The peripheral expansion box

This very bulky piece of hardware is meant to support upto eight peripheral cards that will enhance the capabilities of the TI-99/4A console. It has its own power supply, which provides each card with the necessary power for a +5V, a +12V and a -12V (possibly -5V, with a large heat sink...) voltage regulator.

It is connected to the console side port via a 38-connection cable that ends up in a peripheral card. And here goes one of the eight available slot. For some reason, the cable does not carry all lines available on the console side port (even though some of them are present in the PE-box bus).

The PE-box is a ventilated unit, and is designed to cool the peripheral cards when the lid is close. The manual specifies that proper ventilation cannot be insured if the lid is left open.

The front pannel has little glass window in front of each card slot. A card can thus use an onboard LED to signal the user that it is in use. It may be usefull for troubleshooting purposes, but I suspect it was mainly meant to look cool... Here is a picture (not mine).

The PE-box also has room for a disk drive unit and provides it with power. This drive of course requires a controller card. The original card by TI could also control two more disk drives, to be intalled externally (with their own power supply). Later on, some third parties offered slim units that would allow to fit two disk drives in the space originally meant for one.

Power supply
Internal bus

The connection card
Signals buffering
Bus multiplexing
Fixing the firehose cable

A typical peripheral card
General design
ROM types
In-circuit programming
ROM paging


Power supply

The PE-box provides unregulated power, meant to be used by voltage regulators intalled on each card. Typically, these would be a 78x05 (+5V) , a 78x12 (+12V) or a 79x12 (-12V). According to the specs, these regulators need an input voltage at least 3V in excess of the required output voltage. Therefore, the PE-box supplies them with +16V, -16V and +8V. Note that if you need -5V, you could use a 79x05 and feed it with the -16V supply. This would just mean that you need a really big heat sink, since this regulator is going to dissipate a lot of power...



Internal bus

The PE-box connect each card to a xxx-lines internal bus. Some of the lines on the bus are meant for production purposes and are held high in the PE-box. Supposedly, the card manufacturing machines used them to burn EPROMs or test the card. Here is a picture of the inside (not mine).

                                59     Left         1 
                          Front ===================== Rear
                                60    Right         2
 #  Name   I/O   Use 
--  -----  ---   -------------------------------------------- 
 1               Power supply for a +5V 3-T voltage regulator (about +8V) 
 2               Ditto          
 3  GND            
 4  READYA  <     System ready (goes to READY, 10K pull-up to +5V) A low level puts the cpu on hold.
 5  GND           
 6  RESET*  >     System reset (active low) 
 7  GND             
 8  SCLK    nc   System clock (not connected in interface card) 
 9  LCP*    nc   CPU indicator 1=TI99 0=2nd generation (not connected in interface card) 
10  AUDIO   <    Input audio (to AUDIOIN in console) 
11  RDBENA* <    Active low: enable flex cable data bus drivers (1K pull-up) 
12  PCBEN   H    PCB enable for burn-in (always High) 
13  HOLD*   H    Active low CPU hold request (always High) 
14  IAQHA   nc   IAQ [or] HOLDA (logical or) 
15  SENILA* H    Interrupt level A sense enable (always High) 
16  SENILB* H    Interrupt level B sense enable (always High) 
17  INTA*   <    Interrupt level A (active low, goes to EXTINT*) 
18  LOAD*   nc   Unmaskable interrupt (not carried by interface cable/card) 
19  D7      <>   Data bus, bit 7 (least significant) 
20  GND            
21  D5      <>    
22  D6      <>     
23  D3      <>      
24  D4      <>      
25  D1      <>       
26  D2      <>        
27  GND              
28  D0      <>   Data bus, bit 0 (most significant) 
29  A14     >      
30  A15     >    Address bus, lsb. Also CRU output bit. 
31  A12     >      
32  A13     >       
33  A10     >       
34  A11     >       
35  A8      >       
36  A9      >       
37  A6      >       
38  A7      >        
39  A4      >       
40  A5      >       
41  A2      >       
42  A3      >       
43  A0      >    Address but, bit 0 (most significant)
44  A1      >     
45  AMB     H    Extra address bit (always High)
46  AMA     H    Extra address bit (always High)
47  GND          
48  AMC     H    Extra address bit (always High)
49  GND            
50  CLKOUT* >    Inverted PHI3 clock, from TIM9904 clock generator
51  CRUCLK* >    Inverted CRU clock, from TMS9900 CRUCLK pin
52  DBIN    >    Active high = read memory. Drives the data bus buffers.
53  GND           
54  WE*     >    Write Enable pulse (derived from TMS9900 WE* pin)
55  CRUIN   <    CRU input bit to TMS9900
56  MEMEN*  >    Memory access enable (active low) 
57               Power supply for a -12 Volts 3-T voltage regulator (about -16V) 
58               Ditto 
59               Power suppy for a +12 Volts 3-T voltage regulator (about +16V) 
60               Ditto

Here is the same info, arranged as on the connector:

          REAR
+8V 1||2 +8V
GND 3||4 READY
GND 5||6 RESET*
GND 7||8 (nc)
(nc) 9||10 AUDIO
RDBENA* 11||12 (high)
(high) 13||14 (nc)
(high) 15||16 (high)
INTA* 17||18 (nc)
D7 19||20 GND
D5 21||22 D6
D3 23||24 D4
D1 25||26 D2
GND 27||28 D0
A14 29||30 A15/CRUOUT
A12 31||32 A13
A10 33||34 A11
A8 35||36 A9
A6 37||38 A7
A4 39||40 A5
A2 41||42 A3
A0 43||44 A1
(high) 45||46 (high)
GND 47||48 (high)
GND 49||50 CLKOUT*
CRUCLK* 51||52 DBIN
GND 53||54 WE*
CRUIN 55||56 MEMEN*
-16V 57||58 -16V
+16V 59||60 +16V
FRONT



The connection card

The main purpose of the connection card is to buffer signals to or from the console, before to send them out on the PE-box bus. The buffers are 74LS244 TTLs, except for the data bus that requires a bidirectional transceiver 74LS245. The console end of the cable also contains a 74LS245 chip to buffer the data bus once more. Nevertheless, the TI specs insist that each card must rebuffer all signal from or to the PE-box bus.

