> described … put it in an CALL 63013.
>
> Ken
>

So I guess James just needs a ROM dumper for inspection

-- John.

Re: [M100] Any information that I can read about REX

[John R. Hogerhuis]

http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=REX

On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 4:08 PM, Joe Grubbs  wrote:
> Duane, I think there is a wiki page on it you can reach from the club100
> site, or perhaps a Google search.

Re: [M100] a z-code interpreter for Model 100 + REX --- work in progress

[John R. Hogerhuis]

How big are the save files?

-- John.

Re: [M100] Back home from the hospital

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Glad to hear you're home. Best wishes my friend,

-- John.

Re: [M100] a z-code interpreter for Model 100 + REX --- work in progress

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 10:35 PM, Clinton Reddekop
 wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> For the games that I have it would vary from about 12K to just under 16K.
>
> Clint
>
>

Wow that's big. What the heck is in there?!

I wonder if the data is amenable to packing / compression.

If you could get them smaller you could use RAM files. That would be
more M100-ish way to go if possible.

-- John.

Re: [M100] a z-code interpreter for Model 100 + REX --- work in progress

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 12:15 PM, Clinton Reddekop
 wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> Each game image has a 'dynamic memory' portion which may be changed as the
> game runs - so basically the ram needed for the game.  In addition there is
> an up-to-2K z-machine stack plus a handful of other variables to store.  The
> 16K number I mentioned above is for Planetfall which has a 14288-byte
> dynamic memory section.  There may be games I don't have which need more.
>
> This is the standards document I've been working from:
> http://inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/z1point1/index.html
> There is a proposed save file format in there (see Quetzal) which includes a
> simple compression of the dynamic memory.  I will probably use this format
> for save files (eventually) since it allows them to be transferred to/from
> other computers/interpreters.
>
> My best guess (not having given it much thought yet) is that an early-game
> save would be compressible enough to fit into a ram file, but a late-game
> save probably would not.
>
> I think I'll write it to save in RAM files first and play through a few
> games just to see if I'm wrong.  Should be easier to implement than saving
> in TPDD or REX anyway.
>
> I'm assuming you use a REX - do you find that you have most of the blocks
> full most of the time, or would using one or 2 blocks for saves be
> acceptable?  Also I should mention that a typical game file itself will take
> up 3 to 5 blocks.
>

Ah, so it's a dump of the state for the entire virtual machine. Well
that makes sense. Silly inefficient but it makes sense.

Whether later game saves are worse than early ones seems like a good
guess, but will probably depend on the game. The amount of data they
actually need to save/restore is conceptually very small (position in
map, inventory, stateful game features). But when saving raw RAM you
can imagine that it depends on how memory blocks are managed in the
particular game. If it does a lot of allocs/frees and the allocator
does not reuse blocks then you will see a lot of entropy (harder to
compress).

Yes I have REX units in my laptops.

If you can make it work with REX blocks I think that would be great.

But you will obviously have a smaller fragment of a small audience if
it only works with REX (or NadsBox or LaddieAlpha)

-- John.

Re: [M100] a z-code interpreter for Model 100 + REX --- work in progress

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Does clear modify himem or maxram?

Another question... Is it kosher for ml programs to do their own clear
statement? Doesn't that make it difficult for users to manage memory if
they have multiple programs to load?

Keep in mind if you can use memory located at arbitrary position you can
always allocate the space on the stack by adjustment of SP. It will stay
allocated for the duration your program is running and will not get
corrupted unless you have unbalanced stack push/pops.

You could also use the memory at the end of your program assuming users
know to clear enough space for the CO copy and the extra memory. Are you
making a relocating loader Clinton?

High memory is typically used for programs that need to run at a fixed
location, TSRs/ interrupt handlers and  stuff that needs to survive your
program exiting. At least that's the way I've always thought about it.
There are probably other opinions.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Model 100/102 vs Alphasmart

[John R. Hogerhuis]

You could run LaddieAlpha on your laptop and just use a USB serial cable to
transfer your files.

John.

Re: [M100] Model 100/102 vs Alphasmart

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Or since they're text files Kurt's mcomm text transfer would be even
easier.

John.

Re: [M100] T200 ^K in Text

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Thursday, April 30, 2015, Kurt McCullum  wrote:

> The more I look at it the more I think it's the same as the ADRSS and
> SCHEDL programs. All the functions are the same.
>
> Kurt
>
>
I overlooked ADRSS and SCHEDL for a long time. With the text editor and
clever formatting they can be very useful. When Microsoft knew how to do
more with less...

John.

Re: [M100] DISK+ ROM but no floppy for PC side

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Then I'm guessing Disk+ is a non TPDD storage service.

I remember discussing Disk+ before. Might search the archives.

-- John.

Re: [M100] REX release 4.9 update on it's way

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Thanks Steve and Fred!

Nice when a bug fix helps everyone.

-- John.

Re: [M100] DISK+ ROM but no floppy for PC side

[John R. Hogerhuis]

>From a Portable 100 mag it looks like there were Disk+ "disk services"
for Apple II , CP/M, TRS-80 desktops, IBM and clones, etc.

Looks like the Model 4 service was in Ira's archive

http://www.retrocomputing.net/parts/r/radio/TRS80_4/docs/on2006.htm


The equivalent of the TS-DOS +  Desklink (or today,TS-DOS +
LaddieAlpha.exe or mcomm) combinations.

Disk+ looks like an also-ran compared to TS-DOS and Desklink. I'm
guessing it's not compatible with the TPDD and no one ever bothered
emulating it.

So unless you want to use a CP/M machine for file storage, and can
find the disk service software, it's probably not going to work.

Heck without some service you would be hard pressed to reverse
engineer it without a complete decompile.

To what end? Save your pennies and get a REX w/ TS-DOS, and use it
with a disk service that's supported today..

-- John.

Re: [M100] DISK+ ROM but no floppy for PC side

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Monday, May 4, 2015, John Gardner  wrote:

> ...So unless you want to use a CP/M machine for file storage...
>
> Hey! I resemble that remark...:)
>

More power to you! Retrocomputing is always a valid reason.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Laddie Alpha / Laddie Con / Desklink source?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Sun, May 3, 2015 at 1:27 AM, Hiraghm  wrote:
> IF i get some spare time to spend with my M100 (not likely, but I can
> dream), I'd like to work on my project to use my Android phone as storage
> for my M100 via BlueM. Is the TPDD emulation part of the Laddie Alpha /
> Laddie Con / Desklink source code available somewhere? It'd be a lot easier,
> faster, and likelier to succeed if I can just port existing code to
> Android's flavor of Java...
>
> (Reminds me that I wanted to work on a C cross-compiler for the M100,
> too...).


http://bitchin100.com/pub-git/

Git repo's, you need to install git to clone.

-- John.

Re: [M100] My TRS-80 M100 and going to the park

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Fri, May 8, 2015 at 11:18 AM, Mike Stein  wrote:

>   Don't know if I ever posted this here and it's about SX64 portables
> (and a couple of PETs) instead of M100s, but the folks at the Starbucks
> were just as intrigued...:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPM9oA72iQw
>
> Fortunately for your eyes I couldn't make it that day...
>

I have an SX-64 in the pile. Tried powering it on but it seemed like the
video screen was not functional.

