TI-994a How-To

[Flandango]

So, one of the many things I wanted to try out was interfacing with external devices through the User Port.
At first I was thinking of maybe an RS-232 port but then I came across Tipi and looked interesting.
I managed to get the TIPI firmware modified to work with Mister and the TI core and also connect the Raspberry Pi via the User Port.
If there is any interest, especially if you have some soldering skills and willing to make your own cable, I can post the core here for folks to try out.

[tmop]

So, one of the many things I wanted to try out was interfacing with external devices through the User Port.
At first I was thinking of maybe an RS-232 port but then I came across Tipi and looked interesting.
I managed to get the TIPI firmware modified to work with Mister and the TI core and also connect the Raspberry Pi via the User Port.
If there is any interest, especially if you have some soldering skills and willing to make your own cable, I can post the core here for folks to try out.

TIPI is an hot topic on AA TI99 thread, so you'll surely find a lot of people that are interested in it! I suggest you to post this stuff.

Where you able to do some progresses on the F18A side? The first alpha version was already bright.

Other peculiar stuff are the Gram Kracker and the P-System is you want to have additional fun with the TI99 system.

[arcadeshopper]

So, one of the many things I wanted to try out was interfacing with external devices through the User Port.
At first I was thinking of maybe an RS-232 port but then I came across Tipi and looked interesting.
I managed to get the TIPI firmware modified to work with Mister and the TI core and also connect the Raspberry Pi via the User Port.
If there is any interest, especially if you have some soldering skills and willing to make your own cable, I can post the core here for folks to try out.

Sure I can give it a try.. lmk

[Flandango]

TIPI is an hot topic on AA TI99 thread, so you'll surely find a lot of people that are interested in it! I suggest you to post this stuff.

Where you able to do some progresses on the F18A side? The first alpha version was already bright.

Other peculiar stuff are the Gram Kracker and the P-System is you want to have additional fun with the TI99 system.

For the most part, I put the F18A on the back burner until I figure out how things work. The main issue I have is the F18A's GPU, and the best way to describe it, is it's not syncing right with the rest of the core, sort of a race condition happening somewhere and that's why you get garbled graphics and crashing/locking up.
The closest I got to something semi-working is to reduce the TI's core clock down to 1/4 it's speed (from ~42mhz to 10) then depending on the app/game, enable turbo after loading and/or disable 1K ScratchPad... And no matter what, I couldn't get Mario Bros to work right. If I can't get Mario Bros to work then what's the point of the whole thing?


When I get home this afternoon, I'll post the Tipi RBF and a quick description of the User Port to PI wiring.

[Flandango]

Here is the core with Tipi support.
It has the DSR baked in so you don't need to change anything with existing roms.
It should work along with the Floppy Controller, but will disable floppy controller if you choose to use CRU 1100.
Available options for Tipi CRU at the moment are 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1400.
To download the TIPI image for your Raspberry PI, visit https://www.jedimatt42.com/downloads.html
Here is also a link to the TIPI WIKI: https://github.com/jedimatt42/tipi/wiki
For the User Port to PI connection, I used a USB 3.1 Breakout board I purchased from Amazon.
Here is a link to the one I purchased so you can get an idea. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MRK0REP
Here is the wiring. I chose this pinout because it lined up best with the breakout board I am using.

Code: Select all

RPI PIN		USER PORT PIN			USB Name
31			6			D+
33			2			TX-
35			3			GND_D
36			1			D-
37			0			D+
38			4			RX+
39			-			GND/SHIELD (NOT GND_D!!!)
40			5			RX-

Please pay attention to pin location on the Raspberry PI. The pins used are at the far end of the PI near the USB ports.
Avoid the other end because it contains the 5v pins, which can damage if not fry your Mister.

As I mentioned earlier, this core will also work without TIPI, just don't enable it.
It also includes the fix for Paged378 images that didn't work before....like the Smurf music compilation.

[Flandango]

Other peculiar stuff are the Gram Kracker and the P-System is you want to have additional fun with the TI99 system.

Ok, here is my first attempt at getting P-Code system implemented.
You will need the pcode grom file (one I'm using is pcode_g0.bin).
Don't know much about the P-Code system so my testing is limited.
A few quirks I noticed is that the keyboard mappings follow the original TI-994/A keyboard and not the extra key mappings such as the /? key implemented in the Mister core.
And sorry for the long filenames for the core...for now it's temporary...mostly using it to differentiate test cores.

