How can club100 own option rom rights? I have no problem supporting people doing something good like providing that resource, but I am curious on what basis they could own or claim rights to those roms.
I don't see that it matters anyway. Building the rex does not involve copying or distributing the roms unless you were to sell pre-loaded units. Even the ts-dos you included in the 4.9 upgrade kit isn't necessary except in so far as the installer expects to see it. The installer could simply not do that. Actually that's a good idea, I'll reset a unit and run through the 4.9 install without ts-dos present in the dlplus shared directory and see if the installer completes gracefully without it. As for NEC, if a different router path would break nec support, then the nec version could just be an nec branch in git. Or the m100 version could be an m100 branch in git. -- bkw On Feb 21, 2017 10:17 AM, "Stephen Adolph" <twospru...@gmail.com> wrote: > Club100 owns the bulk of the option rom rights used in REX. > > I would suggest that anyone who DIYs a REX should consider making a > contribution to Club100 to help support the site. That is one of the > primary reasons why I was selling through Club100. > > I think it would make sense to have some people in the community who > can own various aspects of design- > 1) PCB layouts and designs > 2) VHDL code > 3) REX Manager software (big fixes and new features) > > Keep in mind that there are NEC and Tandy variants as well. > > > Steve > > > On Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 10:05 AM, Brian White <bw.al...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I say it's totally doable. I can write up my experience into a more > > monkey-see-monkey-do recipe that should give the next guy a lot more > > confidence to give it a go. > > > > The components were something like $60 or so for 3 boards. > > > > The only tools I used were a plain solder pen, fine pitch silver solder, > > flux, wick, reading glasses, a xilinx usb platform programmer, a test > clip, > > a wire, a cut off usb cable and usb charger for 5vdc, and a 10 year old > > laptop running linux. > > > > Oh and one helpful part was an empty molex socket to stick the board in > to > > for programming just to supply the 5vdc. You could manage that a number > of > > ways. Maybe the next easiest is just stick it into a model 100. But as it > > hapoens, I have about 135 sockets, and I'll give at least one to anyone > who > > wants, free. > > > > The software was all free, from the OS to the xilinx tools to the tpdd > > server to the rex files. > > > > It's not all presented in a complete recipe or procedure yet, but > everything > > is there. The files Stephen posted DO contain everything needed to > produce a > > working REX. I didn't get any special software by private email or > anything. > > I only used what was publicly available. > > > > > > The next thing I would ideally like to do is copy the files to github so > > that I and others can start hacking on them a little. > > > > A few basically trivial changes would help a lot. > > > > * Provide some better way to pull PORT_EN high. If there were room this > > would be a jumper that is left open except for programming. But it could > > also be as simple as just a pad that's easier to touch with a probe, and > > easier to get it right without shorting your 5v supply or the on board > 3.3v > > regulator, than using the side of R3, or worse the correct leg right on > the > > cpld. > > > > * Router path that cuts the chip to the right size, so you don't have to > > sand or grind the board down to make the half-holes. > > > > * Maybe a couple other clip-able test points to use as an alternate way > to > > provide 5v for programming. So you don't need a special molex socket. > > > > * Silk screen that indicates the proper direction of the module better. > > Maybe even adjust the router path to provide a key tab the sticks out of > the > > center on one end to fit in one of the slots in the socket. I have an old > > commercial rom that was built exactly that way. > > > > -- > > bkw > > > > On Feb 20, 2017 12:12 PM, "Josh Malone" <josh.mal...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> This is awesome news! Perhaps there's hope for REX leaving the > >> "unobtanium" status? > >> > >> On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 2:16 AM, Brian White <bw.al...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >>> > >>> I followed the 4.9 install procedure and it seems to have worked! > >>> > >>> I used linux dlplus and the teeny loader that comes with it. > >>> > >>> Now I'm going over the docs to *use* it. I don't even know how to load > an > >>> option rom yet. I don't know how to excercise it either, like a memory > test > >>> to test all of the flash etc. So far all I've done is install and run > the > >>> initial backup. > >>> > >>> But so far so good. It went through every step in the 4.9 install doc > >>> with no unexpetcted events. > >>> > >>> Twice actually, both boards. > >>> > >>> Thank you very much for creating this insane thing! I am amazed by what > >>> all goes into it. > >>> > >>> -- > >>> bkw > >>> > >>> > >>> On Sun, Feb 19, 2017 at 7:05 PM, Brian White <bw.al...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >>>> > >>>> I just noticed I was doing 2 things completely bone-headed before. I > was > >>>> pulling PORT_EN high from the 5v rail on the breadboard instead of the > >>>> on-board 3.3v. It worked both times, because luckily the data sheet > says > >>>> it's 5v tolerant. > >>>> > >>>> I also had the damned board plugged in the socket backwards, so I was > >>>> feeding the incoming 5v to pin 15 instead of 1 !!! ahhhh. > >>>> > >>>> So I re-did everything with the stuff connected the right way and > >>>> replaced some of the pics in the photo album. So one of those links > in the > >>>> previous post is dead now. > >>>> > >>>> Both modules erased and programmed successfully the 2nd time around, > so > >>>> maybe I didn't kill anything. > >>>> > >>>> https://goo.gl/photos/7wRjuTUDv6cojpjU9 > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> bkw > >>>> > >>>> On Sun, Feb 19, 2017 at 6:26 PM, Brian White <bw.al...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> That worked! > >>>>> > >>>>> I don't know what to do next, but it says programming suceeded. > >>>>> > >>>>> call 63012 just hung, so I guess an image of some sort still needs to > >>>>> be loaded. > >>>>> > >>>>> Should I now follow the 4.9 update instructions, which would also > serve > >>>>> as a first time clean install? > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPJNUW- > liQ5gNreJ7yIVSpcRFLI1Rc5J2JilvVlWL7_6VLMefMwbKHelHpMLQsOzQ/photo/ > AF1QipOVigLQapQwIbTO7hMGsqlK3Wt9xPsXDzXh9-o-?key= > WmdhblljUlA2UngydnV3WTVOS0NJTEVxQjEwMERR > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPJNUW- > liQ5gNreJ7yIVSpcRFLI1Rc5J2JilvVlWL7_6VLMefMwbKHelHpMLQsOzQ/ > photo/AF1QipOmROW_Xr6_R-0I1MOZwII3_M9Lc71z3DeT1Taq?key= > WmdhblljUlA2UngydnV3WTVOS0NJTEVxQjEwMERR > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> -- > >>>>> bkw > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> On Feb 19, 2017 8:16 AM, "Stephen Adolph" <twospru...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >>>>>> > >>>>>> you probably have to pull port_en high to program it. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> On Sun, Feb 19, 2017 at 1:09 AM, Brian White <bw.al...@gmail.com> > >>>>>> wrote: > >>>>>> > Hey Stephen, am I missing anything here? > >>>>> > >>>>> ... > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > https://goo.gl/photos/7wRjuTUDv6cojpjU9 > >>>>>> > > >>>>>> > >>>> > >>> > >> > > >
