TI-994a How-To

[NML32]

You need an inline amplifier

Something like this?
https://www.amazon.com//dp/B07JQ7FXXL/

maybe.. I'd try something that doesn't do anything to the signal myself.. like the old radio shack amp. https://www.ebay.com/itm/144555294213

Thanks
It's weird that all the other cores that support tape loading from ADC work fine with my phone or tape recorder. What is different about the TI-99/4A core that it requires an inline amp.

[Flandango]

hdmi.. here's a video

Damn. I wonder if it can damage the DE10-nano. Have you tried it without the IO board on to see if that noise stops?

[pgimeno]

It's weird that all the other cores that support tape loading from ADC work fine with my phone or tape recorder. What is different about the TI-99/4A core that it requires an inline amp.

There's a problem with MiSTer and using the ADC for inputting audio. There is some discussion here: viewtopic.php?p=50850#p50850

This core takes a different approach to tape input that might not work for everyone.

[rhester72]

Mancala behaves very similarly - the moment input (# of players) is requested, the music stops and the title hangs.

[Flandango]

Mancala behaves very similarly - the moment input (# of players) is requested, the music stops and the title hangs.

What language option are you using? Also are you using Paged 378 for the cart type?

[rhester72]

Mancala behaves very similarly - the moment input (# of players) is requested, the music stops and the title hangs.

What language option are you using? Also are you using Paged 378 for the cart type?

English...but no, I'm using Standard as the cart type, as it was converted from the MAME/MESS set and that's how it's declared there. Will retest by forcing the type in the M99 header.

EDIT: That did it, thanks! I wonder why MAME doesn't have a special handler for it? Is there some obvious way to tell what the paging model is based on ROM layout or something?

[tmop]

Mancala behaves very similarly - the moment input (# of players) is requested, the music stops and the title hangs.

If you use the last version of my MegaPack for the TI you'll find in the file name (if not already in .M99 format) the correct infos to load each cart.

[Flandango]

English...but no, I'm using Standard as the cart type, as it was converted from the MAME/MESS set and that's how it's declared there. Will retest by forcing the type in the M99 header.

EDIT: That did it, thanks! I wonder why MAME doesn't have a special handler for it? Is there some obvious way to tell what the paging model is based on ROM layout or something?

Unfortunately there is no easy way to determine what paging system is used just by looking at rom layout unless somebody was kind enough to label them in advance. (ex _8.bin - Paged 378, _9.bin - Paged 379....etc)
With Mancala in particular, I remember TMOP came across the same issue during testing and it boiled down to trying out the different cart types till we found the one that worked.

[tmop]

Mancala is a PAGED378 cart. In my pack there is the .M99 version that is working correctly:

Mancala (1983)(DaTaBioTics)(TRI-2002)_[Cart Type PAGED378]_[C+G].M99

In the suffix I've indicated that the .M99 file was created using .C (ROM) and .G (GROM) files, setting the Cart Type to PAGED378. In this case it's just necessary to load the .M99 file, the cart type is already set in the .M99 format header.

[rhester72]

Got it - the labels on your carts are very helpful, thank you! I was hoping there was a more standardized/straightforward technical way to determine the type, but that's clearly not the case. *laughs*

[rhester72]

OK...I've spent 36 hours looking at this now, and still can't explain why Mancala requires paging378. It only works that way on MiSTer, that much is true, but I'm not sure that's correct.

MESS's explanation for different schemes is here:

https://www.ninerpedia.org/wiki/MESS_cartridge_handling

and it's pretty clear that a) paged378 isn't intended for cartridges with GROMs and b) the "standard" PCB handler (evident in both legacy RPKs and modern MAME softlists) should suffice - and indeed, the 8K CROM provided is as standard as standard gets. There's no paging being done at all...so why does it only work on MiSTer with paged378? It seems a minor point (particularly when it can be made to work), yes, but it's also strongly indicative that something somewhere still isn't right with the memory model interpretation on MiSTer.