[danielb]

Hi, I'd really like to try this but I'm having trouble finding the pcode system grom.
I did find a zip for the MAME emulator containing a file called pcode_grom0.u11, and several others, eg pcode_grom1.u13. Are these the right files, and do they need to be concatenated or whatever to work with the core?

Tks,

D.

[tmop]

@Flandango great addition to the core!

I've tried it, but also for me it's not clear how to run it on MiSTer.

On the TI, the P-System has a card to install on the PEB, a cartridge and 4 disks (2 for the Editor&Filer, 1 for the Assembler and 1 for the Compiler).
On MAME I usually insert the cart, mount the disks and anable the card switch on the Peb. On the TI Menu, selecting option 4 (Pascal Boot Loader) I reach the "Pascal Welcome" screen, with the Editor/Compiler selection.

Not sure of the correct steps on MiSTer. Moreover, you mentioned the "pcode_g0.bin" file, but I cannot find a correspondence with MESS BIOS files for the P-Code. It has 10 files: pcode_grom0.u11, pcode_grom1.u13, pcode_grom2.u14, pcode_grom3.u16, pcode_grom4.u19, pcode_grom5.u20, pcode_grom6.u21, pcode_grom7.u22, pcode_rom0.u1, pcode_rom1.u18). Have this files to me merged into one?

Thanks.

[rhester72]

@flandango Awesome! How are you managing without loading the R0/R1 ROMs?

pcode_g0.rom is each of the MAME/MESS GROMs concatenated together with 2K padding after each one (so the full 64KB GROM space in total).

[danielb]

@flandango Awesome! How are you managing without loading the R0/R1 ROMs?

pcode_g0.rom is each of the MAME/MESS GROMs concatenated together with 2K padding after each one (so the full 64KB GROM space in total).

Thanks! I got it to work

This is a wonderfully arcane system The manuals are available online (e.g. here: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/15370 ... resources/) and you'll need them to use it.

Thanks Flandango for getting it working!

D.

[Flandango]

Sorry for late response, just got back home from work.
Yes, for the mame roms, pad each file with 2k. I forgot where I got the all in one grom file.
As for the R0 and R1 files (DSR), I currently have it encoded in the core.
In the long run, and in order to make it more...MiSter compliant, I will have to move them (along with the TIPI DSR) out of the core.

[arcadeshopper]

Here is the core with Tipi support.
It has the DSR baked in so you don't need to change anything with existing roms.
It should work along with the Floppy Controller, but will disable floppy controller if you choose to use CRU 1100.
Available options for Tipi CRU at the moment are 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1400.
To download the TIPI image for your Raspberry PI, visit https://www.jedimatt42.com/downloads.html
Here is also a link to the TIPI WIKI: https://github.com/jedimatt42/tipi/wiki
For the User Port to PI connection, I used a USB 3.1 Breakout board I purchased from Amazon.
Here is a link to the one I purchased so you can get an idea. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MRK0REP
Here is the wiring. I chose this pinout because it lined up best with the breakout board I am using.

Code: Select all

RPI PIN		USER PORT PIN			USB Name
31			6			D+
33			2			TX-
35			3			GND_D
36			1			D-
37			0			D+
38			4			RX+
39			-			GND/SHIELD (NOT GND_D!!!)
40			5			RX-

Please pay attention to pin location on the Raspberry PI. The pins used are at the far end of the PI near the USB ports.
Avoid the other end because it contains the 5v pins, which can damage if not fry your Mister.

As I mentioned earlier, this core will also work without TIPI, just don't enable it.
It also includes the fix for Paged378 images that didn't work before....like the Smurf music compilation.

you have D+ listed twice is the top one TX+? .. also the unit I got from amazon (after 2 tries) has different numbers of course sigh

Greg

[Flandango]

Greg,
Sorry and yes you are correct, the top one is TX+

Code: Select all

RPI PIN		USER PORT PIN	USB Name
31			6				TX+
33			2				TX-
35			3				GND_D
36			1				D-
37			0				D+
38			4				RX+
39			-				GND/SHIELD (NOT GND_D!!!)
40			5				RX-

As for numbers, do you mean the USER PORT Pin #s? If so, yeah those won't be on the breakout port, those are the pin #s as known by Mister (i.e. I don't see them labeled anywhere on the IO card, just in the schematics.
The breakout board you got, does it at least have the USB Names on it?

[arcadeshopper]

Yes it has both on the board I got
It matches the photo on Amazon
Not working first try is there any thing else I need to check on the mister?

[Flandango]

After looking closely at the my spare board that I ordered, it does have #s on them.
I've included the USB Pin# next to the name in the following list.