-- John.

Re: [M100] $9 Computer

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Fri, May 15, 2015 at 10:03 AM, Ken Pettit  wrote:
> Just what I need, another ARM based SBC occupying space in a drawer
> alongside all the other development boards I have :)
>
> Ken
>

I hear you, but... similar to the Raspberry Pi, the beauty of popular
gadgets like this (assuming CHIP too becomes popular) is developer
mindshare and the market built up around a single platform.

When you have a problem it's nice to be able to be able to search
google and be able to find an answer rather than being "on your own."

-- John.

Re: [M100] $9 Computer

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Monday, May 18, 2015, Ken Pettit  wrote:

> Yeah, I've looked *many* times doing quite exhaustive searches just about
> everywhere I could think of looking for a similarly sized / shaped LCD.
> Nada, unless you want to order 10,000 of them.
>
>
So that means we would have to be funded. Could be done. A kickstarter
would both demonstrate market demand and fund the project at the same time.


The question is whether we think it likely that there is a market for
something like this sufficient to take on the responsibility of accepting
money for it and starring development.

What's the target market, what will be the cost to develop the whole
product, what price would customers pay, etc.  So, a business plan.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Model 200 battery cover

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Someone already designed a cover for T102

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29533


-- John.

Re: [M100] Club 100 Online Ordering and bluetooth question

[John R. Hogerhuis]

The m100 can operate at 19200 bps but the screen can only scroll fast
enough to accommodate 600 baud.

So for higher speeds you need to use flow control and/or a data transfer
mechanism that does not use the screen.

Also on Linux I've had very little luck with software flow control so I
wrote HTERM which implements hardware flow control. I've used it
successfully at highest baud rate 76800 bps.

-- John.

Re: [M100] RS232 to USB + BlueM?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Why not just unplug the BlueM and plug in a USB to rs232 when you need it?
That's what I do.

-- John.

Re: [M100] TRS 80 Model 100 connected to the internet

[John R. Hogerhuis]

It's funny from the menu he has HTERM installed but he didn't use it in the
demo. In addition to implementing hardware flow control it also maps to the
m100 character set including graphical characters. Also it filters out ANSI
color escapes. So it reduces a lot of the garbage you otherwise see on the
screen.

Here's screenshots of m100 "on the internet" and rendering things more
legibly

http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTERM

On Monday, May 25, 2015, John Martin  wrote:

> While doing some internet searching. I found this YOUTUBE video.
>
> It shows TRS 80 Model 100 connecting to the internet.
>
> TRS-80 Model 100 On the Internet!
> 
>
> I am wondering if anyone else has an idea or suggestions to do this
> another way.
>
> John M.
>

Re: [M100] File transfers (was Update on my M100 and REX)

[John R. Hogerhuis]

TEENY is only about 800 bytes.

I recommend you try it and build some confidence transferring binary files.


Also keep in mind that Telcom isn't the only native way to transfer files.
You can save load files straight to the com port from TEXT.  It's much
faster and less clumsy than TELCOM since the screen is bypassed.

And if you run Mcomm I believe it will handheld you through the steps.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Update on my M100 and REX

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 2:19 PM, Kurt McCullum  wrote:
> James,
>
> I've never used teeny. From what I understand it's a DOS program that must
> have com1-4 to load a client onto the M100. But other than that I don't know
> much about it. a TPDD client like TS-DOS allows you to connect directly to
> your drive. Getting one loaded is not always easy. Obviously REX would be
> the easiest route. I use the Sardine ROM to load a client since it has that
> function built in. Sorry I can't be of more help with Teeny.
>

TEENY.CO is Model 100/200, simplified command line alternative to
TS-DOS, supported by Ron Wiesen. It is a TPDD client. It's compatible
with LaddieAlpha, Desklink, probably mcomm, etc..

TEENY.EXE is a relocator and injector for TEENY.CO that runs on a PC.
I've believe I've run it successfully under Windows. Once loaded, you
just

There's a self extracting archive containing TEENY.EXE on this page:

http://www.club100.org/catalog.html (DL-ARC.EXE)

James has a weird problem in that I don't think it hasn't been
confirmed that he can run ANY Model 100 Option ROM.

Note these programs are not compatible with 64 bit windows. You will
need to run them on a DOS machine or under a DOS emulator (DOSBox,
DOSEmu, Wine, etc.)

-- John.

Re: [M100] Update on my M100 and REX

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Also assumes he has a cassette cable.

But I do have an audio file of it somewhere if it's needed.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Club 100 Online Ordering and bluetooth question

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 2:44 PM, Mark Wickens  wrote:
> Just a quick update - and a thank you for all the suggestions.
> In the end I moved to my IBM X60 laptop which, with an ultrabase connected,
> has a real serial port. I was then able to transfer data at 19200 via
> minicom using the same cable without issue. So the problem appears to lie
> with the USB -> Serial Converted. I'm sure this is probably old news for
> some. I do have other USB -> Serial converters, so may see if any of the
> others work better under Linux.
>

I've had good results under Linux with FTDI and Prolific chipset based
adapters. Under Windows I can only recommend the FTDI based adapters
because the Windows Prolific driver is a disaster.

Now, I've had serial inputs and outputs go bad on USB->Serial devices
just like I've seen happen on standard serial ports.

So I'd say don't blame the "USB" part of it. Serial ports go bad.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Club 100 Online Ordering and bluetooth question

[John R. Hogerhuis]

FWIW I think most Model T'ers will be better off with a consumer level
USB-RS232 device.

The plastic comes in handy for protecting it from ESD and sometimes
even coffee damage.

-- John.

Re: [M100] can a tpdd be used with a nec 8201a?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Through the db25 connector?

On Friday, May 29, 2015, ultimate quantifier  wrote:

> i know a tpdd can be used with the m100 units and tsdos. i think a version
> of tsdos is available for the nec 8201a... but how would a tpdd connect
> with the nec?
>
>

Re: [M100] CPM?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Sector access via large files and seek command is already implemented in
LaddieAlpha and Nadsbox.

-- John.

Re: [M100] CPM?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Monday, June 1, 2015, Joe Grubbs  wrote:

> If it doesn't, we need a clever developer who is very intimate with the
> Model 100/200 architecture and the 8085 to port it :)  Someone in the Color
> Computer community ported CP/M to run under OS-9 on the 6809. If that can
> be done, it seems that getting it to run on an 8085 would be plausible.
>
>
How can that be?

I think typical CP/M programs require an 8080 compatible CPU. The 6809 is
not.

-- John.

Re: [M100] CPM?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Jun 1, 2015 at 9:17 AM, Joe Grubbs  wrote:
> He's basically built an emulator/VM that runs in OS-9. There was a lengthy
> discussion about the finer details on the CoCo list, but here is one of his
> videos demonstrating it running WordStar (wow flashback!):
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysn7Na60ZGA
>

Impressive work. Too slow at WordStar to be usable though. "Fast and
furious" :-) Close though!

