Re: [M100] On-device file conversion?

[Wayne Lorentz]

My solution is to use the M100 to write on a remote server.

I have one of those battery-powered Wifi things attached to the RS-232 port, 
and telnet into a $6/month DigitalOcean Linux VM.  With the correct termcap, 
the Nano text processor works great on an M100.  I use USB battery about the 
size of a lipstick case, and it lasts months.

I can then retrieve the document from the VM with my computer, iPhone or iPad 
for processing later.

If I'm not near a Wifi hotspot (I don't have tethering on my cell phone plan), 
I save the document to the M100, and upload it later.

Bonus: The VM does its own automated backups.

> On May 12, 2024, at 3:01 PM, m100-requ...@lists.bitchin100.com wrote:
> 
> I always want to get the files saved off somewhere and I don't always 
> have my desktop or laptop with me, so the NADSBox does the job by saving 
> the file to alternate storage.  I don't want to disrespect the other 
> solutions that have come after it (BackPack, etc.) but NADSBox was the 
> OG, and I for one, appreciate you designing and building it!  Thank you Sir!
> 
> Regards,Bert

Re: [M100] View-80 and escape codes

[Wayne Lorentz]

I have my termcap file on my remote machine set to send certain escape codes 
for clearing the screen and such when I'm logged in.  

It works fine in plain vanilla Telcom — Lynx, Nano, and other programs display 
as expected.

Switch to View-80, and it doesn't work.  No cursor movements.  No screen 
clearing.  No delete-to-end-of-line.  

Enable View-80's Snoopy mode, and I can see that the escape codes are coming 
in, as View-80 helpfully displays the escape codes as custom combination 
characters like "Ec/K" and "Ec/n"  But View-80 just doesn't handle them at all.


> On Apr 4, 2023, at 3:04 PM, m100-requ...@lists.bitchin100.com wrote:
> 
> Are you sure Wayne? How did you test that?

[M100] View-80 and escape codes

[Wayne Lorentz]

I've done some testing, and examined the data with View-80's Snoopy mode, and 
it turns out that View-80 doesn't handle escape codes.

Anything that's not bog-standard ASCII gets thrown out.  No screen clear codes, 
no cursor movement codes, etc…

Does anyone know of a Model 100 terminal program that displays more than 40 
columns, and also handles standard M100 escape codes?

[M100] Printer port clamp

[Wayne Lorentz]

I was in the book store yesterday and picked up one of those little 
battery-powered lights that clip onto a book.  Not the ones with the giant, 
scary clamps, but one with a smaller, dainty clip.  

I thought I might have it do double-duty illuminating an M100 screen from 
above, but there doesn't appear to be anything suitable on an M100 to clip it 
onto.  Then I thought, maybe I can plug something inert into the printer port, 
like a very short, unpopulated circuit board. (The serial port is occupied 
already.)

Can anyone tell me what the connector for the printer port is called?  I assume 
that once identified, I can buy it online, since I'm a long way from the 
(last?) Radio Shack in Wisconsin Dells.

[M100] Saving problem

[Wayne Lorentz]

Recently, I've started having trouble saving documents from TEXT.

When I press F3 to save the file, it asks for a name.  I supply a name like 
A.DO.  But then the Model 100 tries to save it somewhere other than the 
built-in memory.  

I can hear a relay inside the machine triggering repeatedly, as if it's trying 
to save the document to the modem or to a cassette recorder, but I have never 
used either.

I've tried specifying the destination device type by putting RAM: before the 
file name, like "RAM:B.DO" but the machine just displays "_aborted."

It seems like somewhere, a default setting got set, but I'm not sure what it 
is, or how it's possible.

Re: [M100] TS-DOS Option ROM

[Wayne Lorentz]

No, there isn't an ordering link on the Rex page.  Clicking on "Ordering 
information" just brings you to a page that lists prices and methods of 
payment.  

Perhaps it's my fault for not knowing that "twospruces / gmail" after the 
sign-off was supposed to be an e-mail address, and that I'm supposed to write a 
letter to someone at that e-mail address asking for information about how I can 
order their product.  My Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring is in the 
shop.  What I expected was a link to a PayPal, or other service ordering and 
payment page.  He already has a PayPal account.  Making a proper, secure 
payment link only takes a few clicks.  

Gmail has the second-best spam protection on the planet (after FastMail).  It's 
not perfect, but there's no reason to obfuscate a gmail address online anymore. 
 That hasn't worked for years.  Spambots know all the clever tricks already.

