sound on/ sound off is a software function purely. look at the schematic.
On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 8:30 PM you got me <[email protected]> wrote: > I have 'seen' SOUND ON/SOUND OFF have an impact on the computer detecting > an input signal. It does happen, but may be due to degraded components > (capacitors?) within the input path as the analog signal gets turned into > TTL. > ------------------------------ > *From:* M100 <[email protected]> on behalf of Stephen > Adolph <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Wednesday, July 21, 2021 12:19 AM > *To:* [email protected] <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [M100] Cassette woes > > " Yes "sound on" can rob some of the signal and/or make it less distinct, > so the computer has more trouble reading it. " > > ah... I disagree. Sound "on" has no impact. > The SID input of the CPU is used solely to detect zero crossings, and that > info is used to toggle the PIO that drives the buzzer. > > > On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 8:03 PM Brian K. White <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Yes "sound on" can rob some of the signal and/or make it less distinct, > so the computer has more trouble reading it. That was just for initial > testing to verify that the signal is actually reaching the 100. Once you > have verified that there is nothing obviously wrong with the signal like > it's missing entirely or has scratchy corruption like from dirty > contacts or broken wires or dirty volume pot, or is very muffled and > dull like from excessively dirty read head or missing felt pad in the > cassette itself, then you no longer want sound on for actual reading. > > In there I just reminded myself something to check: The felt or foam pad > in the cassette that presses the tape to the head. They are very often > fallen off and lost from the adhesive drying out after 20-30 years. > > If you got "file found" but the file was ignore, I think that might just > be a matter of matching up the file name at CSAVE time and at CLOAD time. > > When you CLOAD you specify a filename, and it ignores any files on the > tape that don't match. > > In general, I've had perfectly expected results with tape. Meaning, > there is a bit of trial & error dialing-in the right volume setting to > get it working the first time, and with every new tape or tape player, > but it's really been no problem, on several different machines and tape > players. > > It just doesn't work all by itself like a disk drive does. You just have > to be aware of a few things and you are a little more a part of the > process. Like you the human are one of the components in the system, > detecting and adjusting for several potential sources of variation in > other parts of the system. > > Like checking the sound quality with SOUND ON, and testing a few > different volume levels to figure out that "this particular player, with > most tapes, with fresh batteries, and talking to this particular M100, > the best volume setting is 7." and you find "7" by testing methodically > from definitely too-low like 5, all the way to 10, and noting the lowest > and the highest settings that still work, and using a setting from the > middle of that range most of the time. And then deviating from that > sometimes if some particular tape is recorded a little softer or louder > or is worn from being played a lot, or maybe the sweet spot is a little > different on rechargeable batteries (1.2v), vs alkoline batteries > (1.5v), vs using the wall power for the player, or for the 100 too for > that matter. One M100 might be a little more of less sensitive than > another due to slight variations in some of the components and things > like caps aging over time, and things like how one M100 might come from > a an early manufacturing run and another might come from much later > after some revisions and component supplier changes, or one may have > spent the last 35 years in a hot environment or in an environment that > cycles hot & cold a lot, and another might have spent the last 35 years > in a very stable and cool environment. > > But even with all those sources of potential variation, it still > actually works pretty well. So I think there is just some relatively > simple thing you just haven't found yet. It still might be anything like > maybe you're still doing something wrong, or some problem with the > player that you don't realize because you don't have 5 other players to > compare against. The first player I got off ebay didn't work either > (but it didn't work at all, no sound at all), and by now I've gotten 4 > or 5 more and at least one of those was bad too. They are all very old > by now and so every one you get might be bad, and it might be only a > little bit bad where it seems to work and make noise, but it's not > accurate enough to actually function for data. Could be slipping