MiSTer PCXT

[spark2k06]

Thanks I have been using this setup and your drivers. For some reason though I just had to disable the EMS setting and I still get the 2MB EMS RAM when its disabled. So it works normally if its turned off... but it might be some experimental version of MiSTer Main I am using. I will ensure I switch back to the latest official MiSTer Main. I was trying the experimental ones to try the different experimental versions of this core with AO486 floppy support and such.

If you disable EMS management in the OSD, it will not work... even if you get LTEMM running and you see 2Mb available, it's not real... because the necessary I/O ports are not listening.

The best way to check that they are working, is to use a RAM disk based on EMS, and allocate 2Mb to it. To be honest, I don't know why it didn't work well for you, try again just in case... and tell me exactly where the execution stops... can you give me a screenshot?

[Caldor]

New update with support for 4 x 32Kb pages in 320x200x16 mode:

PCXT:
- 4 x 32Kb pages for Tandy 320x200x16 mode (More Tandy games now working)
- VRAM resizing for MDA to 4Kb
- LPT port mapping fix
- Removed DSS/Covox support (Not feasible for this core)

Now the Lemmings game, much better :

20220905_071211-screen.png

Wow... that looks nice I think I will try resetting all my PCXT settings, maybe delete the files completely and start with the latest official one and do a whole new setup from scratch. Because I keep having issues with most Tandy. Monkey Island 1 and the demo of Monkey Island 1 worked great, and some Sierra games, but a lot of games just got buggy.

I also have the Area5150 demo crashing and showing buggy graphics at the end of it, and it should be fully working now, right?

Another thing I have noticed is that in Norton Commander and Volkov Commander with Tandy enabled I get lines all the way through the screen but I do not when I run it with PCXT bios. Is that just me, or should that be expected with Tandy enabled?

[Caldor]

Thanks I have been using this setup and your drivers. For some reason though I just had to disable the EMS setting and I still get the 2MB EMS RAM when its disabled. So it works normally if its turned off... but it might be some experimental version of MiSTer Main I am using. I will ensure I switch back to the latest official MiSTer Main. I was trying the experimental ones to try the different experimental versions of this core with AO486 floppy support and such.

If you disable EMS management in the OSD, it will not work... even if you get LTEMM running and you see 2Mb available, it's not real... because the necessary I/O ports are not listening.

The best way to check that they are working, is to use a RAM disk based on EMS, and allocate 2Mb to it. To be honest, I don't know why it didn't work well for you, try again just in case... and tell me exactly where the execution stops... can you give me a screenshot?

Might be a bug with my core, because using MEM I do see some some of the EMS being used and 4DOS also use EMS for caching... or maybe its swapping.

Which is why I think its best if I try to delete the PCXT settings completely on my MiSTer and start over with the latest official MiSTer Main. And Maybe I should delete all the experimental PCXT cores I have except this latest one. It could also be something else I overlooked. Might be the EMS was no longer set to A000. I never touched it and I am pretty sure it started out at A000. But if it had switched to something else that might explain this happening.

[wark91]

Lemmings have better graphics but still some parts are not good.
20220904_155236-screen.png

Great improvements !

New update with support for 4 x 32Kb pages in 320x200x16 mode:

PCXT:
- 4 x 32Kb pages for Tandy 320x200x16 mode (More Tandy games now working)
- VRAM resizing for MDA to 4Kb
- LPT port mapping fix
- Removed DSS/Covox support (Not feasible for this core)

Now the Lemmings game, much better :

20220905_071211-screen.png

Thank you !

[Caldor]

It might be early for this core still, but should it not get its own forum at this point? It is an official core after all.

[spark2k06]

It might be early for this core still, but should it not get its own forum at this point? It is an official core after all.

It has certainly reached such a point that it would be good to have a specific section. I don't know who could create it, maybe sorgelig?

[Caldor]

It might be early for this core still, but should it not get its own forum at this point? It is an official core after all.

It has certainly reached such a point that it would be good to have a specific section. I don't know who could create it, maybe sorgelig?