Code: Select all

RPI PIN		USER PORT PIN		USB Name	USB Pin
31			6		TX+		(6)
33			2		TX-		(5)
35			3		GND_D	(7)
36			1		D-		(2)
37			0		D+		(3)
38			4		RX+		(9)
39			-		GND/SHIELD (NOT GND_D!!!)	(10)
40			5		RX-		(8)

[arcadeshopper]

After looking closely at the my spare board that I ordered, it does have #s on them.
I've included the USB Pin# next to the name in the following list.

Code: Select all

RPI PIN		USER PORT PIN		USB Name	USB Pin
31			6		TX+		(6)
33			2		TX-		(5)
35			3		GND_D	(7)
36			1		D-		(2)
37			0		D+		(3)
38			4		RX+		(9)
39			-		GND/SHIELD (NOT GND_D!!!)	(10)
40			5		RX-		(8)

I've matched this, nothing when I call tipi is there any other settings on the mister I need to set

[Flandango]

Other than Enabling Tipi the default CRU of 1000 should be enough.
Have you checked the Tipi logs on the PI (/home/tipi/logs/tipi.log) to see if there is any activity?
Edit- Also, if you are using an IO board with the jumper (IO6) next to the IO port, can you verify that it's set to I/O and not 3.3V?

[arcadeshopper]

tipi logs

no tipi log, in the daemon.log i can see it resetting the service when i reset the ti .. so that part works, just put the pi on a real tipi and it works fine..so something with my wiring perhaps.. that jumper is on io

[Flandango]

When you do Call Tipi does it hang or just complains that it can't find it?
Here is how I wired it...for comparison and in case I mis-labeled pinouts.

Breakout-Wiring.png (387.08 KiB) Viewed 13381 times

Pi-Wiring-A.png (192.63 KiB) Viewed 13381 times

Pi-Wiring-B.png (544.37 KiB) Viewed 13381 times

[arcadeshopper]

hangs.. I'll compare wiring

[arcadeshopper]

whats the wire on pin34 doing? I don't see it connected to the userport usb thing

[Flandango]

Grey wire...that is not connected. It's a ground line but it's not needed and I am not 100% sure the "GND" pin on breakout is actually ground at all times. I'll need to look at the IO board schematics again.

[arcadeshopper]

ok i got it working using a pi3b+ originally I was using a pizeroW I'm wondering if there are timing issues, TIPI adjusts itself based on the pi its running on..

seems to work for telnet, loading off tipi drive.. yay! I'll do more testing.. n

[Flandango]

I am also using a PI3b+. Will see about getting a ZeroW and trying it out and see what is up.

[notFound]

Hi All, I'm interested in the last TI-994a core with TIPI support but I can't figure out how to get the TIPI send response to the Mister. I followed the Flandango steps but nothing, the TI hangs. Does somebody know how to get TIPI working? No logs on the Raspberry side, I use PI3B+ and the USB 3.1 Breakout board mentioned by Flandango in past posts to link Mister and PI3B+ together.

[Flandango]

First, make sure you are plugging that usb breakout board in the User IO port on the IO card and not just any regular USB port.
If you are, and have setup wifi or using an Ethernet cable to your Pi, SSH over to the PI, and there should be at least a file /home/tipi/log/tipi.log that will have at least a message that it's up and running. Post what it says in that file.

[notFound]

Thank you Flandango but on the PI there isn't logs files in the '/home/tipi/log/". I have the Mister IO board and I have connected the USB 3.1 board in the only one USB port on top of the SDRAM. I followed your USB schema to make the cable so I think that I have the same cabling, It matches your photos. On the PI I only see that TI-99/4A tasks are running but not response on both side. Maybe I have a wrong image installed on the PI? On TI when I call "CALL TIPI" the TI hangs, I use the last Mister core 'Ti994a_TIPI_PCODE_20210927'

[Flandango]

The image for the PI should be tipi-sdimage-buster-2.17.zip from the Tipi website.
Next to the User Port, by the edge of the IO Board, there should be a jumper on a 3 pin header. Verify the jumper is set for IO and not 3.3v.
Lastly, how long is your cable? Wondering if length could be an issue. Mine is approximately 6"/~15cm long.

[notFound]

The PI image is right, about the board, seem that I have a different type, there isn't jumper as you described. I put some photos to explain well the situation. The cable length is under 15cm.

[notFound]

OK, maybe I got it, I have the Mister IO ver. 6.0 instead the new one ver. 6.1 that have the jumper to select the 3.3V/IO. With my IO board is possible to enable that line with some mod?