[Flandango]

That info is a bit out dated. Paged 378 (sometimes known as ubergrom) is to also used to support multiple groms.
Mancala does in fact do paging. It's not paging the ROM (it's only 8k) but it's using the same method of paging to access the multiple groms.
Mame, and probably other emulators, may automatically switch to the appropriate paging scheme depending on number of groms.

[rhester72]

OK - I believe you, I'm clearly failing to understand some things about the TI's memory architecture. For example, Alligator Mix has an even more complex topology (C and D ROMs plus a full complement of 5 8K banks of GROM) but doesn't require banking/paging. Still studying. =)

[rhester72]

One other quick usability request for some future release, if I may - would it be possible to allow the 32K expansion RAM to be disabled via menu option? It's handy for testing cases where machines would lack it.

[Flandango]

One other quick usability request for some future release, if I may - would it be possible to allow the 32K expansion RAM to be disabled via menu option? It's handy for testing cases where machines would lack it.

I don't see why not. I'll see what I can do.

[arcadeshopper]

Yes that's fine I didn't change anything from the working configuration. It looks like maybe my IO board has gone bad. I'm also getting some interesting audio static in the menus and some cores.. I think I'll order another one and try that

Is this over HDMI or are you going out the IO board for audio? Just curious because that definitely doesn't sound good (no pun intended).

hdmi.. here's a video
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Qh7kP9bjUDC2h4e8

So got another io board, and TIPI works again sigh.. the static came right back when I powered on with the pi attached, so I'm thinking something's coming in from the PI.. perhaps a dirty power supply? going to replace the usb cable adapter as well and see if that changes anything.

[notFound]

Hi, @Flandango
Any news about the RS232 interface implementation?

[arcadeshopper]

Is this over HDMI or are you going out the IO board for audio? Just curious because that definitely doesn't sound good (no pun intended).

hdmi.. here's a video
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Qh7kP9bjUDC2h4e8

So got another io board, and TIPI works again sigh.. the static came right back when I powered on with the pi attached, so I'm thinking something's coming in from the PI.. perhaps a dirty power supply? going to replace the usb cable adapter as well and see if that changes anything.

This was resolved with a powered USB hub being the power supply

[arromdee]

After some struggles which I won't get into here, I got this to work and played Parsec.

First of all, the joystick seems to stick a lot. Is this something in the game triggered by using too much fuel or moving it too much or something? The joystick works fine in other systems, it only seems to stick here.

Also, what should I use for voice? Gogling shows that the TI 99/4a includes a 5220, but I have to set it to 5200 to get useful speech. Even then, there's a bit of distortion at the start of "press fire to begin" which I don't hear on a youtube video of this game played on a real machine. (Once I can find one among all the videos taken off of emulators). Is this a bug I should report or am I doing something wrong?

My speech ROM has a checksum 7adcaf64272248f7a7161cfc02fd5b3

[tmop]

After some struggles which I won't get into here, I got this to work and played Parsec.

First of all, the joystick seems to stick a lot. Is this something in the game triggered by using too much fuel or moving it too much or something? The joystick works fine in other systems, it only seems to stick here.

Also, what should I use for voice? Gogling shows that the TI 99/4a includes a 5220, but I have to set it to 5200 to get useful speech. Even then, there's a bit of distortion at the start of "press fire to begin" which I don't hear on a youtube video of this game played on a real machine. (Once I can find one among all the videos taken off of emulators). Is this a bug I should report or am I doing something wrong?

My speech ROM has a checksum 7adcaf64272248f7a7161cfc02fd5b3

In Parsec, keys 1 to 3 change the speed of the ship (it starts from 3 value, that is indicated by "LIFT" in the bottom of screen). Press 1 key to reduce speed for the refuel. The joystick in the core works fine.

The speech has to be set to 5200. The speech isn't accurate at 100% since there are no complete infos on the TI chip. The implementation for MiSTer core is based on MAME version. For Parsec (and also Alpiner) it doesn't matter the speech ROM used, since it uses its own samples.

