Subject: Re: [mailstation] Newbie: MS120 From OfficeMax

From: JP Lester <japes_98@...>
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 18:10:26 -0700 (PDT)

I'm a newb also and just bought this same MS120.  Mine
is blueish, and from what I've been reading these
unfortunately don't appear to be hackable.

-jp
--- apple2ebeige <apple2ebeige@...> wrote:
> 
> 
> The LCD says "Mailstation 120"; on the back "MIVO
> 200 DET2".
> 
> None of the keyboard tricks I'm reading about seem
> to work.
> 
> Pressing SHIFT+FUNCTION+T and powering on doesn't do
> anything.
> 
> Am I doing something wrong?
> 
> Is there a FAQ?
> 
> Is there a "better" (more hackable) model to look
> for?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> -Dave
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
>     [email-masked]
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
>

---

From: "Neil Morrison" <neilsmorr@...>
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 18:52:02 -0700

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JP Lester" <japes_98@...>

> unfortunately don't appear to be hackable.

The very best ones are the Mivo 100 with the Yahoo! function in the Menu.

See http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5767182298 - note the
Yahoo! second from the right.

NM

---

From: "apple2ebeige" <apple2ebeige@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 02:13:25 -0000

> unfortunately don't appear to be hackable.

Bummer.

Can these be used with mailbug?

Do *any* of the key sequences work?

FWIW, I ran back to the store and also nabbed an MS150 (Earthlink).  Seems to suffer 
the same problems.

Thanks.

-Dave

---

From: "Neil Morrison" <neilsmorr@...>
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 19:15:30 -0700

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "apple2ebeige" <apple2ebeige@...>

> FWIW, I ran back to the store and also nabbed an MS150 (Earthlink).  Seems
to suffer

I believe that Earthlink 'locked' them to prevent changing ISPs. Until we
can dump and/or alter the ROM we are stuck.

NM

---

From: "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@...>
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 19:48:41 -0700

My guess is that the 150 will work with Mailbug, the remote debugger
soon (CJ has verified that it doesn't work yet, but the reflash protocol
is the same... that's good luck).

So once that is all working, you could conceivably load whatever
software you want on it including a hacked version of the software (or
an older rev might do what you need too).

Are you planning to use it just for email, or for something else?

-- John.

---

From: "apple2ebeige" <apple2ebeige@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 16:00:08 -0000

> Are you planning to use it just for email, or for something else?

I think the MS would make the coolest little Forth machine, kind of a Jupiter Ace 2005.

-Dave

---

From: "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 09:59:19 -0700

> I think the MS would make the coolest little Forth machine, kind of a

I agree! I've made similar noises here but done nothing about it (too
many projects).

How about porting Z80 CamelForth to the ms?

I'm guessing it's one or two weekends of work, and then the MS is
stand-alone programmable, we could even put the editor and assembler in
ROM along with the Forth core.

-- John.

---

From: "Cyrano Jones" <cyranojones_lalp@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 17:17:23 -0000

> stand-alone programmable, we could even put the editor and assembler 
> in ROM along with the Forth core.

Does CamelForth need a file system underneath it?

--
CJ

---

From: "apple2ebeige" <apple2ebeige@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 18:18:53 -0000

> Does CamelForth need a file system underneath it?

I don't think so.  Here's a good page:

http://www.hytherion.com/beattidp/comput/z80forth.htm

There's a reference to a Z180 port that is standalone.

-Dave

---

From: "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 12:39:29 -0700

> Does CamelForth need a file system underneath it?

No. The kernel gets flashed to ROM, then you interface with it over the
parallel port, (we'd need some kind of terminal program that talks over
parallel port on the DOS side) creating new definitions as you play.

In fact, traditionally Forth implements a "BLOCKS" wordset where
whatever storage you've got is divided into 64 X 16 blocks. So in a way,
classic Forth comes with its own file system approach that could be
used. I'm sure someone has done something to make a BLOCKS wordset that
works well with industrial flash chips (i.e. tries not to rewrite the
same blocks all the time).

Intro information on Forth:

http://home.iae.nl/users/mhx/sf.html
http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net (I helped to create the PDF)

(Note these cover older vintages of Forth, so many words are different,
but the core ideas are the same).

-- John.

---

From: "Neil Morrison" <neilsmorr@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 12:46:42 -0700

----- Original Message ----- 

> I think the MS would make the coolest little Forth machine, kind of a
Jupiter Ace 2005.

My hope is to turn it into a 'Super' Radio Shack Model 100 laptop. BTW,
looking on the Earthlink site it looks like they are not selling the Mivo
anymore. If they opened it up they could get more than $9 for them!

Neil

---

From: "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 13:59:35 -0700

On Sun, 2005-04-17 at 12:46 -0700, Neil Morrison wrote:

> My hope is to turn it into a 'Super' Radio Shack Model 100 laptop.

The thought has occurred to me... how are we going to do that without
battery backed RAM? I guess when we power down, we could write the RAM
image to flash. That's if the "power" button is pressed. But what if we
get a hard power failure... (no batteries, and DC adapter is pulled out,
or batteries die) I'm guessing there wouldn't be enough time to write it
out.

-- John.

---

From: "Cyrano Jones" <cyranojones_lalp@...>
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 01:09:10 -0000

> The thought has occurred to me... how are we going to do that 
> without battery backed RAM? I guess when we power down, we could
> write the RAM image to flash. That's if the "power" button is 
> pressed. But what if we get a hard power failure... (no batteries, 
> and DC adapter is pulled out, or batteries die) I'm guessing there
> wouldn't be enough time to write it out.

The ms RAM stays powered from the batteries when the power 
is switched off via the power button.  Would that be enough?

(It doesn't seem like too much of a hardship to keep batteries 
in it if you need battery-backed RAM!  :-)

--
CJ

---

From: "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 18:32:27 -0700

> is switched off via the power button.  Would that be enough?

Ah, didn't realize that. I figured it stored all files on flash, so why
would it battery back the RAM?

Anyway that's good news (to me).

> in it if you need battery-backed RAM!  :-)

Yes I suppose that's true. But the Model 100 has a nicad soldered to the
motherboard. It almost never gets used, spending most of its time fully
charged off either the battery or the wall cube. So if you leave an M100
on the shelf, the main batteries will die. But months later you turn the
thing on and all your files are still there!

Unlike say the Cambridge Z88, which doesn't have a battery backup but
just a capacitor similar to the way a Palm Pilot works. It's hard to get
the batteries changed in the short period of time you have from the
warning, especially if you're using rechargeables.

On an M100 you have a very long time before the memory will die even
with a warning and dead main batteries.

-- John.

---

From: "apple2ebeige" <apple2ebeige@...>
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 01:40:41 -0000

--- In [email-masked], "Neil Morrison" <neilsmorr@h...> wrote:
> From: "apple2ebeige" <apple2ebeige@y...>
> 

OK, if I unsolder the TSOP part (29F080?), can somebody read it out?  In the photos section 
there's a picture of an adaptor(?)

Thanks.

-Dave

---

From: "Neil Morrison" <neilsmorr@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 19:36:26 -0700

It takes considerable skill to desolder these without zapping them. But you
can read them while still in the unit.

Neil

---

From: "Neil Morrison" <neilsmorr@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 19:35:18 -0700

The flash works well. I bought one on eBay - still had some of the owner's
files in it. I stored it for a few months with no power. Plugged it in and
the files are still there.

Neil

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@...>