Texas Instruments TI-99/4a

On 28 June 2014 08:35, Terry Stewart <terry at webweavers.co.nz> wrote: Hi Terry, That was a really good video... just a couple of comments... You said that the computer was promoted by the "late" Bill Cosby. That must be news to him, as he is very much alive. (; My parents bought me a TI 99/4... it was the first computer the family owned, but I was the only one who could use it. It did not come with a monitor, but was quite a bit cheaper than an Apple //. The best use for the thing would be as a large doorstop. The BASIC was very odd, and very slow. You had to heavily modify anything even slightly complex from say, _Basic Computer Games_. The unit would start to overheat if left on for more than a few hours, and random characters would start popping up on the screen. There was absolutely no way to actually get into the innards of the machine as the BASIC had no peek or poke commands... and CERTAINLY no way to write even basic assembler routines... the only way I'm aware of to write anything that would run at a reasonable speed was to get the massive expansion box, and some disk drives. For that price an Apple // would have been cheaper. I have a certain affection for the things, but they were probably the worst computer on the market at the time. Thanks for the cool video. Mark -- Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems: "The Future Begins Tomorrow" Visit us at: http://www.yoyodyne-propulsion.net -------- "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." -- Jonathan Swift