While it's nice that everyone in this community is happy to vouch for him, how 
is someone who is not part of this mailing list supposed to know that he's not 
some fly-by-night scam artist?  Or perhaps dead, which happens all too often in 
retro computing?  Decode and send an e-mail, then wait six months for a reply 
that may never come?  Asking someone to send $100 to another country requires 
establishing a basic level of trust.


> On Dec 20, 2022, at 3:03 PM, m100-requ...@lists.bitchin100.com wrote:
> 
> There's a ordering link on the Rex page
>  
> https://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=REX
>  
>  
> https://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ordering_Information
>  
> Steve's email is on that page but he encoded it so he doesn't get spam. Point 
> is you can send him emails through that or he is also on this list. 
>  

Re: [M100] TS-DOS Option ROM

[Wayne Lorentz]

I thought about the REX#, but it looks discontinued.  There aren't any links on 
that page to order anything, and no contact information.   Not even a name.  
Super sketchy. 

If I was going to get a REX, I'd get the CP/M version, as I'm a CP/M 
enthusiast. But $100 is more than I can do this close to Christmas. That's why 
I thought if I could find a TS-DOS chip, it might be cheap enough to tide me 
over. 

I recently bought one of those Backpack SD card storage devices. The TS-DOS 
option ROM will work with that, right?

—
iPhoneから送信

> On Dec 18, 2022, at 9:27 AM, Brian White  wrote:
> 
> 
> I'd suggest get a REX#, which comes with ts-dos pre-loaded.
> http://www.bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=REX
> 
> You could build a plain rom with only ts-dos,
> http://tandy.wiki/Teeprom
> but it ends up costing almost the same as a REX# anyway plus more work.
> 
> --  
> bkw

[M100] TS-DOS Option ROM

[Wayne Lorentz]

Does anyone know if TS-DOS option ROMS are still being sold anywhere?  I'd like 
to use one with TPDD Backpack.  

All the online searches point to the Bitchin' 100 web site, which doesn't 
appear to have been updated in 15 years.

Re: [M100] Modems and the modern world

[Wayne Lorentz]

None.  My wife doesn’t save things like that.  She’s one of those people who 
keeps 140 tabs open, instead.  

> On Oct 12, 2022, at 3:03 PM, m100-requ...@lists.bitchin100.com wrote:
> 
> From: Peter Vollan mailto:dprogra...@gmail.com>>
> Subject: Re: [M100] Modems and the modern world
> Date: October 12, 2022 at 2:41:57 PM CDT
> To: m...@bitchin100.com <mailto:m...@bitchin100.com>
> 
> 
> link?
> 
> 
> On Wed, 12 Oct 2022 at 11:54, Wayne Lorentz  <mailto:wa...@lorentz.me>> wrote:
> It is possible to dial DTMF from a Model 100, with a little help. 
> 
> My wife has a rotary phone, and bought a little line-powered box that 
> translates pulses into Touch Tones. I think she paid about $20 for it from a 
> guy in Australia who makes them. Seems to work well. 
> 

Re: [M100] Modems and the modern world

[Wayne Lorentz]

It is possible to dial DTMF from a Model 100, with a little help. 

My wife has a rotary phone, and bought a little line-powered box that 
translates pulses into Touch Tones. I think she paid about $20 for it from a 
guy in Australia who makes them. Seems to work well. 

[M100] Programs from books and magazines without typing

[Wayne Lorentz]

I was looking at some of the books people have listed here recently, and some 
of the type-in programs are interesting. 

If you remember the old days of typing in programs from the back of magazines, 
you remember that it could be very tedious, which is why there were lots of 
utilities to help with the chore.  Now that it’s 2022, we have alternatives.

Some of you will be adept enough to be able to use OCR software to convert the 
pages of the books into text that you can then send to your M100.  If you’re on 
a Mac, it’s become a little easier recently.

macOS Monterrey has built-in OCR for images.  For whatever reason, it doesn’t 
work on PDFs; I guess because Preview is looking for the text embedded within 
the PDF file (Some PDFs have selectable text, but not all).  But what you can 
do is take a screenshot (Shift-Command-3 for the whole screen, or 
Shift-Command-4 for a section) of a book’s page in your favorite PDF reader, 
like the built-in Preview.  Then drag the screenshot into the address bar of 
Safari.  Safari will display the image file, and you’ll be able to select the 
program listing text from the page, and then copy-and-paste it into whatever 
you want.