The LED in the front of the connection card is turned on by DBIN (high = on). Thus, it will shine for reading operations, and shut off for writing operations. The end result is that it twinkles when the bus is active.

Here is a picture of the card, and one of the connector on the console side of the cable.

Signal buffering

                   +5V    :                                       
Console | : Side connector       Cable Connection card PE-box bus
R 4.7K :          ................
100 Ohms | :Pin #       :
Load*-----WWW---+------[13             Wire #      Pin #:
CRUIN-----WWW----------[33]--------------------------1----------------------------[55]---CRUIN
Extint*-----WWW----------[ 4]-------------------------41----------------------------[17]---IntA*
AudioIn------------------[44]-------------------------39----------------------------[10]---AudioIn
Ready---------------------[12]-------------------------40---------------+------------[ 4]---Ready
Hold/IAQ-----WWW----------[41              '--WWW---+5V :
SBE*------------------[2          10K :     
          '367          :                                             '244 :
           +----+     : 47 Ohms +----+ :
    A13----|    |---------[15]---WWW-------------------23------------------|17 3|----[32]---A13
     A9----|    |---------[18]---WWW-------------------19------------------|8 12|----[36]---A9
     A8----|    |---------[14]---WWW-------------------18------------------|6 14|----[35]---A8
     A7----|    |---------[17]---WWW-------------------17------------------|4 16|----[38]---A7
     A6----|    |---------[29]---WWW-------------------16------------------|2 18|----[37]---A6
    A14----|    |---------[16]---WWW-------------------24------,   ,----|15 5|----[31]---A12
   Gnd----|EN* | : | |,----|13 7|----[34]---A11
         +----+        : | ||,---|11 9|----[33]---A10
            '367 : | ||| +----+ :
           +----+         : 47 Ohms | ||| :
    A12----|    |---------[11]---WWW-------------------22------|-----'|| :
    A11----|    |---------[ 8]---WWW-------------------21------|------'| '244 :
    A10----|    |---------[ 6]---WWW-------------------20------|-------' +----+       :   
     A5----|    |---------[ 5]---WWW-------------------15------|-----------|17 3|----[40]---A5
     A4----|    |---------[ 7]---WWW-------------------14------|-----------|15 5|----[39]---A4 
     A3----|    |---------[10]---WWW-------------------13------|-----------|13 7|----[42]---A3
    Gnd----|EN* |         : | ,---------|11 9|----[56]---Memen*
           +----+         : | |,--------|4 16|----[41]---A2    
Memen*--------------------[32]---WWW--------------------2------|-'|,-------|6 14|----[44]---A1
           '244          : | ||,------|8 12|----[43]---A0
           +----+         :  47 Ohms | |||,-----|2 18|-+--[52]---DBIN
     A2----| |---------[20]---WWW-------------------12------|--'||| +----+ | :
     A1----| |---------[30]---WWW-------------------11------|---'|| '244 | :
     A0----| |---------[31]---WWW-------------------10------|----'| +----+ | :
    A15----|    |---WWW---[19]-------------------------26------|-----|-----|4 16|-|--[30]---A15
  Phi3*----|    |---WWW---[24]--------------------------6------|-----|-----|13 7|-|--[50]---Phi3*
    WE*----|    |---WWW---[26]--------------------------4------|-----|-----|6 14|-|--[54]---WE*   
CRUCLK*----|    |---WWW---[22]--------------------------5------|-----|-----|8 12|-|--[51]---CRUCLK*
MBE*----|    |---------[28            '-----|-----|2 18|-|--[29]---A14
    Gnd----|EN* | 52 Ohms :          |,----|3 17|-|-+[11]--RDBENA*
           +----+   :    47 Ohms ||,---|5 15|-|-+ :
Reset-------------+----[ 3]---WWW-------------------36------------|||---|11 9|-|-|-[6]---Reset
+5V---WWW--' :          ||| +----+ | R 1K:
4.7K :          ||| +5V | | :
         :          ||| '-|>|-\| | +5V :
   :       47 Ohms ||| 100 |-+ :
DBIN--------------------[ 9]-+----------WWW-----------6------------'|| ,-WWW-/| | 8]---SClk
               : |  '245     ||Gnd | 9]---SCP*
                      : | +----+   || +----+ | 14]---IAQHA
                      : | | OE*|----------------43-----WWW-----''---|OE* | | 18]---LOAD*
                       : '-|DIR | 47 Ohms 47 Ohms | DIR|-' :
D0--------------------[37]---|18 2|---WWW----------28------------WWW---|18 2|----[28]---D0   
    D1--------------------[40]---|17 3|---WWW----------29------------WWW---|17 3|----[25]---D1   
    D2--------------------[39]---|16 4|---WWW----------30------------WWW---|16 4|----[26]---D2    
    D3--------------------[42]---|15 5|---WWW----------31------------WWW---|15 5|----[23]---D3   
    D4--------------------[35]---|14 6|---WWW----------33------------WWW---|14 6|----[24]---D4   
    D5--------------------[38]---|13 7|---WWW----------34------------WWW---|13 7|----[21]---D5   
    D6--------------------[36]---|12 8|---WWW----------35------------WWW---|12 8|----[22]---D6   
    D7--------------------[34]---|13 9|---WWW----------36------------WWW---|13 9|----[19]---D7  
                          :    | Vcc|-,      +----+       :
                     :     +----+ |     ,--[ 3]---Gnd
-5V--------------------[43 |          +--[ 5]---Gnd
+5V--------------------[1 |     +--[ 7]---Gnd
Gnd--------------------[21]--, |      +--[20]---Gnd
Gnd--------------------[23]--+================3=7=9=25=27=32=37================+--[27]---Gnd
Gnd--------------------[25]--+ |      +--[47]---Gnd
Gnd--------------------[27]--' |      +--[48]---Gnd
 :   |      '--[53]---Gnd
..........................:   |      59]---Unreg +16
     |      60]---Unreg +16  
     |      57]---Unreg -16
     |      58]---Unreg -16
     | ,-----42-44-------------+---------+--[ 1]---Unreg +8V
    ,-------' |      | '--[ 2]---Unreg +8V  
  |     78M05   |      |  ,---WWW---[12]---PCBEN*  
                              |  +--------+   |           | +---WWW---[13]---HOLD*    
                          ,-+--|Vout Vin|-+-+      | +---WWW---[15]---SENILA
                        | |  |  Comm  | | |                 | +---WWW---[16]---SENILB     
                    22 uF = = +---+----+ = = 22 uF            | +---WWW---[45]---AMA
                    0.1 uF | |      |      | | 0.1 uF        | +---WWW---[46]---AMB
                      Gnd     Gnd     Gnd                  | +---WWW---[48]---AMC
          |  | 47 Ohms  :...............
          | +5V 78M05
          | +--------+  to
          +-+---|Vin Vout|-+-+--+5V all
          | |   |  Comm | | |    chips
     22 uF = =   +---+----+ = = 22 uF      
       0.1 uF | |       |      | | 0.1 uF 
           Gnd      Gnd     Gnd    
                                                           


