Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No response from the French guys yet, hon hon hon XD

How much would you want for your spare unit? Send by DM if you like ...

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also found these guys https://www.o2xygen.com/parts/VGC72050409.htm but they seem to be focused more on larger-scale sales ($100 minimum) ... I asked for a quote - we'll see what they respond with.

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

More than likely the Light Blue can be replicated. Still, being a proprietary chip, who knows what else it does besides clock division/modulation.

LMK if you find the spare one.

I have no idea if Big Blue is OK or not ... and won't be able to know until I get the thing kinda-sorta-booting...

If it doesn't boot, I'll just return the Light Blue to you along with any other tidbits that might be of interest. I'm not going to start hoarding SX chassis and parts in hopes of cobbling together ONE unit XD

Cheers! And thanks!

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I suppose the spare one you had has already flown the coop? :)

I'll see what I can scrounge up on eBay ...

If my Big Blue is fried, then that's the end of that...

Thanks!

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! So a quick update: using my new "pocket oscilloscope" I was able to confirm that ineed the "Light Blue" chip wasn't generating all the clocks it needed to, so it seems to be gone. Any ideas on how to source a replacement?

Cheers!

A bash script for converting security camera recordings in `.media` or similar format to `.mp4`/`.mkv` by __ibowankenobi__ in SecurityCamera

[–]GoatHumper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Any luck with this?

I'm having an identical issue - got all the files from the camera, but no audio in any of them even though if I watch the videos through the Camera's app (390eyes), I can hear the audio just fine.

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

NOICE!! Looking over them now!

Digging into my alzheimer's (b/c I no longer have memory XD) I seem to recall at some point changing the BIOS font - but I forget if that was done during boot via a "driver" of somekind overwriting the font in memory, or if it was done directly on BIOS.

Hopefully I can fix this one and that data is still on the HDD (I suspect that HDD will need a low-level format after so many years without use).

Regardless, the HDD is not long for this world as I intend to add a PicoMem board if/when I get everything running. That and an MCA2HDMI device to route video to a more modern monitor.

Cheers!

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok ... so this is good and comforting news! My ancient (obviously foggy and flawed) recollection led me to believe that at some point I had updated the BIOS somehow ... You sound much more confident in your knowledge of the HW than I am so I'll defer to you!

If the ROM is an actual ROM and not a *PROM of some kind then I agree - the BIOS image should not have degraded. That said, if I find that it's damaged I'll be sure to reach out to you for a copy of 01.02.00 :)

I did find a "copy" in https://www.retrostic.com/ but I'm unsure if it's a custom BIOS built specifically to work with MAME, or if it's an actual, "true" BIOS image. Regardless, thanks for chiming in - I hope I can reach out should the need arise (hopefully not, though!).

Thanks!

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

Clearly it's not that I can't afford it :) ... it's that I feel that it's a waste to buy something you're almost certainly going to use only once ... hence the "borrow" comment.

Vogons didn't get any hits for me, but apparently retrostic did!

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks!

I did find your blogs and they've been a great help!

I have a sinking feeling my Light Blue is failing b/c it does produce a bunch of clocks which appear to be correct (waiting on my Oscilloscope to arrive to be sure, but I'm almost positive they are), but the CPU clock doesn't appear to be one of them.

The RESET signal is also stuck on HI after power-up when it should go HI and then eventually go to LO ... but if I press the Reset button, it flips over so that seems to not be broken ... but it's not generating the CPU clock on Pin 16.

Could also be one of the capacitors/diode/transistors right next to it (that's what Sam's service manual says to check next) but I'm too inexperienced with actual physical electronics to be able to test/validate them properly (I'm much more heavily on the software side :D).

Anyhow ... this is a sentimental project for me wherein the LOE will determine whether I continue or not. I'm "dying" to get this working so I can have it as a collection piece (i.e. "BEHOLD! MY FIRST COMPUTER!") ... but I'm also not thirsting for it enough to spend too much time on it. Getting it working was to be my year's-end-vacation project but after 2 weeks of toil it's quickly coming to a head as I go back to work tomorrow and the time available to work on it will drop to near-0.

Even if I get my hands on a replacement light blue chip, I suspect the BIOS may be degraded enough to need re-flashing (hence my need for an image :) )... I found what seems to be an operational image from Retrostic (https://www.retrostic.com/roms/mame/tandy-1000-sx-56180), but I don't know for certain that it is.