I won’t say the OCR is 100%, but it’s a good 99.5% in my experiments.  
Certainly much easier than typing in program listings like we used to.

Re: [M100] Books in 2022

[Wayne Lorentz]

For those of you who don’t have access to venjai’s personal G: hard drive, I 
found most of what he listed on archive.org in multiple formats:

https://ia601309.us.archive.org/17/items/25GamesForYourTrs80Model100/25%20games%20for%20your%20trs-80%20model%20100.pdf

https://archive.org/details/44ProgramsForTheTrs80Model100PortableComputer

https://archive.org/details/60businessapplic00kepn

https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_intel80859mblyLanguageProgrammingManualNov78_5034151

https://archive.org/details/8080_8085_Software_Design_Book_2

https://archive.org/details/80808085SoftwareDesign

https://archive.org/details/8085MicroprocessorInterfacingApplications

https://archive.org/details/ComputerGamesForTheTrs80

https://archive.org/details/ComputerOfTheCentury

https://archive.org/details/tibook_creating-adventure-games-on-your-computer

https://archive.org/details/DowJonesUsersGuide

https://archive.org/details/ExploringTheNecPc8201a

https://archive.org/details/ExploringTheRadioShackModel100

https://archive.org/details/FinancialDecisionMakingWithYourTrs80Model100

https://archive.org/details/GamesAndUtilitiesForTheTrs80Model100

https://archive.org/details/GettingWhatYouWantFromTheTrs80Model100

https://archive.org/details/HiddenPowersOfTheTrs80Model100

https://archive.org/details/HowToDoItOnTheTrs80/how%20to%20do%20it%20on%20the%20trs-80%20model%20100%20specific%20pages/

https://archive.org/details/HowToUseTheTrs80Model100PortableComputer

https://archive.org/details/InsideTheTrs80Model100

https://archive.org/details/IntelMicroprocessorPeripheralsHandbook

https://archive.org/details/IntroducingTheTrs80Model100

https://archive.org/details/IntroductionTo80808085AssemblyLanguageProgramming

https://archive.org/details/LearningBasicForTandyComputers

https://archive.org/details/MasteringBasicOnTheTrs80Model100

https://archive.org/details/sybexmit

https://archive.org/details/Model100RomFunctions

https://archive.org/details/PortableBasic

https://archive.org/details/ProgrammingTipsPeeksAndPokesForTheTandyPortableComputers

https://archive.org/details/RbasicManual

https://archive.org/details/TheIllustratedMultiplanBook

https://archive.org/details/TheModel100BookAGuideToPortableComputing

https://archive.org/details/TheModel100Companion

https://archive.org/details/TheModel100ProgramBook

https://archive.org/details/Portable_Computing_with_the_model_100_1984_Tandy

https://archive.org/details/TheRadioShackNotebookComputer

https://archive.org/details/TheSimonSchusterGuideToTheTrs80Model100

https://archive.org/details/TheTandy200PortableComputer

https://archive.org/details/TheTrs80Model100ComputerTheMicroExecutiveWorkstation

https://archive.org/details/ThingsToDoWithYourTrs80Model100Computer

https://archive.org/details/Trs80Model100IntroductionOperation

https://archive.org/details/Trs80Model100AUsersGuide

https://archive.org/details/TRS-80_Portable_Computer_Subroutine_Cookbook_1984_David_Busch

https://archive.org/details/UserFriendlyGuideToLapPortables

[M100] Associated Press Option ROM

[Wayne Lorentz]

Here’s what was may have been in the Option ROM socket:

http://wayne.lorentz.me/computers/trs-80/this_trs-80/ 


There were other systems available, but the AP one was the most popular.  I 
dated a newspaper reporter from your region (different paper, though), and she 
used a BaSys system at work, which I believe had some kind of M100 interface.

Unfortunately, the name “BaSys” has been used multiple times by multiple 
companies, so an internet search has been worthless.

> On Sep 20, 2022, at 3:03 PM, m100-requ...@lists.bitchin100.com wrote:
> 
> All 3 were used at 'The Record', a newspaper in Hackensack New Jersey. I 
> purchased them from ebay many years ago as 'not working'. I thought they 
> would be great projects. But when I took out the old crusty batteries, 
> cleaned the contacts, and put new batteries in, they all worked! The 
> keyboards feel a little soft to me. I think I removed dental rings from the 
> keyboard on at least one of them, wish I had left it alone now. Nothing was 
> in the Option ROM sockets on any of these machines.