Most of the lines are buffered (or generated) by TTLs inside the TI-99/4A console. In addition, the data bus D0-D7 is buffered in the connector itself. The connector "black box" contains a 74LS245 buffer and a 78M05 voltage regulator powered by the PE-box. It also contains 47 Ohm serial resistors placed within many lines (D0-D7, A0-A14, Reset, DBIN and Memen*).

Most signals are buffered again in the connection card: the 16 address lines A0-A15, DBIN, Memen*, WE*, CLRCLK*, RESET*, CLKOUT*. As mentionned above, D0-D7 are buffered again by a second 74LS245 onboard the card, after another set of 47 Ohm serial resistors. The direction of both 74LS245 buffers is set automatically by the DBIN line. However, the peripheral card is responsible for activating these buffers when it needs them. This is done by lowering the dedicated RDBENA* line which is connected to the OE* pin of each 74LS245 (but not to the console side port).

You will have noted that all input signals are left unbuffered: CRUIN, INTA*, AUDIOIN, READY. Maybe so that the peripheral card has the option to leave them in high-impedence state? Of these, only READY has a 10 K pull-up resistor in the connection card.

The "for production line only" pins AMA, AMB, AMC, SENILA*, SENILB*, PCBEN, HOLD* are pulled up to +5 Volts by 47 Ohms resistors. These would be really hard to pull down! Anyway, most third party cards ignore them. The TI disk controller card on the other hand makes use of several, posssibly for test procedures on the production line.

The PE-Box lines SClk, SCP*, IAQHA, and LOAD* are not even connected to the connection card.

Similarly, some lines present on the console side port are not part of the cable. These "lost" lines are:
SBE* Output line which is low to signal an access to the speech synthesizer (address >9000-97FF). We can dispense with that one.
MBE* Output line which is low to signal an access to the card ROMs (address in >4000-5FFF). This one would spare us the need for a 74LS138 decoder!
IAQ Interrupt acknowledged by the CPU. Not very usefull anyhow except possibly for a debugger card.
LOAD* Input line used to send an unmaskable interrupt to the CPU. This could have been really usefull, too bad!


Bus multiplexing

You probably have realised that the PE-box is byte-oriented: it has 16 address lines and 8 data lines (as opposed to 15 address pins and 16 data pins on the TMS9900 CPU). I always wondered why TI decided to cripple their system in such a way. Probably because most peripherals in the early eighties were byte-oriented. Or maybe it was just to save a few lines in the connection cable? Or else, just to copy IBM and make the same mistake they did with the PC XT??

Anyhow, what it means is that the data bus has to be multiplexed. This is achieved by a small logic circuit inside the TI console: any memory access to the range >2000-7FFF and >A000-FFFF is multiplexed. The least significant byte (odd address, D8-D15) is passed first, and this is signaled by a high level on the additional address line A15. For input operations, this byte is latched into the console by a 74LS373 D-type latch. Then the multiplexer puts the CPU on hold (with the READY line) and places the most significant byte on the data bus (even address, D0-D7), which is signaled by a low level on A15. The operation will only be completed after 4 clock cycles on Phi3*, by releasing the block on the TMS9900.