old > weak belts, could be degraded caps in the player making weak > amplification or not filtering out hum, could be the speed has drifet > too far out of spec too fas ot too slow or too irregular. It's not like > brand new ones where you can safely assume that if it isn't smashed in > pieces and it works at all, then it's working perfectly within all specs. > > In this case I'm guessing you're actually >< this close to working and > it's just something like getting the file name part right, or maybe the > felt pad in the cassette etc. > > -- > bkw > > > On 7/20/21 1:32 PM, Bill Miranda wrote: > > Finally, I was able to get the T102 to say "file found" by manipulating > > the volume on the cassette. But, I still couldn't actually load my 4 > > line "hello world" BASIC program that I created. Was it really this > > hard to use cassette tape back in the day? I have tried recording > > through the mic jack and through the aux jack on separate tries. Given > > that I am having this problem using two different machines and two > > different cables, it seems to me that my problem must either be with the > > cassette player itself or the way I'm trying to do it. I suppose it > > could be that I have problems with both machines and that both cables > > are bad, but that seems unlikely to me. I'm running out of ideas and > > probably losing enthusiasm for this project. I just thought it would be > > cool to get it working. > > > > Meanwhile, I have a REX and I have it working to transfer files to/from > > my Windows 10 laptop using Laddie Alpha so I'm pretty much good to go. > > Thanks for your help! > > > > Bill > > > > > > On Mon, Jul 19, 2021 at 10:48 PM Brian K. White <[email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > > On 7/19/21 8:38 PM, Bill Miranda wrote: > > > I bought a Tandy CR-83 cassette recorder from EBAY that came with > a > > > cassette cable for the M100/102. I have two devices that appear > > to both > > > be working normally but I am unable to load a program or document > > from a > > > cassette. I tested the cassette recorder by recording some music > > from my > > > computer by line cable. If I save a program or document to tape, > > I can > > > hear the modem noises on the tape if I play it back. However, I > > cannot > > > get either a BASIC program or document to load from a cassette on > > either > > > of my two devices. Thinking it might be a bad cable, I ordered a > > new > > > cable from arcadeshopper.com <http://arcadeshopper.com> > > <http://arcadeshopper.com <http://arcadeshopper.com>> and I get > > > exactly the same result. I am using Radio Shack C60 normal bias > > tape. > > > I also tried to load a wav file from my computer with no luck > > either. > > > So what am I doing wrong? > > > > > > Thanks for your help! > > > > > > Bill > > > > if the plugs are only colored without labels: > > red goes in mic > > small goes in rem > > white or black goes in ear > > aux not used > > > > If it's the black & grey cable I don't remember which is mic & which > is > > ear, so just try both ways, but the main point is, it's EAR not AUX > > or LINE. > > > > deoxit the volume pot and the jacks > > > > volume on "P" if there is a "P" setting, otherwise start on 6 and go > up > > from there (I don't know about CCR-83, but CCR-82 has a special "P" > > setting that makes the volume perfect automatically, & most others > > do not) > > > > SOUND ON in basic before doing cload to see if the signal is making > it > > in to the 100 > > > > Maybe put a saved search on ebay for CCR-82 and wait for one to come > > along that isn't $50 (and order a belt set because the belts are old > > and > > soft in everything by now, if not totally tuned to goo) > > > > pc or other random modern digital audio recorder/player will always > > be a > > 50/50 shot in the dark. M100 wants a high signal strength of 2v > > peak-to-peak ideally, and a lot of new devices like phones & > computers > > headphone jacks don't go that high. Sometimes you can get it to work > on > > 100% volume, sometimes not. You have to be knowledgeable and careful > > when recording too, to record as loud as possible without clipping. > > It's > > very likely to record either too faint or too loud and distorted from > > clipping, if you don't actually set the input levels when recording. > > People do it all the time successfully, but it is yet another case of > > having to fiddle with volume levels, and in that case both while > > recording and then again while playing back. > > > > There's at least one known working mp3's on line you can download to > > try > > loading from pc without the extra variables from recording. > > See DOS100.CO.MP3 from > > > http://www.club100.org/memfiles/index.php?&direction=0&order=&directory=Kurt%20McCullum > > < > http://www.club100.org/memfiles/index.php?&direction=0&order=&directory=Kurt%20McCullum > > > > > > -- > > bkw > > > > > -- > bkw > >