[M100] TRS-80 Model 100 termcap

[Wayne Lorentz]

Recently on this list, someone asked about a termcap definition for the Model 
100.

I’ve been cobbling together bits and pieces over the years, and this is what I 
use to telnet into my Mac media server, and from there ssh, gopher, and lynx 
out into the world.

If you’re going to use a Mac as a middle man, be sure to set your TRS-80 user 
to use bash, instead of zsh.  Zsh adds a bunch of superfluous control 
characters to the command prompt that show up as garbage on a Model 100.  It’s 
a known issue, but nobody seems interested in fixing it because modern 
terminals just ignore it.

termcap.text:

trs80-100|TRS-80 Model 100 v2,
lines#8, has_status_line@, 
columns#40, init_tabs#8,
init_1string=\EU,
init_2string=\EW\Eq\EE,
auto_left_margin,auto_right_margin,
backspaces_with_bs,
dest_tabs_magic_smso, xon_xoff,
bell=^G, carriage_return=^M,
clr_eol=\EK, clr_eos=\EJ,
cursor_address=\EY%p1%' '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c,
cursor_up=\EA,
cursor_down=\EB,
cursor_right=\EC,
cursor_left=\ED,
clear_screen=\EE,
cursor_home=\EH,
insert_line=\EL,
delete_line=\EM, 
cursor_normal=\EP,
cursor_invisible=\EQ,
dis_status_line=\EU\EY0 \ES\EM,
enter_reverse_mode=\Ep,
enter_standout_mode=\Ep,
exit_standout_mode=\Eq,
exit_attribute_mode=\Eq,
key_backspace=^H, tab=^I,
key_up=^^, key_down=^_,
key_left=^], key_right=^\,
newline=^M^J,
scroll_forward=^J,
set_attributes@,
max_colors@,
   acs_chars=}\243.\231\,\233+\232
 -\230h\345~\325a\377
 f\246`\235{\210q\361
 i\251n\372m\366
 j\367|\212g\2150\357
 w\363u\371t\364v\370
 l\360k\362x\365,


These are the shell customizations I use in my .profile:

#Stop macOS from complaining about us not using the zsh shell, since zsh has a 
bug in it which causes it to spit out unnecessary control codes at the prompt.

export BASH_SILENCE_DEPRECATION_WARNING=1


# Change to our custom TRS-80 Model 100 terminal definition.

export TERM=trs80-100


# Set the terminal to full duplex.

/bin/stty echo


# Tell the terminal to send us ASCII text only.

export LANG=C


# Tell the terminal to use Control-S/Control-Q flow control

stty ixon ixoff -ixany


# Compensate for programs that ignore the TERMINFO variable

stty rows 8 cols 40


# Tell the terminal which character to use for backspace

stty erase ^H


# Unset the usual definition of Control-\, because the TRS-80 Model 100 uses 
that for other things

stty quit undef


# Tell the terminal to interpret a carriage return as a newline character

stty icrnl


# Force man to use more for paging (which actually ends up being less in macOS)

export MANPAGER=more


# For some reason, man needs to be reminded of our terminal width.  Naughty man.

export MANWIDTH=40


# Hey, we're monochrome here!

export GCC_COLORS=""


# Set our custom, very short, prompt.

export PS1="\h/\W:"


# Path stuff, which is always both a bother and a necessity.

export 
PATH=/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Applications/Little\
 Snitch.app/Contents/Components


# Set the ls command to our custom settings which make it very small on the 
TRS-80.
# -1 Causes single column output, which is needed because filenames these days 
are often very long
# -F Adds decorations to the ends of certain entries to indicate of they're a 
directory or executable or other things.  This is done because we don't have 
the option of color to differentiate between these items.

alias ls="ls -1 -F"


# Set htop to look better on our small screen and low refresh rate.

alias htop="htop --no-color --delay=30 --no-unicode --no-mouse --readonly"


# Set some of the lynx options to work better on our small screen and low 
refresh rate.  Other lynx settings also have to be changed within the lynx 
config file.

alias lynx="lynx -accept-all-cookies=true -book -nomargins=true -nomore=true 
-noprint=true -nostatus=true -notitle=true -number_links=true 
-number_fields=true -useragent='TRS-80 Model 100 via Lynx' -width=40"


# Tell newsboat to stop telling us all its little progress updates.

alias newsboat="newsboat --quiet"


# Customization for nano.

alias nano="nano -Opx"


# Tell the w3m browser that we're monochrome

alias w3m="w3m -color=0"


export PATH="/opt/homebrew/sbin:$PATH”


—:—

The most annoying thing is the way Lynx keeps sending you information you don’t 
need.  On a high-speed terminal you don’t notice it.  But at 600 baud, I really 
don’t care what encryption method the web site used, or that you’re starting 
this or finishing that, or any of the dozen messages that it sends before 
actually displaying a web page.  There is a flag to disable the messages, but 
it is also broken, and Lynx ignores it.

