Re: [M100] WP-2

[Joshua O'Keefe]

On Nov 16, 2020, at 8:56 PM, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:
> Never even crossed my mind that managed IL byte code would be architecture 
> dependent at all.

It sounds counterintuitive to me, too.  I'll try validating the assertion 
up-thread that there might be an arch dependency, as I have a Mac on hand.  My 
suspicion of its existence is entirely circumstantial in that someone claimed 
to have an issue on the very versions of the OS where 32-bit support was 
removed.

My own use case for LaddieAlpha is on 64-bit Linux where I have no arch issues 
whatsoever.  It's never occurred to me to try running it on the Mac.

Re: [M100] WP-2

[John R. Hogerhuis]

Never even crossed my mind that managed IL byte code would be architecture
dependent at all.

-- John.

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Joshua O'Keefe]

On Nov 16, 2020, at 6:57 PM, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:
> If it's useful to have  64-bit version I could recompile it. I didn't know 
> there was an issue.

If you're not a Mac user you are probably not aware that both the current and 
prior version of the OS dropped all 32 bit executable support, with no 
workaround.  I don't know how this relates to Mono executables, but I suspect 
it does in some way.

Re: [M100] WP-2

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 11:07 AM The CopyPenguin 
wrote:

>
> It works just fine both ways with LaddieAlpha on my Mac, though that only
> works on MacOS versions that support 32-bit apps. There doesn’t appear to
> be support for Catalina or Big Sur.
>
>
If it's useful to have  64-bit version I could recompile it. I didn't know
there was an issue.

It works on fine on 64-bit Linux and Windows.

-- John.

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Brian K. White]

On 11/15/20 9:29 PM, Brian K. White wrote:

On 10/15/20 10:13 AM, Josh Malone wrote:

That sounds awesome, Brian! I'm excited to build one of these once the
PCB is ready.


The RAM version is now verified. FINALLY

The ROM version is not verified yet.


...aaand I just found my problem with the ROM card and have now verified 
the ROM card too.


I had one whole signal completely missing from the programming adapter. 
Simple to fix with a bodge wire, and now I was able to prove the ROM 
card is working, and the fix was so simple for the programming adapter 
that it's safe to call that fixed too even though I obviously don't have 
an updated one in hand yet, just the one I manually fixed.


github, oshpark, and pcbway all updated with the fixed programming adapter.

However now it turns out that the exact cap I had on the RAM card is now 
out of stock and no longer stocked, so I'm updating that. The exact 
capacity of the cap doesn't matter much. It just needs to give you time 
to change the coin cell battery if you ever had to. Anything from say 
47uf up is fine. And the footprint is already pretty generic and could 
take a range of different similar size caps, so it's not a big deal. But 
with needing to find a more DIY-friendly diode anyway, the RAM board was 
already getting another update.


--
bkw

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Nick Shaner]

Thanks Jim for your help! And Andy, C Margaret et al! Biggest detractions for 
me is that I am kind of “rolling chord” typer as well perhaps (ha!), and file 
format concerns. Still, the form factor is so nice! I have both the Neo and the 
Model T (though I admit, I still haven't got the transfers down, let alone with 
my mac like Andy), as well as a few older model alphasmarts, so at least I have 
choices as is. 

Thanks again!

Nick

On Nov 16, 2020, at 7:28 PM, Jim Anderson  wrote:

>> -Original Message-
>> The 2430 cells are not hard to find.
>> Just type CR2430 into amazon or google and they are available new and
>> cheap. You by a card of 5 or 6, install one, stick another in the pocket
>> in the slip case, and you're set for "ever". I don't know why everyone
>> makes such a big deal about that battery.
> 
> In my case, the battery was an annoyance because it was a surprise - when I 
> first got my WP-2 it didn't have one installed, and because having stuff 
> shipped to Canada takes forever I didn't want to wait several more weeks for 
> a battery for it.  I went to a couple of places locally before finding one 
> for sale for about $10.  Adding insult to injury, it went dead in little more 
> than a year (probably had spent years on the shelf).  That's what led me to 
> spend a little time making a CR2032 fit in the holder, since I have plenty of 
> those on hand for other things.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>jim
> 

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Jim Anderson]

> -Original Message-
> The 2430 cells are not hard to find.
> Just type CR2430 into amazon or google and they are available new and
> cheap. You by a card of 5 or 6, install one, stick another in the pocket
> in the slip case, and you're set for "ever". I don't know why everyone
> makes such a big deal about that battery.