[arromdee]

I've had situations where I held the joystick in a direction (up or down) and the ship didn't move. Letting go for a second and then pressing the same direction again caused the ship to start moving.

I tried Zelda on the NES with the same joystick and this *never* happened (even though Zelda is also a game which stops moving when you stop holding down the direction).

[Chilli_Vibes]

You can't compare a NES core, to the TI-99 core, completely different systems. The NES was a straight-forward console, plug-in a cart, plug-in a controller, switch on, play game. The Ti-99 range were computers, and very qwerky machines to use. And even though they had a cartridge range, they were not often easy to get up and running. It had non-standard joystick ports which had to have converters to use standard DB9 joysticks, or uniquely made joysticks for the machine - it wasn't standard DB9.
I have a real Ti-99/4a machine, tape deck, Flashrom99 + Nanopeb - both used for modern SDCard storage. Unless you regularly use the machine, it's often easy to forget how to use it, and it can be a learning curve getting back into it. joysticks on the real thing were often terrible, and would cause a lot of issues in games - this was what we had to deal with, 40+ years ago.

[tmop]

I've had situations where I held the joystick in a direction (up or down) and the ship didn't move. Letting go for a second and then pressing the same direction again caused the ship to start moving.

I tried Zelda on the NES with the same joystick and this *never* happened (even though Zelda is also a game which stops moving when you stop holding down the direction).

I've tested all the TI game library using various joysticks (including 8bitdo SF30 Pro, arcade sticks with Zero delay encoder, Daemonbite usb adapter, etc.) and it works like the original computer. You need to check your config or try to use another joystick to see if you have the same problems. Have you tried with other games or just Parsec?

[arromdee]

I found the problem. In this game, you cannot thrust and move at the same time. If you use a joypad, sooner or later you're going to move your finger in a direction that is not exactly up or down, and this will cause your ship to stop moving. Most games will not stop moving if you do this. So I'd either need a joystick that doesn't have diagonals, or there would have to be some setting to compensate for accidental diagonals. (Or I'd have to use a keyboard.)

[edburns]

Yes nothing has changed from the working cores, no cores are working now. Tried a new sdcard image, no dice. going to have to troubleshoot the issues may be the adapter or io board.

If the adapter checks out, verify the IO6 jumper (next to or around the User IO port) is set to I/O and not 3.3v.

Hello @Flandango,

I am very sorry to trouble you, but I also am now unable to get the TI-99/4A to work on my MiSTer. The fundamental problem seems to be that when I start the TI-99/4A core (version 22.02.20) I cannot bring up the core menu. I just have a black screen. While troubleshooting, I did see the hardware menu come up once, but I have not been able to get it back up again. Here are the facts of my system.

• This all worked fine last time I tried it, in July.
• MiSTer v220819, OS v220413.
• all TI bits from freshly downloaded MegaPack https://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pa ... xyLD6HMJEZ. As mentined above, this includes Ti994a_20220220.rbf, which is the one I try to run.
• IO jumper in correct place, (not 3.3 volt).
• I tried putting the TI99_4A directory in the /games folder on the external HDD and also directly in the /games folder on the SD. Same result.

Please help me get this working again. I really appreciate your time and efforts.

Sincerely,

Ed Burns

[Flandango]

Yes nothing has changed from the working cores, no cores are working now. Tried a new sdcard image, no dice. going to have to troubleshoot the issues may be the adapter or io board.

If the adapter checks out, verify the IO6 jumper (next to or around the User IO port) is set to I/O and not 3.3v.

Hello @Flandango,

I am very sorry to trouble you, but I also am now unable to get the TI-99/4A to work on my MiSTer. The fundamental problem seems to be that when I start the TI-99/4A core (version 22.02.20) I cannot bring up the core menu. I just have a black screen. While troubleshooting, I did see the hardware menu come up once, but I have not been able to get it back up again. Here are the facts of my system.