Concretely, this means several drawbacks:

  • It is impossible to access only one byte: each read/write instruction actually consists in two read/write cycles, one for the odd byte and one for the even byte.
  • While dealing with the second byte, the CPU is put on hold. Thus all peripheral access is of the 4 wait-state type.
  • As the TMS9900 has a 16-bit data bus, it never deals with single bytes. Even an instruction like MOVB actually writes a 16-bit word. To avoid erasing the lower byte, the CPU reads the word first, changes the most significant byte and rewrites the whole word. For peripheral card it means that every write operations (4 wait cycles) is preceded by a read operation to the same pair of addresses (4 more wait cycles).
  • If you wanted to use a peripheral with a 16-bit data bus, you could use the circuit below to de-multiplex the PE-box data bus. It is similar to the multiplexing circuit in the console, with a few modifications (tested by yours truly: works fine).

                                                         74LS245          
    Even byte   +------+ 
      ,------------------->|B0  A0|<---------->D15
    ,-|------------------->|B1  A1|<---------->D14
      ,-|-|------------------->|B2  A2|<---------->D13
      ,-|-|-|------------------->|B3  A3|<---------->D12
      ,-|-|-|-|------------------->|B4  A4|<---------->D11
      ,-|-|-|-|-|------------------->|B5  A5|<---------->D10
      ,-|-|-|-|-|-|------------------->|B6  A6|<---------->D9
      ,-|-|-|-|-|-|-|------------------->|B7 A7|<---------->D8
    | | | | | | | | A15>-------, ,-|G* DIR|----<DBIN
    | | | | | | | | CardSel*>--=)>---' +------+  
       | | | | | | | | 74LS32
    | | | | | | | | Peripheral
    PE-Box | | | | | | | | 74LS373 16-bit bus
    8-bit bus | | | | | | | |   +------+                       
      D0<-------------|-|-|-|-|-|-|-+----------->|D0  Q0|--+---------------->D7
      D1<-------------|-|-|-|-|-|-+-|----------->|D1  Q1|--|-+-------------->D6
      D2<-------------|-|-|-|-|-+-|-|----------->|D2  Q2|--|-|-+------------>D5
      D3<-------------|-|-|-|-+-|-|-|----------->|D3  Q3|--|-|-|-+---------->D4
      D4<-------------|-|-|-+-|-|-|-|----------->|D4  Q4|--|-|-|-|-+-------->D3
      D5<-------------|-|-+-|-|-|-|-|----------->|D5  Q5|--|-|-|-|-|-+------>D2
      D6<-------------|-+-|-|-|-|-|-|----------->|D6  Q6|--|-|-|-|-|-|-+---->D1
      D7<-------------+-|-|-|-|-|-|-|----------->|D7 Q7|--|-|-|-|-|-|-|-+-->D0 
    | | | | | | | | Odd byte |OE* LE| | | | | | | | |
    | | | | | | | |   +------+  | | | | | | | |
    | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
    | | | | | | | | 74LS244 | | | | | | | | | |
    | | | | | | | |   +------+  | | | | | | | | | |
      | | | | | | | '---|Y0  A0|<--|---|---' | | | | | | |
    | | | | | | '-----|Y1  A1|<--|---|-----' | | | | | |
      | | | | | '-------|Y2  A2|<--|---|-------' | | | | |
      | | | | '---------|Y3  A3|<--|---|---------' | | | |
      | | | '-----------|Y4  A4|<--|---|-----------' | | |
      | | '-------------|Y5  A5|<--|---|-------------' | |
      | '---------------|Y6  A6|<--|---|---------------' |
      '-----------------|Y7 A7|<--|---|-----------------'
    |G1*G2*| | |
      +------+  |  | 74LS04
    | | | | ,---o<|---WE*
    74LS139 '--+ | '--(|=----------A15
           +------+    |     |    74LS08    
    A15>------->|S0 Y3*|------' | 
    DBIN>------>|S1 Y0*|------------'             
      | Y1*|-nc
    CardSel*>--->|G* Y2*|-nc
          +------+  

    CardSel* is an active low selection signal generated by your interface card (see below).
    The '245 is activated by CardSel*, only when A15 is low, i.e. for the even (most significant) byte. Its direction is set by DBIN.
    The '244 is active when both A15 and DBIN are high, i.e. when reading an odd (least significant) byte.
    The '373 is only addressed by writing operations. It latches the odd byte when A15 is high and WE* low, and outputs it to the 16-bit bus when A15 and DBIN are low , thereby reconstituting the 16-bit bus as the TI-99/4A sends the even byte.
    NB The 8-bit bus is numbered the way TI does, i.e. D0 is the most significant bit. The 16-bit bus is numbered like everyone else does, i.e. D15 is the most significant bit.

    Fixing the "firehose" cable

    The most delicate part of the PE-box is probably the connection cable (aka "firehose"): it's easy to bend and/or bang it, and it may eventually become defective. Not to worry though: it can easily be replaced.

    Symptoms

    Depending on which line was broken, the symptoms may vay quite a bit. For instance, I had one case when the console would boot by itself, but crash when the connection cable was plugged in (even with the PB-Box off, even with the card out of the PE-Box).

    If it boots, you can check the data and address busses with the Easy-Bug function of the Mini-memory, or CALL LOAD and CALL PEEK in Extended Basic: write >FF (i.e. 255) and >00 at addresses >3333 (13107) and >CCCC (-13108). Then check if the data is ok, and if it was written at the right place.

    If the memory expansion works but you cannot select any other peripheral card, then it's probably the CRUCLK line that broke.

    A key symptom may be that the problem comes and goes as you fumble with the cable, bend it, stretch it, etc. This points toward a broken wire inside the cable.

    Differential diagnostic

  • Poor contact on the side port (or inside the PE-Box). Oxidation is our #1 ennemy with 20-years old hardware.
  • Broken wire inside the connection cable.
  • Dead chip on the connection card, or the side connector.
  • Repair

    First, make sure the problem is not bad connnections in the side port. Get a contact cleaner spray and clean the console side port and the firehose connector. While you are at it, remove the connection card from the PE-box and clean its contacts, as well as its slot in the PE-box (heck, clean ALL slots in the PE-box)..

