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TI-99/4A User Demographics

Omega-TI

By Omega-TI
in TI-99/4A Computers

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TI-Users Demographic  

46 members have voted

  1. 1. How old were you when you first got into the TI-99/4A

    • 5+
      26
    • 15+
      8
    • 20+
      4
    • 25+
      0
    • 30+
      3
    • 35+
      1
    • 40+
      3
    • 45+
      1
    • 50+
      0
    • 55+
      0
    • 60+
      0
    • 65+
      0
    • 70+
      0

  2. 2. What time period did you first get into the TI-99/4A

    • 1980+
      36
    • 1985+
      5
    • 1990+
      0
    • 1995+
      1
    • 2000+
      0
    • 2005+
      1
    • 2010+
      3

  3. 3. Did you ever get out of the TI-99/4A

    • YES
      27
    • NO
      19

  4. 4. If you got out of the TI-99/4A for a period, when was that?

    • 1980+
      1
    • 1985+
      12
    • 1990+
      8
    • 1995+
      3
    • 2000+
      2
    • 2005+
      1
    • 2010+
      0
    • Never got out of it (click this if N/A)
      19

  5. 5. If you got out of the TI-99/4A, when did you come back to it?

    • 1980+
      1
    • 1985
      0
    • 1990+
      0
    • 1995+
      4
    • 2000+
      4
    • 2005+
      10
    • 2010+
      8
    • Never got out if it (click this if N/A)
      19

  6. 6. If you left, how old were you when you got back into the TI?

    • 20+
      2
    • 25+
      3
    • 30+
      6
    • 35+
      7
    • 40+
      7
    • 45+
      0
    • 50+
      2
    • 60+
      0
    • 65+
      0
    • 70+
      1
    • Never left (click this if N/A)
      18

  7. 7. What is your approximate age now?

    • 20+
      1
    • 25+
      0
    • 30+
      2
    • 35+
      7
    • 40+
      11
    • 45+
      15
    • 50+
      2
    • 55+
      2
    • 60+
      2
    • 65+
      0
    • 70+
      1
    • 75+
      2
    • 80+
      0
    • 85+
      0
    • 90+
      0
    • 95+
      1
    • 100+
      0

  8. 8. I'm,

    • Male
      44
    • Female
      1
  • Please sign in to vote in this poll.

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Gary from OPA Stargunner

Gary from OPA

Posted
Posted

We I think are all old now.

 

I started right the beginner level at only 10 in '79 when my dad bought me the very costly $1300 TI/99

 

I was until music before that, and model railroad trains, and and my dad was a top mechincal and design engineer for large corporations, so already had some programming experience on huge machines with little tv tubes or printers for output.

 

My dad used to play an early form of hunt the wumpus on line printer with the mainframe in Texas from his office terminal.

 

So we got this costly toy to start learning it, and soon I was already at work programming it, and helping my dad upgrade his skills to keep his job from his experience of using just a slideruler and other hand tools to design.

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hloberg River Patroller

+hloberg

Posted
Posted (edited)

My dad got my first TI-99 and first computer from TI store when he was doing some work with them. It literally changed my life as it helped make up my mind what I wanted to take in college (programming).

I had my original TI for about 5 years till I sat the motherboard on a piece of aluminum (can't remember why I opened it up) and then stupidly turned it on. FIZZZ, smoke. :woozy:

Moved on to Atari 8-bit after that for a while.

Another good question might ask is how many run the emulator vs. the real thing. I just got a TI-99 off eBay but was running an emulator for several years.

Edited by hloberg
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Lee Stewart Quadrunner

+Lee Stewart

Posted
Posted

OK—someone is gaming the poll. The 95+ participant answered incorrectly (or disingenuously) either question #1 or question #7. Of course, the way Kevan structured the age ranges, I could have answered #1 with "10+"—I was, after all, older than 10 when I got into the TI-99/4A in 1983. The '+' should only be present in the last choice.

 

...lee

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Omega-TI Quadrunner

Omega-TI

Posted
  • Author
Posted

OK—someone is gaming the poll. The 95+ participant answered incorrectly (or disingenuously) either question #1 or question #7. Of course, the way Kevan structured the age ranges, I could have answered #1 with "10+"—I was, after all, older than 10 when I got into the TI-99/4A in 1983. The '+' should only be present in the last choice.

 

...lee

 

Sad if such is the case, as all it does is waste a vote. I guess I'll add this...

* NOT A SCIENTIFIC POLL

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Omega-TI Quadrunner

Omega-TI

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Can you add an age group before 10? I was like 7 or 8.

 

Since you've probably already voted, if this was put it, you would not be able choose it as you can only vote once. Also if it was added, it would be at the bottom, not the top, so the poll would look kind of strange. For the most part, I think it gives us a 'general idea', even with a couple of glitches.

