From: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Subject: Re: New Asgard products (128K Card)
Reply-To: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Organization: Dept. of Physics, University of Virginia
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 17:16:57 GMT

In article <6MV7DPU@mailgzrz.tu-berlin.de>, willi@zrzsp5.chem.tu-berlin.de (Winfried Winkler) writes:
>
>I've got an informational disk directly from Chris Bobbit (from Asgard -
>they are distributing this card) and I can tell you that:
>
>- no software "ready to use", but the code needed to do banking is only
>  a few lines (assembler, of course)
>- the card uses CRU >1E00, >1E02  for banking code
>- the 128K memory will ONLY be accessible in the >A000 to >FFFF address range
>- the card seems to have no DSR software on board
>
>It is too bad that there is NO CHANCE to use this card together with a 16-bit
>wide 32K memory expansion ...!!
>Because the 128K card will only be "visible" in the high-memory area, all TI's
>with a 16-bit wide 32K wired directly to the TMS9900 CPU for speed reasons are
>not likely to even notice the presence of this card !! 
>And I doubt that anybody using a 16-bit extension will swap that high speed for
>a 128K memory but find himself at slow 8-bit speed again ...
>
>Winfried (willi@zrzsp5.chem.tu-berlin.de)

These details agree with what Joe Delecto mentioned in a phone conversation the 
other day...  He also said the card uses SRAM (though there is no possibilty
to use it as a RAM disk) and there might be a possibility of adding EPROM(s)
with DSRs in the future (I hope I quote it right...).  To use the card you DO
NOT need to know how memory is paged, there will be an assembler (being written
by RAG in Canada, I believe) that will take care of this.
He did not know whether the card is still devided into assembly and XB memory
sections (like the TI 32K card is).  In any case, there is currently NO XB
that will take advantage of the extra 96K.

If the 12-16meg card is produced, it will use simms memory modules.

As for the comments above about the 32K "on the bus", here is a short blurb:
There is no way to produce a card that will fit everybody's needs.  Owners
of the CorComp MES cannot use it either, even if they get and expansion box,
unless they know how to disable the 32K in the MES (and CorComp is no more...).
Various RAM disks also have the 32K on them, and again- a problem.
But how many of those are around?  In my many discussions with TI-99/4A owners
I have only come across one case where the 32K are installed on the bus.
Perhaps somebody will find a way to switch his computer between "on the bus"
and "off the bus"...  :-)   That way they could use the 128K card only when
needed.

My own main concern is in the software arena.  Previous 128K cards had only
limited success.  For example, the Foundation 128K card was popular for 
TIBBS operators, but otherwise could only be used as a temporary RAMdisk
(96K).  I hope this one is more successful.

Final note regarding XB III:
A dealer who distributes Asgard products in the Cleveland area (Ron Marcus)
said that Harry Brashear (Asgard) told him that they have troubles producing
the XBIII cartridge, and it will be a long time before it is ready, if at all.
XBIII has been around in GRAM disk format for some time now, but its author
is keeping it under tight security and nobody can use it.
Unfortunately, it might never come out, and have no impact on the TI world-
unless it is released in some form soon.  Similar fate to other good software
that was marketed the wrong way (e.g., turbo Pasc'99, which could have been
as sucessful as C'99 if the authors had not insisted on marketing it for
$$$(too much) through L.L. Conner).

Ron Marcus also said he no longer carries OPA products due to their terrible
service record.  He paid in advance, and 5 months later got only part of his
order...  Why, Oh why, should that happen?  Rejoice, Lou Phillips... :-)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti