Re: [M100] Model 100 Boot Issue?

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi,

I’ve been having the same issue. But it sounds like it is worse on your 
machine. If it really is the backup battery, I’d like to know where to get a 
replacement. Does anyone know where and what to get?

Cheers,
   Erik

> On 17 Oct 2020, at 18:09, Charles Hudson  wrote:
> 
> 
> Following up on this issue:  Not being sure how the recharge circuit for the 
> memory backup battery works, I plugged in the AC adapter and left the 
> computer power switch in the ON position for 24 hours, then tested to see if 
> the battery was charged.  In multiple attempts there was one instance where 
> cycling the switch from OFF to ON resulted in a proper boot-up and menu 
> display.
> 
> Subsequent attempts all failed, however.  Thinking this may have been due to 
> a marginally-charged  backup battery, I left the machine connected to the AC 
> adapter for another 24 hours, this time with the switch in the OFF position.
> 
> When I turned the machine ON for the first time it booted to a menu.  I 
> selected BASIC and that loaded.  I entered a small for-next program and ran 
> it.  I saved the program and returned to the menu, where I selected it again 
> and it ran.  I returned to the menu again and powered down.  When I turned 
> the machine ON again nothing came up.
> 
> So far I know nothing, in other words, other than that the machine is capable 
> of booting, but does not do so consistently.  Next question is why.  Could be 
> the backup battery is low, could be the crystal won't start reliably, could 
> be a flaky power switch.  Probably is none of the above.
> 
> -CH-
> 
>   Virus-free. www.avast.com

Re: [M100] Dealing with yellowed case

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi,

I’ve done the retrobrite on my T102 with some success. I have no idea if it 
really made the plastics more brittle, but it didn’t get rid of all the yellow 
although it was a huge improvement. But two weeks ago, I’ve gone another 
direction with it and spray painted it mat-black. I’m very happy with the 
results. I had actually sent a mail to this list, but it never seemed to have 
gotten through. I used basic ’Spectrum spray paint’ and Spectrum primer. After 
about 2 weeks of regular work I haven’t seen any degradation of the paint job 
so far (I did go for many layers). Anyway, I can recommend this approach as for 
me, I’m very happy with the result. The T102 looks like a completely new 
machine. You do lose the decals below the function keys (not a problem for me…).

Erik



> On 13 Oct 2020, at 13:13, Michael Kohne  wrote:
> 
> I've got an M100 with a severely yellowed upper shell, and I'm
> wondering what remediation possibilities I have.
> 
> I've heard of retrobrite, but I've also heard that it can make
> plastics more brittle. For something that's a portable computer,
> brittle (even if only slightly more than original) sounds like a bad
> idea.
> 
> Had anyone ever tried painting one of these shells? Are there paints
> that would hold up to actual use? It'd be like painting the case on a
> keyboard, and I'd worry that it was going to chip or rub off very
> quickly.
> 
> I poked around the mechanical keyboard community and found references
> to using Krylon's Fusion paints, anyone have any experience with them?
> 
> Also, does anyone know what kind of plastic the M100 shell is? I'd
> like to find some similar plastics to experiment with before I risk an
> M100 shell.
> 
> -- 
> Michael Kohne
> mhko...@kohne.org
> 
> Anything real you do that's important will be scary. Having kids.
> Getting married. Donating a kidney.  Writing a book. Do it anyway. -
> Neil Gaiman

[M100] First binary compatible t102 rom pushed to github

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi All,

After a lot of work fixing issues with string defines, and specific issues with 
generating opcodes for SUB H vs SBB H, I’ve now got a assembler source for the 
T102 rom. When assembled it is almost completely binary identical to the 
original T102 rom. The only difference should be that I changed 100 in to 102 
in the basic prompt. When compared to a dissasemble from the T102 rom included 
in VirtualT you’ll notice I’ve reverted the VirtualT back to Microsoft as well.
There are now only 3 bytes difference. The last byte is the 0 that is not 2 
(for the model number). The other two bytes are two addresses that are called 
which are different in the rom in my actual 102 than they are in the Rom that 
is part of the Virtual T distro. I’m not sure where those to differences come 
from.

I do have a rather long list of L labels defined in this current file 
which I’ll either will have to find good names for or just accept hard 
addresses in the source. I’m currently undecided there. There are also still 
some unlabled F*** addresses (please note that the *** are for the rest of the 
address and not for some nasty word here). 
But I really wanted to get this baseline right, so now I can always quickly 
compare after more elaborate changes and see if the rom should still be ok 
(until I start working on custom roms of course).

Anyway, I hope some of you will find this result useful. Now I really need to 
do the hardware mod for my Rex so I can start loading my own rom versions :)

Cheers,
   Erik

[M100] Husky (and Hunter)

[Erik van der Tier]

I saw this on a recent episode of The 8Bit guy: 
https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=285=1 

I had never heard of these, its predecessor is from 1981 and these have pretty 
similar specs as the M100/T102 in addition to being near indestructable. Has 
anybody here every had one (or still)?
It clearly loses from the M100/T102 on the keyboard front though...

Cheers,
   Erik

Re: [M100] M100 Digest, Vol 115, Issue 24

[Erik van der Tier]

That’s a very good point! 