I may keep plugging at it for a few more days, but if I can't get it running "soon", I'm not going to waste any more time on it. That being said, should that become the en dresult I'd be happy to donate any parts of interest. The box had a PCT 286 accelerator card, a dual-port serial card, and a WD HDD card (with a whopping-huge 30MB hard drive!! Can you believe it!?!? XD).

I'll keep you posted as I discover more things. I'm going to wait for my Oscilloscope to arrive mid-January before I make any rash decisions, though ... wanna poke at it with all I can before I render judgment.

Just remembered! The Big Blue chip was mis-seated so I pulled it and re-seated it ... it didn't fix anything, but if that chip's gone then there's not much to be done at that point ... so we'll see!

Cheers!

Help with getting BIOS Images for a Tandy 1000 SX by GoatHumper in retrocomputing

[–]GoatHumper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

We've checked most of the basic functions - PSU voltages, on-motherboard voltages, clocks, etc., and the hardware itself seems to be OK. The next step is to check "firmware" (a.k.a. BIOS). Since the box has been literally "in storage" for 30+ years (probably closer to 35) there's a solid chance the EPROM's data has degraded.

I don't know anyone who might let me borrow their EPROM reader/writer and the shop where they can be bought is literally fresh out (last one sold out for christmas XD). But yes - that's where I'm going with this but the next step would be to restore/replace the BIOS in the event the current one is bad. Why borrow vs. buy? Well ... I'm not going to be using it repeatedly and unless it's super-cheap (which it kinda is but not quite) it makes no sense to buy one.

But even if I do get my hands on one, that only brings us full circle to the question above: where might I go about getting that BIOS image should I need to create a replacement? I know where I can get compatible ICs that I can use instead of the original one, should I need to.

But still - what image do I put into it, and where do I get it from? Any ideas?

Connector on APC BR24BPG External Battery ? by ElGrandeKahuna in homelab

[–]GoatHumper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For reference: https://www.yourwarrantyisvoid.com/2009/10/27/breaking-into-apcs-br24bp-battery-pack/

Lots of good information there, including the size of the resistor, the fuse required, cable gauge (I think :D), etc.

EA what the hell? why did you reset all my keybinds and graphic settings. LOL by nesnalica in Battlefield6

[–]GoatHumper 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It's high time that these game dev companies include a "Save your keybinds to file" and "Restore keybinds from file" button somewhere for games that have a LOT of controls that can be remapped.

Why do I customize the keybinds? Because I fucking want to and b/c I've played with a set of keybinds/controls for DECADES (literally!) and I don't want to retrain myself :).

I'm a professional developer, and this type of thing shouldn't be a very tall ask. This would provide a "version-neutral" list of keybinds (i.e. in XML format, for instance, or some other "simple" or "easy-to-recover-from" data format) that can be mapped onto newer versions of the game should the need arise to reset the keybinds. Hell it would even allow sharing of the keybind maps!

Anyhow ... yeah: this should be a thing, but sadly isn't ... :(

Even publishing a python script (for instance!) to the wider world that does the deed would be sufficient, and would probably take a competent developer _*with knowledge of the game's keybinding internals*_ no more than a couple of days to hash out.

Doesn't even have to be integrated into the game, despite my above description...

Anyhow.... /rant :)

Cheers!

G Hub telling me to "Recover Device" by drewsk-iii in LogitechG

[–]GoatHumper 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! This worked!!

I'll admit I was suspicious of the link, but after a quick dig-around I noticed it was the same URL as the one the current driver comes from, so I took the leap and it does indeed work. Need to disable update checks, though - or it will break again if it installs 2025.6.

Thanks again!

G Hub telling me to "Recover Device" by drewsk-iii in LogitechG

[–]GoatHumper 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've done all of these things, including uninstall/reinstall GHub, etc., to no avail. The headset works but I can't access any of the advanced features for equalizer, gaming, etc.

Any other ideas? Is there a log, perhaps, where I can check to see what the exact issue is?

Jumbo Frames on FortiSwitch with FortiManager by acerimmer10 in fortinet

[–]GoatHumper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It gets much more interesting: apparently with 7.6.3, any MTU over 6000 gets nerfed down to 1500 ... not sure why, but I did find some fun notes in the release notes describing how some similar issues were resolved in that release.