In my case, the battery was an annoyance because it was a surprise - when I 
first got my WP-2 it didn't have one installed, and because having stuff 
shipped to Canada takes forever I didn't want to wait several more weeks for a 
battery for it.  I went to a couple of places locally before finding one for 
sale for about $10.  Adding insult to injury, it went dead in little more than 
a year (probably had spent years on the shelf).  That's what led me to spend a 
little time making a CR2032 fit in the holder, since I have plenty of those on 
hand for other things.







jim

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Brian K. White]

On 11/16/20 2:07 PM, The CopyPenguin wrote:

It works just fine both ways with LaddieAlpha on my Mac, 


Given that John H. wrote Laddie and I know he added specific WP-2 
support to dlplus, I am not surprised Laddie supports WP-2 fully.


dlplus works too (thanks John). I haven't actually tried it myself, but 
TechTangents did. ;) I was amused at his reaction when he described 
discovering dlplus and saying "...and it was last updated...pause...3 
days ago!? Wow."


PDDuino definitely does NOT work yet. I made up a WP-2 version of 
Feather MounT so the hardware is ready to go, and I did try that. Not 
even close. Immediate hang.


But since dlplus works and I have it to look at, I expect I'll be able 
to get PDDuino working too.


Though that still leaves a power problem. An arduino board running a 
tpdd emulator needs a power supply. If I use the Adafruit Feather (vs 
Teensy) I can use it's built-in lipo manager and a small cell, and 
charge it up by usb occasionally*.


Otherwise, the card slot provides 5v, so I could also make an IC Card 
that has a usb port like I did for the BCR port on a 100/8201/etc. I 
might possibly even be able to make that card not terribly ungainly. 
They do make fancy special case usb ports that mount right in the middle 
of a cutout in a pcb, or soldered flat to it, etc. Might possibly be 
able to make it so the card doesn't have a big honking lumpy not-flat 
component sticking out on the end.


* Using a lipo cell instead of tapping the WP-2 itself really would not 
be a terribly inconvenient solution I think. The PDDuino rig idles at 
about 3ma while turned on but otherwise idle waiting for TPDD traffic. 
The smallest 105mah cell would still last something like 35 hours of run 
time. If you were a professional writer, that's almost a whole work week 
on a single chage using the smallest cell you can buy, even if you got 
up, turned it on, worked 8 hours, and turned it off, every day. And 
that's a tiny quad-copter cell. The next larger cell is 150mah and 
hardly any larger, a 350mah cell is still small enough to still stick 
right onto the board. And even if you had a situation where the cell was 
dead, and you wanted to take the machine out away from home *right now*, 
a few minutes of charging would get you hours of run time, so, you 
really would have to work to contrive a situation where you're actually 
materially frustrated by the inability to swap in some new batteries on 
the spot rather than waiting for the lipo to charge up by usb. Like 
you're about to get on a 12 hour international flight and have no other 
means to charge it on the go (like no usb power bank or wall plug for 
your phone. really, today you're not going to have a way to keep your 
phone alive? ok sure) and no time to charge it enough to last 12 hours, 
and you need it to actually be turned on the whole time for the entire 
next 12 hours... yeah ok sure, it could happen :)


But all in all I'm thinking the internal 128K ramdisk is all anyone 
really needs in real life. It's 128K, powered by the 2430 coin cell, 
survives not only power loss but hard resets, costs $5 or so, is a 
single part you don't have to solder or assemble, and takes up no room 
since it lives inside the machine. The 2430 cells are not hard to find. 
Just type CR2430 into amazon or google and they are available new and 
cheap. You by a card of 5 or 6, install one, stick another in the pocket 
in the slip case, and you're set for "ever". I don't know why everyone 
makes such a big deal about that battery. I have links to a few 
different current sources for different compatible ram chips on 
tandy.wiki/WP-2. Basically everyone can have that 128K internal ram 
disk. Right from DigiKey or Mouser or Farnell etc, not even resorting to 
ebay.


