Mike's PCjr Page

I don't consider it to be close to a PCjr. Different I/O bus. Different keyboards, video, drives, etc. About the only thing recognizable to a PCjr owner would be cartridge slots and the 3 voice sound. Close enough for me! If it supports stock PCjr graphics in addition to the enhanced ones, it would...

Since your last post, have you started your project? Did you eventually settle on a programming language? Yes, Turbo Pascal 7. I coded it on a Tandy 1000 TX and then tested on PCjr. You can download the result here: ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/misc/HRN-TTRO.ZIP If you'd like a copy of my Tandy 1000 ...

For my PCjr coding, I use Turbo Pascal because the IDE+compiler+debugger+assembler is a single program. For projects that I only have to test on PCjr, I code on a 5160. For projects that definitely require a PCjr (graphics/sound), I try to code on a Tandy 1000 TX (the TX is a 286, so that's cheating...

I haven't looked into the audio support on the Jr much. Are you getting your information from the Tech Ref? If so, that is definitive. Yep, all from the tech ref and also a great book called IBM Pcjr Assembler Language by David C. Willen. The video memory on the PCjr is going to be a little goofy c...

How do you connect a real 83-key (or 101-key Model M) to a PCjr? Was there ever an IBM-provided cable for that? If not, where would I get one of those wacky square connectors to build my own?

Okay, so I've halfway decided to use a Tandy 1000 as the development platform for my PCjr project, simply because it has a hard drive. ZIP on PCjr works, but is impractical for development work because of the speed (I tested around 5-11KB/s writing using palmzip). However, this opens up a new can of...

Thanks for the clarification. I'm trying to figure out what my programming options are, just brainstorming a few things for my coding project. The lack of DMA, coupled with people's prior history on using a modem with a jr, has me concerned that if I attempt any diskette activity while something els...

Like the subject says. I'm curious if memory expansions add DMA capability to the machine; furthermore, if they do, I am wondering what the point is, since disk activity is already handled by the CPU.

The NEC adapters are rebadged Trantors. Get the Trantor drivers for DOS and they will handle removable disks, hard disks and CD-ROMs. I'm not sure if the link that Jim posted gives you the entire driver suite or not, but they are readily available from driver-guide. Good to know, thanks. Does DOSbo...

I just had another thought: Before starting, I should whip up a program that does VERY PCjr-specific things, like 160x200x16 graphics on two or three video pages, 3-voice audio, a little IRQ 5 (if I read the techref correctly it's a real Video IRQ!), etc. and then run under DOSBOX and also on a Tand...