Help me load this cassette software. Please.

Resident (62)

03-07-2010, 20:59

Hi all.

I recently bought a cool little MSX controlled robot on eBay. Unfortunately, the software comes on tape and is currently refusing to load properly. I can get the software to load into memory but once you hit F5 to run you get one of two error messages depending on which side of the tape you're on. Here's what I'm getting:

Side A
"Undefined line number in 8"

Side B
"Illegal function call in 10140"

I'm using a Philips MSX2 if that matters.

Can anyone give me any advice on getting this to work? Would be fun to play with.

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By flyguille

Prophet (3031)

03-07-2010, 22:19

can you convert the tape to WAV using a PC Mic imput, then use the WAV to run it in an emulator, then to print it to file or save to hard disk with SAVE"",A command....

else, how you expect that we can to help without the listing?

By RetroTechie

Paragon (1563)

03-07-2010, 23:23

For anything that's still on tape these days, easier method is:

Identify what's on the tape. It may not even be necessary to play the tape - just looking at label / box / context might be enough to determine what it is.
Find a copy of that online. If it's remotely interesting & it wasn't a DIY-project or unique personal files, chances are another copy of that tape was converted to an archive on FTP site ages ago.

Basically: regard pulling data off ancient audio tapes as a last resort, only to be attempted if all else fails & you want it badly. So: what MSX controlled robot? That yellow SVI-built thingie?

By jpgrobler

Master (154)

04-07-2010, 11:42

Is the program on both sides the same?
Save both progams to disk with different names
See I you can combine both to a working one if they are the same?
or Upload the saved files for help?

By kaladron

Resident (62)

04-07-2010, 12:11

The robot is the Mitsubishi ML-ROBO. Can't control it without the software. And the program on both sides is the same, just different baud rates.

How would I go about copying them to disk? And is there a way to get the code up on-screen so I can edit it and re-save? I don't have a PC and hate using emulators, so it would be ideal if I could fix this on the original hardware.

By OeiOeiVogeltje

Paragon (1439)

04-07-2010, 12:38

try this on your real msx
http://nl.msx.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=visit&lid=559

load the .cas file you made on an emulator to see if it actually runs

then extract the files from the .cas files and save them to cassette

i dunno how to extract but i know its possible, i cant find the lik anymore though)

the tape2cas util works good on cassettes that otherwise wont run on a real msx
i dont know why but i tried it several times and it really works

good luck

By djh1697

Paragon (1736)

04-07-2010, 14:58

Try booting without any disk drive installed by pressing [SHIFT] until you get the MSX basic prompt. It might solve the issue?

By Repair-Bas

Paragon (1176)

04-07-2010, 15:22

ok, I have the programm on disk.

You have to type before loading poke-1,170

and I can remember the progam runs in screen 0 or 1

try this after loading:

screen 0: width40
then run

or:
screen 1
then run

By kaladron

Resident (62)

04-07-2010, 20:59

I just tried that and got exactly the same error messages. Am I understanding right that I should simply type "poke-1,170" before loading the tape?

Also: How would I go about getting the software on disk myself? Is there any chance you'd be able to duplicate it?

Is there any chance that the "Robot Control Program" just isn't MSX2 compatible?

By Repair-Bas

Paragon (1176)

04-07-2010, 21:46

My robo works on the msx2 without any problems,

By Manuel

Ascended (19691)

05-07-2010, 19:04

after loading it, save it to disk with

SAVE"PROG.BAS"

or even

SAVE"PROG.BAS",A

to have it in pure ASCII. Then open this ASCII file on your PC and paste it somewhere so we can see what's going wrong.