30 Jun
2014
30 Jun
'14
8:22 a.m.
"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..."
Actually there was an assembler cartridge (
http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/software/s_carts/editor.html); I actually
owned one. My reason for getting it was different however. I had build at
TMS9900 computer from scratch in 1976 but I didn't have a real assembler
for it. However since I didn't have a good way of moving binary files from
the 99/4 to the 9900 it wasn't of much use.
Marc
On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 4:04 PM, John Many Jars <
john at yoyodyne-propulsion.net> wrote:
On 28 June 2014 08:35, Terry Stewart <terry at
webweavers.co.nz> wrote:
My take on the Texas Instrument TI-99/4a.
Remembered most as being on the
wrong side of a discounting war with Commodore but a classic computer of
the early '80s nonetheless.
http://youtu.be/p6VjsVwRXYk
Terry (Tez)
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
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"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
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