TI-59 Emulator

[prino]

Way back in 2003 this was posted:

Quote:Message #1 Posted by HrastProgrammer on 20 Nov 2003, 7:48 a.m.

I know, I know, this is an HP forum but, regarding the fact that there haven't been very much use of some TI forums so far, I am posting this question to a forum which is full of experienced users with great knowledge.

So, I decided to (try to) make an TI-59 emulator, either for PC or HP-48/49. At first, it seems like an impossible task due to the lack of information but, during the time, things were getting a little better. I found some info, either from the Web and some other sources, including the patent #4153937 about TI-59. This patent even includes the whole ROM dump of TMC0582/0583 and TMC0571 ROM chips. So, what is the problem? I downloaded this patent from the US Patent Office in TIFF format. I decided to retype the ROM contents into the text file for further manipulation but I am unable to do this correctly because image quality is not very good and some digits aren't recognizeable. So, it is pretty useless :-(

I am wondering if someone has a better copy or knows some other way for obtaining the ROM dump? I have a real TI-59 but, AFAIK, it isn't possible to dump the ROM contents without expensive equipment.

It can be done, and was recently done using an Arduino board.

The resulting emulator emulates the TI-59/58/58C(L) and the SR-50, SR-50A, SR-51A, SR-51II, SR-52(L) and SR-56 down to microcode level, and even lets you SST through the microcode, while displaying all internal registers. It also emulates the PC-100x printer and the emulation is so perfect that even Graphics Mode works.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hi!

Sounds very interesting. Although not really a fan of emulated calculators, I have always been a fond admirer of the Ti-59 which helped me through university. Of course I would like to try out this emulator. Where can it be found? On what platforms does it run (I have Macintosh and iPad)? And is there some information anywhere on how the ROM dump was made with an Arduino board?

Regards
Max

[prino]

It cannot be found anywhere right now, unless you can convince the author to send you a copy. It (currently) runs on doze, but it seems to contain a lot of Java, which may mean that it can be ported to other systems (fairly) easily.

The ROM dump was made using level convertors from an old broken TI-59

Quote:Die PMOS-Logikpegel konnte ich mit den beiden SN27882 aus dem defekten TI-59 realisieren

and information described in patents 4,153,937, 3,900,722 and 4,208,720. I think that Willibald Meyer will disclose more at some stage on the TI-59 mailing list @ http://lists.ti59.com/listinfo.cgi/ti59-ti59.com

[HrastProgrammer]

(01-09-2014 11:51 PM)prino Wrote:  It can be done, and was recently done using an Arduino board.

Yes, I know that for quite some time. This guy contacted me (more than 2 years ago, IIRC) but he hasn't been interested in sharing/selling the ROM, so I didn't really understand the exact purpose of his mail. Since 2008 I am into other things anyway, and don't have time to bother with TI-59 ROM dumping & emulation ...

[prino]

(01-11-2014 09:35 AM)HrastProgrammer Wrote:  

(01-09-2014 11:51 PM)prino Wrote:  It can be done, and was recently done using an Arduino board.

Yes, I know that for quite some time. This guy contacted me (more than 2 years ago, IIRC) but he hasn't been interested in sharing/selling the ROM, so I didn't really understand the exact purpose of his mail. Since 2008 I am into other things anyway, and don't have time to bother with TI-59 ROM dumping & emulation ...

Apparently TI doesn't allow him to publish the ROM listing, a bit on the very wacky side, as the listing is, due to the expiry of the patent, in the public domain anyway.

It would be possible (probably) to extract it from his emulator if you trace the microcode and strip out all the non-interesting parts, but the trace & debug files very quickly balloon up to triple-digit megabyte sizes...

For what it's worth, do you still have a version of your TI-95 emulator that relies completely on external files for the ROM contents? Stephen Reid (one of the principal architects of that machine) has recently joined the TI-59 mailing list and sells the RPD-95 in Apple's App Store (in tiny quantities, around 50 so far). I would like to see if I can update some of the ROM code with my own code, but your latest versions have everything built-in, which makes this if not impossible, then at least very hard.

[HrastProgrammer]

Hmmm, there has been 7-8 years since I worked on TI-95E but, if I remember correctly, my own developer version loads ROMs from external files. I will look at it during the next week. Please, send me a reminder by mail (you can find my e-mail address on my homepage), so I'll have your address (to send the modified version of the emulator) as well ...

[HrastProgrammer]

Well, things turned into a different direction during the last 2 weeks ...

Thanks to Hynek Sladky, who built a special hardware to read the ROM content, I was finally able to put my hands on TI-59 ROM

After that, I simply couldn't resist and it was just a matter of days to develop a working prototype of an TI-59 emulator for Windows. Despite the look (I don't really care about fancy photorealistic images) it emulates everything (CPU, ROM/RAM, ROM module, card reader, printer) and all TI-59 hidden features I tried work as expected ... HIRs, firmware, fast mode, hexadecimal codes, graphics mode, etc.