And if someone really does need more space than the internal 128K, then 
a 128K card (now that it exists) probably makes more sense than a TPDD 
emulator. It's so much less complicated. No cpu, no program, no forest 
of parts, just a plain single ram chip and a couple dirt simple parts. 
It's smaller, packs better, flat, right in the WP-2 slip case, and the 
project to build the card is roughly equal to building the Feather 
MounT. You buy the Adafruit Feather board already built, but then you 
still need to build the serial port adapter (the WP-2 version of Feather 
MounT), and that is about the same number of parts and about the same 
difficulty as building the IC Card. The most difficult part is soldering 
a TSOP chip. The legs are really tiny and you just need good 
magnification, light, and lots of flux. But building the MounT board has 
a few parts that are almost as fiddly. Nothing as tiny as TSOP legs though.


The only real down side to using the IC Card for storage vs tpdd is you 
can't move it over to an M100 or a pc to read the files directly. If you 
were storing files on a pdduino, you could move that same pdduino rig 
from the WP-2 over to a M100 or 8201. Or you could eject th

Re: [M100] WP-2

[C. Magaret]

Jim, thanks for that fascinating summary.  The work you did to pin this down 
and reproduce the problem is terrific.  I had always suspected that the "ghost 
characters" were the result of my typing style, as I have a tendency to glide 
or roll my fingers much as you described, especially going from keys on upper 
rows to lower rows.  E.g., in typing "red" my middle finger surfs from "e" to 
"d" instead of pressing them distinctly.  (Like you, I had formal typing 
training on fancy electric typewriters (in my case in the early '80s), and then 
got heaps of actual practice on microcomputers.)

Your recollections of some of the problems (especially the arrow-up glitch) 
brought back some old traumas for me, and it's making me recall the 
disappointment I had with this machine not working out to my expectations.  
Still, the WP-2 served a novel purpose in my early career as a network/system 
admin, where I used it as a terminal to communicate with headless servers.  I 
had even created a custom termcap/terminfo entry for the WP-2 that was mostly 
compatible with its small screen and key codes, so I could use (e.g.) vi with 
few issues.  (And I found that I didn't have as much of a problem with ghost 
characters when using it as a terminal, implying that I use more discretion 
when typing Unix commands than when writing prose.)  So I still have a fair 
amount of fondness for it.

Best,
CAM




> On Nov 16, 2020, at 11:18, Jim Anderson  wrote:
> 
>> -Original Message-
>> From: M100 [mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com] On Behalf Of Nick
>> Shaner
>> Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2020 21:18
>> To: m...@bitchin100.com
>> Cc: M100 List 
>> Subject: Re: [M100] WP-2
>> 
>> CAUTION External Sender: Do not click links or open attachments unless
>> you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
>> 
>> 
>> any report on keyboard quality versus the model t? I really appreciate
>> this timely thread because I've been looking at the WP-2 of late.
> 
> I bought one to use as a note-taking device, and for that purpose I'd say it 
> would be fabulous for most people (unfortunately, not for me - see below).  
> The keyboard isn't as nice to type on as an M100, but it's MUCH quieter and 
> when taking notes during a meeting or lecture the M100 is just unacceptably 
> noisy.  I love the M100's keyboard and prefer typing on it where noise 
> doesn't matter.  Note that the T102 and T200 both have a softer and quieter 
> keyboard than the M100, and the WP-2 keyboard is a different design and is a 
> bit softer and quieter still compared with those two models.  They are 
> perfectly usable keyboards but I don't enjoy typing on them nearly as much as 
> on the M100.  (Full disclosure, I have an IBM Model M keyboard on my work 
> computer and I love love love it - I would rather give up my firstborn than 
> that keyboard.  I guess I'm a bit of a keyboard snob.)
> 
> I also appreciate having a spell check with a large dictionary on-board 
> without having to have an external device attached.  Spell check is slow of 
> course as the document gets larger, just like with Sardine on the Model T 
> machines... The screen is a plus and a minus for me - you get 80 columns, but 
> the characters are tiny, and in poor light it's harder to make out simply 
> because the characters are smaller.
> 
> I added a 128k ramdisk chip to mine which is great feature, since you work on 
> documents in the 32k on-board ram and can copy them to the ramdisk chip 
> periodically to make a backup in case you royally mess something up in your 
> document.  You'll still want to backup to a TPDD device of some kind in case 
> the memory goes b0rk (same solutions you'd use for the M100, except the WP-2 
> has a PC-standard 9-pin male connector so you need a different but arguably 
> easier-to-find cable - I'm lucky to have a NADSbox so I just have a slim-line 
> double-sided 9-pin female adapter to couple it right onto the back of the 
> WP-2).  Speaking of memory b0rk, I did have a situation once where my WP-2 
> crashed in the middle of a meeting (because I was goofing around and typed a 
> control character sequence that froze the machine) and I had to use the reset 
> pinhole on the bottom to recover.  It wiped the internal memory but the 
> contents of the 128k ramdisk remained intact.  Whew!  I wouldn't necessarily 
> count on that happening that way in the future, but it saved me quite a loss 
> that day.
> 
> Speaking of memory contents, they're maintained by a CR-something 
> non-rechargeable lithium coin battery.  You can make a spacer (mine is made 
> from wadded paper) to make a cheap and readily available CR-2032 fit in the 
> holder instead of tracking down the larger and much more expensive correct 
> replacement battery.
> 
> OK, so back to what I alluded to at the beginning - as mentioned in this 
> thread already, the WP-2 keyboard has a problem with fast typists.  Not all 
> fast typists, mind you, so if you don't mind spending 

