Rytedata-1987-05-V2
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S2.00 VOLUME 2 .1987 VER 2 3 R/D COMPUTING M AY Dedicated to TI 99/4A and 9900 Computer Systems 210 MOUNTAIN STREET, HALIBURTON, ONTARIO KOM 150 MMMMM 4..ire ata (705) 457-2774 WELCOME ABOARD: This issue is a collection of various We have some new personnel on board. hardware proJects, tips and the like I would like to welcome Joe Warder of that have same very good results. We Regal Capital, Bill Weiler and Michael have found that the improvements are Jorman of Helix Circuits, as well as both valuable and quite noticeable. Henri Schlereth and Judi Beckett for With thy extended memory maps and new Ryte Data South. card based proJects, it is possible to transform the TI on a user basis! Growing from stsrt-up in publishing to software publishing to hardware on a We would like to encourage owners to cash only basis has been vERY tough. attempt this type of electronics Here only the tough survive. In the modification. With the price of spars. TI market, most of the players have consoles at an Ell time low, there is left for greener paatures. The relatively little danger of doing companies that remain are tenacious irreparable damage. Get out your survivors and visionaries who BELIEVE soldering iron and parts, try some in the TMS 99xx technology. They do proJects and get the results. deserve your support. Then again, all of YOU have proven to Of particular note is the very simple be supporters. The ones we need to resistor change suggested by Bob reach are 'out in the cold') owners Lawson. This two cent change gives a who do not belong to users groups, clearer video display... somethino ownegkaL . who have closeted their els. that TI °should" have done in the machines,' towne-re who have yet to bssic design. upgrade their "home' computer and others who are not aware of the power contained in their consoles. INDUSTRY NEWS: The announcements of the new machines from Apple and IBM have created a wave of optimism in the computer industry. This is good news foil- computer users, support companies and manufacturers. With all the high powered hardware being introduced, the choices open to computer users are increasing. HARDWARE GROUP: Memo believe that the Macintosh SE and The response to the hardware SIG co- tho Macintosh /I are THE products to ordinated by Bob (Tony) Wagner is watch. The, MAC II incorporates far moving right along. Over three dozen reaching technology, expansion slots, people have responded to the call. I IBM BOSS co-processors and true cross believe this group has more tslent system connectivity (one of the new than even T/ could muster. Several buzzwords). proJects are in motion which will have Stay tuned, this is the arena. far reaching effects over the next IVO COMPUTING-I987 several months. Hardware inputs from sound interesting. the group promise to give all TI 99/4A owners some astounding results. OTTAWA TI FAIRE 1987 As with anything that contributes to the support of our orphan. your Having missed the New Jersey and the support is both welcome and ABSOLUTELY Boston TI Faires (sorry folks), we did 'Demential. Nothing occurs in a manage to make the Ottawa show on May vmccum. Even more, to the point, a 16th et the MerrIvale High School. little. participation goes a long way With the holiday weekend, the turnout in providing the "afterlife" phenomena was a bit light. The number of we witness in the 4A world. One of vendors was down from last wear and thr maJor challenges facing a hardware the number of TI owners also seemed to group is that of financing the work be shy of last years event. done. This will have a telling influence on the progress. We met up next to Myarc - with Lou Philips and Walt Howe showing the Thy, top priority project (in my book) Gonave 9640 computer. We had our 99AT is an extended memory specification. Expansion Systems on display along A modification to the operating system with Monty Schmidt's COMMAND DOS (also would be, required - but would allow now shipping). the 99/4A to access and USE additional memory... the key component for more I can personally verify that Myarcs sophisticated software. 