 

If I ever make another poll, I'll give it more than 30 seconds of forethought.

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  • 1 month later...
Retrospect River Patroller

Retrospect

Posted
Posted

During summer '85 I was just getting interested in computers, so before long I was given this shiny metallic TI99 from my cousin ... it came with tape recorder, Ext.Basic, MunchMan, Tombstone City, and Parsec, plus a lot of cassette tapes ....

 

I remember the tapes being a little 50/50 wether they would load, I think that was down to the tape deck (Realistic) .... the games on tape had been mail ordered out of magazines, there was a company called FireFly who would make they're games with cassette covers looking like photocopies of a drawing with a little firefly in the corner ... I think one of they're games was called "Chalice", that was a simple game of moving a man around screens, looking for treasure.

Another game I had was called Dodger ... that was a frogger clone with merry music ... I can't remember if that was TI Basic or Ext. Basic ... another one was Castle Conquerer ... a Hunchback clone ... there was a plane over the city game ... one magazine type-in game called "Prison Run" from C & VG, and then when my dad found another game advertised in a magazine we travelled 20 miles to someone's house to buy it! .... that was called "Alpine Quest" and was an adventure which I got stuck on very quickly.

The real shame is, that although we now have a large collection of the old TI games, little games like the ones I had , mail order in the UK, are just not around anymore.
Most of them had been thrown in the rubbish bin or lost, way before copying tapes to WAV files ever existed.

I used to use my TI a lot as a kid, and loved typing in the programs from the Extended Basic book. There was something magical, something charming, about the TI99 ... and when I got a new C64 to replace it in 1988, I just never seemed to enjoy the 64 as much even though in some ways it was technically better. It just wasn't the TI.

Getting shot to death within 3 seconds on "platoon" on the 64 did not compare to the fun I had playing "Parsec" or "munchman" or even "tombstone city" on the TI.

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am1933 Stargunner

am1933

Posted
Posted

I got out of the TI scene in 1985 and moved on to an Atari 800XL-which I also loved, the over riding factor in me moving to Atari was the zero availability of good TI software and harfware in the UK, you can imagine how pissed off I feel when I look at things like the Triton catalogues :mad:

 

I guess the question is-If I had U.S availability, would I have switched to the Atari?, maybe-but I certainly would have kept the TI longer and it may have taken me a bit longer to move to my next computer.

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am1933 Stargunner

am1933

Posted
Posted

During summer '85 I was just getting interested in computers, so before long I was given this shiny metallic TI99 from my cousin ... it came with tape recorder, Ext.Basic, MunchMan, Tombstone City, and Parsec, plus a lot of cassette tapes ....

 

I remember the tapes being a little 50/50 wether they would load, I think that was down to the tape deck (Realistic) .... the games on tape had been mail ordered out of magazines, there was a company called FireFly who would make they're games with cassette covers looking like photocopies of a drawing with a little firefly in the corner ... I think one of they're games was called "Chalice", that was a simple game of moving a man around screens, looking for treasure.

 

Another game I had was called Dodger ... that was a frogger clone with merry music ... I can't remember if that was TI Basic or Ext. Basic ... another one was Castle Conquerer ... a Hunchback clone ... there was a plane over the city game ... one magazine type-in game called "Prison Run" from C & VG, and then when my dad found another game advertised in a magazine we travelled 20 miles to someone's house to buy it! .... that was called "Alpine Quest" and was an adventure which I got stuck on very quickly.

 

The real shame is, that although we now have a large collection of the old TI games, little games like the ones I had , mail order in the UK, are just not around anymore.

Most of them had been thrown in the rubbish bin or lost, way before copying tapes to WAV files ever existed.

 

I used to use my TI a lot as a kid, and loved typing in the programs from the Extended Basic book. There was something magical, something charming, about the TI99 ... and when I got a new C64 to replace it in 1988, I just never seemed to enjoy the 64 as much even though in some ways it was technically better. It just wasn't the TI.

 

Getting shot to death within 3 seconds on "platoon" on the 64 did not compare to the fun I had playing "Parsec" or "munchman" or even "tombstone city" on the TI.

You can imagine my excitement when I got back into the TI back in about 2005, when I was moving home I found a box in the loft containing a solitary Atarisoft Defender cartridge and all of my old tape software which I was sure I had given away with my original 4a.

I had Troll King, The Black Tower and Hunchback Havoc(all by Lantern software), Mania(Intrigue software), Fun Pac2(Virgin games) and Toad Graphics(Timeless software), I still have them all and they still work(yes I do sometimes still use my tape deck)

I should point out my tape collection is now a little bit bigger :)

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