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Jim Anderson]

> -Original Message-
> I’ve had no issues with the WP-2 not keeping up when I type, except when
> inserting text, and that is easily overcome by inserting a CR so that
> insertions are at the end of a line not the middle - then SHIFT-DEL to
> close the space back up afterwards.

Heh, yeah, I use this trick (and on the Model Ts, too).

> One issue with my WP-2 is that when connected to a PC, it can save files
> using TS-DOS, but while it can read the mComm directory, it can’t load
> [...]
> It works just fine both ways with LaddieAlpha on my Mac, though that

IIRC, this is expected behaviour - the WP-2 has a different way of loading the 
directory from a TPDD compared with TS-DOS on an M100, and LaddieAlpha is coded 
specifically to address that, while mComm isn't.

Oh!  I almost forgot to mention something else important about the WP-2 for the 
benefit of Nick (and others who might not be aware): file format.  The WP-2 
saves .DO files, but they aren't the same as the plain text .DO files the Model 
Ts produce.  First thing to note is the end-of-line termination.  The Model T 
series use a CR-LF pair like DOS/Windows machines do, and of course the Unix 
family (yes, Macs too) use a single LF character so you folks are already 
familiar with these issues and the 'dos2unix' and 'unix2dos' conversion 
utilities.  The WP-2 designers went a different direction and terminate lines 
with a single CR character, same as MacOS 9.x and earlier used to.  I'm not 
sure if the MacOS of the 80s influenced the WP-2 designers to go that way or if 
it was for some other reason.

The other (relatively minor) gotcha is that the .DO files have a non-plaintext 
header before the text of the document starts, which contains document 
formatting information (this is detailed at 
http://bitchin100.com/files/wp2/wp2format.html).  You can get around this by 
going to the Files screen and hitting F1-A "Ascii convert" which will turn the 
selected file into a .DA file which will be plain text (but still with CR 
end-of-line termination).  You can then upload the .DA to your TPDD (but as 
soon as you go back to editing it, the WP-2 will turn it back into a .DO).  
Alternatively, you can strip the header (the first 128 bytes of the file) from 
the .DO file after copying it to your desktop computer.  On a Windows box you 
can load it up in Notepad++ and you can fairly easily see where the header ends 
and the text of your document begins.  You'll also need to go to the end and 
strip extraneous text from the Ctrl-Z (shows as SUB in Notepad++) to the end of 
the file.  I use Notepad++ for this because it also has a handy menu option for 
fixing the CR EOL terminators (Edit... EOL Conversion... choose Windows or 
Unix).  I also whipped up a small set of ugly conversion shell script files for 
dealing with this entirely at the Linux CLI (converting from .DO or .DA files 
to plain Unix text, DOS text, and for converting from plain text formats back 
to CR-terminated .DA if you want to load a text document into the WP-2 to edit 
while you're on the go).







jim

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Jim Anderson]

> -Original Message-
> From: M100 [mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com] On Behalf Of Nick
> Shaner
> Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2020 21:18
> To: m...@bitchin100.com
> Cc: M100 List 
> Subject: Re: [M100] WP-2
> 
> CAUTION External Sender: Do not click links or open attachments unless
> you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
> 
> 
> any report on keyboard quality versus the model t? I really appreciate
> this timely thread because I've been looking at the WP-2 of late.

