Found in Retrowiki Spain:  https://logiker.com/Vintage-Computing-Christmas-Challenge-2022



The contest is to write a program that prints this exact star made of asterisks. It can be made on other colours, on any language on any computer....


I have tried my best with my Enterprise in Basic:

A verseny célja, hogy írjatok egy olyan programot, amely pontosan ezt a csillagokból álló csillagot írja. Más színekkel, bármilyen nyelven, bármilyen számítógépen elkészíthető.....


Én a legjobbat próbáltam az Enterprise-ommal Basic nyelven:

Hello. I open this new thread to put here the best I know about the Symbiface3, its current development and future functions.

Thanks.

How can I update my SF3 to the very last version?

How can I start with the SF3( on the Enterprise)?

                 What contains the SF3_EP.INI file?

                 Has the SF3 more versatile ways to inject Roms?
  
                 How to manage the Rom Manager program?

How can I start managing the SF3's funtions?

Is there a way to skip the EXOS memory check with a SF3 connected?

Now that Enterprise "net-things" seem to move with EPnet and SF3, I want to remember all you that there is a PC environment(only Win64 or Wine on Linux) named QUIGS that allows easy development of programs for SymbOS.

His creator is  Trebmint(Rob Buckley, a member of this web), and it is being a work of decades(first was  SymStudio, then Unify, and now Quigs, all incompatible between them...), still on beta version. Edoz(Edo van Zanten, also an Enterprise Forever member) is his beta-tester and creator of a lot of interesting SymbOS apps.

Today I am only presenting the software, but on incoming messages I will try to explain how to use it.

The present packet can be opened on the desktop of your computer, creating a directory named QUIGS, and putting all there. The distribution is not completely clean, there are some files that I don't know why are there, probably font code from past reincarnations of the environment.

We only have to manage the QUIGS.EXE executable, all the source files with the .qpf tag, and the "OUTPUT" directory. This is the last version from 08-01-2020.

I want to try the external cartridge bay that Zozo sugested. But I need some schematics.

2x 74ALS138
1x 74LS32

First 74LAS138:
/E0 and /E1: /MREQ
E2: /RFSH
A0: A19
A1: A20
A2: A21
The 8 outputs are valid for 8x512K memory areas:
/Q0: 00H-1FH
/Q1: 20H-3FH
/Q2: 40H-5FH
/Q3: 60H-7FH
/Q4: 80H-1FH
/Q5: A0H-BFH
/Q6: C0H-DFH
/Q7: E0H-FFH

With the second 74ALS138 divide one 512K are for a 64K areas:
/E0 and /E1: /Qx from first 74ALS138
E2: +5V
A0: A16
A1: A17
A2: A18

If using /Q0: 00H-1FH from first 138, then the outputs of the second:
/Q0: 00H-03H
/Q1: 04H-07H
/Q2: 08H-0BH
/Q3: 0CH-0FH
/Q4: 10H-13H
/Q5: 14H-17H
/Q6: 18H-1BH
/Q7: 1CH-1FH

The selected output will be the new /CART signal. Using Q0 from the first, and Q2 from the second, then the new external cartridge will be at 08H-0BH, next to the original.
One gate from the 74LS32 make the /CART&RD signal.

Also need a 7805 (or compatible) or a +5V from bus card.

Ok thanks. I will study it and more questions will follow, for sure....

Similar decoding is made inside DAVE:



I understand that /ROM is no more necessary, with your modified EXOS a ROM can exist on any 16kb boundary(Segment).

/CART&/RD  at B3 on the Cartridge Bay is decoded outside DAVE:


--------------------------------

Ok, I will make a prototype of an External Cartridge Bay with all the 4MB addressing range options selected by jumpers. It could also be useful for testing a lot of other projects, to put 1 to 4 16KB RAM/ROM segments exactly and easily on the position where we want. A 4 socket 16KB cartridge PCB would be useful for it.

I only see a drawback, the code of the SD-Reader has to be re-written "segment-position-aware" to work externally. By now it only works at 04-07 segments because the RAM window is accessed at 07. The same with the MIDI interface.

I want to give you some recommendations of use for the Bus Expander on its second version, but if you find difficult to understand this, please ask Zozo about how to prepare the Bus Expander to work with your classic card expansions.

This card is a modern copy of the Hungarian made Bus Expander designed long ago by Gyula Mészáros, but with a particularity: by default the cards plugged in the slots will feed its +5v from the 7805 regulator fitted in the Bus Expander from pins 4A/B of the connector.

But all the classic Hungarian expansion cards have its own 7805 regulator and they will not work directly, so you have to do a modification on the bottom side of the Bus Expander. The slots come unconnected from +9v on the 33A/B pins of the connector, but there are a selector at the bottom side on every slot to permit this only joining two cooper pads with a drop of tin. Then, the modified slot will be only used for a classic expansion.



Previously, you have to solder a DIL row of pins on the EDGE male connector of your classic card expansion. I will distribute the Bus Expansions only fitted with DIL connectors. But there are on the card holes to solder EDGE connectors, not provided by me.

The Enterprise power supply comes on +9v 2Amp or 1,3Amp variants, so, when all the equipment is connected, if you experience undulations on the screen, probably you need to connect a secondary power supply on the Bus Extension auxiliary power connector.

Also, every 7805 regulator can feed up to 1Amp of current, and this can be insufficient to feed the three slots when all of them being populated. This doesn't applies to slots modified for classic expansions as they produce its own +5v. The rear connector also doesn't count, it only feeds from +9v.