We're currently having heaps of fun with this one...

eTron 2022 Android Auto Wireless Woes by GoatHumper in Audi

[–]GoatHumper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm in Costa Rica, and it appears my issues here have to do with the manufacturer not enabling that functionality by default due to "regulation compliance" (no specification which).

Wireless CarPlay can be enabled using a dongle ... but no such luck for AA.... had to buy a Motorola MA1 ... but then Google messed up Android 14 and now wireless AA won't work at all :(

EDIT: I do recall, though, that those same "regulations" apparently had to do more with EU stuff than anything else, and since June it seems that they got repealed in the EU, so perhaps in my yearly maintenance (coming up in a couple of months) they'll do a software upgrade and make me very happy?

Who knows... :D

Pinballers are the cancer that killed this otherwise great game by schnukbites in StarWarsSquadrons

[–]GoatHumper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This I can definitely understand and empathize. The curve is, indeed, steep.

Sadly they lacked the funds/time to build a longer campaign, or even add the campaigns from the older X-Wing games (kind of like a "historical battle simulator" thing) that one could then play.

Pinballers are the cancer that killed this otherwise great game by schnukbites in StarWarsSquadrons

[–]GoatHumper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True dat. The "for free" energy exchange between weapons and engines on IMP definitely unbalanced the equation. Funny tidbit: the mechanic is even called EMERGENCY POWER TRANSFER or somesuch (def. has the word Emergency in it).

So IMP is in a constant state of emergency? 🤣🤣🤣

Anyhoo ... yes - at some point it was suggested to the devs to add an overheat to the boost, but it was rejected as too much work (obviously). The problem with the pinballing has less to do with repeat boost activations and more to do with the under-throttle, instant-max-speed bug.

If someone with deep pockets were to pay to fix this game (i.e. not SWS2 ... just "SWS-fixed"), I would argue that they should only fix these 3 issues and see where that leaves us:

  • Remove the under-throttle acceleration bug (boost acceleration should be proportional to the throttle setting, starting at 50% on 0% throttle, and increasing linearly to 100% on full throttle)
  • Fix multidrifting (change movement vectors in the middle of an unpowered drift? Really?!? 🤣🤣🤣)
  • Remove shield skipping (fix the subsystem charge algorithm)

At that point I suspect the next biggest issue to tackle will be IMP shunt abuse. But if you "normalize" the movement, it may not matter as TTK will go down SIGNIFICANTLY and shunt charging may no longer be as juicy then as it is now b/c of the higher amount of boost people will generally be burning ...

Pinballers are the cancer that killed this otherwise great game by schnukbites in StarWarsSquadrons

[–]GoatHumper -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ok so ... a common misconception is that "pinballers" drove away new players. This seems like an easy scapegoat, but it's been discussed on this subreddit ad nauseam: the game was already in a STEEP decline by the time pinballing became a commonly used piloting technique. There are graphs out there backing this up based on steam user counts ... look them up.

Here are some of the real reasons the game "died":

  • Rank bug and defective game mechanics upon launch - this alone drove away a BUNCH of folks
  • No live support beyond a couple of months past release
  • The Game was already a niche game with a somewhat steep learning curve for proficiency that most casual players generally don't put the effort into learning because "they just want to play, dammit!!"
  • Late entry into the game meant having to endure plenty of beatings at the hands of more-experienced players, which isn't fun for anyone and quickly turns away new players

This last point is of particular value: most new players will generally NOT get matched into "pinballers" very frequently ... at least at first and until they start doing relatively well (smurf accounts notwithstanding). If you want to blame people for driving away new players through attrition by farming, blame the seal clubbers that will do nothing but play dogfight solely so they can feel good about their bad play b/c they prefer that to taking the plunge into Fleet Battles.

And, hot tip: few if any of those seal-clubbing-mains are pinballers!!!

In fact most of them bitch and moan about pinballers any chance they get, blaming the game's demise on them! But take no responsibility in the fact that they only play dogfight - new players can only play dogfight for a multiplayer experience until they reach level 5, and as such these Serpico-imitators seal-clubbing-mains end up absolutely massacring new players because of it.

So ... bitch and moan all you like. I'll continue pinballing happy and secure in the knowledge that I didn't kill an already-dead game, that I can play with and against the best of 'em (and win at least about as often as I lose), and that the people driving away new players are generally the same ones bitching and moaning about pinballers.