I bought one to use as a note-taking device, and for that purpose I'd say it 
would be fabulous for most people (unfortunately, not for me - see below).  The 
keyboard isn't as nice to type on as an M100, but it's MUCH quieter and when 
taking notes during a meeting or lecture the M100 is just unacceptably noisy.  
I love the M100's keyboard and prefer typing on it where noise doesn't matter.  
Note that the T102 and T200 both have a softer and quieter keyboard than the 
M100, and the WP-2 keyboard is a different design and is a bit softer and 
quieter still compared with those two models.  They are perfectly usable 
keyboards but I don't enjoy typing on them nearly as much as on the M100.  
(Full disclosure, I have an IBM Model M keyboard on my work computer and I love 
love love it - I would rather give up my firstborn than that keyboard.  I guess 
I'm a bit of a keyboard snob.)

I also appreciate having a spell check with a large dictionary on-board without 
having to have an external device attached.  Spell check is slow of course as 
the document gets larger, just like with Sardine on the Model T machines... The 
screen is a plus and a minus for me - you get 80 columns, but the characters 
are tiny, and in poor light it's harder to make out simply because the 
characters are smaller.

I added a 128k ramdisk chip to mine which is great feature, since you work on 
documents in the 32k on-board ram and can copy them to the ramdisk chip 
periodically to make a backup in case you royally mess something up in your 
document.  You'll still want to backup to a TPDD device of some kind in case 
the memory goes b0rk (same solutions you'd use for the M100, except the WP-2 
has a PC-standard 9-pin male connector so you need a different but arguably 
easier-to-find cable - I'm lucky to have a NADSbox so I just have a slim-line 
double-sided 9-pin female adapter to couple it right onto the back of the 
WP-2).  Speaking of memory b0rk, I did have a situation once where my WP-2 
crashed in the middle of a meeting (because I was goofing around and typed a 
control character sequence that froze the machine) and I had to use the reset 
pinhole on the bottom to recover.  It wiped the internal memory but the 
contents of the 128k ramdisk remained intact.  Whew!  I wouldn't necessarily 
count on that happening that way in the future, but it saved me quite a loss 
that day.

Speaking of memory contents, they're maintained by a CR-something 
non-rechargeable lithium coin battery.  You can make a spacer (mine is made 
from wadded paper) to make a cheap and readily available CR-2032 fit in the 
holder instead of tracking down the larger and much more expensive correct 
replacement battery.

OK, so back to what I alluded to at the beginning - as mentioned in this thread 
already, the WP-2 keyboard has a problem with fast typists.  Not all fast 
typists, mind you, so if you don't mind spending the money and discovering it 
isn't happy with the way you type, go ahead and get one.  I was disappointed 
because I didn't have any warning ahead of time that this might happen, and 
nobody on this mailing list at the time had had a similar experience, so I 
bought a second WP-2 assuming mine was just defective - same problem.  :(

There's two possibilities I have considered: either the keyboard decoding can't 
keep up with typing above a certain speed, or the keyboard decoding is unable 
to handle the way I (and others, apparently including C.Magaret) type.  I 
strongly suspect this second cause based on some tests and study I conducted on 
myself.  I learned to type on electronic typewriters and computers in high 
school, and I studied my technique a little more carefully when I first 
discovered this problem with the WP-2 and got my mom to try it.  She can blast 
away on it about as fast as I do without a single erroneous character 
appearing, while I get very specific and very repeatable erroneous characters 
when I type certain sequences of characters.  What I noticed is that my fingers 
are sort of 'chording' the keys (but not an actual chord, more of a rolling 
chord), pressing subsequent keys while previous keys are still in the process 
of being released, whereas my mom learned to type fast on manual (mechanical) 
typewriters as a secretary in the 1950s and types as fast as I do but with very 
precise individual keystrokes.  Typing as I do would jam up a manual typewriter 
at speed, but most electronic keyboards are able to decode the 

Re: [M100] WP-2

[The CopyPenguin]

I have an M100, 102 and WP-2, and their keyboards rank in that order for me. 
The M100 is firm and ‘clicky’, the 102 slightly softer with a slightly greater 
degree of resistance, and the WP-2 is firmer, more resistive, and a bit vague.

