28 Jun
2014
28 Jun
'14
12:35 a.m.
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)
29 Jun
29 Jun
4:04 p.m.
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
--------
"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
4:41 p.m.
Hi Mark,
You said that the computer was promoted by the
"late" Bill Cosby.
That must be news to him, as he is very much alive. (
Yea. LOL. I actually meant "late-70's comedy icon" but it can be
interpreted as "the late 1970s icon...". You can't see the hyphen in
audio. Someone pointed this out when the video first went up. If you run
that part of the video now, you'll see I've got an annotation in the top
right hand pointing out what I meant!
There was absolutely no way to actually get into the
innards of the
machine as the BASIC had no peek or poke commands.
Indeed. This is what confused me about the sprites. I confused "no user
generated sprites" (under standard BASIC) with no sprites at all. I
corrected this mistake via annotation in the video too. However I
understand Peeks and Pokes were available via the Extended BASIC cartridge.
I didn't now about the heating problem. Interesting.
Terry (Tez)
8:38 p.m.
On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 7:41 PM, Terry Stewart <terry at webweavers.co.nz> wrote:
Hi Mark,
Poor Bill. Wasn't it about a year ago that the Internet was reporting
his death? Here we go again! :)
You said that the computer was promoted by the
"late" Bill Cosby.
That must be news to him, as he is very much alive. (
Yea. LOL. I actually meant "late-70's comedy icon" but it can be
interpreted as "the late 1970s icon...". You can't see the hyphen in
audio. Someone pointed this out when the video first went up. If you run
that part of the video now, you'll see I've got an annotation in the top
right hand pointing out what I meant! I didn't now about the heating problem.
Interesting.
I remember a thread someplace about this not too long ago. I believe
it was the /4 that had the overheating problem, not the /4A. My
family's first computer was the /4A and we never had heating issues.
We never had any issues. It was a great introduction to computers and
once we got the Extended BASIC cart, a good introduction to
programming for my father and I. (Mom couldn't care less!)
Excuse me. One issue. Those f#@%$!% TI joysticks were horrible!!!
Luckily you could always(?) use the keyboard.
Now what I want to know is why I didn't see TI Invaders in that video.
How could you do a video on the TI-99/4A without showing TI
Invaders!?!? lol
Jim
9:26 p.m.
Now what I want to know is why I didn't see TI
Invaders in that video.
How could you do a video on the TI-99/4A without showing TI
Invaders!?!? lol
Lol! Exactly. It is a very good variant of the game. Unfortunately the TI
Invaders cart is the only one I've got that doesn't actually work! Damn!
Terry (Tez)
On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 3:38 PM, Jim Carpenter <jim at deitygraveyard.com>
wrote:
On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 7:41 PM, Terry Stewart
<terry at webweavers.co.nz>
wrote:
Hi Mark,
run
You said that the computer was promoted by the
"late" Bill Cosby.
That must be news to him, as he is very much alive. (
Yea. LOL. I actually meant "late-70's comedy icon" but it can be
interpreted as "the late 1970s icon...". You can't see the hyphen in
audio. Someone pointed this out when the video first went up. If you that part of the video now, you'll see
I've got an annotation in the top
right hand pointing out what I meant!
Poor Bill. Wasn't it about a year ago that the Internet was reporting
his death? Here we go again! :)
I didn't now about the heating problem.
Interesting.
I remember a thread someplace about this not too long ago. I believe
it was the /4 that had the overheating problem, not the /4A. My
family's first computer was the /4A and we never had heating issues.
We never had any issues. It was a great introduction to computers and
once we got the Extended BASIC cart, a good introduction to
programming for my father and I. (Mom couldn't care less!)
Excuse me. One issue. Those f#@%$!% TI joysticks were horrible!!!
Luckily you could always(?) use the keyboard.
Now what I want to know is why I didn't see TI Invaders in that video.
How could you do a video on the TI-99/4A without showing TI
Invaders!?!? lol
Jim
9:36 p.m.
On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 6:04 PM, John Many Jars
<john at yoyodyne-propulsion.net> wrote:
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.
Of all the computers and accessories I've pulled out of attics,
garages, storage units and hoarder's dungeons - and there have been
many - the TI-99/4a is by far the one I've found most often complete
and in the box. That should tell you something about its popularity.
That said, I think the 4a + PEB makes an interesting system. You
can't say TI didn't build the PEB and its enormous expansion cards as
robust and solid as their more professional lines.
And like almost all home computers, there is still a loyal "scene" for
it out there. In fact, the annual TI Worlds Faire is right here in
the Chicago area: http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php
-j
30 Jun
30 Jun
12:43 a.m.
On 30 June 2014 05:36, Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com> wrote:
Of all the computers and accessories I've pulled out of attics,
garages, storage units and hoarder's dungeons - and there have been
many - the TI-99/4a is by far the one I've found most often complete
and in the box. That should tell you something about its popularity.
Perhaps that people played with it for a few weeks, and dumped it in
their closet? (;
Those things were *dumped* on the market, massively below cost. I
remember you could get one for about $150. That computer was a
massive disaster for TI, and one of their own making.
That said, I think the 4a + PEB makes an interesting
system. You
can't say TI didn't build the PEB and its enormous expansion cards as
robust and solid as their more professional lines.
I'm sure that's true. A friend of mine had a 4A and that huge
expansion card cage, full of cards, and the system they had made a
very reasonable computer. A 99/4, without the big expansion box,
wasn't very useful... unless you wanted to play games of cartridges,
like Terry points out. It was, bascally, a video game system with a
keyboard. The games were pretty good.
You could also type about a bit and write some simple BASIC programs.