I just asked on Discord in the Computer Core Testing Channel. I will get back with the answer when they reply.

Btw, how do you use serdrive? It does not seem to accept the command in Putty. I am trying to create disk images for the PCXT core.

[KremlingKuthroat19]

Considering that the thread has reached 43 pages and it’s official now, I’d say it’s overdue for its own section

[Hodor]

[...]

Btw, how do you use serdrive? It does not seem to accept the command in Putty. I am trying to create disk images for the PCXT core.

Just use PCEm or 86Box emulators. They both work perfectly fine creating hard disk images for this wonderful core.

[Caldor]

[...]

Btw, how do you use serdrive? It does not seem to accept the command in Putty. I am trying to create disk images for the PCXT core.

Just use PCEm or 86Box emulators. They both work perfectly fine creating hard disk images for this wonderful core.

That is what I have been doing. I guess I do not really have problems with read and write errors that much anymore anyway. I was just trying to rule out any problems I might have been having.

I did found that my EMS was set to C000 instead of A000, so that might have solved one problem with my setup. It should be possible to get the Area5150 demo running all the way through now, if you boot with no EMS, UMB and such, but has not worked for me so far. I think I will try a special boot disk and see if it helps.

[pgimeno]

Xbytez is also an admin; maybe you can PM him about a PCXT dedicated section.

Alternatively, the "ao486 (PC 486SX)" section could be renamed "PC (ao486 / PCXT)" or something so that both computers are under a common section, but I'm not sure that would work well.

[Caldor]

Xbytez is also an admin; maybe you can PM him about a PCXT dedicated section.

Alternatively, the "ao486 (PC 486SX)" section could be renamed "PC (ao486 / PCXT)" or something so that both computers are under a common section, but I'm not sure that would work well.

I thought about that as well... but I think it would be too confusing. Makes more sense for Commodore as the C64, C16 and so on have a good big overlap. Its less simple with PCXT and AO486 I think. The overlap... well... there is one but its pretty small compared to the 8bit Commodore computers that share much of the same Basic and are overall not as configurable anyway.

[Caldor]

I updated my PCXT boot floppy. Now it has boot options, so it can boot a clean config with nothing loaded at all, a config using SHELLMAX with no EMS, one with EMS and a 4DOS with EMS. Both EMS configs have a 1024kb RAM DISK set as drive D.

If something might have disk speed problems, I suspect it might be solved with the RAM disk, until support for IDE is added.

http://dionysus.dk/devstuff/mister/PCXT ... Floppy.img

[spark2k06]

Xbytez is also an admin; maybe you can PM him about a PCXT dedicated section.

Alternatively, the "ao486 (PC 486SX)" section could be renamed "PC (ao486 / PCXT)" or something so that both computers are under a common section, but I'm not sure that would work well.

I have already written to him, let's wait and see what he replies and whether he considers it appropriate. I have proposed that the section be called "IBM PC, PCXT, Tandy 1000". If PCjr is supported in the future, we will add it to the title.

[kathleen]

Hello everyone,
Maybe this has already been mentioned, if so, sorry for asking twice (I've however found nothing related to this topic).
Well, I've a strange keyboard behavior when I use the DOS command keyb fr to change the keyboard layout to French for instance. The keyboard works fine by default (US map) but if I want to change it, in my case by the French one then I face to several problems like the Caps Lock, Tab... not working, or even after a while, the core freezes. This happens only if I use keyb xx whatever if I do it once the DOS is launched or if I put this command to my autoexec.bat. The result is the same. I played hours with the default keyboard map (QWERTY) w/o any issue but as long as I change it, the above listed issue start to appear.
Any idea where this could come from ?
Thanks a lot for your help ! And also for this amazing core.