Maybe some serious optimizations in his virtual machine can make it
fast enough. I'd guess he's straight mapping 8080 instructions to 6309
code. Depending on how he's handling register mapping and whether he's
doing any cached code translation versus straight
mapping/interpretation there should be thing he can do.

Still would be useful for non-interactive programs (like compilers).

-- John.

Re: [M100] CPM?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Jun 1, 2015 at 11:14 AM, DRogers  wrote:
> Too slow for Wordstar cp/m?  Back in the day, I used an Epson PX-8 with dual 
> disk drives and a 128K RAM pack -- all of which I still have. It ran a ROM 
> based Wordstar. If you had a 4 page document and you made a small change in 
> the middle of it, you could hit return then go fix lunch, eat it at a 
> leisurely rate, then fix and drink a cup of coffee and MAYBE it would be 
> finished thinking through the change. And I am exaggerating only very 
> slightly.
>
> It seems a little better on my NEC PC-8500, but I have never done any long 
> documents on it.
>
> David


My only experience of CP/M is with the WordStar on the 8500.

So maybe I'm spoiled :-)

Anyway, for those interested there is a project to port CP/M to the
Model 100 w/ 64K all-RAM hardware. MTCPM. I host a mailing list,
subversion server for it. Steve Adolph created the necessary hardware.
Ken and I created external disk service software. Phil Avery has done
most of the actual CP/M porting work so far.

http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=MTCPM

More devs with time to work on the project are always welcome.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Mouse with Model T

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 9:17 AM, Joe Grubbs  wrote:
> I don't think the RN-42 has HID connectivity, but I could be mistaken.
>
>

I'm thinking you can get an HID firmware for it. But you'll have to
get it samizdat and risk bricking it.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Upgrade via System Bus ?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 2:07 PM, John Whitton  wrote:
>
> This discussion comes up from time-to-time. I recall giving the question
> some thought. There is available on the 80C85 the HLDA pin, which was
> included for implementing DMA. That input is not brought to the external bus
> connector, but could be tied to an existing connector pin. That facility
> might make it possible to do some interesting stuff..., I think.
>
> I fear that this is a case of  'Just because it might be done, that
> doesn't mean that it should be done'. Devoted hardware hackers are inclined
> to ignore such caveats, however (Damn the practicality!..., this is man vs.
> machine!), and I do not doubt that given sufficient resources of tenacity,
> someone could churn out an interesting external (or internal) speed-up
> option.
>
> John W.
>

Or, just make a new work-alike mainboard that integrates a faster CPU.
Either that 10Mhz 8085 or another low power CPU fast enough to emulate
it easily.

But no one will do it because the idea of leaving the old lo res M100
display in place gives engineers the sads. Any reasonable replacement
display would be a custom build, and we would have to get funding.

Not to mention all the other rabbit holes like wifi, bluetooth, usb, Linux, ...

-- John.

Re: [M100] Browsing Portable 100

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 2:45 PM, Rhett&sue  wrote:
> thanks Steve , failing that being the problem , if it’s a display screen ,
> are any replacements available ,
> and do members think that this is still a “good buy” so to speak ?
> thanks for the advise of the wise
>
>

As a rule I expect to spend about $30-$50 US on a M100. At the higher
end if it is in good shape and has some accessories I want.

But that's in the U.S. where most of the used Model Ts are at, I guess.

-- John.

Re: [M100] conectivity

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Yes Lee!

It can absolutely be done. I think we have a lot of bits and pieces
but no fully cooked solution.

HTERM was developed to allow best use of all the graphics characters
since it does a mapping of a lot of common UTF-8 characters. So, you
get the line drawing characters, bulleted lists, discard of color ANSI
color escapes, stuff like that. Also it allows higher baud rates.

That's one end of it. Then what? I have set up a termcap on Linux and
that allows me to get a shell prompt and launch various programs that
are to access the internet, like text web browsers, email clients and
such.

Other than the "bridge" of which there are various solutions (I've
made progress on a an BT->Android bridge but its ain't done) the main
thing we need is a Telnet BBS that is tuned to the M100 display. That
would make it menu driven instead of command line driven which I think
most T'ers want.

So is there BBS software that be can be configured for and works (as
good as possible) at 40x8?

Then we'd be back to the level of functionality in the Compuserve days.

On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 9:04 PM, Lee Kelley  wrote:
> Hello All,
> I've been around here for a long time but am not really an expert on
> anything here but I do have several Model T's a REX and a NADS box along
> with PDDs and other stuff but I just want to pose a question.
>
> Back in the day, like 1989 or so I would dial up to the Star Telegram BBS in
> Fort Worth and access all the news and such.  I never did fido net email or
> any of that but I figure that was available at some level too.
>
> Is it something that could be done to set up a server that would allow
> either dial up or Telnet access (with a serial to Ethernet bridge) to
> connect to a BBS that would allow searches like I used to do for stories on
> the newspaper BBS and exchange e-mail.
>
> In reality I know it could be done but how difficult would it be? With
> access to the files at the club100 website and e-mail.  I know this would be
> a project but I would bet it could be done fairly easily.
>
> Then the only thing that would be needed would be that one little custom
> device or add on for one we have that would provide the bridge with wifi and
> maybe RJ45 too but mainly wifi.
>
> Of course having the BBS with the termcap settings for screen compatibility
> and the settings on the server so that it would delineate between text
> e-mail and ones with unnecessary graphics.
>
> I think having the ability to search news feeds and access e-mail and
> directories either at the club100 site or a copy of it would be all that we
> could expect for online activity for our little computers. Of course there
> could be portals for updating social media and sending tweets and or maybe
> receiving them.
>
> I know that still leaves these computers just operating as a terminal when
> online but that's what they were good at in the day.
>
> Sorry this was so long.
> Oh and let's not forget a video out device too
>
> Lee
> LLTMT
>
> --
> "I will never in my lifetime make a film that cannot be seen by the whole
> family"  Arther P. Jacobs

Re: [M100] Programming languages for the Model 100?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Not really. Assembly is your best bet hands down.

But there is RBASIC a basic compiler and MFORTH.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Programming languages for the Model 100?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

I don't know. I bought a legit copy a few years back.

On Thursday, June 11, 2015, Mike Stein  wrote:

>  Is RBASIC still available?
>
> m
>
> - Original Message -----
> *From:* John R. Hogerhuis
> 
> *To:* Model 100 Discussion
> 
> *Sent:* Thursday, June 11, 2015 9:03 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [M100] Programming languages for the Model 100?
>
> Not really. Assembly is your best bet hands down.
>
> But there is RBASIC a basic compiler and MFORTH.
>
> -- John.
>
>

Re: [M100] Programming languages for the Model 100?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 8:36 AM, Kurt McCullum  wrote:
> Does this book still exist?
>
> "The Secrets of the Option ROM Revealed" by Mo Budlong
>

It exists at my house. Mo also wrote RBASIC.

The main takeaway though is the boilerplate assembly code which you
base an OptROM on, switching, and calls in/out of optrom to the main
ROM. The boilerplate code inlcudes the ROM portion of interrupt
handlers that need to be present since when the OptROM is switched in
since interrupts can happen any time. It also includes the
"installation" code.