To overcome this I recommend to substitute the 7805 regulator that comes installed (the chip with screw and heat sink) with a 2Amp TracoPower regulator(I don`t recommend the 1Amp variant, of similar price):  https://hu.rs-online.com/web/p/kapcsolas-szabalyozo-es-kiegeszito/1616642/



The chip has the same pinout than the 7805, and I have used it for decades on my Enterprises without problems. This chip works at ambient temperature, is more energy efficient and doesn't burn your fingers...

On this second version of the Bus Expander, holes have been added to fit an array of 4,7K pull ups to the Data bus, to overcome some problems of shadow segments when a Ram expansion or Turbo mode are fitted to the computer. You can see the pads zone near the expansion connector.

While I wait for the GFX-NINE graphics cartridge I have got another I/O MSX cartridge to play with.(only to demonstrate how well the M-Slot adapter works...)



As you can read on the MSX.org web page, this was an all-in-one music cartridge released for all the MSX computers.

Its features are :


 -   32KB of sampleRAM for the ADPCM unit
 -   MIDI interface (with IN/OUT/THRU connectors)
 -   Proprietary connector for music keyboard (NMS-1160)
 -   2 RCA mono Audio-out connectors
 -   built-in microphone (mono)
 -   1 RCA external microphone connector (mono)
 -   volume adjuster (sample volume)
 -   1 audio-in RCA connector (mono, to sample from a "line"-source)
 -   built in software (Music-BOX, CALL MUSICBOX)

Impressive, isn't it? but its main drawback is that it only outputs mono sound. Inside, it has the Yamaha Y8950,  sound processor installed. Here follow  the main specs:

-Realistic FM sound generator compatible with YM3526(OPL)
-Simultaneous play of 9 tones or 6 melodies
-AM vibrato
-4-bit ADPCM voice analysis/synthesis circuits(on other descriptions they say it is an 8 bit ADPCM)
-AD/DA converters
-Up to 256KB of Ram can be attached for ADPCM data storage(only 32KB installed on this cartridge)
-8 bit input/output ports for simple piano keyboard scanning.

Philips used to subcontract its products, and on its MSX range this module wasn't an exception. It was created by  Richard Watts Computers LTD(Music Sales LTD), who, commissioned by Commodore, also made a similar product for the C64.

It was sold only in Europe, but it  had great success.(Appears now and then on Ebay.)

Often it was offered in a bundle with a passive 61 keys piano keyboard(hollow, without added electronics). I have used a cheap Chinese toy piano to replicate its functions...  

It is a very big cartridge, the SE-ONE and GFX-NINE ones are only a little higher than the black zone in the case...

At the end of its Service Manual there is a MSX Basic listing to test its features. Is this program what I will translate to IS Basic to try its features more easily.

It uses ports 00, 01, 05, 10, C0 and C1.  00 and 01 can collide with the 'Meszaros' Serial card, scarce today. But 10 is a problem when the EXDOS interface is connected. 05, C0 and C1 are still unused.

Here is the MSX Basic listing as it comes in the manual:

Soon I will receive the new TMTLogic MSX graphics cartridge. This time it will be harder for me to make it work on the Enterprise, because this beast has to be programmed entirely by IN and OUT Z80 commands. At least I already have the M-Slot, so I don't have to struggle thinking how to connect it to our computer... There is an old V9990 library that can aid us to make new programs.

The story of this GFX-NINE cartridge is similar to the story of the SE-ONE, it is a clone of a cartridge also designed by Sunrise, a group of Swish and Dutch MSX developers on mid 90s.  Its name was GFX-9000, and was the last amateur attempt to update the MSX hardware on times where the Amigas and Atari STs where the sovereigns.

The legend says that the Yamaha V9990 chip is a cut-down version of the V9978, the VDP chip (Video Display Processor) designed for the MSX3 series of computers, never released.

Yamaha offered evaluation boards of the chip for MSX and PC systems.

From my own point of view, this chip was a total failure for Yamaha, as I haven't found any device  built around it except this type of add-on cartridges. Not surprisingly it is easy to find full batches of new chips on China.

Sunrise made their GFX-9000 cartridges as cut-down versions of the Evaluation boards, as can be  understood from this early document.

My interest with this special type of MSX cartridges is that they effectively work on an Enterprise, and secondly that they where supported by Prodatron from the first time. There is a V9990 version of SymbOS for MSX computers and, since the last year, a beta for the CPC series. Now it is possible to have our own V9990 version of SymbOS, the fastest, if run on a 10Mhz Enterprise....  

As on the luxurious SE-ONE, Hans has not merely copied the Sunrise cartridge, he has overcome the problems of the circuits with a logic analyser, also redesigning the card to fit on a  low profile case.

Somebody can say, "this will be no more an Enterprise", but I think the contrary, our loved computer can be this powerful, new and old at the same time.

Just because I am actually testing the bus expanders, I have discovered one more perturbing error on my second Enterprise.

I already found other error on the rear connectors of the same unit some time back.

Observe these pictures:




You can realize that the cut of the board is displaced at least a milimeter to the rear in this unit. In the past this prevented the correct operation of the Bridge connector+Hardware Spectrum emulator on this Computer, but then I used to think that it was by other causes, because some times it worked flawlesly(it touched correctly the pins).

The solution is easy, the bus expander for this unit has to be trimmed at the sides to adapt it to the error. But then it will no longer be interchangeable...

Sorry, bad pictures...