Not the same keyboards at all, though the WP-2 has become my choice for 
distraction-free writing, simply because it’s much more portable. The 102 is a 
close second, but the WP-2’s RAM DISK makes for a very useful dump for work 
pending offloading to my PC with mComm. I also find the 80x8 display on the 
WP-2 to be much easier to work with - less scrolling about than the 100/102, 
but that might be more to do with my pattern of use.

I’ve had no issues with the WP-2 not keeping up when I type, except when 
inserting text, and that is easily overcome by inserting a CR so that 
insertions are at the end of a line not the middle - then SHIFT-DEL to close 
the space back up afterwards.

One issue with my WP-2 is that when connected to a PC, it can save files using 
TS-DOS, but while it can read the mComm directory, it can’t load files - the 
cursor keys don’t work, but it appears it also won’t load the top file under 
the cursor either. (Neither 100 or 102 have this issue).

It works just fine both ways with LaddieAlpha on my Mac, though that only works 
on MacOS versions that support 32-bit apps. There doesn’t appear to be support 
for Catalina or Big Sur.

When I look around at the distraction-free options, the WP-2 is hard to beat, 
particularly at the general cost. A 128k RAM upgrade to add space for stored 
documents is also inexpensive, and for me, rather useful.

And as much as I prefer the 100/102 keyboards, adjusting to the WP-2 is not 
hard.

Andy

any report on keyboard quality versus the model t? I really appreciate this 
timely thread because I've been looking at the WP-2 of late. 

All best,
 
Nick
Nick

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Nick Shaner]

thanks everyone!

all best,

Nick

> On Nov 16, 2020, at 11:40 AM, C.Magaret  wrote:
> 
> I repeatedly had issues with the WP-2 keyboards inserting ghost characters 
> when typing relatively fast (appx. 80wpm or faster).  I really wanted it to 
> work as a portable writing tablet, but that issue was a deal-breaker for me.  
>  I tend to use an Alphasmart Neo for this nowadays, which is completely great 
> for this function, but it doesn’t have that retro-tech charm.
> 
> CAM
> 
> -- 
> 
> C.A. Magaret
> 
> Sent from my newfangled mobile technogizmo.  Please forgive any typos, 
> inelegant brevity, or nonsensical auto-corrections.
> 
>> On Nov 16, 2020, at 06:10, Chris Fezzler  wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Agree.  And as an occasional writer, I seem to recall that the processing of 
>> the text on the screen at times doesn't keep up with the keystrokes.
>> 
>> That said, it is a nifty little device for what it is.
>> 
>> On Monday, November 16, 2020, 08:43:39 AM EST, Josh Malone 
>>  wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 1:21 AM Brian K. White  wrote:
>> 
>> >
>> > On 11/16/20 12:18 AM, Nick Shaner wrote:
>> > > any report on keyboard quality versus the model t? I really appreciate 
>> > > this timely thread because I've been looking at the WP-2 of late.
>> > I'm not a typist so I can only say it isn't exceptionally bad in some
>> > way. There's a few youtube videos that review it though.
>> 
>> 
>> I find the keyboard on mine to be not nearly as good as the M100. I
>> assume they're all the same type, but mine at least is a rubber-dome
>> keyboard vs the M100's keyswitch one. That said, it's not actually
>> "bad"... just not as good as the M100 by a good bit.
>> 
>> -Josh
>> 

Re: [M100] WP-2

[C.Magaret]

I repeatedly had issues with the WP-2 keyboards inserting ghost characters when 
typing relatively fast (appx. 80wpm or faster).  I really wanted it to work as 
a portable writing tablet, but that issue was a deal-breaker for me.   I tend 
to use an Alphasmart Neo for this nowadays, which is completely great for this 
function, but it doesn’t have that retro-tech charm.

CAM

-- 

C.A. Magaret

Sent from my newfangled mobile technogizmo.  Please forgive any typos, 
inelegant brevity, or nonsensical auto-corrections.