Steve and I worked a bit on the "shell" and maybe the call code. If
anyone wants to write their own OptROM I think we can get you some
code.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Programming languages for the Model 100?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 10:04 AM, Kurt McCullum  wrote:
> John,
>
> Glad to hear it exists. The question I am trying to answer is about the
> boilerplate. Looking through a few of the Traveling Software ROMs it would
> appear that each one is slightly different. Is this because the interrupt
> routines are different for various software used on the ROMs?
>
> Kurt
>
>

Maybe, in part. Steve and I found bugs/inefficiencies in Mo's
routines. So we were fixing them.

So I'd say it's a few things:

a) Bugfixes/improvements over time
b) Different ROMs, different names.
c) Application specific hardware interrupt handling (software
interrupts / effectively "custom instructions")
b) ISTR there being some nooks and crannies where you could insert
code. So some variability may just be that they have application
specific code packed in between system critical stuff.

-- John.

Re: [M100] File transfer problems. A couple of them, actually

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Hi,

I'm the author of laddiealpha.

The hex trace is normal.

How are you starting it?

-- John.

Re: [M100] File transfer problems. A couple of them, actually

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 8:23 PM, Kurt McCullum  wrote:
> You could always try using the win32 mode that the latest version offers. I
> had some trouble with a usb to serial adapter and John put some code in to
> use the win32 API directly. This solved the issues I was having with my
> adapter. Since then I've upgraded my hardware and when using laddiealpha I
> don't need to run in that mode but your symptoms sound very similar to what
> I was experiencing.
>
> "laddiealpha com1 -win32" is how you would call it.
>
> Kurt
>

Yeah. It might help.

By their nature USB to Serial adapters can introduce some latency
between bytes as they try to (efficiently) map a byte at a time
(stream) mode of interaction to a time sliced, polled,
64-byte-per-packet link as USB is.

"Stock" TS-DOS ROMs have very little tolerance for additional latency.
Using the -win32 flag seems to reduce latency a bit.

On Windows, Prolific devices don't offer much in the way of
configurability to reduce latency. FTDI drivers are much better in
this regard, and I recommend them over Prolific on Windows.

So besides -win32, other options are:

a) Use an FTDI based USB to Serial adapter
b) Use a modified TS-DOS ROM like NEWDOS which has been patched to be
more lenient about latency. To use NEWDOS though you need to run REX
or be able to burn your own ROMs.
c) Use a TPDD client like TEENY which does not implement short timeouts

Similar problems happen with using TS-DOS over Bluetooth or TCP links
whether or not a USB to Serial port is involved.

-- John.

Re: [M100] More BlueM Woes

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Sun, Jun 14, 2015 at 1:25 AM, Hiraghm  wrote:
> Okay I can sometimes get my BlueM and Android devices to pair.
> When I do get them paired, I still can't get them to connect.
> the light keeps flashing once a second.
> And I noticed that the M100 is paired as a bluetooth headset... at least the
> icon next to FireFly-DF5A looks like a headset...
>

That doesn't sound right.

Can you send a picture?

-- John.

Re: [M100] BlueM S~ commands and Mapping M10x keyboard

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Sun, Jun 14, 2015 at 1:20 AM, Hiraghm  wrote:
> I'm trying to get my BlueM configured to talk to my android device again.
> One of the commands listed for the RN42 is the "S~" command...
> As my M100 has no ~ key, how do I send this in hterm?
> For that matter, is it possible to map keys that aren't on the M100 keyboard
> to key combinations? like "{" to "ctrl-[" or "grph-["?

Yes. The M100 has tilde. It is GRPH- ]

Note that you will be using the SHIFT key since ] is shifted.

There is a table in the back of the Quick Reference of all the M100
special characters

ftp://ftp.whtech.com/club100/doc/m100qr.pdf

Note that the T102 and M100 special characters differ though I think
they are the same for tilde.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Mxxx Software of 3.5"

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Are they TPDD 1 diskettes?

If so the raw sector data could be extracted to PC files by using the TPDD
protocol.

The TPDD 2 also has sector access commands but I don't recall whether it
was completely reverse engineered.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Programming languages for the Model 100?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

MFORTH opt rom source is public so you could look at that.

http://www.strangegizmo.com/products/mforth/

Steve Adolph with REX/REXMGR is the one to most recently create an
Option ROM. You could ask him what he has as far as a Option ROM
template.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Programming languages for the Model 100?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 9:13 AM, Mark Wickens  wrote:
> I have a package waiting for me in the hallway - it's either an NEC or a
> Tandy 200!
>
> Mark.
>
>

Wow already in Stage 3 of your model T addiction. Ecellent...

-- John.

Re: [M100] Time Minder

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Have you tried TMPC? Excellent program.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Time Minder

[John R. Hogerhuis]

It's by Acroatix. "The Most Precious Commodity."

It's big, but it is well designed. I think with REX in the picture it
makes a lot more sense since you can devote a "virtual model T"
instance to it and quickly swap it in as necessary.

It's in the M100SIG archive. I should have a .CO file around
somewhere. Otherwise I found I needed TS-DOS in "DOS" mode to load if
via HXFER format since the archive has text encoded rather than binary
files. At the time I was using DLPilot, but it should load the same
via LaddieAlpha.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Time Minder

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 2:07 PM, Shaun M. Wheeler
 wrote:
> I keep getting 404 errors trying to access the M100SIG!


http://bitchin100.com/files/m10x/M100SIGNOVAN.zip

-- John.

Re: [M100] CO file to option ROM

[John R. Hogerhuis]

The BASIC rom runs from the same address space as the optrom. So any calls
to the main ROM have to be specially constructed "far" calls.

You would need to convert those calls. Also you would need to relocate the
code to run from different addresses. Probably some other stuff to deal
with.

But first step would be disassembling it.

-- John.

On Saturday, July 4, 2015, ultimate quantifier  wrote:

>
> are there complex changes that need to be made to a working .CO program in
> order for it to be "transplanted" to an option ROM? what i'm wondering is
> if i can take the address range that contains a .CO program, copy the
> program and then just burn it into an EPROM. are there changes that have to
> be made to the program, like jumps or something?
>

Re: [M100] CO file to option ROM

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Saturday, July 4, 2015, ultimate quantifier  wrote:

> the .CO file i'm thinking about isn't part of the main rom, it was loaded
> into the ram memory.  but in any case it still needs to be disassembled? in
> order to have the calls adjusted for the program being accessed from space
> in the oprom area? is that it?
>
>
Yes. That and the jumps/branches and memory accesses. You're trying to make
the program run in a region it wasn't designed to run from.

Another complicating factor is that option rom programs cannot be "self
modifying" since they are in a read only medium. Often co programs modify
RAM that is within the body of the CO program.