> On 23 Jul 2020, at 14:55, Jeffrey Birt  wrote:
> 
> Can we get back to talking about computers??? I’m sure there is a ‘what is 
> considered a swear word’ list you all can join to keep belaboring the point.
>  
> Jeff Birt
>  
> From: M100  On Behalf Of Rick Shear
> Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2020 7:38 AM
> To: m...@bitchin100.com
> Subject: Re: [M100] M100 Digest, Vol 115, Issue 24
>  
> I'll be honest here,  I would have never guessed and quite shocked that 
> anyone would consider the word that was used a "swear" word.  I come from a 
> very conservative family, as in no alcohol drinking, no profanity, church 3 
> times a week baptist family, and my parents used that word.  Is there a list 
> somewhere of these words that are offensive to some so that if I post 
> something I don't inadvertently use one?  BTW, this is a serious question, 
> not me trying to argue, fight, offend, or stir trouble in any way.
>  
>  
> On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 7:24 AM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
>> I fully understand and respect you have the role of moderating this list and 
>> I think that’s an important role. This doesn’t mean I have to agree or 
>> disagree with any particular instance of behaviour or its moderation. As 
>> I’ve mentioned, I hope I have the right to agree or disagree without using 
>> any remotely offensive language myself.
>>  
>> I agreed with his sentiment that the word used wasn’t really a swear word 
>> (of course that’s a fairly muddy subject in itself). I didn’t repeat this 
>> behaviour myself, I just agreed with sentiment expressed on this specific 
>> case (about the use in the original message). This doesn’t mean I would use 
>> that particular word or similar words myself on this list as I don’t have a 
>> use for them in the context of what we discuss here, hence you won’t find 
>> any of my messages containing any word that can be remotely seen as 
>> offensive (as far as I can see). I didn’t mean anything more or less with my 
>> very short reply (spending too much time during my workday on this as it is 
>> at this point).
>>  
>> Cheers,
>>   Erik
>>  
>> Ps: on a less serious note, there is an interesting irony here, looking at 
>> the server name in the ‘to' field in every single mail on this list ;).
>> 
>> 
>>> On 23 Jul 2020, at 14:05, John R. Hogerhuis >> <mailto:jho...@pobox.com>> wrote:
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>> On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 4:40 AM Erik van der Tier >> <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
>>>> Ok. Last message from me on this subject. I’m pretty sure you nor anybody 
>>>> else on this list has been able tp spot me using any foul language 
>>>> (assuming ‘+1’ doesn’t count as foul). I was reacting to Brian’s message, 
>>>> who’s sentiment I agree with.
>>>  
>>> Well... do you agree with immediately repeating the behavior that I just 
>>> reminded everyone was not allowed?
>>> 
>>> I'm trying to perform my role of moderating the list.
>>> 
>>> I need yours and everyone's help to do that.
>>> 
>>> At the moment I feel I'm getting the exact opposite.
>>>  
>>> -- John.

Re: [M100] M100 Digest, Vol 115, Issue 24

[Erik van der Tier]

I fully understand and respect you have the role of moderating this list and I 
think that’s an important role. This doesn’t mean I have to agree or disagree 
with any particular instance of behaviour or its moderation. As I’ve mentioned, 
I hope I have the right to agree or disagree without using any remotely 
offensive language myself.

I agreed with his sentiment that the word used wasn’t really a swear word (of 
course that’s a fairly muddy subject in itself). I didn’t repeat this behaviour 
myself, I just agreed with sentiment expressed on this specific case (about the 
use in the original message). This doesn’t mean I would use that particular 
word or similar words myself on this list as I don’t have a use for them in the 
context of what we discuss here, hence you won’t find any of my messages 
containing any word that can be remotely seen as offensive (as far as I can 
see). I didn’t mean anything more or less with my very short reply (spending 
too much time during my workday on this as it is at this point).

Cheers,
  Erik

Ps: on a less serious note, there is an interesting irony here, looking at the 
server name in the ‘to' field in every single mail on this list ;).

> On 23 Jul 2020, at 14:05, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 4:40 AM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
> Ok. Last message from me on this subject. I’m pretty sure you nor anybody 
> else on this list has been able tp spot me using any foul language (assuming 
> ‘+1’ doesn’t count as foul). I was reacting to Brian’s message, who’s 
> sentiment I agree with.
> 
> Well... do you agree with immediately repeating the behavior that I just 
> reminded everyone was not allowed?
> 
> I'm trying to perform my role of moderating the list.
> 
> I need yours and everyone's help to do that.
> 
> At the moment I feel I'm getting the exact opposite.
> 
> -- John.

Re: [M100] M100 Digest, Vol 115, Issue 24

[Erik van der Tier]

Ok. Last message from me on this subject. I’m pretty sure you nor anybody else 
on this list has been able tp spot me using any foul language (assuming ‘+1’ 
doesn’t count as foul). I was reacting to Brian’s message, who’s sentiment I 
agree with. This doesn’t mean you were asking for votes, or that I implied you 
did. It means I agreed with his sentiment, nothing more, nothing less. There’s 
way to much PC nonsense going on in th world right now in my humble opinion.
I fully agree with a no *swearing* policy and you’ll never catch me using any 
swear words on this list. I do fully try to be respectful to anybody here and I 
think everybody should. But lets be adults about it as well and try not to get 
to hung up on rather innocent words like the one used, not even spelled out 
actually (which I will not repeat as it seems to be offensive to some of us).
I do hope I have the right to express agreement with things that are said on 
this list. If that disqualifies me to be part of this list then I’d like to 
hear this and I’ll remove myself (regretfully as I rather enjoy the list 
experience so far).

Cheers,
   Erik

> On 23 Jul 2020, at 13:18, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:
> 
> Brian, Doug, Erik... what the heck is happening here? Did it seem like I was 
> taking a vote? Collecting opinions? Or that I was likely to tolerate overtly 
> repeating the behavior that I just made clear was not allowed?
> 
> Maybe we haven't gone down this road in a while. We can talk about it, of 
> course, but not while you're repeating the behavior.
> 
> As to repeating the behavior, final warning, no kidding.
> 
> This isn't for me, frankly... Some of you are on my Facebook page. I don't 
> personally care about swearing. At all.
> 
> This is the LONG standing policy of the list from before I got here, it has 
> been the consensus forever and contributes to the positive atmosphere of the 
> group.
> 
> And I think it's the right thing to do.  Foul language doesn't make the group 
> any more fun, and really upsets some of our more conservative members, people 
> I like and respect and don't want to lose. 
> 
> So why mess with what works, and works for much longer than any of us have 
> been members.
> 
> I ask you to show some respect to the other members. If you can't, I'll ask 
> you to leave.
> 
> -- John.

Re: [M100] M100 Digest, Vol 115, Issue 24

[Erik van der Tier]

+1

> On 23 Jul 2020, at 09:12, Brian K. White  wrote:
> 
> It is ridiculous to call that swearing, and intrudes on the usefulness of the 
> venue for simply communicating. Saying crap was already the way to avoid 
> saying something else. Come on.
> 
> -- 
> bkw
> 
> 
> On 7/23/20 3:03 AM, John R. Hogerhuis wrote:
>> On Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 10:07 PM Hiraghm > > wrote:
>>Well, if that word is too strong for the list, then I'll just lurk
>>in future and not participate.
>> Well I hope that's not the take away. Not trying to keep you from 
>> participating for sure!
>> It's just the rule and someone has to enforce it. I try to do it equally.
>> -- John.
>><#m_-1661857345361601768_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
> 
> 
> -- 
> bkw

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi All,

I was getting a bit tired of all the manual work on cleaning up the 
disassembly, labeling, merging the rest of the comments… So I wrote a small 
Rust program to do all the work for me. I ended up having it clean up the 
layout as well, so everything is really nicely laid out in columns.  Anwaw,  
now I’ve got a fully labeled and cleanup up assembler file for the T102 os-rom: 
https://github.com/eriktier/RomT102Disassembly 
.
The files ‘t102rom.asm’ and ‘member.inc’ contain the rom image code. I’ve not 
yet processed all the mem-variables yet.
I want to keep it fairly ‘authentic’ so I’m limiting myself to 6 character 
labels.

