Floppy Drives with TrumpMini3 Woes

[t0nyt]

Maybe I’ll just bite the bullet and use Minerva

Will build a new MK2 and fit in my main QL

Please don’t waste any more time on this, again apologies for wasting your time

Many thanks
Tony

[aalea]

This is my guest of what is happening:

The initial idea of RES_128 is to remove the interface, entirely, by software, so no more memory and no floppy, to be used with some revel microdrives that refuse to operate in other configuration.

So in a original Trump Card, JS Rom, using RES_128 cause a soft-reboot and no initialization of the trump card, no message.

This is caused by JS bug that made interfaces only initialize if it is located in a specific memory position, 0x0C000, or 0xC0000.

So trump card made a trick, first no ROM (so QL can found real memory space), then ROM in 0xC0000, and finally rom in the empty space (0x1000), this 3 state machine only go back to original position, by the hardware signal reset, so when you do a soft-reset, the JS rom can not found it.

everything works as expected.

Then appears Minerva, that search for interfaces in all available space, this include 0x0c000, 0xC0000, any other address in increased of 16Kb, AND in 0x10000.

So when you do a soft-reset, it appears again, initializate and work, because minerva found it in 0x10000.

And when you do a RES_128 and reboot you continue to have floppy, and autoload is from floppy not from microdrive, and RAM space is reserved for the floppy, and some revel microdrive do not work, not because minerva, but because the trump card.

So somebody patched Trump 2.18, with a trick, force a hard-reset by software is complicated, but if you have 128Kb, do not inizializate the disk drive, and you get the desired efect, RES_128 cause no extra rom and no extra floppy, and no TK2!!

The Trump Card Manual indicate:

To run programs unable to run on expanded QL's like Psion Chess enter RES_128 after F1 or F2
after switch on. The QL will now look as though it is unexpanded to the software.
[...]
This includes floppy disk and RAM disk drivers, a dynamic printer buffer, a
versatile screen dump utility and the invaluable SuperToolkit II. Just in case you have some
software which is written assuming that you have an unexpanded QL, there is also a command
to make all our hard work disappear. This command is "RES_128".

So in my opinion, no disk and no TK2 after RES_128 is the original, and desired effect.
Using extra toolkit to get RES_256, RES_512, or try to use disk drive with only 128Kb was not in the plan of developers, and well, we see that not alwais have the same efect.

[t0nyt]

I understand what you are saying, I think, but an original Trump Card, with ROM 2.17c or lower on a JS QL is always detected and active whether you use res_128, 256, 384 or 512

The only thing not active on res_128 is TK2, but the floppies still work

For whatever reason though the miniTrump3 just completely vanishes. If in a 640k total QL though if I do a res_640 it doesn’t vanish (that is I do a soft reset but don’t change memory size)

Many thanks
Tony

[t0nyt]

My original TC uses an older ROM than 2.17c, so I’ll try the older version in MTC3 just to see if there’s any difference

EDIT: actually I don’t think that will make any difference because when I previously fitted the original Trump with v2.19 it worked fine as well (other than res_128, due to the changes made in v2.18 which is why I downgraded it again)

[t0nyt]

This is what the screen looks like after a res_384 on a JS with original Trump 768k

With MTC3 only the QIMSI lines appear