It's not an impossible task. But you'll know more after you disassemble and
examine the code.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Telnet Client

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Tue, Jul 7, 2015 at 8:34 AM, Kurt McCullum  wrote:
> The topic of being able to put a Model-T online comes up every now and then.
> I've been toying with the idea of adding a Telnet client to mComm. My
> thoughts were to add the ability to switch to Telnet mode in mComm. When a
> control key is pressed  the TELCOM screen will clear and then ask for a URL
> to connect to. Then, mComm would connect to the remote Telnet server and
> send all the data to the Model-T, doing the all important buffering so that
> the Model-T serial buffer isn't over run before it can send an XOFF.
>
> On the other end of the wire would need to be a Telnet server that is geared
> towards our little machines. To my knowledge, there are none. One would need
> to be setup. The end result would be a Telnet BBS system geared towards the
> 40x8 screen (or 40x16). Or a Linux system with the proper termcap.
>
> While this is certainly doable, would it be useful?
>
> Kurt
>
>

The 40x8 screen is a problem, but also the lack of mobility. People
want to be able to get online anywhere.

I did make a lot of progress on my Android SSH bridge a while back,
but haven't had time lately.

But don't let that stop you. I'm sure people will enjoy a new feature
in Telnet feature in mComm.

Consider doing the some ANSI escape filtering and UTF-8 to Model T
character set mapping in mComm. Even if you can pan/scan the with a 40
column screen it looks really bad unless you do some filtering. I do
it HTERM, for universality/high speed but your program is more
designed for use with TELCOM.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Model T Basic Help Needed!

[John R. Hogerhuis]

I agree with this. Plus his RAM is corrupted now so a cold start is the
only way to get back to a stable system.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Somethings been wrong with my email

[John R. Hogerhuis]

The Z80 and 8085 instructions sets are both supersets of the 8080.

On Saturday, July 18, 2015, Bert Put  wrote:

> Hi Mark,
>
> Not sure about 8080 specific models but since the operations are very
> close to z80, maybe we can count Kaypro 2X, which is z80 based and runs
> cp/m.  :-)
>
> Cheers,Bert
>
>
>  Original message 
> From: Mark Wickens
> Date:07/18/2015 12:25 (GMT-06:00)
> To: Model 100 Discussion
> Subject: Re: [M100] Somethings been wrong with my email
>
> Hi Willard
>
> Yes, your email is working. I'd be interested in knowing what other
> machines 8080/8085 assembly language use? Might make the investment in time
> a little learning it a little easier to bear!
>
> Regards, Mark
>
> On 18/07/15 17:17, Willard Goosey wrote:
>
> But hopefully it works now?
>
>  I'm afraid I haven't done much with my model 100 but I have been working
> with a lot of 8080 assembly for CP/M. Niether the line editor or the FOCAL
> interpreter would be very useful under m100, but the thought is worth a
> giggle.:-)
>
>  Willard
>
>
>  Sent from Samsung tablet
>
>
>

[M100] Recent article about Model 100 posted on Ars Technica

[John R. Hogerhuis]

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/07/back-to-the-future-the-trs-80-model-100/

I noticed that author also just joined the list... welcome Sean!

-- John.

Re: [M100] TS-DOS "Not Found"

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Club100 sells the replacement belts. Let me check the archives and see
if we have the specs so you can buy it directly if necessary.

-- John.

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Barry Rands  wrote:
> Just opened up the drive and yes, the belt is in pieces. Do I need to order
> from the club, or is this a stock part I can get from the local Radio Shack
> or hardware store?
>
> On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 11:56 AM, Barry Rands  wrote:
>>
>> Bingo the TDD makes noise, so I thought the disk was turning... but it
>> is not. Looks like I may need a new belt! Thanks!
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 9:23 AM, ultimate quantifier 
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> floppy  disks have a metal center ring with a notch. if you note the
>>> position of the notch and try to use it in the drive, then take it out, the
>>> position of the notch should change indicating that the drive is moving the
>>> disk at least.  this may help you to figure out if the belt is suspect.
>>>
>>> > Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 09:09:58 -0700
>>> > From: kurt.mccul...@att.net
>>> > To: m100@lists.bitchin100.com
>>> > Subject: Re: [M100] TS-DOS "Not Found"
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Ken at club100 may be able to get one to you but I think he is a bit
>>> > busy with work right now.
>>> > Do you have a cassette cable?
>>> > I could save the dos100.co file as an mp3 file that you could use to
>>> > load ts-dos. Then you could format a new disk with it and save dos100 to 
>>> > the
>>> > disk. A bit of a pain but it might get you up and running.
>>> >
>>> > Kurt
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 7:49 AM PDT Barry Rands wrote:
>>> >
>>> > >No DIP switches on the TDD2. Drive is spinning, so diskette may be
>>> > > bad. Any
>>> > >way to get a new disk?
>>> > >
>>> > >On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 7:21 AM, Kurt McCullum 
>>> > >wrote:
>>> > >
>>> > >> The disk could be bad or the drive itself might be bad. If the drive
>>> > >> isn't spinning check the drive belt. It may be broken. Club100
>>> > >> should have
>>> > >> spares.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Kurt
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >> On 7/22/2015 7:07 AM, Barry Rands wrote:
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Thanks for the response. I do have the original TS-DOS diskette in
>>> > >> the
>>> > >> drive. Could it be that the diskette is so old that the file has
>>> > >> become
>>> > >> corrupted with age?
>>> > >>
>>> > >> On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:29 AM,  wrote:
>>> > >>
>>> > >> TS-DOS is not built into the URII, only a loader program. TS-DOS
>>> > >> must
>>> > >> be on your TPD disk before it can be loaded.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Sent by Outlook  for Android
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >> On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:21 AM -0700, "Barry Rands"
>>> > >> 
>>>
>>> > >> wrote:
>>> > >>
>>> > >> I just resurrected my Model 102 from storage and am trying to get
>>> > >> everything running. It has the UR-II ROM with TS-DOS built in, but
>>> > >> when I
>>> > >> connect the TDD2, all I get is "Not Found" when I enter the TS-DOS
>>> > >> program.
>>> > >> Any ideas of what might be wrong?
>>> > >>
>>> > >> --
>>> > >> Barry Rands, PE, LEED AP
>>> > >> 81 Encanto Lane
>>> > >> San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
>>> > >> 805-704-1549 (cell)
>>> > >> 805-783-2038 (home)
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >> --
>>> > >> Barry Rands, PE, LEED AP
>>> > >> 81 Encanto Lane
>>> > >> San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
>>> > >> 805-704-1549 (cell)
>>> > >> 805-783-2038 (home)
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >--
>>> > >Barry Rands, PE, LEED AP
>>> > >81 Encanto Lane
>>> > >San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
>>> > >805-704-1549 (cell)
>>> > >805-783-2038 (home)
>>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Barry Rands, PE, LEED AP
>> 81 Encanto Lane
>> San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
>> 805-704-1549 (cell)
>> 805-783-2038 (home)
>
>
>
>
> --
> Barry Rands, PE, LEED AP
> 81 Encanto Lane
> San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
> 805-704-1549 (cell)
> 805-783-2038 (home)

Re: [M100] Problem with OptRom & REX on M102

[John R. Hogerhuis]

http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=Recovering_an_Unresponsive_Laptop

Re: [M100] TS-DOS "Not Found"

[John R. Hogerhuis]

I've had pretty good luck running old programs under DOSBOX and DOSEMU. Not
sure if it would work on Windows 95.