[Caldor]

Hello everyone,
Maybe this has already been mentioned, if so, sorry for asking twice (I've however found nothing related to this topic).
Well, I've a strange keyboard behavior when I use the DOS command keyb fr to change the keyboard layout to French for instance. The keyboard works fine by default (US map) but if I want to change it, in my case by the French one then I face to several problems like the Caps Lock, Tab... not working, or even after a while, the core freezes. This happens only if I use keyb xx whatever if I do it once the DOS is launched or if I put this command to my autoexec.bat. The result is the same. I played hours with the default keyboard map (QWERTY) w/o any issue but as long as I change it, the above listed issue start to appear.
Any idea where this could come from ?
Thanks a lot for your help ! And also for this amazing core.

I've been trying to debug using this core, but I was unable to make it boot from floppy. The only version that I got to boot is the official one, and in that one the keys get stuck, so I could not use it.

The problems you have with the keyboard are probably because you are using KEYB... don't use it, even if you have to be with the default English keyboard.

All problems with PKUNZIP could be due to the segment change in the LES instruction, as suggested by MicroCoreLabs. In the tests I have done, you can see that it does not work correctly, unlike in PCEm or a real PCXT. I think the best thing to do first is to wait for it to be solved, and then we can confirm if it solves the PKUNZIP problem or not.

Edit: I'll make a note of using symdeb, thanks!

I am not sure why, but you cannot use keyb with this core. It might be something with the CPU.

[kathleen]

Thanks, sorry I missed this information. Now it is clear that for the moment I've to stay with English kbd. Not a problem at all.

[Mills]

Last changes seem to improve timming, more programs started working, like the game "Ski or die". Area5150 demo worked with just tiny glitches (well the final scenes with wave effects need crts and I can't test that). 8088mph demo worked nearly perfect, including the music from the credits, and the vertical bars scene is working very well.

Ski or die:

ski.png (901.98 KiB) Viewed 30420 times

8088MPH demo (screenshot, looks weird):

8088.png (901.98 KiB) Viewed 30420 times

8088MPH photo (bad quality, but you see it looks how it should, without the composite colors of course):

20220906_233127.jpg (229.26 KiB) Viewed 30420 times

[Caldor]

The final scenes in Area5150 needs a CRT? I am using a CRT but its probably not set to do a native output, I think it scales. I guess that might be why it does not run until the end. Or at least that the last minute or two is pretty corrupted.

[spark2k06]

The final scenes in Area5150 needs a CRT? I am using a CRT but its probably not set to do a native output, I think it scales. I guess that might be why it does not run until the end. Or at least that the last minute or two is pretty corrupted.

Do you have borders enabled from the OSD menu? This is important for this demo in particular.

[suww37]

Last changes seem to improve timming, more programs started working, like the game "Ski or die". Area5150 demo worked with just tiny glitches (well the final scenes with wave effects need crts and I can't test that). 8088mph demo worked nearly perfect, including the music from the credits, and the vertical bars scene is working very well.

Ski or die:
ski.png

8088MPH demo (screenshot, looks weird):
8088.png

8088MPH photo (bad quality, but you see it looks how it should, without the composite colors of course):
20220906_233127.jpg

I've tried working the "skie or die" game, but the game stops when I get the following message during gameplay. "Memory allocation error Cannot load command, system halted"

[Caldor]

The final scenes in Area5150 needs a CRT? I am using a CRT but its probably not set to do a native output, I think it scales. I guess that might be why it does not run until the end. Or at least that the last minute or two is pretty corrupted.

Do you have borders enabled from the OSD menu? This is important for this demo in particular.

I tried adding this. Still kept crashing and getting graphical errors.

You wrote about disabling EMS and UMB. What are the exact setting to use? Also what firmware? I made a "clean config" that just does not do anything except add some path stuff in the Autoexec.bat. So no DOS HIGH, no UMB, no EMS, nothing in the config.sys at all.

But that gives me a memory allocation error when trying to run Area5150. I mainly tried 7mhz Tandy with EMS 2MB RAM disabled in hardware. I tried with borders enabled. Not sure how much that changed, except the graphics is a bit off. It seems as if it cannot show all the pixels or something in the normal command line mode in DOS. With the borders reducing the resolution. That is even though I set the resolution to 1280x1024.