> On Nov 16, 2020, at 06:10, Chris Fezzler  wrote:
> 
> 
> Agree.  And as an occasional writer, I seem to recall that the processing of 
> the text on the screen at times doesn't keep up with the keystrokes.
> 
> That said, it is a nifty little device for what it is.
> 
> On Monday, November 16, 2020, 08:43:39 AM EST, Josh Malone 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 1:21 AM Brian K. White  wrote:
> 
> >
> > On 11/16/20 12:18 AM, Nick Shaner wrote:
> > > any report on keyboard quality versus the model t? I really appreciate 
> > > this timely thread because I've been looking at the WP-2 of late.
> > I'm not a typist so I can only say it isn't exceptionally bad in some
> > way. There's a few youtube videos that review it though.
> 
> 
> I find the keyboard on mine to be not nearly as good as the M100. I
> assume they're all the same type, but mine at least is a rubber-dome
> keyboard vs the M100's keyswitch one. That said, it's not actually
> "bad"... just not as good as the M100 by a good bit.
> 
> -Josh
> 

Re: [M100] M100 battery cover

[Robert J. Hutchins]

Thank you

 

From: M100 [mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com] On Behalf Of Brian White
Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2020 7:00 PM
To: m...@bitchin100.com
Subject: Re: [M100] M100 battery cover

 

Actually I would download the STL file and have Shapeways or Sculpteo print it 
rather than use the Thingiverse option, because this part has small detailed 
features that are difficult to do a good job with FDM printing. I'd rather get 
it printed by SLS printing.

 

I'll post some links with that all preconfigured in a while so you don't have 
to figure all that out.

 

 

 

On Sun, Nov 15, 2020, 9:54 PM Brian White mailto:b.kenyo...@gmail.com> > wrote:

You mean besides the 3d-printed ones? Go on thingiverse.com 
  and put TRS-80 in the search box, and a few different 
covers come up.

 

On Sun, Nov 15, 2020, 8:40 PM Robert J. Hutchins mailto:robert.hutch...@cox.net> > wrote:

Dear All,

 

I need a battery cover for a Model 100.

Anyone have an extra one for sale?

I know someone responded but I deleted it by mistake!

Please try again.

 

Thank you

Robert J. Hutchins

 

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Chris Fezzler]

 Agree.  And as an occasional writer, I seem to recall that the processing of 
the text on the screen at times doesn't keep up with the keystrokes.
That said, it is a nifty little device for what it is.
On Monday, November 16, 2020, 08:43:39 AM EST, Josh Malone 
 wrote:  
 
 On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 1:21 AM Brian K. White  wrote:
>
> On 11/16/20 12:18 AM, Nick Shaner wrote:
> > any report on keyboard quality versus the model t? I really appreciate this 
> > timely thread because I've been looking at the WP-2 of late.
> I'm not a typist so I can only say it isn't exceptionally bad in some
> way. There's a few youtube videos that review it though.

I find the keyboard on mine to be not nearly as good as the M100. I
assume they're all the same type, but mine at least is a rubber-dome
keyboard vs the M100's keyswitch one. That said, it's not actually
"bad"... just not as good as the M100 by a good bit.

-Josh
  

Re: [M100] WP-2

[Josh Malone]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 1:21 AM Brian K. White  wrote:
>
> On 11/16/20 12:18 AM, Nick Shaner wrote:
> > any report on keyboard quality versus the model t? I really appreciate this 
> > timely thread because I've been looking at the WP-2 of late.
> I'm not a typist so I can only say it isn't exceptionally bad in some
> way. There's a few youtube videos that review it though.

I find the keyboard on mine to be not nearly as good as the M100. I
assume they're all the same type, but mine at least is a rubber-dome
keyboard vs the M100's keyswitch one. That said, it's not actually
"bad"... just not as good as the M100 by a good bit.

-Josh

Re: [M100] STRUGGLING to get REXCPM loaded

[Jonathan Yuen]

Hello All,

I tried to bootstrap my rexcpm with mcomm from my android phone and had a lot 
of problems.  It would load teeny into the rex OK but then I had a lot of 
problems with initializing things after that. In the end I did a straight 
serial transfer using minicom under linux to move initializing file into the 
rexcpm and then it was  OK from there.  That said I use mcomm for everything 
else after the rexcpm was all set up, and it talks to the cpm things just fine.