There might be some real mode options available on 95.  It has been a long
time.

-- John

Re: [M100] Recent article about Model 100 posted on Ars Technica

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 7:55 AM, Sean Gallagher
 wrote:
> I've succeeded in getting the Model 100 to connect to a Raspberry Pi as a 
> terminal. I'd be happy to add the configuration steps to the Wiki after I get 
> them all cleaned up.
>
>

I created an account, let me know if you have any trouble.

I've done similar experiments, particularly running LaddieAlpha as a
TPDD disk service on the Pi.

What we really need to get going is a "Model T Pi Image" that has

a) Selectable Model 100 or T200 termcap
b) LaddieAlpha service
c) Known working command line stuff like w3m, mutt, vim

With HTERM, and proper termcap I was able to get these screenshots:

http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTERM

Where's that box of round tuits...

-- John.

Re: [M100] Serial to VGA module

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 12:45 PM, Joe Grubbs  wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I saw this posted on a Facebook group and it got me thinking. I wonder if
> this could be repurposed (with some ancillary hardware and ROM tweaks) to
> give the Model 100/200/102 an external VGA display for very little money:
>
> http://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/serial-vga
>
> It accepts serial data and drives a text based VGA display at 800x600
> resolution. Additionally, it understands escape sequences to manage simple
> text windows, etc. It's pretty cool, and it got my wheels turning.
>

Says the source code is available so you could modify it to handle the
full character set and raw escapes.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Problem with OptRom & REX on M102

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Friday, July 31, 2015, Keith Johnson  wrote:

> Yes, I believe a cold start is crtl+ break + reset, then cycle the on-off
> switch (side switch). That is exactly what I did.
>
> Second I, turned the memory switch (under the laptop) off for 9 or so
> hours. After 9 hours turned it back on and same result.
>
>
Just to clarify when you are trying to drain the power you need the memory
power switch off, no batteries in compartment and no cables whatsoever
connected.

It really doesn't take much to keep the memory partially intact.

Re: [M100] Problem with OptRom & REX on M102

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Saturday, August 1, 2015, Bob Pigford  wrote:

> I don’t think that any of us on the list feel you wasted our time.  On the
> contrary, we are actually happy [yes, really] to be of some assistance.  We
> are glad that you worked it out.  We all enjoy learning from each other.
>
> Bob
>
>
>
>
>
Agree 100%

-- John.

Re: [M100] VIM via BlueM

[John R. Hogerhuis]

I can confirm that with a proper termcap (and in my case, HTERM and a
cable capable of hardware flow control) vim worked well.

Haven't ever tried setting up termcap on a Android system. It might work.

Rather than fight Android's oddball Linux my current approach is to
skip that step and have the host be another Linux computer on the
Internet ("the cloud").

An Android phone or tablet just serves as a Bluetooth-to-SSH bridge.
So vim wouldn't run on the tablet it would be on a server available
via SSH.

-- John.

Re: [M100] 3D printed replacement battery door?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 12:45 PM, Todd Schlemmer  wrote:
> I just opened this STL up and it has a few issues.  First and foremost, does
> the battery cover differ in size between the model 100 and 102?  It looks
> like this STL was modeled in inches, but when I import it, it is too be
> compared to my 100's battery cover.  Also, there are some defects in the
> shape of the tabs.  I am trying to repair (the file is a great head start),
> but I can't promise anything usable in the near future. I have a lot going
> on this month.
>
>

The T102 and M100 battery covers are different.

-- John.

Re: [M100] VIM via BlueM

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wednesday, August 5, 2015, Andrew Roach  wrote:

> So your current setup is m100 BT telnet to android phone, android phone
> ssh to server?
>
> That's pretty much how I use my laptop and my HP 200 lx.



Yeah. There's an SSH client for the 200LX?

-- John.

Re: [M100] VIM via BlueM

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wednesday, August 5, 2015, Andrew Roach  wrote:

> No. There's a telnet client for the 200LX. I telnet in to a
> broken/headless laptop, and SSH from the laptop to wherever.
>
>
>
Ah. Makes sense.

-- John.

Re: [M100] mComm 1.61

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wednesday, August 5, 2015, Kurt McCullum  wrote:

> After doing some testing with 1.6 I made some changes and bug fixes to
> mComm. The Telnet (client/bridge or whatever you want to call it) works
> fine but the only BBS systems that have any hope of displaying properly are
> the Commodore 64 sites that have a 40 column display. I've logged on to
> quite a few systems but between the 80 column displays and heavy ANSI
> graphics they are hard to use.
>
>
Maybe try with HTERM since it filters out ANSI escapes.

-- John.

Re: [M100] mComm 1.61

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wednesday, August 5, 2015, Kurt McCullum  wrote:

> John,
>
> Interesting. That seems to work better. What I notice most is that HTERM
> scrolls MUCH faster on the screen.
>
> Kurt
>

Well I guess I'm rendering less characters if I throw away escapes.  So
that would make it faster.

I don't remember which character output routine I'm using. That might be
relevant.

Hardware flow control versus software flow control may be relevant. I can
turn the spigot on/off with a signal instead of a full character
transmission and processing on the other end. But that doesn't make screen
render or scroll any faster.

One of the function keys in HTERM toggles scrolling altogether maybe F6.
Handy when you accidentally run a command with lengthy output and you don't
want to wait for the display to catch up but you don't want to kill the
command either.

-- John.

Re: [M100] A z-code interpreter for the model 100

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Congratulations!

I seem to recall some memory management discussions. Any final design
decisions you would like to share? It's always intriguing to see how
programmers do more with less.

-- John.

Re: [M100] A z-code interpreter for the model 100

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Are you using REXMGR? I don't remember whether it uses ALTLCD.

-- John.

Re: [M100] A z-code interpreter for the model 100

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Sunday, August 30, 2015, Clinton Reddekop 
wrote:

> Yes I am.  Steve Adolph told me that REXMGR reloads ALTLCD before using
> it, so I don't suspect a problem there.
> Thanks,
> Clint
>
>
>
Well unless you're actually writing past the end of it on accident that's
all I can think of.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Keyboard Layout

[John R. Hogerhuis]

It's well known that AZERTY is actually the optimal layout for quickly
typing the phrase "We surrender!"

-- John.

Re: [M100] Keyboard Layout

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 5:58 PM, Jan-80  wrote:
> NOT funny...
>

Because it's offensive or because it's stupid (I'll admit to both in this case)

-- John.

Re: [M100] Transferring files

[John R. Hogerhuis]

LaddieAlpha runs on Linux. It's a .NET program, you must need to launch it
under mono like the instructions describe.

http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=LaddieCon#LaddieAlpha

-- John.

Re: [M100] 8201 Cross Bank Copy

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 12:50 PM, Kurt McCullum  wrote:
> Thanks Steve,
>
> I was afraid of that. XFILES.CO is under 2k in size but allocates what
> appears to be more than 6k for use.
>
> Kurt
>
>

Wow that's silly big for what it does. Compiled BASIC maybe? Sheesh.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Hey Ken

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Is lunar.ba a binary file or a text file?