    If this does not solve the problem, a wire may be broken, or a chip may be defective. Let's first check the cable.

  • Remove the connection card from the PE-Box (remove the one screw that keeps it in).
  • Open its metal case: remove the two handles by force, then remove the 4 screws. The label can stay and serve as a hinge.
  • Unscrew the plastic brace across the end of the cable.
  • Remove the metal braces that are under so as to expose the cable terminals.
  • At the console-end of the cable, remove the 4 screws that keep the black connector closed, then take the small board out of its metal casing.
  • Refer to these pictures to identify the components on the card, and on the connection board. Now you are ready to test the cable (we couldn't do it without dismantelling the cable, because of the resistors and buffer chips). Flip both boards upside down, so you can access the pins from under. Using a continuity tester, make sure current goes from each pin on the console end of the cable, to its corresponding pin on the card side. If you already know which line is bad, refer to the above schematic to locate its wire and test it directly. Remember that the problem may come and go as you move the cable.

    If everything looks ok, then is may be that a given buffer chip is dead. These are very common and cheap TTLs, so you should not have any problem buying a spare. Then just unsolder the original (using a soldering pump), and solder back the new chip.

    Replacing the cable is not much harder:

  • First obtain about 5 feet of 44-wire flat cable.
  • Remove the brace on the cable, at the console-end.
  • On each board, mark the same side of the cable, so you know how to put back the new one. The cable should have colored stripes, which makes it easy to know which side is which.
  • Disconnect the cable at each end. This is a bit tricky: it requires lifting the little platic cover that's over the end of the cable. You cannot remove it completely though, because it's partly wrapped around the cable: you will need to slide it off the end of the cable. Then just peel the cable off the pins.
  • Tape your new cable to one end of the old one, using strong electrical tape.
  • Pull the other end of the flat cable out of the firehose, bringing the new cable along. Make sure you do not remove the steel cable inside (it's here to absorb any tension applied to the firehose). Also, take care not to peel away the shielding layer inside the firehose. Tip: this is easier to do for two people, one at each end of the firehose.
  • Now fasten the cable at each end, refering to your marks for proper orientation. Slide the connector lid over the tip of the cable, the press the cable over the connectors. You may need pliers, or a wise, to close the lid tight. The goal is to cause the cutting ends of the pins to bite through the plastic, into each copper wire.
  • Repeat your point-to-point tests, to make sure that the new cable makes proper contacts everywhere. If so, you can put everything back together:

  • Fasten back the plastic brace across the console end of the cable, trapping the steel cable in. Then install the metal and plastic boxes. Tip: one side of the metal box has holes, into which the plastic box inserts small bulges. The other side should be braced agains the back of the first one. The goal is that both metal lips are flushed with the card-edge connector.
  • Place the metal braces back on the connection card: one has two pins that go through the board. The other has slots to accomodate these pins. Push it forward, so that it locks the pins.
  • Fasten the plastic brace across the cable, the steel cable, and the top metal brace.
  • Put the card back in its metal case, if desired (the case is not really necessary). Install the card inside the PE-Box and make sure everything works as intended.

  • A typical peripheral card

    In case you want to design your own peripheral cards, there are a few common features that should be present on each and every card. The schematic below represents a typical card, but you don't have to adopt all my design choices (especially since I did not test all of them yet!). If you need help about a chip, have a look at my TTL chips page.

    Power supply.
    Typically, you would use a 78L05 connected to the +8V power line.If you need more current than the 100 mAmps delivered by the "L" version, you could use a 7805 (1 Amp), a 78T05 (3 Amp) or a 78H05 (5 Amp). By all means, use a heat sink.
    If you need +12V, you may similarly use a 78L12, a 7812, a 78T12 or a 78H12.
    Negative voltages can be derived from the -16V supply, via 79x12 or 79x05 regulators.

    Bus buffering
    The address lines require two 74LS244 buffers. The extra CPU output lines require a third one.
    The data bus is buffered by a 74LS245, with the DIR pin driven by DBIN (high = read cycle) and the EN* pin driven by RDBENA*.
    The extra TMS9900 input lines (if you are using them) can be buffered by 74LS125. This way, you can keep them in high impedance state when your card is not accessed.

    CRU logic
    As described in the page on CRU, you'll need a 74LS259 for CRU ouput from the TMS9900, and a 74LS251 for CRU input operations. It is generally good practice to echo each bit from the '259 to the '251, unless you have a need for specialised input bits. In addition, some selection logic is needed: a 74LS85 does a pretty neat job, as it allows the user to select the CRU address of the card with a DIP switch (tested: works fine). In this schematic, I also included a master switch (accessible from the back of the PE-pox) so that the user can shut off the card if necessary.

    ROM selection logic
    A 74LS138 decoder can be used to detect memory accesses in the range of the card ROM, >4000-5FFF. The G2A* active low selection input is driven by MEMEN*, so that the card only reacts to memory operations. I also included a master switch (which may or may not be the same as the one for the CRU) connected to G2B*: when the switch is open the card is never selected. Finally, the G1 enabling input of the decoder is controlled by CRU bit 0, so that the card will only answer when it is enabled via the CRU. You may want to use that bit to enable/disable other important functions on your card: in this exemple all it does is to enable the data bus.

    Of course, nowadays many people would use a GAL (programmable logic) to implement the selection logic, both for ROM and CRU...

    Card light
    The LED is generally driven by CRU bit 0, but that's up to you.

