18 Nov
2000
18 Nov
'00
6:51 p.m.
In a message dated 11/18/2000 10:36:35 PM Eastern Standard Time,
spectre(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu writes:
For people who
don't know what one is, visit
http://www.retrobits.com/ckb/secret/pet.html
Hey Cameron:
Thanks for posting this -- I'd never heard of this machine and it looks like
a lot of fun. A $199 system with support for five mainstream languages?
Seems like they could have sold a million of them just to developers and
students . . .
Glen
0/0
19 Nov
19 Nov
4:44 a.m.
For people
who
don't know what one is, visit
http://www.retrobits.com/ckb/secret/pet.html
Hey Cameron:
Thanks for posting this -- I'd never heard of this machine and it looks like
a lot of fun. A $199 system with support for five mainstream languages?
Seems like they could have sold a million of them just to developers and
students . . . 
12:10 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: <Glenatacme(a)aol.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2000 4:21 PM
Subject: Re: CP/M on the TI-99/4A
Thanks for posting this -- I'd never heard of this
machine and it
looks like
a lot of fun. A $199 system with support for five
mainstream
languages?
Seems like they could have sold a million of them just
to developers
and
students . . .
As a former TI99/4A owner, I can vouch for that. The machine was a
somewhat better
performer than the C64 it was contemporary with, not just speedwise, but
bear in mind that
this was a 16 bit cpu when all other home computers were 8 bit, and the
drive was your common
or garden type SS or DS floppy, not the strange serial bus "read
everything twice" commodore type.
It certainly had it's quirks, and the keyboard took a little getting
used to, though I think the commodore
had some odd quirks as well. I still have mine somewhere, and the
Editor/Assembler cartridge as well.
What made it flop was more to do with marketing, at which TI were so
totally inept it boggles the mind.
So it never sold very well, they lost on it bigtime, and it prompted
them to get out of home computers and
eventually, computers period.
Cheers
Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Mark's College
Port Pirie,
South Australia
geoffrob(a)stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au
netcafe(a)tell.net.au
ICQ: 1970476
12:50 p.m.
Re:
Hey Cameron:
Thanks for posting this -- I'd never heard of this machine and it looks like
a lot of fun. A $199 system with support for five mainstream languages?
Seems like they could have sold a million of them just to developers and
students . . .
I have a SuperPET, and enjoy it ... but it's a bit of a stretch to
say "five mainstream languages". The Waterloo APL, BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN,
and Pascal were all fairly simple interpreters. As interpreters, they
were pretty good ones.
The Waterloo Assembler was, well, weird. What else can be said about
an assembler with a construct like:
GUESS
...
...
QUIF <condition>
...
...
ADMIT
...
ENDGUESS
:)
Stan Sieler sieler(a)allegro.com
www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html www.allegro.com/sieler
1:21 p.m.
The Waterloo Assembler was, well, weird. What else
can be said about
an assembler with a construct like:
GUESS
...
...
QUIF <condition>
...
...
ADMIT
...
ENDGUESS
Whoa. What are the semantics of *that*?
--
----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu
-- All wiyht. Rho sritched mg kegcaps awound? ---------------------------------
6:45 p.m.
On Sun, 19 Nov 2000, Stan Sieler wrote:
I have a SuperPET, and enjoy it ... but it's a bit
of a stretch to
say "five mainstream languages". The Waterloo APL, BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN,
and Pascal were all fairly simple interpreters. As interpreters, they
were pretty good ones.
The Waterloo Assembler was, well, weird. What else can be said about
an assembler with a construct like:
Speaking of which, I just received the complete set of manuals for the
Waterloo languages this weekend. I also got the SuperPET manual (and
while I'm at it, the first 30 tapes of the Cursor software library...I'm
sure Larry will take notice, unless he already has all of them, which I
think he does :)
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
20 Nov
20 Nov
3:42 a.m.
Speaking of which, I just received the complete set of
manuals for the
Waterloo languages this weekend. I also got the SuperPET manual (and
while I'm at it, the first 30 tapes of the Cursor software library...I'm
sure Larry will take notice, unless he already has all of them, which I
think he does :)
Any of the paper issues? I've been looking for the Cursor backissue that
talks about The Other Intellect and the Colour PET.
--
----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu
-- I like work. I could watch people doing work for hours. --------------------
7:26 a.m.
On Mon, 20 Nov 2000, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
I believe I received a set of them in an earlier shipment from the same
person. I'll have to go digging through boxes to check. Maybe I'll come
across that Mac mouse while I'm in the process ;)
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
Speaking of
which, I just received the complete set of manuals for the
Waterloo languages this weekend. I also got the SuperPET manual (and
while I'm at it, the first 30 tapes of the Cursor software library...I'm
sure Larry will take notice, unless he already has all of them, which I
think he does :)
Any of the paper issues? I've been looking for the Cursor backissue that
talks about The Other Intellect and the Colour PET.
9:12 a.m.
Speaking of which, I just received the complete set of
manuals for the
Waterloo languages this weekend. I also got the SuperPET manual (and
while I'm at it, the first 30 tapes of the Cursor software library...I'm
sure Larry will take notice, unless he already has all of them, which I
think he does :)
Any of the paper issues? I've been looking for the Cursor backissue that
talks about The Other Intellect and the Colour PET.
9:10 a.m.
On Mon, 20 Nov 2000, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
I await with baited breath :-) thanks.
Oh yeah, what are you trying to catch? ;)
(Smart-Ass Word of the Day: bated - reduced in force or intensity)
:)
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
8649
days inactive
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days old
9 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
foo＠siconic.com -
geoffrob＠stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au -
Glenatacme＠aol.com -
spectre＠stockholm.ptloma.edu -
ss＠allegro.com