Of course the next step now is to try an assemble it using the VirtualT (or 
alternative) assembler. This is where I’m currently running into some issues. 
I’ve created a project, added the files, also added a linker file that defines 
only a single .aseg (from H to 7FFH). However, when I try to build it, 
nothing happens. No errors, mostly … nothing. So I’m sure I”m doing something 
terribly wrong, but I can’t figure out what. Anyway, I’m sure there will still 
be issues with the asm files themselves.

But… I’m really happy with how this is turning out so far. The code looks nice 
and clean. Once it builds there is mostly a lot of work left to test if it 
actually produces identical output and to start renaming all the ‘LH: 
labels to reasonable names and to finish the mem-variables (which is the least 
of the work).

Cheers,
   Erik

Re: [M100] Noisy T102

[Erik van der Tier]

I’ve had my T102 open yesterday, the most recently replace caps were 54 and 55, 
and they are now still looking good. I did do some tests without display or 
keyboard connected. When I power on without either there was not a single noise 
to be heard. However, when I connect the display it comes back. I also found 
that the noise seems to come from the area of the low-power led, which is still 
always on even when connected to the AC adapter, so it would seem something 
might be up with the power supply to the display… The display does seem to work 
perfectly fine.

Cheers,
   Erik

PS: I also just gotten my hands on a pretty decent M100. This one seems to work 
fine as well, except for the P and [ ] keys. I also found some pretty crispy 
caps in there, so I’ll definitely have to recap it. 

> On 16 Jun 2020, at 13:31, Stephen Adolph  wrote:
> 
> That's interesting!
> Could be that one of the caps you replaced on the +5V line is now 
> microphonic, or the transformer caps.
> Which ones did you replace?
> It would be interesting to see if you can isolate it.  If you had some 
> alternative caps that you could try for the 3 you have changed, you could try 
> changing one at a time.
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jun 16, 2020 at 2:59 AM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I’ve had to replace 3 caps on my trusty T102 as they were leaking (nasty as 
> they were fairly recent replacements). The surgery seemed to have worked, 
> except for increase noise. It’s the kind of noise where you can hear the 
> processing of the CPU, more when its busy and it seems to have clear 
> ‘structure’ to it in relation to what the T102 is doing.
> Is this a sign that the same or other caps are not ok? Does anyone have 
> experience with this. I really want to get this capacitor business over with 
> for once and at least a bunch of years (I’m having too much fun with the t102 
> to let it just die). 
> Any thoughts on how to fix this?
> 
> Cheers,
>Erik

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

Great, thanks! Your comments are really helping with the process of translating 
to a full assembly file, especially for finding logical names for ‘intra 
routine’ labels.
I see that in this version you’ve also documented the ’split-instruction’ trick 
that is used in for example Plot/Unplot to save 1 extra byte in the rom. These 
are the little nuggets (also the incr/decr trick to find zero more efficiently) 
that make exploring these old super resource constraint systems fun and 
educational.

> On 21 Jun 2020, at 20:53, Ken Pettit  wrote:
> 
> Hi Erik
> 
> This is nice work.  Back in earlier years, I was hoping to get the M100 ROM 
> to a state where it could be re-assembled, but that turned out to be a bit 
> ambitous for me given young kids.

I hear ya. I’ve got two sons myself (12 and 14 years old) and I sure wouldn’t 
have thought of picking up a project like this when they were younger. These 
days we’re happy to see them a few times a day (always outside, at friends or 
in their bedrooms). These days I’ve got to mostly find scraps of time outside 
work, the Gym (well… some weights at home currently), spending weekends with 
the wife and kids, etc. so still pretty constrained… Luckily I don’t watch any 
TV nor do I sleep long so I’ve got some time left to play around…
That said, this project will take plenty of time to finish. I’m willing to go 
pretty fast and allow for some room for error as I can always assemble parts of 
the code and just do a diff with the original segment of rom to know the 
translation is pure.
Going through in a few passes also helps.. I just introduce labels first like 
L: and then replace these with more logical names later. So in time 
the code will look more and more like it was created from scratch instead of 
after the fact I hope.
I’m not in a whole lot of hurry either, its kind of nice to be able to work on 
some things without customer/investor expectations ;)

Erik 

> 
> I have attached a zip file with a more recent M100 ROM disassembly.  I 
> realized I had't uploaded the latest to Club100.  The latested one on Club100 
> Personal libraries is only 761046 bytes, but the most recent one in the zip 
> file is 844833 bytes, so it has quite a few more comments which you don't 
> currently have.
> 
> Ken
> 
> On 6/21/20 10:34 AM, Erik van der Tier wrote:
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> Works progressing nicely on this Rom source code project. I’ve added a 
>> README.md to the repository, which I hopes does justice to all the work that 
>> has been done before to create my starting point.
>> 
>> I’ve also now started working on the new OS Rom source file, which I hope to 
>> get to the point where you can assemble it to a fully identical OS ROM to 
>> the original.
>> The following link shows what the result will look like (based on one of the 
>> first routines that I’ve processed to some detail. My goal is that the 
>> source will not contain any ‘raw’ addresses, so I’m replacing these with 
>> labels, following existing ‘official’ naming where I can find it.
>> 
>> https://github.com/eriktier/RomT102Disassembly/blob/master/OSRROMT102.asm85#L2947
>>  
>> <https://github.com/eriktier/RomT102Disassembly/blob/master/OSRROMT102.asm85#L2947>
>> 
>> Cheers,
>>Erik
>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 
> 

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi All,

Works progressing nicely on this Rom source code project. I’ve added a 
README.md to the repository, which I hopes does justice to all the work that 
has been done before to create my starting point.

I’ve also now started working on the new OS Rom source file, which I hope to 
get to the point where you can assemble it to a fully identical OS ROM to the 
original.
The following link shows what the result will look like (based on one of the 
first routines that I’ve processed to some detail. My goal is that the source 
will not contain any ‘raw’ addresses, so I’m replacing these with labels, 
following existing ‘official’ naming where I can find it.

https://github.com/eriktier/RomT102Disassembly/blob/master/OSRROMT102.asm85#L2947
 


Cheers,
   Erik

> 

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

I’ve set up a GitHub repo: https://github.com/eriktier/RomT102Disassembly 
<https://github.com/eriktier/RomT102Disassembly> . This version is definitely 
still a work in progress, but I’m getting there with merging comments and 
DB/DW’s (I’m careful to really compare them closely, as I’ve already found 
changed bytes here and there). After this first pass, I’ll update it with 
additional comments from Ken. Then the ‘fun’ part can start...