-- John.

On Friday, October 9, 2015, James Zeun  wrote:

> Ken you sound like my car, I just had my 1977 Austin Princess in the
> garage and since she came out, hills seem more of a struggle then they used
> to be lol
>
> Ok so i need some hand holding if anyone can spare me a minute. I've got
> the RED Manager loaded up, I followed the guide and made a new backup
> called "Games". My plan was to have Lunar.ba installed and what ever else I
> could fit in to the memory. However it keeps telling me that the ram is
> full, even though I haven't downloaded anything from the PC. I have 21137
> Bytes free.
>
> So in Rex Manager / Group / Ram
>
> I have
>
> GAMES*  BACKUP
>
> Under Rom I have
>
> TS-DOS*  UR2100 ---
>
>
> I'm trying to add the program via the TS-DOS, but it wont let me do it :/
>
> I'm still pretty new to this, so i know I must be going wrong somewhere.
>
>
>
> On 9 October 2015 at 18:43, Ken Pettit  > wrote:
>
>> Hey James,
>>
>> Yeah, I noticed it had gone out to the list also, but no big deal.  Glad
>> to hear you got it working ... the pins on the OptROM socket can be
>> troublesome at times.
>>
>> I haven't been very active with Club100 of late ... been battling that
>> cardio thing again and was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago getting
>> more stents.  I think I'm up to 17 now.  But after this last round, I
>> haven't been as energetic as I usually am after getting the pipes opened
>> up, so not sure what's going on there.
>>
>> Ken
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 10:35 AM, James Zeun > > wrote:
>>
>>> It's actually gone out to the list by accident. But that's no problem, I
>>> might need the help of my fellow m100 users. As I keep trying to load
>>> Lander.ba and get told I don't have enough ram :-/
>>> On 9 Oct 2015 6:06 pm, "Kurt McCullum" >> > wrote:
>>>
 James,

 Glad to hear you got your REX working but I think you meant to send
 this email to Steve and not me since he is the one who creates those
 modules.

 Kurt



 On Friday, October 9, 2015 9:09 AM, James Zeun >>> > wrote:


 I've not had much time to play with the REX module, but thought I
 should let you know I think I know what was causing all the bother.

 When I got the module back from you, i had some issues getting it to
 work. Eventually I did get it to come up and display. Today however the rex
 manager vanished again and the whole computer locked up with no picture. I
 got it back working but with no rex, spent the past hour carefully bending
 the pins and the REX is back...Perhaps the pins on my machine are a little
 worn or shaped in such a way that its enough to fudge up working with the
 rex module.

 Now its up and working, I'm hoping I can copy some rom images over to
 the rex :D

 All the best
 James




>>
>
>
> --
> My retro tech blog and general ramblings
> http://bytemyvdu.wordpress.com/
>

Re: [M100] Hey Ken

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Just wondering whether it is corrupted or if your ram in your laptop is
corrupted. You might want to do a cold start and try transferring some
other files to build some confidence in the setup.

-- John.

On Friday, October 9, 2015, James Zeun  wrote:

> A quick check says a binary..I opened it in note pad and just saw a lot of
> yyy across the screen
> On 9 Oct 2015 8:05 pm, "John R. Hogerhuis"  > wrote:
>
>> Is lunar.ba a binary file or a text file?
>>
>> -- John.
>>
>> On Friday, October 9, 2015, James Zeun > > wrote:
>>
>>> Ken you sound like my car, I just had my 1977 Austin Princess in the
>>> garage and since she came out, hills seem more of a struggle then they used
>>> to be lol
>>>
>>> Ok so i need some hand holding if anyone can spare me a minute. I've got
>>> the RED Manager loaded up, I followed the guide and made a new backup
>>> called "Games". My plan was to have Lunar.ba installed and what ever else I
>>> could fit in to the memory. However it keeps telling me that the ram is
>>> full, even though I haven't downloaded anything from the PC. I have 21137
>>> Bytes free.
>>>
>>> So in Rex Manager / Group / Ram
>>>
>>> I have
>>>
>>> GAMES*  BACKUP
>>>
>>> Under Rom I have
>>>
>>> TS-DOS*  UR2100 ---
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm trying to add the program via the TS-DOS, but it wont let me do it :/
>>>
>>> I'm still pretty new to this, so i know I must be going wrong somewhere.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 9 October 2015 at 18:43, Ken Pettit  wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hey James,
>>>>
>>>> Yeah, I noticed it had gone out to the list also, but no big deal.
>>>> Glad to hear you got it working ... the pins on the OptROM socket can be
>>>> troublesome at times.
>>>>
>>>> I haven't been very active with Club100 of late ... been battling that
>>>> cardio thing again and was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago getting
>>>> more stents.  I think I'm up to 17 now.  But after this last round, I
>>>> haven't been as energetic as I usually am after getting the pipes opened
>>>> up, so not sure what's going on there.
>>>>
>>>> Ken
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 10:35 AM, James Zeun 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> It's actually gone out to the list by accident. But that's no problem,
>>>>> I might need the help of my fellow m100 users. As I keep trying to load
>>>>> Lander.ba and get told I don't have enough ram :-/
>>>>> On 9 Oct 2015 6:06 pm, "Kurt McCullum"  wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> James,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Glad to hear you got your REX working but I think you meant to send
>>>>>> this email to Steve and not me since he is the one who creates those
>>>>>> modules.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kurt
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Friday, October 9, 2015 9:09 AM, James Zeun 
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I've not had much time to play with the REX module, but thought I
>>>>>> should let you know I think I know what was causing all the bother.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When I got the module back from you, i had some issues getting it to
>>>>>> work. Eventually I did get it to come up and display. Today however the 
>>>>>> rex
>>>>>> manager vanished again and the whole computer locked up with no picture. 
>>>>>> I
>>>>>> got it back working but with no rex, spent the past hour carefully 
>>>>>> bending
>>>>>> the pins and the REX is back...Perhaps the pins on my machine are a 
>>>>>> little
>>>>>> worn or shaped in such a way that its enough to fudge up working with the
>>>>>> rex module.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Now its up and working, I'm hoping I can copy some rom images over to
>>>>>> the rex :D
>>>>>>
>>>>>> All the best
>>>>>> James
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> My retro tech blog and general ramblings
>>> http://bytemyvdu.wordpress.com/
>>>
>>

Re: [M100] Hey Ken

[John R. Hogerhuis]

I don't think Steve is saying to remove it permanently but to reduce the
number of variables in the experiment in your setup.

You've got Rex software, Rex, a serial cable, mcomm, maybe an adapter and a
file which we don't know is good to begin with. And then a model 100
without a lot of learning time invested yet.

Too many variables. Rex does not need to be in the mix. Once you're
confident in file transfers add it back in.

-- John.