                '244                                                         
               +----+                                         SRAM (8K)
         A0>---|    |                                        +-------------+  
          .    |    |                    '138         A4>--->|A11          |
          .    |    |                   +----+         .     |           D7|<---->D0
          .    |    |             A0>---|S2  |         .     | .         . |       . 
          .    |    |             A1>---|S1  |         .     | .         . |       . 
          .    |    |             A2>---|S0  |       A15>--->|A0         D0|<---->D7 
         A7>---|    |                   | Y2*|----+--------->|CE*          |        
          Gnd--|EN* |                   |    |    |          |             |       
               +----+        MEMEN*>--->|G2A*|    |          |             |     
                '244    +5V---WWW--+--->|G2B*|    |  WR*>--->|WE*          |    
               +----+         10K  | ,->|G1  |    |          |             |
         A8>---|    |     Gnd--o o-+ |  +----+    |          +-------------+ 
          .    |    |                |            '----->CardSel*          
          .    |    |                |                               LED              
          .    |    |                '-------------+-----------------|<|------+5V
          .    |    |                  +-----+     |      +-----+                     
          .    |    |        RESET*--->|RST  |     |      |     |
         A15>--|    |          A12>--->|S2 Q0|-----+----->|D0   | 
          Gnd--|EN* |          A13>--->|S1 Q1|----------->|D1   | 
               +----+          A14>--->|S0 Q2|----------->|D2   | 
                '244                   |   Q3|----------->|D3   | 
               +----+          A15>--->|D  Q4|----------->|D4   | 
               |    |            '32 |   Q5|----------->|D5   | 
     MEMEN*>---|    |  CRUCLK*>--=)>-->|EN Q6|----------->|D6   |  
        WE*>---|    |           |      |   Q7|----------->|D7 EN|--,      
    CRUCLK*>---|    |           |      +-----+            +-----+  |   
    CLKOUT*>---|    |           '----------------------,           | 
     RESET*>---|    |                   +-----+  '04   |           | 
       DBIN>---|    |---,               |  A=B|--|>o---+-----------'        
          Gnd--|EN* |   |        A3>--->|A=B  |          10K         
               +----+   |        A4>--->|A1 B1|------+---WWW---+-+5V 
                '245    |        A5>--->|A2 B2|-----+|---WWW---+    
               +----+   |        A6>--->|A3 B3|----+||---WWW---+  
               | DIR|<--'        A7>--->|A4 B4|---+|||---WWW---'  
        D0<--->|    |        10K  Gnd-->|A<B  |   ||||             
         .     |    |    +5V-WWW---+--->|A>B  |   oooo  DIP        
         .     |    |              |    +-----+   oooo  switch 
         .     |    |    Gnd--o o--'     '85      ||||
         .     |    |                             ++++-Gnd
         .     |    |                                                         
         .     |    |                                                         
        D7<--->|    |                                                         
               | OE*|<--,                                                         
               +----+   |   ,----------< CardSel*                           
                        |   |                                                       
    RDBENA*<------------+---<|--Gnd
                           '125  
         78L05                          All chips
                                   +----------+      +5V             +-----+
    +8V--------------------+-------|Vin   Vout|---+-----... --+------|Vcc  |    
                           |       |   Gnd    |   |           |      |     |
                           = 22 uF +----------+   = 0.1 uF    =0.1uF |     |
                           |            |         |           |      |     |
                          Gnd           Gnd       Gnd         '------|Vss  |
                                                                     +-----+


    ROM types

    When it comes to choosing a memory chip to install the card DSRs in, you have several choices:

  • ROM are Read-Only Memories. They are manufactured with a given content, that cannot be altered. Obviously, you can't buy these!
  • PROMs are programmable Read-Only Memories. They come filled with binary "1", i.e. each byte contains >FF. You can program a bit to "0", but this operation is irreversible: zeros cannot be converted to ones. The programming operation generally requires a special programming device.
  • EPROM are erasable PROMs with an expensive quartz window that allows you to erase them with UV light, in case you want to modify their contents. Most EPROMs also come in OTP version (one-time programmable), without the quartz window. The idea is to use the erasable device for your prototype and then the OTP for mass production.
  • EEPROM are EPROM that can be erased electrically, one byte at a time (which takes a long time as erasing operations are very slow).
  • FLASH are EEPROMs that can be erased sector-wise, e.g. you can erase 1K at a time. This is much faster, hence their name, but the drawback is that you cannot modify individual bytes.
  • SRAM (static RAM) are way easier to use that DRAMs (dynamic RAM) although more expensive. And they can be written to without any problems, contrarily to EEPROMs or FLASHes. Of course, they loose all data when the power goes off, but you can prevent this by supplying them with a small lithium battery. This is what was done in the Mini-memory cartridge: the upper 4K are persistent RAM.
  • Price is of course a consideration, but nowadays memory becomes cheaper and cheaper, at least at the scale of the TI-99/4A. Therefore, our choice is basically down to EEPROMs or SRAM, possibly FLASH. These can easily be mail-ordered from several places on the Web (Digikey, Jameco, Mouser, etc). For your information, here is a comparative table I came up with, after only an hour surfing the net. You could fill in the blanks, with a little more hunting...