I tried changing the settings around a bit, not using VGA scaler and such, but that did not seem to help. It would even not load the core at all while I had VGA scaler disabled.

[spark2k06]

I've tried working the "skie or die" game, but the game stops when I get the following message during gameplay. "Memory allocation error Cannot load command, system halted"

Did you stop skiing? That might make sense , now seriously, if I find out anything I'll let you know.

[Mills]

Last changes seem to improve timming, more programs started working, like the game "Ski or die". Area5150 demo worked with just tiny glitches (well the final scenes with wave effects need crts and I can't test that). 8088mph demo worked nearly perfect, including the music from the credits, and the vertical bars scene is working very well.

Ski or die:
ski.png

8088MPH demo (screenshot, looks weird):
8088.png

8088MPH photo (bad quality, but you see it looks how it should, without the composite colors of course):
20220906_233127.jpg

I've tried working the "skie or die" game, but the game stops when I get the following message during gameplay. "Memory allocation error Cannot load command, system halted"

It happened to me on tandy, when I exit the game it shows that error. Maybe it is a bad version of the game, or maybe the core has still bugs

[spark2k06]

I've tried working the "skie or die" game, but the game stops when I get the following message during gameplay. "Memory allocation error Cannot load command, system halted"

I confirm that sometimes it happens, write it down as issue so that it is not forgotten, it will be reviewed when it is possible:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PCXT_MiSTer/issues

Thanks!

[spark2k06]

I've tried working the "skie or die" game, but the game stops when I get the following message during gameplay. "Memory allocation error Cannot load command, system halted"

I confirm that sometimes it happens, write it down as issue so that it is not forgotten, it will be reviewed when it is possible:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PCXT_MiSTer/issues

Thanks!

Apparently, this problem also happens in the 86Box emulator. Either it's a problem with the Tandy version of this game, or we don't have a good copy of it.

memory error.png (8.98 KiB) Viewed 30000 times

[suww37]

I've tried working the "skie or die" game, but the game stops when I get the following message during gameplay. "Memory allocation error Cannot load command, system halted"

I confirm that sometimes it happens, write it down as issue so that it is not forgotten, it will be reviewed when it is possible:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PCXT_MiSTer/issues

Thanks!

Apparently, this problem also happens in the 86Box emulator. Either it's a problem with the Tandy version of this game, or we don't have a good copy of it.

memory error.png

This game does not work normally even in pcxt core junko-st XT CGA mode. I have a real 486 pc and this game worked fine. I think it's a matter of core.

[spark2k06]

This game does not work normally even in pcxt core junko-st XT CGA mode. I have a real 486 pc and this game worked fine. I think it's a matter of core.

I insist, in PCEm or 86box with Tandy 1000 configuration and 8088 CPU, it also shows that error. It is not a matter of the core therefore, that is, the core for MiSTer does not have a bug that makes this particular game not work well.

[spark2k06]

This game does not work normally even in pcxt core junko-st XT CGA mode. I have a real 486 pc and this game worked fine. I think it's a matter of core.

I insist, in PCEm or 86box with Tandy 1000 configuration and 8088 CPU, it also shows that error. It is not a matter of the core therefore, that is, the core for MiSTer does not have a bug that makes this particular game not work well.

More tests with 86Box... I found that with EGA graphics card or higher, even on an XT with JukoST it works fine.

So, it seems that the copies we have have have problems with CGA/Tandy, because I doubt very much that the original copies had these problems.

[Caldor]

A game I have been having trouble with is Castle Master on the PCXT core. I have tried with several different settings. Without EMS or high memory, with EMS and high memory, with PCXT, with Tandy 1000, with Tandy graphics and with CGA graphics.

But Castle Master always freezes on the first screen. I tried using Putty to remove into the MiSTer, kill the MiSTer process and start it in the Putty console so I could try to debug it, but there are no errors thrown on the MiSTer Main side when the game freezes.

But when I try it on 86Box running as a PCXT, it seems to have no problem getting into the game.

Maybe I should try to see if this is a problem for all the Freescape games.