Rick | 1 Jan 03:11
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RE: REX2 and CP/M

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:34:59 -0800
>From: Rick Hanson <rick@...>  
>Subject: RE: REX2 and CP/M  
>To: m100@...
>
>Oh yeah?  Look at how the old, mid '80s LAPDOS works.  In brief, it 
>was originally designed to run on a PC from the early to mid '80s.  A 
>TPDD was plugged into the COM1 or COM2 port using a simple gender 
>changer.  Just like the old lap-link software (same developer - 
>Traveling Software), the PC screen is split in two, showing the PC 
>files on the left and the TPDD files on the right.  A command line 
>shows functions below.  Moving files was so easy.  One or all or any 
>combination using file cards, like * and ?.
>
>Shortly thereafter, the developer added a nifty feature and renamed 
>the program LAPDOS II.  That feature was a little .ba file that was 
>piped into a Model 100 (102 or 200) attached via a null-modem 
>cable.  When the file ran, the Model "T" looked like and acted like 
>... a TPDD.  They also added TPDD2 support, i.e., both banks.
>
>Is that cool or what?  Unfortunately, LAPDOS II was never brought 
>forward in time to meet the new hardware and operating 
>systems.  Thus, as hard drives got over 20 meg, it failed.  

Don't tell that to my 1.2 Gig hard drive that I run LAPDOS II from. 8-)

Actually, I think the real problem is a partition size limit that LDII has a problem with, but I don't know
what that wall may be. I have it running in a 220-ish MB partition on that 1.2 Gig drive with no problem.

(Continue reading)

Kenneth Pettit | 1 Jan 05:32
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NADSBox customers: Everyone should flash their NADS......Boxes


All NADSBox customers:

There is a new "Official Release" version of firmware for your NADSBox available on the club100 website. 
Version 1.05 fixes a critical communication protocol bug that causes "Communication Error" messages
with TS-DOS occasionally.  There are a few other changes also as identified in the release notes.

Here is a direct link to the file:

http://www.club100.org/nadsbox_firmware_v105.zip

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Ken
dougstump1 | 1 Jan 15:41
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Re: NADSBox customers: Everyone should flash their NADS......Boxes

Ken,

I flashed the firmware upgrade, but I’m still having the same problem 
swapping SD cards.  I terminate TS-DOS (ROM) and go back to the main 
menu on the M100 (after making sure that the card isn’t being read or 
written to).  When I swap cards out the status light on the NADSBox 
does not flash.  When I go back into TS-DOS and access the “disk”, 
sometimes it will show the directory contents of the removed card, 
other times the directory shows empty and TS-DOS says “disk not 
formatted”.  Most times pressing “log” has no effect, it’s only 
recognized the new card a couple of times.  When I turn off the NADSBox 
and power it back up the status light blinks, when I “log” it again 
(or restart TS-DOS), it shows the correct directory on the new SD card. 

I’m having the same symptoms from both my M100’s but I haven’t 
tried the T200 yet. 

BTW, I have the M100 powered by the wall wart & the NADSBox powered by 
the USB cable from my desktop. 

Am I doing something wrong?

Doug

Quoting Kenneth Pettit <kenneth_pettit@...>:
>
> All NADSBox customers:
>
> There is a new "Official Release" version of firmware for your 
> NADSBox available
(Continue reading)

Frederick Whitaker | 1 Jan 15:49
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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. I am looking forward to an exciting year with, 
among other things, REX as the highlight just as the NADSBox has been 
already for 2008.

--

-- 
Fred Whitaker
rrtfw6923@...
Jesus lives and gives eternal life to all who ask!

Frederick Whitaker | 1 Jan 16:02
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Floppy disks!

Years ago the instructions for changing floppy disks included two 
things. One, make sure that the access light on the drive is off when 
you change disks. If you do remove the disk while the access light is on 
you could corrupt your disk or even make it unusable until it is 
reformatted. In other words you could lose everything on it.

The reason for this has to do with a buffer that the DOS program uses 
when it accesses floppy disks. It can "remember" the directory of the 
disk it most recently accessed and if another disk is accessed at the 
wrong time this directory can be superimposed onto the new disk. If  DOS 
assumes that you have not changed disks it could ruin the new one.

I don't know how much of this is true for our SD cards but I would not 
assume that you can "hot" switch the cards, that is don't do it when the 
box is turned on, or when TS-DOS is running.

--

-- 
Fred Whitaker
rrtfw6923@...
Jesus lives and gives eternal life to all who ask!

dougstump1 | 1 Jan 16:23
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Cheap SD cards

With the NADSBox, as miraculous as it is, we’re still limited to the maximum number of files the TS-DOS
directory can hold.  So it seems rather silly to me to use some of the 2GB cards (that I already had on hand for
my Nikon) with all that wasted space.  I just checked the Circuit City web site and they have SanDisk 512 MB
cards (Cat # SDSDB512768) for $0.96 (ninety six cents) each!  You can only order three at a time so I placed
two orders.  Now I can move the M100 files to the smaller cards and put the 2GB’s back in the camera bag where
they belong.  Shipping was $3.99 plus $0.27 tax for a total of $7.14 for three cards.  Can’t beat the price!

I’ll bet you could store every M100 program ever written on one 2GB card!