I mean, that's great. It wasn't what I wanted as a kid, I wanted to
be able to get into the machine and hack about with it. Maybe write
something in assembler or whatever. It's just the wrong computer to
do that, unless you spend a ton of money. That wasn't really my idea
of what a computer should be... at the time.
I'm not here to bash old systems, or be nasty to people who care about
them... at all. I'd love to have a TI to play with... I'd want the
expansion cage and the extended BASIC and all the rest.
And like almost all home computers, there is still a
loyal "scene" for
it out there. In fact, the annual TI Worlds Faire is right here in
the Chicago area: http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php
That's really cool. I'll check it out.
--
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
1:04 a.m.
On 30 June 2014 09:43, John Many Jars <john at yoyodyne-propulsion.net> wrote:
They ended up less than that. $50 according to:
http://www.pc-history.org/texas.htm
Yep. That is how I got to use one; my school bought a room full of
them, cheap. Plus little black & white TV sets and cassette recorders.
But not the Advanced BASIC cartridge, which would have made them useful.
--
Liam Proven * Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk * GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com * Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Cell: +44 7939-087884
Perhaps that people played with it for a few weeks, and dumped it in
their closet? (;
That is what I took it to mean, yes.
Those things
were *dumped* on the market, massively below cost. I
remember you could get one
for about $150.
3:04 a.m.
On 30 June 2014 09:04, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
That is what I took it to mean, yes.
I should know better than to answer posts before 10am.
They ended up less than that. $50 according to:
http://www.pc-history.org/texas.htm
Wow. Why didn't I buy (another) one?
Yep. That is how I got to use one; my school bought a
room full of
them, cheap. Plus little black & white TV sets and cassette recorders.
I donated mine to my grade school.
But not the Advanced BASIC cartridge, which would have
made them useful.
Yeah. That would have been nice. A disk drive and that cartridge
might have made a big difference.
--
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
8:30 a.m.
On 6/30/2014 3:04 AM, John Many Jars wrote:
On 30 June 2014 09:04, Liam Proven <lproven at
gmail.com> wrote:
My roommates and I got free ones. When they were dropped, there was a
$25.00 rebate from TI on them, and many locations sold them for $25 for
about a 2 week period. The exercise was to find a newspaper with the
$25 rebate ad and make it to a store with some left.
It was an exercise similar to running around to McDonalds getting the
lead paint glasses before they were all pulled (another story) At least
you didn't have to live on happy meals while running form department
store to department store looking for the TI's.
You had to unfortunately cut off the full proof of purchase panel on the
box, which I didn't want to do, and mail it in.
For those of you who have them, if you got one third party with the
serial number and UPC panel missing on the box, that is what is going on
with that second hand machine.
Jim
That is what I took it to mean, yes.
I
should know better than to answer posts before 10am.
They ended up less than that. $50 according to:
http://www.pc-history.org/texas.htm
Wow. Why didn't I buy (another) one?
Yep. That is
how I got to use one; my school bought a room full of
them, cheap. Plus little black & white TV sets and cassette recorders.
I
donated mine to my grade school.
But not the Advanced BASIC cartridge, which would
have made them useful.
Yeah. That would have been nice. A disk drive and that
cartridge
might have made a big difference.
11:46 a.m.
On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 5:04 AM, John Many Jars
<john at yoyodyne-propulsion.net> wrote:
On 30 June 2014 09:04, Liam Proven <lproven at
gmail.com> wrote:
Heh, I could have been clearer. It's my only TI-99 anecdote; you'd
think I'd have it down by now...
I think the perspective of 30 years lets us judge these old machines
mostly objectively. I grew up a Commodore kid, contractually bound to
bash Apple products (I didn't know anyone with an non-game console
Atari or they would have been the enemy too.) Now I can appreciate
(and collect) them all, recognizing their individual high- and
low-lights. And that includes calling a dud and a dud :) Doesn't
mean I don't have a small pile of TI machines, a couple PEBs and a few
hundred floppies to image, though.
-j
That is what I took it to mean, yes.
I should know better than to answer posts before 10am. 
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
--------
"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
8:53 a.m.
On 30 June 2014 16:22, Marc Howard <cramcram at gmail.com> wrote:
"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.
I stand corrected... I guess, kind of. Yeah. I knew you could get an
assembler for it... or you could pop in a extended BASIC cartridge.
I'm not sure when they became available... and I'm not sure, but I
think the assembler cartridge required a disk drive, therefore it
required the big expansion thing.
Of course, my personal problem with all this is that my dad wasn't
going to buy all that stuff, after spending the best part of $1000 on
a computer in 1979/80. If I could have talked him into the Apple //,
he would have probably gotten a disk drive and spent way more money.
of course, in theory, you could do stuff deep in the heart of an Apple
without a disk drive... if you were insane enough to hand assemble it
or use the mini assembler. At least you could peek and poke things
without having to buy extra stuff. (:
Unless you wanted floating point, of course. Anyway, the thing was
clunky and slow out of the box.
--
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
1:11 p.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... 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.
As has been mentioned here before, the main problem with this machine was
the memory arrangement. There was very little memeory (256 bytes or
soemthing) actually on the processor bus. There was 16K of memeory on the
video chip. BASIC programs were stored in unused parts of the video
memory, which the processor could read out via the video chip and then
interpret said programs.
This eman htat (a) the machien was ridiculously slow and (b) there was
nowhere to store amchine code programs (the vdieo memory was ony
accessible via the video chip, and thus the processor couldn't run
machine code stored there).
I am told tehre were RAM expansion boards that actually put some RAM on
the processor bus, but not in the basic machine
-tony
3597
days inactive
3599
days old
13 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cramcram＠gmail.com -
jim＠deitygraveyard.com -
john＠yoyodyne-propulsion.net -
jws＠jwsss.com -
lproven＠gmail.com -
silent700＠gmail.com -
terry＠webweavers.co.nz