Erik

> On 18 Jun 2020, at 20:09, Erik van der Tier  wrote:
> 
> I’m about to put what I’ve got by now on GitHub. I’m actually thinking of 
> replacing at least all the VDI code with other functionality and perhaps even 
> all the Cassette logic. It would obviously break compatibility with the basic 
> partly, but I’m interesting in trying to even replace the basic statements 
> for the cassette logic with other statements. But first… get all the 
> available documentation merged into the T102 rom. After that I’m planning on 
> adding labels and generally producing a clean assembly code base that can be 
> reassembled into an equivalent rom image.
> 
> I haven’t done the hardware mod yet, but that’s what I am planning to do as 
> well with my Rex Classic.
> 
> Cheers,
>   Erik
> 
>> On 18 Jun 2020, at 19:31, Brian K. White  wrote:
>> 
>> On 6/17/20 11:35 AM, Erik van der Tier wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> I’m currently well on my way to merge the annotated M100 rom with a 
>>> disassemble of the T102 rom. This will include documentation of the 
>>> differences. I hope to create a working .asm file with labels and such that 
>>> can be reassembled into a functioning Rom (I’m working my way towards a 
>>> custom os-rom for my 102).
>>> If anyone is interested I can put it up on my GitHub account so you can get 
>>> it. I can imagine this could be interesting for the VirtualT emulator as it 
>>> provides all the annotations on disassembling the M100 rom but not the T102 
>>> currently (except for the RST opcodes).
>> 
>> I am interested. I actually use the rom management feature in the classic 
>> REX.
>> 
>> http://tandy.wiki/FlexROM_100
>> http://tandy.wiki/FlexROM_102
>> 
>> I would love to see if it's possible to get xmodem in there maybe at the 
>> expense of scheduler and address book, or if there's still no room for real 
>> xmodem, then any method of binary file transfer over serial, even if it's 
>> something simpler that just assumes a good 8-bit connection and doesn't try 
>> to do crc, maybe in the form of a change to the load or save commands in 
>> BASIC or maybe a modification to the existing log to file feature TELCOM.
>> 
>> -- 
>> bkw
> 

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

Ok, clear. Would be cool!

> On 18 Jun 2020, at 20:40, Ken Pettit  wrote:
> 
> Hi Erik,
> 
> No.  This is something I have considered creating, but have not had the time. 
> It would likely only take a day or so to pull it out though.  The biggest 
> task would be to pass in the parameters for model, linker script, etc.  This 
> stuff is currently all specified in the GUI and provided as needed.  A 
> standalone version would need command line switches for each of these options.
> 
> Ken
> 
> On 6/18/20 11:38 AM, Erik van der Tier wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Is there a standalone version of the assembler that’s part of VirtualT?
>> 
>> Erik

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi,

Is there a standalone version of the assembler that’s part of VirtualT?

Erik

> On 17 Jun 2020, at 19:28, Ken Pettit  wrote:
> 
> Erik,
> 
> I have MANY, MANY more lines commented here:
> 
> http://www.club100.org/memfiles/index.php?=0==Ken%20Pettit/M100%20ROM%20Disassembly
> 
> Ken
> 
> On 6/17/20 10:22 AM, Erik van der Tier wrote:
>> I’m currently merging the standard virtual-t output, but any additional 
>> notes and comments would be great to add in!
>> 
>> Cheers,
>>Erik
>> 
>>> On 17 Jun 2020, at 18:10, Ken Pettit  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi Erik,
>>> 
>>> I presume you are also referencing the additional M100 ROM annotations I 
>>> did by hand which are not part of the VirtualT standard output (and quite 
>>> extensive)?
>>> 
>>> Ken
>>> 
>>>> On 6/17/20 8:35 AM, Erik van der Tier wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> I’m currently well on my way to merge the annotated M100 rom with a 
>>>> disassemble of the T102 rom. This will include documentation of the 
>>>> differences. I hope to create a working .asm file with labels and such 
>>>> that can be reassembled into a functioning Rom (I’m working my way towards 
>>>> a custom os-rom for my 102).
>>>> 
>>>> If anyone is interested I can put it up on my GitHub account so you can 
>>>> get it. I can imagine this could be interesting for the VirtualT emulator 
>>>> as it provides all the annotations on disassembling the M100 rom but not 
>>>> the T102 currently (except for the RST opcodes).
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>Erik
> 

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

I’m about to put what I’ve got by now on GitHub. I’m actually thinking of 
replacing at least all the VDI code with other functionality and perhaps even 
all the Cassette logic. It would obviously break compatibility with the basic 
partly, but I’m interesting in trying to even replace the basic statements for 
the cassette logic with other statements. But first… get all the available 
documentation merged into the T102 rom. After that I’m planning on adding 
labels and generally producing a clean assembly code base that can be 
reassembled into an equivalent rom image.

I haven’t done the hardware mod yet, but that’s what I am planning to do as 
well with my Rex Classic.

Cheers,
   Erik

> On 18 Jun 2020, at 19:31, Brian K. White  wrote:
> 
> On 6/17/20 11:35 AM, Erik van der Tier wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I’m currently well on my way to merge the annotated M100 rom with a 
>> disassemble of the T102 rom. This will include documentation of the 
>> differences. I hope to create a working .asm file with labels and such that 
>> can be reassembled into a functioning Rom (I’m working my way towards a 
>> custom os-rom for my 102).
>> If anyone is interested I can put it up on my GitHub account so you can get 
>> it. I can imagine this could be interesting for the VirtualT emulator as it 
>> provides all the annotations on disassembling the M100 rom but not the T102 
>> currently (except for the RST opcodes).
> 
> I am interested. I actually use the rom management feature in the classic REX.
> 
> http://tandy.wiki/FlexROM_100
> http://tandy.wiki/FlexROM_102
> 
> I would love to see if it's possible to get xmodem in there maybe at the 
> expense of scheduler and address book, or if there's still no room for real 
> xmodem, then any method of binary file transfer over serial, even if it's 
> something simpler that just assumes a good 8-bit connection and doesn't try 
> to do crc, maybe in the form of a change to the load or save commands in 
> BASIC or maybe a modification to the existing log to file feature TELCOM.
> 
> -- 
> bkw

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

I’m currently merging the standard virtual-t output, but any additional notes 
and comments would be great to add in! 