Doug

Frederick Whitaker | 1 Jan 15:53
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Re: NADSBox customers: Everyone should flash their NADS......Boxes

dougstump1@... wrote:
> Ken,
>
> I flashed the firmware upgrade, but I’m still having the same problem 
> swapping SD cards.  I terminate TS-DOS (ROM) and go back to the main 
> menu on the M100 (after making sure that the card isn’t being read or 
> written to).  When I swap cards out the status light on the NADSBox 
> does not flash.  When I go back into TS-DOS and access the “disk”, 
> sometimes it will show the directory contents of the removed card, 
> other times the directory shows empty and TS-DOS says “disk not 
> formatted”.  Most times pressing “log” has no effect, it’s only 
> recognized the new card a couple of times.  When I turn off the 
> NADSBox and power it back up the status light blinks, when I “log” it 
> again (or restart TS-DOS), it shows the correct directory on the new 
> SD card.
> I’m having the same symptoms from both my M100’s but I haven’t tried 
> the T200 yet.
> BTW, I have the M100 powered by the wall wart & the NADSBox powered by 
> the USB cable from my desktop.
> Am I doing something wrong?
>
> Doug
>
>
>
> Quoting Kenneth Pettit <kenneth_pettit@...>:
>>
>> All NADSBox customers:
>>
>> There is a new "Official Release" version of firmware for your 
(Continue reading)

Kenneth Pettit | 1 Jan 16:39
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RE: NADSBox customers: Everyone should flash their NADS......Boxes


Doug,

When you say "it's only regognized the new card a couple of times", are you meaning there is a specific SD card
you purchased that the NADSBox doesn't recgonize?  What about the 512MB SanDisk card that was shipped with
the NADSBox...can it be recognized every time by the NADSBox?  I guess I'm not clear by your terminology
when you say "new SD card".  If you remove a working card and then immediatley put the same card back in, does
the NADSBox recoginize that card every time (meaning does the Status LED flash and can it be accessed using
the 'dir' command)?

There were no specific changes to this firmware that would fix what you are describing as I don't really
understand the problem 100% yet.  In fact, for some reason, I was under the impression you had already
resolved the issue.  But no matter, I'm happy to work with you to figure out what's going on.

Ken

 
On Thu, 1 Jan 2009 14:41:28, Doug Stump wrote:
> I flashed the firmware upgrade, but I’m still having the same problem 
> swapping SD cards. I terminate TS-DOS (ROM) and go back to the main 
> menu on the M100 (after making sure that the card isn’t being read or 
> written to). When I swap cards out the status light on the NADSBox 
> does not flash. When I go back into TS-DOS and access the “disk”, 
> sometimes it will show the directory contents of the removed card, 
> other times the directory shows empty and TS-DOS says “disk not 
> formatted”. Most times pressing “log” has no effect, it’s only 
> recognized the new card a couple of times. When I turn off the NADSBox 
> and power it back up the status light blinks, when I “log” it again 
> (or restart TS-DOS), it shows the correct directory on the new SD card. 
> 
(Continue reading)

dougstump1 | 1 Jan 17:00
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RE: NADSBox customers: Everyone should flash their NADS......Boxes

Ken,

Sorry, when I said “new card” I meant a card that already had M100 
files on it and has worked before.  Maybe I should have said card #1 & 
card #2.  I just tried it again:

1.  I put in the original 512MB card in the NADSBox
2.  Power up the NADSBox and wait for the status led to stop fast blinking
3.  Power up the M100
4.  Go to TS-DOS (ROM)
5.  Go to “Disk”
6.  TS-DOS shows the first page of the directory (there are a few more 
files on the second page)
7.  With the status led not blinking (other than it’s very slow 
“I’ve alive” blink), remove the SD card
8.  Reinsert the same card
9.  Either press “log” or Shift + down arrow to read the next page 
of the directory
10.  The M100 screen shows no files and says “Disk Free: NOT FORMATTED”

I get the same behavior if I leave TS-DOS in disk mode, got back to ram 
mode, exit TS-DOS altogether, or power down the M100.  The only way to 
read the directory of the SD card it to power down the NADSBox. 

Are we supposed to power off the NADSBox when we change cards?  I’ve 
read the User’s Guide several times and didn’t see anything about 
changing the cards so I don’t know if I’m doing this right or not. 

Thanks,
Doug
(Continue reading)

Frederick Whitaker | 1 Jan 17:13
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Re: Cheap SD cards

dougstump1@... wrote:
> With the NADSBox, as miraculous as it is, we’re still limited to the maximum number of files the TS-DOS
directory can hold.  So it seems rather silly to me to use some of the 2GB cards (that I already had on hand for
my Nikon) with all that wasted space.  I just checked the Circuit City web site and they have SanDisk 512 MB
cards (Cat # SDSDB512768) for $0.96 (ninety six cents) each!  You can only order three at a time so I placed
two orders.  Now I can move the M100 files to the smaller cards and put the 2GB’s back in the camera bag where
they belong.  Shipping was $3.99 plus $0.27 tax for a total of $7.14 for three cards.  Can’t beat the price!
>
> I’ll bet you could store every M100 program ever written on one 2GB card!
>
> Doug
>
>
>
>   
With the use of subdirectories you can expand that capacity a great 
deal. Also, it ignores files that have long file names.  You can 
actually store a great deal on an SD card and because of the TS-DOS 
limitations you can have additional subdirectories that contain programs 
and data that you don't wish to access through TS-DOS.

--

-- 
Fred Whitaker
rrtfw6923@...
Jesus lives and gives eternal life to all who ask!


Gmane