• This all worked fine last time I tried it, in July.
• MiSTer v220819, OS v220413.
• all TI bits from freshly downloaded MegaPack https://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pa ... xyLD6HMJEZ. As mentined above, this includes Ti994a_20220220.rbf, which is the one I try to run.
• IO jumper in correct place, (not 3.3 volt).
• I tried putting the TI99_4A directory in the /games folder on the external HDD and also directly in the /games folder on the SD. Same result.

Please help me get this working again. I really appreciate your time and efforts.

Sincerely,

Ed Burns

Ed,
First, the IO jumper is used only if you are trying to use TIPI, which is an external device connected via the "User Port". So if you are not trying to do that, you can ignore the IO jumper.
As for the issue of getting just a black screen and no OSD a couple of questions:
1. Are you trying to do this via a crt/vga connection on the IO board and not going via the HDMI port?
2. You mentioned external HDD...does your SD card have a /games/TI-99_4A folder? If so is it empty? Sometime if there are files in it, MiSTer may not look onto your HDD for bios/cart roms.
3. Also verify the directory name is TI-99_4A. If using external HDD, make sure you proper capitalization because if they are not correct they won't find it (they are case sensitive).
4. Last but not least, you are not troubling me. If you have any questions or issues, and nothing on this board has helped, then you ask. If I can't help you or I don't get back to you right away, there's a good chance somebody else who can help, will respond.

[edburns]

Ed,
First, the IO jumper is used only if you are trying to use TIPI, which is an external device connected via the "User Port". So if you are not trying to do that, you can ignore the IO jumper.
As for the issue of getting just a black screen and no OSD a couple of questions:

1. Are you trying to do this via a crt/vga connection on the IO board and not going via the HDMI port?
2. You mentioned external HDD...does your SD card have a /games/TI-99_4A folder? If so is it empty? Sometime if there are files in it, MiSTer may not look onto your HDD for bios/cart roms.
3. Also verify the directory name is TI-99_4A. If using external HDD, make sure you proper capitalization because if they are not correct they won't find it (they are case sensitive).
4. Last but not least, you are not troubling me. If you have any questions or issues, and nothing on this board has helped, then you ask. If I can't help you or I don't get back to you right away, there's a good chance somebody else who can help, will respond.

1. CRT with s-video via Antonio Villena composite video adapter.
2. No, I deleted it.
3. Yes. Confirmed.

I managed to get everything working again by reverting to Ti994a_20210829.rbf. However, I would like to help improve the user experience for Ti994a_20220220.rbf.

One thing that was not clear. Is it still necessary to do this whole "createImage.py -v tiroms.bin" business as mentioned in https://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pa ... xyLD6HMJEZ? When I got it working on 2022-02-20, as shown in viewtopic.php?p=44762#p44762, I did not do any of that python stuff. If that is necessary, then perhaps that was my problem.

Another thing is not clear: What is the top level "landing page" for TI-99/4A on MiSTer?

Thanks,

Ed

[Flandango]

1. CRT with s-video via Antonio Villena composite video adapter.
2. No, I deleted it.
3. Yes. Confirmed.

I managed to get everything working again by reverting to Ti994a_20210829.rbf. However, I would like to help improve the user experience for Ti994a_20220220.rbf.

One thing that was not clear. Is it still necessary to do this whole "createImage.py -v tiroms.bin" business as mentioned in https://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pa ... xyLD6HMJEZ? When I got it working on 2022-02-20, as shown in viewtopic.php?p=44762#p44762, I did not do any of that python stuff. If that is necessary, then perhaps that was my problem.

Another thing is not clear: What is the top level "landing page" for TI-99/4A on MiSTer?