Cheers,
   Erik

> On 17 Jun 2020, at 18:10, Ken Pettit  wrote:
> 
> Hi Erik,
> 
> I presume you are also referencing the additional M100 ROM annotations I did 
> by hand which are not part of the VirtualT standard output (and quite 
> extensive)?
> 
> Ken
> 
>> On 6/17/20 8:35 AM, Erik van der Tier wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I’m currently well on my way to merge the annotated M100 rom with a 
>> disassemble of the T102 rom. This will include documentation of the 
>> differences. I hope to create a working .asm file with labels and such that 
>> can be reassembled into a functioning Rom (I’m working my way towards a 
>> custom os-rom for my 102).
>> 
>> If anyone is interested I can put it up on my GitHub account so you can get 
>> it. I can imagine this could be interesting for the VirtualT emulator as it 
>> provides all the annotations on disassembling the M100 rom but not the T102 
>> currently (except for the RST opcodes).
>> 
>> Cheers,
>>Erik
> 

Re: [M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

Sounds like a plan, I’m currently doing a first pass getting the routine 
headercomments in and translating the none sense opcodes into db and dw’s from 
the m100 dis. I’ll set up a github repo once I’m through this first pass. Next 
pass will be find and replace on all standard addresses and known rom 
functions. That way the m100 and t102 should be mostly identical which should 
help adding the other comments that are available.

Cheers,
   Erik

> On 17 Jun 2020, at 18:06, Stephen Adolph  wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi, it would be great to make this collaborative. I have a lot of my own 
> notes on a disassembly, and I also have a paper disassembly that I acquired a 
> while back.
> 
> 
>> On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 11:35 AM Erik van der Tier  wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I’m currently well on my way to merge the annotated M100 rom with a 
>> disassemble of the T102 rom. This will include documentation of the 
>> differences. I hope to create a working .asm file with labels and such that 
>> can be reassembled into a functioning Rom (I’m working my way towards a 
>> custom os-rom for my 102).
>> 
>> If anyone is interested I can put it up on my GitHub account so you can get 
>> it. I can imagine this could be interesting for the VirtualT emulator as it 
>> provides all the annotations on disassembling the M100 rom but not the T102 
>> currently (except for the RST opcodes).
>> 
>> Cheers,
>>Erik

[M100] Annotated disassemble of T102 rom

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi,

I’m currently well on my way to merge the annotated M100 rom with a disassemble 
of the T102 rom. This will include documentation of the differences. I hope to 
create a working .asm file with labels and such that can be reassembled into a 
functioning Rom (I’m working my way towards a custom os-rom for my 102).

If anyone is interested I can put it up on my GitHub account so you can get it. 
I can imagine this could be interesting for the VirtualT emulator as it 
provides all the annotations on disassembling the M100 rom but not the T102 
currently (except for the RST opcodes).

Cheers,
   Erik

Re: [M100] Noisy T102

[Erik van der Tier]

I have to open it up again, tonight to check on leaking anyway, so I’ll look up 
the numbers of those caps. I really need to get myself a decent desoldering 
station, it’s currently taking too much time to desolder these buggers.

Erik

> On 16 Jun 2020, at 13:31, Stephen Adolph  wrote:
> 
> That's interesting!
> Could be that one of the caps you replaced on the +5V line is now 
> microphonic, or the transformer caps.
> Which ones did you replace?
> It would be interesting to see if you can isolate it.  If you had some 
> alternative caps that you could try for the 3 you have changed, you could try 
> changing one at a time.
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jun 16, 2020 at 2:59 AM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I’ve had to replace 3 caps on my trusty T102 as they were leaking (nasty as 
> they were fairly recent replacements). The surgery seemed to have worked, 
> except for increase noise. It’s the kind of noise where you can hear the 
> processing of the CPU, more when its busy and it seems to have clear 
> ‘structure’ to it in relation to what the T102 is doing.
> Is this a sign that the same or other caps are not ok? Does anyone have 
> experience with this. I really want to get this capacitor business over with 
> for once and at least a bunch of years (I’m having too much fun with the t102 
> to let it just die). 
> Any thoughts on how to fix this?
> 
> Cheers,
>Erik

Re: [M100] Noisy T102

[Erik van der Tier]

Hehe, yeah, if it couldn’t be a sign of trouble it would definitely be cool ;). 
I remember that other 80’s computers made these kinds of sounds while 
processing. I know our Philips P2000T did and later our Amstrad CPC464 as 
well…. Cheap analog electronics I guess…

I did double and triple check the polarity of the caps, so I don’t think that’s 
the problem.

Erik

> On 17 Jun 2020, at 04:52, B 9  wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 11:59 PM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
> It’s the kind of noise where you can hear the processing of the CPU, more 
> when its busy and it seems to have clear ‘structure’ to it in relation to 
> what the T102 is doing.
> 
> That's actually kind of cool.
> 
> But, if you want to get rid of it, maybe double check that you put your 
> electrolytics in with the right polarity. 
> 
> —b9

[M100] Noisy T102

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi All,

I’ve had to replace 3 caps on my trusty T102 as they were leaking (nasty as 
they were fairly recent replacements). The surgery seemed to have worked, 
except for increase noise. It’s the kind of noise where you can hear the 
processing of the CPU, more when its busy and it seems to have clear 
‘structure’ to it in relation to what the T102 is doing.
Is this a sign that the same or other caps are not ok? Does anyone have 
experience with this. I really want to get this capacitor business over with 
for once and at least a bunch of years (I’m having too much fun with the t102 
to let it just die). 
Any thoughts on how to fix this?

Cheers,
   Erik

Re: [M100] REXCPM orders.

[Erik van der Tier]

Ah, I’ve just answered my own questions I think. The REX# is still flash based 
so does not need a capacitor to protect its memory.

I guess this leaves me with two questions; 
1. does the REX# still support main OS ROM replacement through hardware 
modification? (I haven’t done this yet, but was planning to).
2. Are there any immediate advantages of the REX# over the ‘classic’ other than 
continued support (which is quite a thing)?

I’m totally understand the reason for the end-of-life of the Classic REX line 
so this is definitely not an issue for me. I’m really mostly interested in 
what’s new and imrpoved :).

Cheers,
   Erik


> On 9 Jun 2020, at 01:23, Stephen Adolph  wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> Just a note to say I am ready to take orders for REXCPM!
> Information is at the REX wiki.
> Model 100 only for now.
> 2MB and 4MB available.
> Pricing is USD excluding shipping.
> 
> Note:  REX# is delayed as is the VT100 adapter due to mailing delays from 
> China.
> 
> Cheers
> Steve
> 

Re: [M100] REXCPM orders.

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi,

Looks awesome! I do have some questions. I currently have a ‘legacy’ REX 
installed in my 102. I think it is clear that the REXCPM is a definite upgrade. 
What improvements would the Rex# bring to an existing REX user? 