9640 is ALL that it is supposed to be and more. In fact, some of our own subscribers and Canadian TI 99/4A CO-PROCESSORS: owners now HAVE this new machine in their possession. Steve, Michelson of Ahhh! Now this is a timely focus... the Toronto 9T9'ers walked out with William Borchardt of the Sun City one under his arm. Disk Only Software 99ers writes that he is working on a was selling and taking orders for co-processing system that will allow Myarc's Geneve 9640 computer system. the removal of the GROMs from the console. This would entail altering Myarc is shipping the machine with a the 99/4A clocking system to allow an full 350 page manual. All software increase in speed from the machine. that is specified to work - WORKS. The intent is to allnw either the OPL. saw a number of modules downloaded to approach or a user built operating run. This means that software Is system to be put into the co-processor available... and more new software to be accessed from the 99/4A in the will become available. also name fashion that the GROM interface personally know of several programmers works - only at a higher clock speed. who are releasing packages SOON - if It looks as if the basic design is not before. finallY coming together. This is the typo of project that would For us the show was importsnt in that work very well in a group format. wie were able to determine exactly how There is always a LOT of work to do in much power the card pulls from the order to develop a proJect. MontY card bus. Very critical in Schmidt tells me that he has an 8088 determining the total compatibility of "co - processor' project up and running the 99AT Expansion System. for his university class. Interfaces through the 8k DSR space on the DSR Scott Darling, the SYSOP of GENIE was RAM CARD. mas type of project at the show. GENIE has come to Canada 'could' provide true IBM through connection nodes in several compatibility mode with bus to bus cities. Try calling 1(800) 638-9636 information transfer. Only a large for more information. We also met amount of money. time and talent would many other TI 99/4A luminaries and produce a commercial proJemt. It does supporters. 2 o 4( 4k4 C -4' Adding a Real Time Clock to the 8X ISR Card John Clulow I6Enie address J.CLILON) III[s- 3 (419) 874-8838 Ns... +Y. This project adds the National Sesicanductor NN58167 clock to the BK DSR RAM card. Before you attempt to add the clock, you Bust 7 -a complete the non-DSR 8K addition. Nake sure the card is working properly. Double check the wiring of the data lines in the 7415245. DO - D7 aust be mired to the edgecard connector exactly as shown in the scheeatic. While the memory will work rah any /2 el t• order of data line connection, the clock will not. 7YLS30 To complete this project, you will need a 741504, 741530, AN58167 7 clock, 32.768 K Hz microwatt crystal, 1N914 diode, 200K ohm resistor, and two stall capacitors. Dne capacitor is fixed and A7 • should be around 20 pF. The other is a variable capacitor with a range of 3 to 30 pF. Digi-Key (800-344-4539) is one source of AND 7y4.132 these parts. 647r AAA 11 ,roatMs4, oltoi Nire the circuit as shown in the diagram. The address lines and VT.41. 3-3*0 BIN need not be connected to the edgecard connector; you can CS 32.714 Xi12 refer to the BK card schematic and use appropriate pins on the WE 3 17,1—t *se im 4 6264 or 138, for exaeple. For DO' to D7', use the 7415245 pins 2 ose istr through 9, and sake sure the corresponding input pins 118 - 12) Do V. D7 Zoo K are properly connected to the edgecard connector. The anode end • DG of the 1N914 diode should be connected to the junction of the anodes of the two diodes used in the AND gate you Bade in the /al zo AS" non-DSR RAN project (see step 6). It could also be conoected to be Ai Di Af A/0 pin 15 of the 741S368 or pis 19 of the 7415245. 87 ••••••■■ D3 43 A 19 brf Nhen you purchase your clock 1C, obtain a data sheet. Here is a 11 bl is. - 44 7 —4 partial list of addresses used in-working with the clock: b4.1 W 144 G A 13 is° 00 D71 5-`-- T1N 8680 .001 sec 8686 MiflUtE5 868C day of eonth 0682 .01 sec 8688 hours 868E months 23 24 PU 8684 seconds 868A day or week 8648 status 86A4 reset M Software for the clock is available from the EEnie library. + 5 CO D R/ R/D COMPUTING — 1987 TI-99/4A OWNERS SURVEY DATE: PIPARF II!'-3F A DARK COLORED FELT PEN, THANK—YOU YOU MUST SELECT ONLY 1 ANSWER, NO EXCEPTIONS. Al(2) WHAT IS YOUR SEX' M F A2(5) WHAT IS YOUR AGE GROUP/ 17 OR UNDER 18-74 25-34 35-44 45 AND OVER A3(5) HOW MANY YEARS OF EDUCATION' 11 OR LESS 12 __ 13 - 15 __ 16 __ 17 AND OVER __ A4(5) YOUR OCCUPATION? STUDENT __ BLUE COLLAR __ WHITE COLLAR __ PROFESSIONAL __ RETIRED __ A5(2) DO YOU USE A COMPUTER AT WORK/ Y N A6(8) WHICH BRAND., N/A __ IBM __ APPLE __ DEC __ SPERRY NEC __ DONT KNOW __ OTHER __ A7(3) HOW MANY TI - 914A OR 4As DO TOU OWN1 1 2 __ 3 OR MORE A8(4) HOW MANY PESystems DO YOU 04NI 0 __ 1 __ 2 3 OR MORE __ A9(7) WHICH MEMORY EXPANSION DO YOU HAVE') NONE __ TI CORCOMP __ FOUNDATION __ MYARC MECHATRONIC OTHER A10(6) WHAT SIZE/ N/A 32K 128K 256K 512K 1024 __ A11(8) WHICH DISK CONTROLLER CARD 00 YOU OWN/ NONE __ TI __ FOUNDATION __ MYARC CORCOMP __ OTHER __ Al2(4) HOW MANY 5-1/4° DISK DRIVES DO YOU OWN') NONE 1 __ 2 ,_ 3 OR MORE A13(5) CONFIGURATION') N/A __ SS/SD DS/SD DS/DO DS/OD A14(2) DO YOU OWN A HARD DISK SYSTEM/ Y A15(4) WHATS THE SIZE/ N/A __ 10 OR LESS MEG 20 MEG 30 OR MORE MEG A16(2) DO YOU OWN A MODEM/ Y N A17(4) INDICATE