On Friday, October 9, 2015, James Zeun  wrote:

> Stephen
>
> I got the REX because it recommended to me by fellow members, as an
> affordable means of expanding the M100. So i can store more programs on the
> computer and not worry about them eating up memory i might otherwise need
> for documents i write out on it.
>
>
>
> On 10 October 2015 at 00:19, Stephen Adolph  > wrote:
>
>> I'd suggest removing rex.
>> You don't need it to use laddiealpha or any other solution. I for one
>> would like to see you use your machine as you got it. That might help to
>> identify your issues.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Friday, October 9, 2015, James Zeun > > wrote:
>> > Reset it a couple of times and suddenly it's working...Since I
>> installed the Rex i dont seem to have enough ram to down load anything.
>> Which i dont understand, as I bought the REX to give me more space for
>> programs..But now suddenly I can't download the programs that I could
>> before I'd installed the module. I wish I understood what the heck was
>> going on..I want to get on with using my M100 already.
>> >
>> > On 9 October 2015 at 23:25, Kurt McCullum > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> James,
>> >> The one thing mComm requires to handle both TELCOM and TPDD requests
>> is a full null cable. The pinouts are in the Manual.DO file that gets
>> installed. Without the DSR lines it will just sit there. Other than that,
>> picking the wrong serial port would do the same thing.
>> >>
>> >> One thing to check is when you first type "term" and hit enter, watch
>> the status box on your Windows box. It should say "TPDD service started"
>> and then "TELCOM service started".
>> >> Are you using version 1.6?
>> >>
>> >> Kurt
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Friday, October 9, 2015 3:12 PM, James Zeun > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Kurt
>> >>
>> >> All i have is a blinking cursor and nothing else :(
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On 9 October 2015 at 23:00, Kurt McCullum > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hit the enter key when you first enter terminal mode. That will switch
>> mComm over to TELCOM mode and you should see a message that says Testing
>> screen size.
>> >>
>> >> As far as memory. That number indicates you have a 24k machine.
>> >> Kurt
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Friday, October 9, 2015 2:57 PM, James Zeun > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Well I reset the M100 and it tells me i have 21446 bytes, is that
>> normal? I dont know how much it should have
>> >>
>> >> I'm trying to use mComm but when i type TERM nothing comes up
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On 9 October 2015 at 21:33, James Zeun > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Thanks guys I'll give it a cold boot and report back
>> >> On 9 Oct 2015 8:11 pm, "John R. Hogerhuis" > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Just wondering whether it is corrupted or if your ram in your laptop
>> is corrupted. You might want to do a cold start and try transferring some
>> other files to build some confidence in the setup.
>> >> -- John.
>> >>
>> >> On Friday, October 9, 2015, James Zeun > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> A quick check says a binary..I opened it in note pad and just saw a
>> lot of yyy across the screen
>> >> On 9 Oct 2015 8:05 pm, "John R. Hogerhuis" > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Is lunar.ba a binary file or a text file?
>> >> -- John.
>> >>
>> >> On Friday, October 9, 2015, James Zeun > > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Ken you sound like my car, I just had my 1977 Austin Princess in the
>> garage and since she came out, hills seem more of a struggle then they used
>> to be lol
>> >>
>> >> Ok so i need some hand holding 

Re: [M100] Hey Ken

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Friday, October 9, 2015, James Zeun  wrote:

> I have to say atm, I'm very tempted to take Stephen up on something he
> said months and months ago and ship my M100 out to him to look at. At the
> time, I was reluctant, not because i doubt Stephen, far from it. I just
> dont trust the post man to A, lose it or B, drop it.
>
> The REX module is not out, I'm using a cable that I know is good and that
> will communicate via mcomm. I can get a directory listing fine, but it
> simple doesn't appear to download anything. I press D, give the file a name
> and then it just sits there and even on the M100 a 2k file should come down
> in 5 minutes, unless I'm mistaken.
>
>
By download you mean you're copying what file in what direction?

-- John.

Re: [M100] Hey Ken

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Friday, October 9, 2015, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:

>
>
> By download you mean you're copying what file in what direction?
>
> -- John.
>

Never mind needed to re read the thread.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Hey Ken

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Friday, October 9, 2015, Stephen Adolph  wrote:

> I must say- I really dislike serial to usb!
> Sounds like a flow control issue.
>
> I think you are pressing f2 on the M100?
>
> I don't think any characters are flowing. M100 is pretty good about that.
>
> How do you know your cabling solution works?
>
> Because you can read data from m100 to Pc?
>
> Have you ever downloaded to the m100?
>
>

I think this is a Kurt problem now :-)

Probably easiest to debug this on the mcomm side why it is getting stuck.

Could be DTR/DSR but I don't know if TEXT checks that. It might.

But if that's the problem the issue is either it or being a full null with
DSR DTR crossed over or mcomm is not setting DTR.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Hey Ken

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Both sides have to be matched baud rates.

You should be able to change on both sides they just have to match.
Recommend you pay with the STAT setting in m100 and hyperterm's baud to
verify you can operate at
Any baud rate.

Your onboard serial port should not be baud rate locked. Certainly the m100
isn't.

-- John.

Re: [M100] OptRom Problems

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Interesting I wonder if it's a stock rom or he cheated by changing the ROM
to make the emulation work (introducing an incompatibility with physical
hardware)

Otherwise it means that there are multiple hardware and ROM versions in the
wild that need to be kept matched up.

-- John.

Re: [M100] An article about the TRS 80 Model 100

[John R. Hogerhuis]

The Model 100 has a fairly small serial buffer of 64 bytes. Software flow
control at least talking to Linux is just not fast enough at higher bps.

But even the high undocumented bps rates work without byte loss with
hardware flow control implemented.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Rasberry PI inside a TRS 80 Model 100

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 11:50 AM, Ken Pettit  wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 11:32 AM, Marko Peussa 
> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Now, if there is a market for 'low or no disturbance' technology, given
>> the cell phone analogy, what would it mean for computers?
>>
>
> I think it would mean the Model 401, a clamshell PC with a full-travel
> keyboard (like on the Model 100/102/200), a low-power ARM processor and a
> Fujitsu color eInk display for low power / extended battery life operation:
>
>   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VmCrblDMlc
>

That display is pretty.. but it takes about .7 seconds to repaint.

I wonder how that translates to updates of small areas of the screen
as pop-ups and individual characters are output. As long as it's not
too jarring and it's going faster than most people read I guess .7 for
a full paint could be OK.

I wonder if the technology in the OLPC's display tech is any more
widely available today?

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Display
http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/why-i-favor-mary-lous-olpc-screen-tech-over-e-ink-at-least-for-my-purposes/

There is definitely a market for the 401. The question is how far
beyond our little sewing circle it goes.

-- John.

Re: [M100] Rasberry PI inside a TRS 80 Model 100

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Here's the company that currently owns the Pixel-Qi screen technology
(daylight readable/low power, but faster than e-Ink):

http://www.tripuso.com/

-- John.

Re: [M100] Rasberry PI inside a TRS 80 Model 100

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 3:03 PM, John Gardner  wrote:
> No pop-ups?  Say it is'nt so...   :)


Well Internet pop-ups bad sure, but I mean more like small pop-up
menus and modal prompts. The idea being that repainting small areas of
the screen (pop-ups, character glyphs) may be OK (fast) compared to
repainting the entire display (slow).

-- John.