I also have a question about the Capacitor and memory protection on the REXCPM. 
I was under the impression that the sram used on the original REX would keep 
its content even without power (like a flash card). Is this no longer the case 
(at least for REX use)? I kind of like this aspect of the REX as I don’t really 
have to worry too much about running into battery problems as long as I keep my 
‘backup’ up to date.

Does the REX#/CPM still allow replacing the OS Rom with an image?

Anyway, I’m seriously considering getting either the REX# or CPM when it 
becomes available for the M102.

Thanks for keeping these developments coming!

Cheers,
Erik

> On 9 Jun 2020, at 01:23, Stephen Adolph  wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> Just a note to say I am ready to take orders for REXCPM!
> Information is at the REX wiki.
> Model 100 only for now.
> 2MB and 4MB available.
> Pricing is USD excluding shipping.
> 
> Note:  REX# is delayed as is the VT100 adapter due to mailing delays from 
> China.
> 
> Cheers
> Steve
> 

[M100] Over active 'low battery' light

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi,

The ‘low battery’ light on my M102 seems to be a bit overactive lately. My 102 
has 32KB and the Rex installed, so I expect my batteries to drain quite a bit 
faster than the 20 hours in the specs of a less upgraded 102. However, the 
light sometimes actually is on when I just inserted fully charged batteries 
(I’m using brand new Duracel 2500mAh rechargeables).

I’ve by now also bought a universal AC adapter, which seems to work fine 
(though it only powers the 102 if the plug is kept horizontal enough, so I need 
to check on the contact of the sockets I think). Even then the light seems to 
be active. I suspect that this is caused by low power in the memory backup 
battery, but I have no way to validate this. But it feels like this might be 
the problem, as after my newly charged batteries are inside the 102 for a while 
the light seems to dim (until the batteries actually drain).

Does anyone know if this could be the case? 

I have recapped the 102 (seemingly mostly successfully), I had also replaced 
the original battery but the cheap Chinese battery turned out to be actually 
worse than the original, so I put the original back which got the 102 to 
actually work again). I’ve seem that Arcade Shopper has replacement batteries 
but as I’m in the Netherlands the shipping cost will be higher than the cost of 
the battery itself ;). Does anyone know a good replacement that I could get 
more locally?

Cheers,
   Erik

Re: [M100] The appeal of old-skool computing

[Erik van der Tier]

it has crossed my kind to do a port to Rust, but currently i’m far too busy 
writing rust code professionally that I’d rather do something else in my spare 
time ;)

Cheers,
   Erik

> On 13 May 2020, at 13:57, David N. Hughes-Robinson  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it is time to do a rust or golang version of of a tpdd emulator
> 
>>> On May 13, 2020, at 06:35, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 2:37 AM Erik van der Tier  wrote:
>>> I downloaded it from bitchin100, I have no idea if that’s your original 
>>> version. Is the source code online somewhere, I’d love to look at it.
>>> 
>>> Erik
>>> 
>> 
>> Ah, got it.  You're right, that was a user contribution from Barry Nelson to 
>> help people get it installed on OSX.
>> 
>> -- John.

Re: [M100] The appeal of old-skool computing

[Erik van der Tier]

I downloaded it from bitchin100, I have no idea if that’s your original 
version. Is the source code online somewhere, I’d love to look at it.

Erik

> On 13 May 2020, at 11:31, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 2:12 AM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
>> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 1:01 AM Erik van der Tier > <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
> 
> I just downloaded LaddyAlpha and the MacOS app that is part of it is 327MB or 
> so.. I guess it comes with a stripped down version of the Mono runtime, which 
> would explain its size (at first run of the app it starts the Mono installer, 
> alas a version that is not compatible with the CPU in my Mac).
> 
> 
> 
> OK, understood. I'm the author of LaddieAlpha and I don't distribute any OSX 
> app with it. How to get a .NET runtime is left as an exercise for the user.
> 
> So I guess you got a package that another user built around LaddieAlpha.EXE 
> for more convenience on OSX.
> 
> -- John. 

Re: [M100] The appeal of old-skool computing

[Erik van der Tier]

And thanks a lot for building it! It does make it a lot more convenient than 
the DosBox/DeskLink route.

Erik

> On 13 May 2020, at 11:31, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 2:12 AM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
>> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 1:01 AM Erik van der Tier > <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
> 
> I just downloaded LaddyAlpha and the MacOS app that is part of it is 327MB or 
> so.. I guess it comes with a stripped down version of the Mono runtime, which 
> would explain its size (at first run of the app it starts the Mono installer, 
> alas a version that is not compatible with the CPU in my Mac).
> 
> 
> 
> OK, understood. I'm the author of LaddieAlpha and I don't distribute any OSX 
> app with it. How to get a .NET runtime is left as an exercise for the user.
> 
> So I guess you got a package that another user built around LaddieAlpha.EXE 
> for more convenience on OSX.
> 
> -- John. 

Re: [M100] The appeal of old-skool computing

[Erik van der Tier]

Yeah, I was very surprised as well when I ran the installer. But I guess this 
is party because there’s probably a lot more glue code on MacOS than on Windows.

> On 13 May 2020, at 10:48, Tom Wilson  wrote:
> 
> Yeah, I'm surprised at hearing 1 gig. Even on Windows, the DotNet Framework 
> is nowhere near that large.
> 
> 
> Tom Wilson
> wilso...@gmail.com <mailto:wilso...@gmail.com>
> (619)940-6311 
> K6ABZ
> 
> 
> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 1:45 AM John R. Hogerhuis  <mailto:jho...@pobox.com>> wrote:
> 
> 
> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 1:01 AM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I’ve just installed LaddieAlpha on my Mac. At first this didn’t work, as the 
> runtime that came with the package was too old for my Mac.
> 
> What package? Mono? LaddieAlpha comes with no runtime.
>  
> However, a quick trip to the Mono website fixed that issue. When installing 
> the Mono environment I almost fell of my chair. The install takes up over 1GB 
> of disk space… 1GB! And that to run a 320MB+ diskemulator! Now don’t get me 
> wrong, I’m very happy that I can now exchange files directly from the Mac 
> (first I was using DosBox + DeskLink). But still… 1.3GB of space just to 
> emulate a diskdrive… Even the entire VirtualT Mac version is only 4.4MB.
> 
> That's just its binaries and whatever it is packaged with. It needs more to 
> run.
>  
>  
> It truly boggles my mind! This is exactly what for me is the appeal of these 
> old machines like the M100… you could do quite a bit of work with so little 
> resources.
> 
> It certainly doesn't take 1.3GB to do TPDD emulation. I guess it depends on 
> where you draw the line. On most systems .NET or Mono is shared across the 
> OS. And most of Mono is not used by LaddieAlpha.
> 
> LaddieAlpha is 70K.
> 
> Maybe it's a peculiarity of OSX where the typical model is applications come 
> packaged with all their dependencies. It's different on Windows and Linux.
> 
> -- John.

