Re: HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

[Ed Sharpe via cctalk]

thanks... I learn as I go!.. ed#

Sent from AOL Mobile Mail

On Monday, October 30, 2017 Jim Brain  wrote:

On 10/30/2017 10:35 PM, couryho...@aol.com wrote:

Jim I thought  all TI  computers  had  one? But  I  am new  to  TI's never 
owned one  when were new...  just  dealing  with one in a  museum  environment  
now.

The only produced home machine, the 99/4(a), did not, but there is a prototype 
HexBus adapter.  The 99/2 and 99/8 I believe both had the bus, as does the TI 
74 and TI 95 (the physical conn is different, but the bus is the same)

Jim

Re: HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

[Jim Brain via cctalk]

On 10/30/2017 10:35 PM, couryho...@aol.com wrote:
Jim I thought  all TI  computers  had  one? But  I  am new to  TI's 
never owned one  when were new...  just  dealing with one in a  
museum  environment  now.
The only produced home machine, the 99/4(a), did not, but there is a 
prototype HexBus adapter. The 99/2 and 99/8 I believe both had the bus, 
as does the TI 74 and TI 95 (the physical conn is different, but the bus 
is the same)


Jim

Re: HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

[Ed via cctalk]

Jim I thought  all TI  computers  had  one?  But  I  am new  to  TI's never 
owned one  when were  new...  just  dealing  with one in a  museum   
environment  now.
 
 
In a message dated 10/30/2017 8:25:17 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:

On  10/30/2017 9:32 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:
> ok ..  does this   mean I can put lots of  ti 99/4 software  on thesd
> card  for people to play with  in the   museum?
> Ed#
Do you have a HexBus interface for the  99/4a?









I  thought  all of them  had  it?

Re: HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

[Jim Brain via cctalk]

On 10/30/2017 9:32 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:

ok ..  does this  mean I can put lots of  ti 99/4 software  on the   sd
card  for people to play with  in the  museum?
Ed#

Do you have a HexBus interface for the 99/4a?

Jim

Re: HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

[Ed via cctalk]

ok ..  does this  mean I can put lots of  ti 99/4 software  on the   sd 
card  for people to play with  in the  museum?
Ed#
 
 
 
In a message dated 10/30/2017 7:06:33 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:

On Sun,  29 Oct 2017 12:14:41 -0500
Jim Brain via cctalk   wrote:

> In case anyone has a fondness  for niche tech...
> 
> At VCF-SE this year, the TI folks had a  great exhibit, and perusing
> it I saw an unfamiliar machine, the TI  CC-40 (Compact Computer-40).
> While I was investigating, the exhibitor  (MillipedeMan aka Mark),
> told me the machines were frustrating to use,  as TI only supported
> one communications method on the unit, a  proprietary protocol called
> HexBus, and produced very low quantities  of very few peripherals that
> work on the bus. Most frustratingly, they  never producing a mass
> storage device in any appreciable quantity, and  there was no other
> way to save programs written on the unit.
>  
> Mark did note there was an eBay seller liquidating units, so I  bought
> a 2 unit combo from eBay before I left the show.
>  
> Sadly, Summer happened, but I was finally able to get to the  unit,
> and started working on an SD-based mass storage device for the  unit.
> It was an interesting journey to learn a new protocol.
>  
> The (development in progress) result is HEX-TI-r, the HexBus SD  drive:
> 
> GitHub source code is here:  https://github.com/go4retro/HEXTIr
> 
> Video of unit operating:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5ahVCRdvM
> 
> I don't have a  project page up yet, but will work on that.
> 
> Jim
>  

Nice work, Jim. Thanks for the effort you've put into  this.

jbdigriz

Re: HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

[James B DiGriz via cctalk]

On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 12:14:41 -0500
Jim Brain via cctalk  wrote:

> In case anyone has a fondness for niche tech...
> 
> At VCF-SE this year, the TI folks had a great exhibit, and perusing
> it I saw an unfamiliar machine, the TI CC-40 (Compact Computer-40).
> While I was investigating, the exhibitor (MillipedeMan aka Mark),
> told me the machines were frustrating to use, as TI only supported
> one communications method on the unit, a proprietary protocol called
> HexBus, and produced very low quantities of very few peripherals that
> work on the bus. Most frustratingly, they never producing a mass
> storage device in any appreciable quantity, and there was no other
> way to save programs written on the unit.
> 
> Mark did note there was an eBay seller liquidating units, so I bought
> a 2 unit combo from eBay before I left the show.
> 
> Sadly, Summer happened, but I was finally able to get to the unit,
> and started working on an SD-based mass storage device for the unit.
> It was an interesting journey to learn a new protocol.
> 
> The (development in progress) result is HEX-TI-r, the HexBus SD drive:
> 
> GitHub source code is here: https://github.com/go4retro/HEXTIr
> 
> Video of unit operating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5ahVCRdvM
> 
> I don't have a project page up yet, but will work on that.
> 
> Jim
> 

Nice work, Jim. Thanks for the effort you've put into this.

jbdigriz

Re: HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

[Adrian Graham via cctalk]

> On 29 Oct 2017, at 17:14, Jim Brain via cctalk  wrote:
> 
> In case anyone has a fondness for niche tech...
> 
> At VCF-SE this year, the TI folks had a great exhibit, and perusing it I saw 
> an unfamiliar machine, the TI CC-40 (Compact Computer-40).  While I was 
> investigating, the exhibitor (MillipedeMan aka Mark), told me the machines 
> were frustrating to use, as TI only supported one communications method on 
> the unit, a proprietary protocol called HexBus, and produced very low 
> quantities of very few peripherals that work on the bus. Most frustratingly, 
> they never producing a mass storage device in any appreciable quantity, and 
> there was no other way to save programs written on the unit.
> 
> Mark did note there was an eBay seller liquidating units, so I bought a 2 
> unit combo from eBay before I left the show.
> 
> Sadly, Summer happened, but I was finally able to get to the unit, and 
> started working on an SD-based mass storage device for the unit.  It was an 
> interesting journey to learn a new protocol.
> 
> The (development in progress) result is HEX-TI-r, the HexBus SD drive:
> 
> GitHub source code is here: https://github.com/go4retro/HEXTIr
> 
> Video of unit operating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5ahVCRdvM
> 
> I don't have a project page up yet, but will work on that.

Wow! Many years ago I bought a CC-40 on ebay for pennies, boxed NOS. I forgot 
about it for over a decade and found it again recently looking for other 
things, this could be an excuse to get it out and see if it still works :)

Cheers,

—
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs - Celebrating Computing History from 1972 onwards