Rememotech MTX ported to MiSTer by retrovader [Yo_Me]

[danielb]

Hi again,

Since I wrote my last message, I found that I can reliably access the partitions on the VHD, but only at 6.25 and 8.333Mhz. At slower speeds, I either get a freeze, or "Bad sector".

Also, I have had no success loading tapes with retape. CP/M games seem to load OK.

Thanks again for this core.

D.

[NML32]

What's the latest MiSTer version of this core?

[tontonkaloun]

What's the latest MiSTer version of this core?

to my knowledge 20200603 (beta03c)

[nico24]

Is it possible to get into BASIC? Any ideas how this might be done?

Thanks!

[nico24]

So I worked out if you type MTXL and then switch the display mode, you are in basic.

[TheCorfiot]

Accessing the SD partitions doesnt seem to work anymore at any speed, probably due to the main updates.

Any chance of a fix please this is one of my favourite platforms

Thanks

[ron]

This is the latest version I know.
This one works fine.

Memotech-MTX_20200925.rbf.zip

(1.83 MiB) Downloaded 458 times

[tontonkaloun]

This is the latest version I know.
This one works fine.

Memotech-MTX_20200925.rbf.zip

A big thank-you !!

I wasn't aware of this version. On the other hand in the OSD menu, it dates from 20200607

[teller]

Is there any tutorial how to make a running VHD? Thanks

[ron]

Andy Z's web, he is the author of the Rememotech.
http://www.nyangau.org/rememotech/rememotech.htm

Cheers

[ponder]

Does anyone still have a vhd for this core? The dev site no longer seems to exist.
It appears to have been self hosted on a Sky Broadband connection. I don't know if it's been deliberately abandoned or if the IP address had changed but the DNS entry hasn't.

[jca]

It was up a few days ago, I did not close my browser and I can see the page but sure enough I cannot refresh it or click on a link. May be it is temporary.

[ponder]

If that's the case I'll just try again in a few days. Thank you.

[ponder]

I've managed to get the rememotech.zip file, created a vhd and can load .com games, but retape isn't working.
I first mounted the vhd (created with cat sddisc.bin sddisc1.bin >sddisc.vhd) then mtx and reset, which now boots from B:
I have tested with pacman and that's fine but when I try to add a file to the virtual cassette manager it just sits there as in the image (2 cursors flashing).

retape.png (122.17 KiB) Viewed 8732 times

[ponder]

As a workaround I can get it working by using slot 0, but do I actually need the external SD card to use retape properly?
If so that'll have to wait. My smallest spare card is 32GB and it's on loan

[ponder]

The site is back up so I can now figure out the instructions really easy, however retape does not seem to work at all. I've tried both with a mounted vhd and using the secondary sdcard. Is the retape command supported by the core for slot storage?

[FPGA64]

I wish the core gave the option to just run it as a base Memotech 512 without all the CPM stuff. Thats the machine I owned without the then at the time vastly expensive CPM kit

[ponder]

This core is based on Andy's Rememotech project and I think it's making some compromises. Retape is one of those.
Sound is also off, but I'm still impressed at what we have here.
I could make possible suggestions to any dev willing to pick this up but I don't know how workable they'd be.
Eg. it could use the retape function to load mtx files (selected from the menu the way other cores work) and load directly into BASIC.
It could also use a different (existing) SN76489A core to improve the audio.
These are (of course) just ideas. I've don't have the first idea how to go about this and really don't expect it to be picked up, but when things are settled on the home front I'm going to make a video on how to use it for loading of many types of files.
I have created a 64MB vhd (which can be flashed to sd or mounted via the menu) with the 2 supplied partitions and 6 blanks and I intend to make this available (if nobody objects) when I make the video.
Disclaimer, I've never used a Memotech nor any emulator before I discovered this core!

[FPGA64]

I owned from new a Memotech 512. It was a beautifully made Aluminium cased Computer which never really got much software support and so died commercially.

The Home versions never had CPM. They booted just to a command line. at this point you could type Noddy to go into a text parsing language, ASM to drop to an Assembler or just type basic programs or load a game.

The original manuals which I still own have the circuit diagrams for the whole computer.

You could buy for about a grand in the early 80's a floppy disk module but these were always way out of range for me at the time.

[Moondandy]

Hey guys, I've been looking at this core and trying to figure out how to load anything, but am hitting a brick wall. Has anyone been able to load anything and have a step process to do this?

If there is a working way to do this then it would be possible to add a load option on the OSD and make this much easier to use.

[FPGA64]

Its a wierd core. Its not using a method the original computer used. It has a strange Tape function thatg loads virtual tapes that can then be loaded but its a nasty GUI. It would be nice to have the machine boot to its command prompt and then load cassette like every other core.

http://www.nyangau.org/rememotech/rememotech.htm

usage section

[Moondandy]

Oh wow, this looks horribly convoluted
http://www.nyangau.org/rememotech/usage.htm

I wonder if this core is so esoteric it would be better to be built from the ground up rather than try make this core work like other computer cores.

[FPGA64]

The fundamentals of the Memotech are there it just wears a strange bolted on UI. The original machine had lots of peripherals such as floppy, hard and what they called Silicon Disks (ram disks) but from factory it was just your average 80's home computer booting to a command prompt on a blue screen.

[mappy24]

I too (well, my dad!) owned a Memotech MTX 512 and I watched Ponder's Twitch stream of this when he tried out the core well over a year ago. I remember the sound wasn't great so I've never bothered to install this core on my MiSTer, is there any chance the sound will ever be improved?

[sharklodon]

mine is 8 gb, I have no smaller

you did nothing more?

See if the image I created works. I concatenated the files in Windows and burned the image to my SD card using Win32DiskImager.
https://mega.nz/folder/mHgE0Y6Q#X_UV7GPPllDmMFGfnDS_Ew

Could you please share it again? Link is broken.

Thanks a lot,
Shark