Re: [M100] The appeal of old-skool computing

[Erik van der Tier]

> On 13 May 2020, at 10:45, John R. Hogerhuis  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 1:01 AM Erik van der Tier  <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I’ve just installed LaddieAlpha on my Mac. At first this didn’t work, as the 
> runtime that came with the package was too old for my Mac.
> 
> What package? Mono? LaddieAlpha comes with no runtime.

I just downloaded LaddyAlpha and the MacOS app that is part of it is 327MB or 
so.. I guess it comes with a stripped down version of the Mono runtime, which 
would explain its size (at first run of the app it starts the Mono installer, 
alas a version that is not compatible with the CPU in my Mac).

>  
> However, a quick trip to the Mono website fixed that issue. When installing 
> the Mono environment I almost fell of my chair. The install takes up over 1GB 
> of disk space… 1GB! And that to run a 320MB+ diskemulator! Now don’t get me 
> wrong, I’m very happy that I can now exchange files directly from the Mac 
> (first I was using DosBox + DeskLink). But still… 1.3GB of space just to 
> emulate a diskdrive… Even the entire VirtualT Mac version is only 4.4MB.
> 
> That's just its binaries and whatever it is packaged with. It needs more to 
> run.
>  
>  
> It truly boggles my mind! This is exactly what for me is the appeal of these 
> old machines like the M100… you could do quite a bit of work with so little 
> resources.
> 
> It certainly doesn't take 1.3GB to do TPDD emulation. I guess it depends on 
> where you draw the line. On most systems .NET or Mono is shared across the 
> OS. And most of Mono is not used by LaddieAlpha.

Very true. However, the memory and disk footprint of a typical .Net application 
is very high compared to something more native like compiled Rust (no runtime 
at all). I like small and native, though you do have to build specific binaries 
for different architectures of course. 
> 
> LaddieAlpha is 70K.

That sounds a lot more reasonable ;).

> 
> Maybe it's a peculiarity of OSX where the typical model is applications come 
> packaged with all their dependencies. It's different on Windows and Linux.
> 
That is often the case on MacOS yes. It does help prevent ‘dll’ hell, though 
that’s not as much a problem on Windows anymore as it used to be.

> -- John.

[M100] The appeal of old-skool computing

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi,

I’ve just installed LaddieAlpha on my Mac. At first this didn’t work, as the 
runtime that came with the package was too old for my Mac. However, a quick 
trip to the Mono website fixed that issue. When installing the Mono environment 
I almost fell of my chair. The install takes up over 1GB of disk space… 1GB! 
And that to run a 320MB+ diskemulator! Now don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy 
that I can now exchange files directly from the Mac (first I was using DosBox + 
DeskLink). But still… 1.3GB of space just to emulate a diskdrive… Even the 
entire VirtualT Mac version is only 4.4MB.
It truly boggles my mind! This is exactly what for me is the appeal of these 
old machines like the M100… you could do quite a bit of work with so little 
resources.
Now Mono is likely an extreme example the other extreme… I develop a 
Knowledge/Database platform in Rust and the current release build takes only 
3.7Mb of space (for a complete database platform and this doesn’t require any 
other dependencies at all, except a base OS). So it is possible to still do a 
lot with relatively little resource demands, but still it sometimes amazes me.
Anyway, this all makes it all the more fun to keep these old baddies working 
and do some good old Assembler coding talking straight to the iron.

Cheers,
   Erik

[M100] Virtual-T Debugger, breakpoints question

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi,

I’ve been playing with the VirtualT development environment and it looks really 
good so far! I downloaded the sample project and that works just fine. However, 
when I start the debugger and set a breakpoint right at the start of the 
program’s start address (62000) and run the program, the debugger doesn’t seem 
to halt at the breakpoint. Is there anything additional that I need to do for 
this to happen? I can work without a debugger, but it sure would be nice to 
have it available.
As a ‘modern-day’ Rust developer, I have gotten very much used to powerful 
development and debugging tools ;).

Any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
  Erik

Re: [M100] update- build 260

[Erik van der Tier]

 I’ve just upgraded my Rex to build 620 (I was already on an older 4.9 build, 
so just a simple update). Worked like a charm (very easy). Thanks for keeping 
the REX project up to date!

Cheers,
 Erik

Re: [M100] New on this list, slightly less new on the M102

[Erik van der Tier]

I won’t have been one of them, as I’ve not been active on any BBS nor this 
mailing list before.

Cheers,
   Erik

> On 4 May 2020, at 18:38, me  wrote:
> 
> More than a thousand of them actively operating these days. Just wondered if 
> I know you. I recommended this list to a few 100 owners recently.
> 
> 
> 
> D
> 
> On 5/4/20 2:23 AM, Erik van der Tier wrote:
>> Hi Daniel,
>> 
>> No, I’m not on any bbs. Haven’t looked at if that is of much use to be 
>> honest.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>>Erik 
>> 
>>> On 4 May 2020, at 11:17, me mailto:m...@scifidan.com>> 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> welcome to the list. i recently joined myself. got a 100 with a faulty 
>>> display chip and a 200 that is my near-daily driver for writing and 
>>> notetaking.
>>> 
>>> are you a member of any bbs?
>>> 
>>> On May 4, 2020 1:27:33 AM PDT, Erik van der Tier >> <mailto:e...@vdtier.nl>> wrote:
>>> Hi All,
>>> 
>>> I thought I’d post a quick Hello, here as I just got on this mailing list. 
>>> It’s great to see that there’s more people still actively doing stuff with 
>>> the m100/102 and similar. I’ve picked my 102 up a few months ago from eBay. 
>>> It worked when I got it, the mainboard looked very clean (almost as new), 
>>> no leaking caps, battery looked great. After a month or so it stopped 
>>> working though (garbled mess on the display). So first I replaced the old 
>>> battery with a new Chinese ordered from Ali. That didn’t seem to work. So 
>>> after a while of seeing if longer trickle charging would change things (it 
>>> didn’t) I ordered a capacity kit.
>>> After fixing my initial (seemingly not so great) soldering I got the 102 to 
>>> start again. However, the clock wasn’t working properly (it lost track of 
>>> time when I turned off the 102). So I opened up the machine again and saw 
>>> that the battery was looking really bad (lots of corrosion on the sides), 
>>> as I’d kept the original battery I put that back, but still the clock would 
>>> stop while the 102 was turned off. So I figured I’d wait a while until it 
>>> got a chance to charge the battery.. and lo and behold… after a few days 
>>> the clock worked just fine! 
>>> So now I’ve got a fully operational and great looking 102 (I had 
>>> retro-brighted it earlier). I might have to get a new (this time quality) 
>>> battery as since 1986 its probably not holding all that much charge 
>>> anymore, though seemingly enough to allow changing batteries without 
>>> loosing memory content).
>>> I had also early gotten a null modem hooked up to my Mac over USB and using 
>>> DosBox even gotten file transfers working through Desklink. Anyway, I’m 
>>> having a whole lot of fun with this great little machine. So far I’ve been 
>>> using it for writing (nice distraction free working on a pretty nice 
>>> keyboard).
>>> Next I’m planning to update my Rex (which I had also gotten earlier just 
>>> before my 102 broke down) to the latest build and do the hardware mod so I 
>>> can play with custom roms. I’m planning to use that to do some OS 
>>> development (something I’ve been wanting to do for over a decade, since 
>>> I’ve played with modifying Minix in the early 90’s). Virtual T under a VM 
>>> running Windows 10 seems to work pretty well as a development environment, 
>>> though it would be great to have integration with Visual Studio Code :).
>>> Anyway, I’ll post updates on the custom rom OS dev when I”ve got anything 
>>> to show…
>>> Looking forward to lots of play on this not-so-new toy :)
>>> 
>>> Cheers,
>>> Erik
>>> 
>>> Daniel
>> 