Re: [M100] European T102 - different!

[Wayne Lorentz]

Maybe the difference is in the modulation of the modem.

I remember my early modems had a switch to change them from Bell 212A to 
Baudot.  212A was the American standard, and I think Baudot was British.

Re: [M100] WTB: NASDBox

[Wayne Lorentz]

Thanks for the advice, John.  Unfortunately, I'm looking for something better 
than an Android device.  Too many wires, and too much complication.  And I 
liked that the NASDBox ran of off AA batteries, so I don't have to think about 
whether the Android device is charged or not.

I guess I was looking for something more in line with the philosophy of the 
100, itself: simple, portable, power-efficient.

Maybe someone will put a used one on fleaBay some day.

> On Aug 11, 2020, at 1:40 PM, m100-requ...@lists.bitchin100.com wrote:
> 
> If you need a completely portable solution for a TPDD emulator, I'd go for 
> mComm on an Android device.

[M100] WTB: NASDBox

[Wayne Lorentz]

Does anyone know where I can buy a NASDBox?

The Club100 web page for it states that orders are no longer being taken.  But 
the page also indicates that it was last updated in 2011.

Does anyone know if someone else has taken up this project in the last nine 
years, or is it abandoned?

[M100] The Holy Grail: Mikrokolor Color Interface on Ebay

[Wayne Lorentz]

> 
> Ok you guys, here it is. Of course it does not come with software but
> you're smart enough to reverse engineer?
> 
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mikrokolor-Color-Interface-for-a-TRS-80-RARE/143255136222?hash=item215aabe7de:g:4LkAAOSwMrJc3X97=true

This may be the first time in history that an item labeled "rare" on fleaBay is 
actually a rare item.

Re: [M100] M100 Digest, Vol 99, Issue 13

[Wayne Lorentz]

This is a long read, but once you wade through all the personal anecdotes, 
there’s a lot of interesting information about how reporters used the Model 100 
back in the day.

http://wayne.lorentz.me/This_TRS-80/

I’ll post it to the Facebook group once Facebook is back online.

Re: [M100] M100 Digest, Vol 99, Issue 5

[Wayne Lorentz]

Yep.  Gorilla Banana was a real low-end dot matrix printer.  I think it was 
Epson compatible.

Lots of “tech” companies named themselves after animals back then.  Elephant 
Memory Systems made floppy disks.  There was also a CP/M machine maker named 
Zebra.

> On Mar 5, 2019, at 1:38 PM, m100-requ...@lists.bitchin100.com wrote:
> 
> I think the Gorilla Banana was an inexpensive printer. If so, I'm not sure
> why that booklet is included.

[M100] Current (2018) RAM/RAM disk options

[Mr. Wayne Lorentz]

Can anyone give a brief overview of the current state of RAM expansion and RAM 
disk options for the 100?

All of the information I see online is at least a decade old.

I’m especially interested to learn if there are any ways to add storage to the 
system expansion bus on the bottom.  My option ROM slot has the AP software 
chip loaded in it, and I’m very reluctant to remove it for sentimental reasons.

wlo

[M100] Loading binary files

[Wayne Lorentz]

I recently broke out my old AP-issued Model 100 and have been tinkering with it.

I have it hooked up to my computer via a null modem and am able to transfer 
BASIC files to it.  But I'm stumped about how to move a binary file.

In my old BBSing days, you just used a file transfer program, like the various 
XModem programs available for the 100.  But the one program that I can get to 
work (XMODEM.BA 9216 (02-07-90)), only saves .DO files.  Trying .CO files ends 
up with an immediate Transfer Aborted message, or something similar.

So, how does one move a binary to a Model 100 over a null modem?

The reason I ask is that I'd like to play the lpm game in the Club 100 library. 
 The library notes that its files are not ASCII.  The .BA appears to be 
tokenized BASIC, and the two support files are .CO's.

Which brings up another question: How does one get the lpm game onto a Model 
100.  The machine reports 29,382 bytes free on boot-up.  Once the XModem 
program is loaded in, it's just 17K.  But lpm is 20K.  What sorcery is this?