TI-994a How-To

Flandango
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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

edburns wrote: Mon Sep 12, 2022 8:42 pm
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?
The rom/groms configuration is a one time thing.
It's going to be difficult to try to find a work around since I usually have the mister hooked up to the console port to see what else is going on behind the scenes and of course the video display.
If you don't have an hdmi capable display, I could come up with some temporary configuration and instructions for you to download, drop them into the right folders and bring it up for you to finish the rest of the configuration.
edburns
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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by edburns »

Thanks for being willing to continue to work on it. I do have an HDMI display, but it's in a different room. Now that I know the config is a one time thing, I can tolerate moving the MiSTer for the purposes of configuration.
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Re: TI-994a How-To

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Just remember, after you do the config, to save the settings. :)
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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by edburns »

Thanks for being willing to continue to work on it. I do have an HDMI display, but it's in a different room. Now that I know the config is a one time thing, I can tolerate moving the MiSTer for the purposes of configuration.
Hello @flandango and @tmop. I have applied the knowledge from these recent posts and updated my instructions at https://www.ridingthecrest.com/edburns/ ... ister.html .
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.
What I mean by landing page is: a the top-level web page that a user would land on when they search for "How do I play TI-99/4a on MiSTer?" Right now, that query returns the following.

w59fslZ.png
w59fslZ.png (189.97 KiB) Viewed 1050 times

Not very helpful. I am asking if there was one place that would be at the top of that list, what would it be?
Flandango
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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

The only webpage I could think of would be the TI-99/4A main repo.
It doesn't have a wiki page or anything fancy, but of course, if somebody is willing to write one up and submit it, I don't see why it can't be added.
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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by retrodroid »

edburns wrote: Tue Sep 13, 2022 1:00 pm Thanks for being willing to continue to work on it. I do have an HDMI display, but it's in a different room. Now that I know the config is a one time thing, I can tolerate moving the MiSTer for the purposes of configuration.
Adding this configuration entry to the main Mister.ini file allowed me to see the screen long enough to configure the Hardware ROMs while connected to my VGA arcade monitor (31khz). Once this is done, you can remove this setting if you want it to use native analog output frequencies.

Code: Select all

[TI-99_4A]
video_mode=6  ;(VGA, do not use if your monitor only does 15khz low-res arcade frequencies).
vga_scaler=1 ;(routes the HDMI output scaler to the analog board output).
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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by edburns »

Hello,

I am trying to play Rasmus's ZQX ONE, but when I load it up in the v220221 core it looks funny.

QVztIRf.jpeg
QVztIRf.jpeg (728.63 KiB) Viewed 419 times

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks

Ed

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

If you are using the official release of the core (via update_all or what not), ZQX One won't work on it and most likely will crash.
ZQX requires the F18A video chip update. There is a build of the core on Page 9 of this thread that uses the F18A video instead of the stock TMS9918A.
One day I will try again to squeeze both video chips onto one core and make it part of the official release, if not, due to timing and fpga resources available, may have to release it as a separate core.

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Malor »

edit: nevermind, you won't have those files. I thought update_all added them, but I forgot that I did that.

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by CartoonDonkey »

Hrm. F18A core on page 9 just black screens my entire mister, and I have to switch it on /off again...

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

Are you by any chance using a CRT? Does the standard TI-994/a core work for you?

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by CartoonDonkey »

@flandango -I am. RGB out to a Commodore 1084S.
The standard does work.

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

I could be wrong, but I believe the 1084S can't handle 640x480 @60hz which is what the F18A outputs.

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by rhester72 »

Flandango wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 6:56 pm

I could be wrong, but I believe the 1084S can't handle 640x480 @60hz which is what the F18A outputs.

That's correct - it can do 480i but not 480p.

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by CartoonDonkey »

Could I force it with the scaler as people have done with the 486 core?
It can do 60hz, just not the 480p bit.
Does the F18A have a different name / tagline in the mister.ini?

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

I honestly don't know, you can try if you have the equipment, but I myself, don't have the ability to check.
The F18A core doesn't have a different name (it uses the same as the original core) so it can keep the same configuration and GAMES folder as the original non-F18A core.

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by CartoonDonkey »

But regardless, like I said the F18A core locks up my MiSTer entirely. It isn't that it's the wrong resolution. It fails to load and I can't reset the system until I power it off/on again completely.

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

I can't replicate it so it's hard to troubleshoot it.
Have you tried using an HDMI monitor/TV and see if it loads up that way?

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by pgimeno »

@CartoonDonkey I've only seen that kind of problem when I've tried to install a corrupted RBF. Maybe try re-downloading it again, and making sure it has the right length (3,709,856 bytes).

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by CartoonDonkey »

@pgimeno Yep that was it. I don't know why I hadn't considered that. Probably because I'm using Directory Opus on Windows as my FTP out of laziness. Back to WinSCP or Filezilla...

In the F18A core I'm getting the same corruption in Rasmus's ZQX ONE as you are @edburns

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by CartoonDonkey »

Ok, I've managed to get it displaying flawlessly at 15khz using the following mister.ini settings:

[TI-99_4A]
video_mode=640,8,58,78,240,1,3,18,12324
vga_scaler=1
vscale_mode=0
vga_scaler=1

Then -important- in core settings make cart type: paged378
Enjoy! Man Rasmus' Zaxxon port is absolutely fantastic on the Ti-99 F18A core! Thank you devs!

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

CartoonDonkey wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:17 pm

In the F18A core I'm getting the same corruption in Rasmus's ZQX ONE as you are @edburns

Load the rom/bin with Load Rom Cart *.BIN (unless you are using a M99 version, in that case use the first option)
Make sure Cart Type: is Paged378

shift838
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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by shift838 »

I have follwed the creation technique and get the appropriate MD5 Checksum but when I load up the tiroms.bin file on the mister I see the progress bar of it loading but the screen remains black.

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Re: TI-994a How-To

Unread post by Flandango »

shift838 wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:23 pm

I have follwed the creation technique and get the appropriate MD5 Checksum but when I load up the tiroms.bin file on the mister I see the progress bar of it loading but the screen remains black.

You don't need to combine the roms into the tiroms.bin file anymore. Just select/load the appropriate roms under the Hardware submenu.
The README has more details on which roms are required and which ones are optional.

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