    Size EPROM EEPROM FLASH SRAM
    1 K 2708
    Intel $3.95
    . . .
    2 K 2716
    Intel $3.95
    M28C16A
    STM $2.95

    AT28C16
    Atmel $3.55

    . M48Z9229PCI
    STM (+battery) $7.30

    TMM2016APP
    $1.09

    4 K NM27C32
    National $4.05
    . . .
    8 K 27LV64-20P
    Microchip $3.10
    KM28C64-25
    Samsung $2.95

    AT28C64A-20
    Atmel $5.05

    . HM6264LP
    Hitachi $2.29

    M48Z1810PCI
    STM (+battery) $11.26

    16 K 27C128-200
    Thompson $2.95
    . . .
    32 K AM27C256-150C
    AMD $4.49
    AT28C256-150
    Atmel $6.95
    M28F256A-15B
    Thompson
    43256BCZ-70
    NEC $1.61

    HM62256LB-12
    Hitachi $2.09

    64 K AM27C512-150DC
    AMD $3.85
    . M28512-90 (+12V)
    Thompson $5.50
    .
    128 K AM27C010-150DC
    AMD $4.68
    AT28C010-120
    Atmel $225.20 !
    AM29F010-120PC
    AMD $5.0
    431000ACZ70L
    NEC $2.52

    HM628128LB-85
    Hitachi $11.95

    256 K AM27C020-120DC
    AMD $4.95
    . AM28F020-150JC
    AMD $15.00
    TC59V2001STI-10EL
    $7.41
    512 K AM27C040-120JC
    AMD $5.95
    AT28C040-200
    Atmel $978.60 !
    AM29F040-120JC
    AMD $12.88
    434008ELA17
    NEC $13.42
    1 Meg . . AM29F080-120EC
    AMD $19.63
    .
    2 Meg . . AM29F016B-120EC
    AMD $20.50
    .

    Notes:

  • The price does not only depend on the size, but also on the speed of the memory. Since the TI-99/4A is extremely slow (400 ns), we can go ahead and buy the slowest and cheapest chip.
  • Some retailers take a larger benefit margin than others (see Arrow's crazy prices for the AT28C020 and AT28C40). So you may be able to find a better deal than what is indicated in this table.
  • Pay attention to the package when you order: is it DIP (dual in line) or surface mount (tiny chips very hard to handle)?

  • In-circuit programming

    Rather than using an expensive EEPROM programmer, it would be nice to install an EEPROM (or a FLASH) so that it can be programmed while inside the PE-box. Traditionnally, writing and erasing is done by applying a programming voltage (+12V, +13V, +25V, etc) on a given pin. This could be implemented on a peripheral card with a +12V voltage regulator, whose output is applied to the programming pin of the EEPROM via a PNP transistor, controlled by a CRU bit for instance.

    But there is a better solution: you can now find FLASH and EEPROM memories that have a built-in voltage converter. That is, they only need the regular +5V applied to Vcc. FLASH generally have a protection against spurious writings: to program or to erase them, you must first send an "unlocking sequence" (kind of a password). This is a slight annoyance for us, since the TI-99/4A won't write a single byte in 8-bit memory. We saw above that it will perform 4 access operations: first reading a pair of addresses, then writing to them. This will mess up the unlocking sequence and prevent us from writing to the chip. Unless we add extra hardware to accept only the relevant write cycle and filter the other three: such a circuit could be enabled by a CRU bit, so as not to disturb regular ROM reading operations (see below).

    Unlike FLASH, then +5V EEPROM generally don't require an unlocking sequence, but writing a byte will stall the chip for a moment, while the internal logic is writting it. So again we will need some kind of circuitery to access odd and even bytes independently.

    A simple solution would be to have two memory chips: one for odd bytes and one for even bytes. The chips can be piggy-backed, with all their corresponding pins connected together except for the CE* pins. These are driven by the CardSel line combined by OR gates with either A15 (even bytes) or the inverse of A15 (odd bytes).

                                            2x FLASH/EEPROM
    WE*>-------------------, +-----------+
    '04 | '32 | |-+
    Bit1>---+---|>o--------==)>--------------|WE* An | |<---Bit n
    | | . | | .
    | | . | | .
    DBIN>---'==|)--, | . | | .
    '08 | '32 | A12| |<---Bit 2
    CardSel*>------'==)>---+---, | A11| |<---A3
    | | | . | | .
    | | | . | | .
    | | '32 | . | | .
    ,----------------'==)>---------|CE* A0| |<---A14
    A15>------+ | +-----------+ |
    '----|>o-----'==)>--------------|CE* |
    '04 '32 +------------+

    In this circuit I also filtered the WE* line by combining it with the inverse of CRU bit 1. This provides a write-protection mechanism: you can only write to the memory if CRU bit 1 is set to 1. Note that all CRU bits are 0 at power-up time, so the memory will be write-protected by default. For the opposite behaviour, remove the 74LS04 inverter.

    CRU bit 1 also serves to prevent read operations, when set to 1. This is only required for chips that have an unlocking sequence: it prevents the read operation that comes along with each write in the TI-99/4A system, from messing up the unlocking sequence. If you are using EEPROMs that have no unlocking sequence, CardSel* can be directly combined with A15 and not-A15.

    Finally, additional CRU bits could be used to page the memory, so as to implement more than 8 Kbytes.

    The controlling software could be something like this:

    * Routine to send an unlocking sequence to two FLASHs and program a word 
    * Address in R0, word in R1
    SELPAG LI   R12,>1x00        CRU address of our card
    SBO 0 Enable access
    SBO 1 Enable writing, disable reading
    LI R2,>AA55 Unlocking code
    MOVB R2,@>4AAA This is address >0555 in the chips
    SWPB R2
    MOVB R2,@>555A Now it's unlocked
    LI R2,>A000 Command "program byte"
    MOVB R2,@>4AAA Send command
    MOVB R0,*R1 Write the byte
    SBZ 1 Enable reading, disable writing
    SBZ 0 Disable card
    B *R11

    This example assumes that the unlocking sequence is the following:

    1. write >AA to address >0555
    2. write >55 to address >0AAA
    3. send a command code (>90 to write)
    4. write the byte.