Thanks,

Ed

Ed,
The 20220220 release changed how roms are loaded and you no longer need to use the createImage.py script anymore.
What IS needed to be done, for the first time you use the latest core, is to go into the OSD -> Hardware and set the individual rom files for at least the System Grom and System Rom.
Then if you want support for the others (speech/Disk/Tipi/P-Code) you can also tell it the roms to use. If you have downloaded the latest version of the Megapack, it should include most, if not all, the rom files needed (check the DSR-ROMS folder).
Once those are specified, you should get back to the normal TI Screen.
The new M99 cart rom format has replaced the old images that were created with createImage, which use to combine the cartridge roms and the system bioses into one large file. The Megapack should contain the newer M99 images for most carts, but the core will load the old existing .bin files (just ignores the system bioses).
If you are not seeing the OSD come up, you may need to temporarily use a display connected via HDMI to do the initial configuration (system rom/groms). Since the System Groms and Roms (the "bios") isn't loading, the TI's video doesn't initialize and therefore no video signal going out and some CRTs won't display anything (including the OSD).
Unfortunately I don't have a CRT nor the adapter to do testing myself to see if there is another workaround.
As for your question about the top level landing page...I don't think I understand what you mean. Do you mean what it should look like when you first start the core? If so, then if it's setup with at least the System groms/roms, then you should see the normal TI-99/4A screen (blue screen/colorful bars...), otherwise it will be just a black screen as you are experiencing.

[tmop]

Ed,
First, the IO jumper is used only if you are trying to use TIPI, which is an external device connected via the "User Port". So if you are not trying to do that, you can ignore the IO jumper.
As for the issue of getting just a black screen and no OSD a couple of questions:

1. Are you trying to do this via a crt/vga connection on the IO board and not going via the HDMI port?
2. You mentioned external HDD...does your SD card have a /games/TI-99_4A folder? If so is it empty? Sometime if there are files in it, MiSTer may not look onto your HDD for bios/cart roms.
3. Also verify the directory name is TI-99_4A. If using external HDD, make sure you proper capitalization because if they are not correct they won't find it (they are case sensitive).
4. Last but not least, you are not troubling me. If you have any questions or issues, and nothing on this board has helped, then you ask. If I can't help you or I don't get back to you right away, there's a good chance somebody else who can help, will respond.

1. CRT with s-video via Antonio Villena composite video adapter.
2. No, I deleted it.
3. Yes. Confirmed.

I managed to get everything working again by reverting to Ti994a_20210829.rbf. However, I would like to help improve the user experience for Ti994a_20220220.rbf.

One thing that was not clear. Is it still necessary to do this whole "createImage.py -v tiroms.bin" business as mentioned in https://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pa ... xyLD6HMJEZ? When I got it working on 2022-02-20, as shown in viewtopic.php?p=44762#p44762, I did not do any of that python stuff. If that is necessary, then perhaps that was my problem.

Another thing is not clear: What is the top level "landing page" for TI-99/4A on MiSTer?

Thanks,

Ed

Ed,

if you are using my MegaPack 4.1 from TI99IUC site you have all the needed files to run the core Ti994a_20220220.rbf from Flandango. There is a "ReadMe" file in the .zip with the exact steps you need. I think you are just not loaded all the needed BIOS files.

If you look at the ReadMe file, these are the installation instructions:

- copy "Ti994a_202XXXXX.rbf" and "Ti994a-F18A_202XXXXX.rbf" files in the root of your MiSTer SD card (or in the "_Computers" directory).
- copy also the "TI-99_4A" directory in the root of SD card (or in the "Games" directory). This directory contains the TI99 SSS games, applications, etc.
- run the core, open the menu, under HARDWARE select the GROM/ROM files for TI99 BIOS, Speech, Disk, etc. These files are under the DSR-ROMS directory.
The DSR-ROMS directory contains the original console BIOS (1981), the original Spanish BIOS (1982) and the original V2.2 console BIOS (1983), etc.

Hope it helps.

[edburns]

If you are not seeing the OSD come up, you may need to temporarily use a display connected via HDMI to do the initial configuration (system rom/groms).

That is correct, though I did see it once, even on the CRT.

How many times must I do this rom/grom thing? Every time I power on the MiSTer? Or is the config saved in non volatile memory?

Unfortunately I don't have a CRT nor the adapter to do testing myself to see if there is another workaround.

Could I be of any assistance in troubleshooting? We could do a Zoom or Teams meeting. As I said, I did get the OSD to appear once. Maybe it is a timing thing?