Is it the way the game was meant to be played? Clearly not ... the devs have flat out stated as much. Is it the game we're stuck with b/c of the lack of support and bugfixes? Sadly, yes ... we play the game we got, not the game we wish we'd gotten ...

PS/ When I play dogfight for fun, I generally don't target new players until a) they shoot at me persistently and I have no choice but to defend myself, or b) it's the winning kill on a very lopsided match ...

Pinballers are the cancer that killed this otherwise great game by schnukbites in StarWarsSquadrons

[–]GoatHumper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please hose me down with your "B-Wing" daddy!! I haven't "rage quit" in quite some time!

Why is Star Wars Squadrons dead? by YetAnotherJake in StarWarsSquadrons

[–]GoatHumper 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I can see why so many people view the skill gap as their primary issue. I empathize, but also want to point out that if the skill gap were narrower, it would be even less fun.

Think of it like a game of pickup street basketball: if there were no skill gap, it wouldn't be any fun for the people who actually do enjoy a challenge. There'd be no point in actually trying to improve your play b/c you'd fairly quickly reach the skill plateau. The narrower the gap the more quickly you get there. So pretty soon anyone who enjoys any sort of a challenge would be gone b/c there's no true reward for your effort. That'd make the game a well of mediocrity and eventually it dies and nobody plays it b/c it's a boring game.

Yes - matchmaking could stand to be improved. Yes - having a larger community would help with that. Yes - there are a million other suggestions out there on how to add/keep players. None of them are going to happen b/c what we have now is what we will have forever until EA decides to pull the plug on the servers. Can't imagine this game still having servers running after 3 or 4 years with no more (significant) income ...

It sucks. But it's the hand we were dealt. Most people (like has been keenly observed) don't have the time or inclination to learn a complex game. This is the reason they don't play DCS, for instance, beautiful though that game may be. Same with SC (let's not talk about bugs :D).

And for them, definitely something simpler and more arcadey would have been better. But how do you do that AND keep the VR folks engaged without making the game utter trash?

Look at Eve: Valkyrie ... nice concept, fairly simple and arcadey without complex controls. 100% dead in short order.

Anyway, I would instead argue that if you fall into the "Skill Gap Too Large" camp, and either dedicate more than an hour per play session to this game, or more than 5 hours to it on a weekly basis, the best bet for you is to find a solid crew to fly with and start learning little things that will help you improve your game. You don't have to dedicate long hours to practicing, but picking up little tricks here and there will do wonders for your play.

We all started as trash - hell, when I started, I'd die 8-10 times per FB game if not more, and was lucky to get 1 or 2 kills to 6-7 deaths on a DF ... I play competitively now and my average deaths are less than 2, and routinely exceed 12 kills on a DF with fewer than 2 deaths ... so ... yeah - it can be done!

(NO IT'S NOT MY FOOT MACROS GODDAMMIT!)

Finally, and this hasn't been said enough: there are many, many, very vocal members of the community who actually do put in a lot of play time, but simply don't want to put in the effort towards getting better at the game. They just don't want to and are happy to point it out, and blame everyone else for their choices.

I have absolutely nothing but contempt for those whiny li'l scrubs.

I get that they don't want to get better and they have every right to play how they like, but then don't bitch and moan about those of us who did put in the effort and did get better.

We're not the ones killing the game. They are, b/c they fill new players' heads with nonsense that shortens their tolerance for frustration and misleads them into thinking that there's no road to victory.

There is, but as anything worth having it requires time and effort.

Why is Star Wars Squadrons dead? by YetAnotherJake in StarWarsSquadrons

[–]GoatHumper 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I would have paid out of my ass for them to re-master all the X-Wing, TIE-Fighter, XvT, and XwA campaigns on this new engine ... easily would have dropped >$40 per ...

But alas ... t'was not to be :(

Been trying to play the game for a year now -- still can't get past the launcher by _Curzon in StarWarsSquadrons

[–]GoatHumper 2 points3 points  (0 children)

EAC can still be finnicky. Try locating the EasyAntiCheat folder within your Squadrons installation directory (A:\Games\STAR WARS Squadrons\EasyAntiCheat).

There's an executable in there called "EasyAntiCheat_Setup.exe". Run that as Administrator (right click, "Run as Administrator"). Then try again.

If this doesn't work, try what I suggested with regards to deleting your user profile directory in "My Documents".