Re: [M100] New on this list, slightly less new on the M102

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi Daniel,

No, I’m not on any bbs. Haven’t looked at if that is of much use to be honest.

Cheers,
   Erik 

> On 4 May 2020, at 11:17, me  wrote:
> 
> welcome to the list. i recently joined myself. got a 100 with a faulty 
> display chip and a 200 that is my near-daily driver for writing and 
> notetaking.
> 
> are you a member of any bbs?
> 
> On May 4, 2020 1:27:33 AM PDT, Erik van der Tier  wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> I thought I’d post a quick Hello, here as I just got on this mailing list. 
> It’s great to see that there’s more people still actively doing stuff with 
> the m100/102 and similar. I’ve picked my 102 up a few months ago from eBay. 
> It worked when I got it, the mainboard looked very clean (almost as new), no 
> leaking caps, battery looked great. After a month or so it stopped working 
> though (garbled mess on the display). So first I replaced the old battery 
> with a new Chinese ordered from Ali. That didn’t seem to work. So after a 
> while of seeing if longer trickle charging would change things (it didn’t) I 
> ordered a capacity kit.
> After fixing my initial (seemingly not so great) soldering I got the 102 to 
> start again. However, the clock wasn’t working properly (it lost track of 
> time when I turned off the 102). So I opened up the machine again and saw 
> that the battery was looking really bad (lots of corrosion on the sides), as 
> I’d kept the original battery I put that back, but still the clock would stop 
> while the 102 was turned off. So I figured I’d wait a while until it got a 
> chance to charge the battery.. and lo and behold… after a few days the clock 
> worked just fine! 
> So now I’ve got a fully operational and great looking 102 (I had 
> retro-brighted it earlier). I might have to get a new (this time quality) 
> battery as since 1986 its probably not holding all that much charge anymore, 
> though seemingly enough to allow changing batteries without loosing memory 
> content).
> I had also early gotten a null modem hooked up to my Mac over USB and using 
> DosBox even gotten file transfers working through Desklink. Anyway, I’m 
> having a whole lot of fun with this great little machine. So far I’ve been 
> using it for writing (nice distraction free working on a pretty nice 
> keyboard).
> Next I’m planning to update my Rex (which I had also gotten earlier just 
> before my 102 broke down) to the latest build and do the hardware mod so I 
> can play with custom roms. I’m planning to use that to do some OS development 
> (something I’ve been wanting to do for over a decade, since I’ve played with 
> modifying Minix in the early 90’s). Virtual T under a VM running Windows 10 
> seems to work pretty well as a development environment, though it would be 
> great to have integration with Visual Studio Code :).
> Anyway, I’ll post updates on the custom rom OS dev when I”ve got anything to 
> show…
> Looking forward to lots of play on this not-so-new toy :)
> 
> Cheers,
> Erik
> 
> Daniel

[M100] New on this list, slightly less new on the M102

[Erik van der Tier]

Hi All,

I thought I’d post a quick Hello, here as I just got on this mailing list. It’s 
great to see that there’s more people still actively doing stuff with the 
m100/102 and similar. I’ve picked my 102 up a few months ago from eBay. It 
worked when I got it, the mainboard looked very clean (almost as new), no 
leaking caps, battery looked great. After a month or so it stopped working 
though (garbled mess on the display). So first I replaced the old battery with 
a new Chinese ordered from Ali. That didn’t seem to work. So after a while of 
seeing if longer trickle charging would change things (it didn’t) I ordered a 
capacity kit.
After fixing my initial (seemingly not so great) soldering I got the 102 to 
start again. However, the clock wasn’t working properly (it lost track of time 
when I turned off the 102). So I opened up the machine again and saw that the 
battery was looking really bad (lots of corrosion on the sides), as I’d kept 
the original battery I put that back, but still the clock would stop while the 
102 was turned off. So I figured I’d wait a while until it got a chance to 
charge the battery.. and lo and behold… after a few days the clock worked just 
fine! 
So now I’ve got a fully operational and great looking 102 (I had retro-brighted 
it earlier). I might have to get a new (this time quality) battery as since 
1986 its probably not holding all that much charge anymore, though seemingly 
enough to allow changing batteries without loosing memory content).
I had also early gotten a null modem hooked up to my Mac over USB and using 
DosBox even gotten file transfers working through Desklink. Anyway, I’m having 
a whole lot of fun with this great little machine. So far I’ve been using it 
for writing (nice distraction free working on a pretty nice keyboard).
Next I’m planning to update my Rex (which I had also gotten earlier just before 
my 102 broke down) to the latest build and do the hardware mod so I can play 
with custom roms. I’m planning to use that to do some OS development (something 
I’ve been wanting to do for over a decade, since I’ve played with modifying 
Minix in the early 90’s). Virtual T under a VM running Windows 10 seems to work 
pretty well as a development environment, though it would be great to have 
integration with Visual Studio Code :).
Anyway, I’ll post updates on the custom rom OS dev when I”ve got anything to 
show…
Looking forward to lots of play on this not-so-new toy :)

Cheers,
Erik