Your mileage may vary.

Jonathan

jonathan.y...@mykopat.slu.se

Från: M100 [m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com] för Brian K. White 
[b.kenyo...@gmail.com]
Skickat: den 16 november 2020 00:29
Till: M100 List
Ämne: Re: [M100] STRUGGLING to get REXCPM loaded

Did you try mComm for Windows?
http://www.club100.org/memfiles/index.php?&direction=0&order=&directory=Kurt%20McCullum
(Setup250.EXE)

The key points to that are, it's a windows executable that is not only a
TPDD emulator but also includes a bootstrapper to install TS-DOS or
TEENY onto the M100, and the serial port access is all coded into the
binary where there is no chance to get anything wrong, no question about
if the app or the serial port is configured right or anything. That
eliminates some possible question marks.

I would try using mComm to bootstrap TS-DOS or TEENY (either one is
fine) and then use TS-DOS or TEENY to copy whatever REXCPM setup files
are needed over to the M100.

Then if that doesn't work I'd double-check the serial port cabling.
http://tandy.wiki/Model_T_Serial_Cable
Even if your cable seems to work ok in telcom, just check every wire
against that table anyway, or just buy the PCCables 00103 or Cables2Go
03019 just to remove all doubt.

And definitely try some other host machine like you just said, some
other laptop, or an Android phone or tablet with the Android version of
mComm. Even if you don't want to use any other machine normally, it's
still a required diagnostic step just to dispose of another variable.
Actually using the Android mComm would also require getting a usb-serial
adapter, which you could use right on your win10 desktop instead of the
built in com port. A built-in com port should be the gold standard and
work better than any usb adapter, but you still just have to try
something else, anything else, as a diagnostic test.



I think I may try to make a tpdd2-style bootstrapper written in cmd or
powershell for windows, and bash for everything else, that can bootstrap
arbitrary things like the REX bootstrap utils.

dlplus can already bootstrap arbitrary files like that, it doesn't have
to be one of the bundled dos installers, but I don't have a Windows
build of dlplus. Maybe I'll just do that instead.

The bootstrapper code in dlplus or mComm works very reliably, and is
about as convenient as possible for the user, and is simple enough that
I think it can be written in powershell and bash. I could probably make
a Windows executable from the existing plain c version, but the routine
is simple enough that I don't think it needs to be a compiled binary,
and all else being equal, a readable/editable script is better than an
inscrutable binary, even if the source for the binary is available.
There is a python version of mComm already, which is a readable/editable
script, but on Windows that would mean you have to install some version
of python which is annoying on Windows. There are several different ways
to get python on Windows and no real standard, and no guarantee that one
install doesn't conflict with or perturb some other possible install,
because they each want to put themselves into the system PATH variable etc.

You shouldn't need to bootstrap TS-DOS or TEENY just to use it one time
to transfer one file*. The same process could just as well bootstrap
that file directly.

*(You never use it again, because once REX is bootstrapped, you have
TS-DOS in rom instead.)

We probably don't even need Steve to change RXCINI.DO to work from a RUN
COM:... command. If it doesn't already work naturally, we can probably
just use LOAD COM:... followed by save or run.

And if mComm can bootstrap arbitrary files besides the bundled dos
installers, then there you go, may already be a more robust REX
bootstrap recipe already available, just needs to be tried.

--
bkw


On 11/15/20 12:52 PM, b...@pigford.org wrote:
> Steve,
>
> I was not successful trying to get Teeny into my M100.  Same for
> LaddieAlpha.
>
> I think that my 64-bit Win10 laptop is not capable of sending just text
> as a file transfer.  I tried TeraTerm, and Putty with no luck (although
> TeraTerm was the most helpful via configuration options).
>
> I will fire up my old  Win7 laptop (32-bit) and start over.  At least I
> will have HyperTerm there.
>
> More later,
>
>  Bob
>
> *From:* M100  *On Behalf Of
> *b...@pigford.org
> *Sent:* Sunday, November 15, 2020 11:21 AM
> *To:* m...@bitchin100.com
> *Subject:* Re: [M100] STRUGGLING to get