    Remember that there are two chips, (one for odd bytes, one for even bytes) so the addresses need to be multiplied by two and become >0AAA and >1554 respectively. To which we add >4000, which is the address of the card.

    If you don't like the idea of having two FLASH chips to implement only 8K of memory, here is an alternative: a circuit that lets you access only even bytes (or only odd bytes) at will.

                                             FLASH/EEPROM 
    '32 '08 '32 +-----------+
    DBIN>------==)>-----==|)----==)>------->|CE* An|<---CRU bit n
    | | | | ...| ...
    A15>-------' | | | A13|<---CRU bit 3
    | | | |
    CRU bit 1>----------' | | A12|<---A3
    | | ...| ...
    CardSel* >------------------' | A1|<---A14
    | |
    | A0|<---<(==----<A15
    | | |
    +-----------+ '----<CRU bit 2
  • When either DBIN is high (reading) or A15 is high (access to odd addresses) the output of the 74LS32 OR gate is high and will prevent access to the FLASH.
  • The circuit is enabled by CRU bit 1, with the help of a 74LS08 AND gate: the bit must be one for the output to reflect the OR gate. Otherwise it is always low. (If you don't want to use an AND gate, you can replace it with an OR having inverters on both inputs and on the output).
  • The second OR gate filters the active low card selection signal applied to the FLASH: if the output of the AND gate is high, so will be CE* and the FLASH won't react to this memory cycle.
  • Since this circuit only enables access to even bytes, we need a way to select odd addresses in the FLASH: CRU bit 2 is used to force up the A0 flash input, no matter what A15 is.
  • The FLASH programming routine should be modified accordingly:

    * Crude FLASH-writing routine
    * Assumes a source pointer in R1, and the destination address in R2
    FLASHW LI   R12,>1x00       CRU address of your card
    SBO 0 Enable card
    SBO 1 Enable filtering circuit
    LP1 LI R0,>AA55 Unlocking bytes
    MOVB R0,@>4555 That's address >0555 on the FLASH
    SWPB R0
    SBO 2 Make next address odd
    MOVB R0,@>4AAA That's address >0AAA on the FLASH
    LI R0,>9000 Command byte for "write"
    MOVB R0,@>4AAA Send it
    COC @H0001,R2 Check if destination address is odd or even
    JEQ SK1 Odd
    SBZ 2 Even: stop forcing last address bit high
    SK1 MOVB *R1+,*R2+ Write byte in FLASH
    SBZ 2 Enable A15 again
    B @WAIT Wait a while (optionally, check FLASH status)


    ROM paging

    What if you need more than 8K of ROM in your card? Well, nothing prevents you from installing a larger EEPROM/FLASH: these are quite cheap nowadays. But you'll just need some sort of switching mechanism to page the memory into the >4000-5FFF bank. One way to do it is to drive the extra address lines with CRU bitsas demonstrated in he circuit above.

    Another way is to use a 74LS273 latch to store a page number. This chip can latch 8 bits, so you'll have a maximum of 256 pages. This comes to 256 * 8K = 2 Megs of ROM. This should be enough...

                                        74'273            EEPROM/SRAM (2 megs)
    +------+ +----------+
    A14--->|D0 Q0|---------->|A12 |
    . | | | . |
    . | | | . |
    . | | | . |
    A7---->|D7 Q7|---------->|A19 |
    | | A4---->|A11 |
    CardSel*------------------, | | ... |... |
    WE*--------------, ,===)>--->|CLK | A15--->|A0 |
    CRU bit 3--|>o---'==)>---' | | | |
    RESET*---->|RST* | | |
    +------+ +----------+

    To avoid the problems due to data bus multiplexing, this design uses of a commonly used TI trick: latching a value in the 74LS273 is done by writing to an address in the range >4000-5FFF. Bits A7-A14 of the address bus are latched by the pulse on the WE* line, and make up the new A12-A19 for the memory chip (we cannot latch A15 since it is automatically toggled by the multiplexer). Of course, we don't have to use all eight bits: even if we latch eight, only those that we need will be connected to the memory chip.

    CRU bit 3 is used to enable latching at will. This is only necessary if you plan to write to this memory , e.g to program a FLASH/EEPROM, or if you are using static RAM. If you are using a pure ROM, you can assume that it will never be written to and dispense with CRU bit 3: every write operation is considered as a page selection.

    The RESET* line insures that page 0 will always be selected at power-up time. That's required if you want to place a standard header in your card ROM.

    The control software would look like this:

    * Routine to latch an address and select a page in the memory chip
    * Page number is expected in R0 (range 0-256)
    SELPAG LI   R12,>1x00        CRU address of our card
    SBO 0 Enable access
    SBO 3 Enable latching (if installed)
    SLA R0,1 To use A7-A14, instead of A8-A15
    MOVB *R0,*R0 What we write doesn't matter, the address does
    SBZ 3 Disable latching
    B *R11

    Revision 1. 3/24/99 OK to release
    Revision 2. 3/30/99. Polishing
    Revision 3. 8/16/99. Corrected stupid mistakes in the discussion bus multiplexing. Added de-mpx schematic.
    Revision 4. 5/3/00. Simplified in-circuit programming (using two chips). Added price table.
    Revision 5. 5/14/00. Corrected a timing problem in the demultiplexer.
    Revision 6. 8/16/00. Added links to pictures.
    Revision 7. 1/21/02. Added schematics of the cable/card.
    Revision 8. 1/27/02. Added pictures of connection card.


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