Now I am going to start the development of TI-59E for HP-48GX/49G/49G+/50G, this is my primary goal.

   

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-12-2014 04:51 AM)HrastProgrammer Wrote:  Well, things turned into a different direction during the last 2 weeks ...

Thanks to Hynek Sladky, who built a special hardware to read the ROM content, I was finally able to put my hands on TI-59 ROM

After that, I simply couldn't resist and it was just a matter of days to develop a working prototype of an TI-59 emulator for Windows. Despite the look (I don't really care about fancy photorealistic images) it emulates everything (CPU, ROM/RAM, ROM module, card reader, printer) and all TI-59 hidden features I tried work as expected ... HIRs, firmware, fast mode, hexadecimal codes, graphics mode, etc.

Now I am going to start the development of TI-59E for HP-48GX/49G/49G+/50G, this is my primary goal.

Allelujah!

Hrast is back.

[HrastProgrammer]

(06-12-2014 06:02 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Allelujah!

Hrast is back.

I don't want to left any unfinished business and TI-59 emulator was the only unfinished thing as far as my emulators are concerned.

The problem is time ...

Beside the regular work, I am doing a lot of other things in my free time (which is very scarce anyway) like EM, DSP, etc., this all draws enormous amount of time and energy. So, it is not exactly easy to find enough time for all this, but I guess I don't have to sleep anymore

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-12-2014 06:19 AM)HrastProgrammer Wrote:  

I don't want to left any unfinished business and TI-59 emulator was the only unfinished thing as far as my emulators are concerned.

The problem is time ...

Beside the regular work, I am doing a lot of other things in my free time (which is very scarce anyway) like EM, DSP, etc., this all draws enormous amount of time and energy. So, it is not exactly easy to find enough time for all this, but I guess I don't have to sleep anymore

You are my hero, you know.
And no need to sleep: lotsa time ahead to keep our eyes closed...

[HrastProgrammer]

(06-12-2014 06:43 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  You are my hero, you know.

Thanks, Massimo

I appreciate your continuous support for 15 years (wow, is it really 15 years?) very much!

[Oulan]

Hi,

This is great news .... Now this lead to the following question ...

Can I get :
- a rom dump of the TI59, or
- the hardware needed to dump the rom (I have 2 TI59, one operating nicely, with its PC100C, another for parts)

??

Waiting for an answer to make a nice android emulator

Olivier

[HrastProgrammer]

Hynek said he can put the ROM online but we agreed to wait until I will have at least some working beta version of TI-59E for HP-48/49 ...

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-12-2014 07:11 AM)HrastProgrammer Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 06:43 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  You are my hero, you know.

Thanks, Massimo

I appreciate your continuous support for 15 years (wow, is it really 15 years?) very much!

Fifteen?!?
Don't remember exactly, it could be, maybe a couple less...

Gee, I'm feeling old now!

[HrastProgrammer]

Maybe a year or two less but not much less ... I started this HP/Emulators voyage somewhere in 1998., had HP-41E out a year later, HP-41X out two years later, and you were one of the first users of my emulators ...

[HrastProgrammer]

OK, you can now download this TI-59E prototype (Windows version) here:

http://www.hrastprogrammer.com/ti59e/ti59epc.zip

Just extract and run ... And report errors/problems here.

[pito]

(06-12-2014 01:34 PM)HrastProgrammer Wrote:  Just extract and run ... And report errors/problems here.

Nice!
It is 33y back I worked with TI last time - when I do STO or RCL with registers below 10 shall I press the leading zero?
PS: Yea, it seems I have to...

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-12-2014 10:39 AM)HrastProgrammer Wrote:  Maybe a year or two less but not much less ... I started this HP/Emulators voyage somewhere in 1998., had HP-41E out a year later, HP-41X out two years later, and you were one of the first users of my emulators ...

Well, you were right Ž! ;)

I had to look at my (very) old PC to find out that my first copy of HP-41E is from September '99, and the directory containing the files we exchanged both ways dates October 2000.

So, yes: I'm old! Sensation confirmed.

[Marcus von Cube]

(06-12-2014 09:30 PM)pito Wrote:  It is 33y back I worked with TI last time - when I do STO or RCL with registers below 10 shall I press the leading zero?
PS: Yea, it seems I have to...

It depends on what you type next. If I'm not mistaken, as long as the next key isn't a digit, the shorthand is executed as expected. Try it in LRN mode!

[Marcus von Cube]

(06-12-2014 01:34 PM)HrastProgrammer Wrote:  Just extract and run ... And report errors/problems here.

As you like it: I've trouble stopping a running program with R/S. Just clear program memory and let it run!