Story time: A possible history of a returning TI'er.

[Omega-TI]

A Future Returning TI'ers Reality (Part 1 of ____ )

By: Omega

 

What happened? All I wanted to do was play a few games!

 

Back when I was a kid, I had a TI-99/4A home computer. I loved that little silver console as it gave me so much joy. I played games on it and I programmed it in BASIC, but I never had much more than a few cartridges and a cassette player. Anyway, I kept my prized little computer all these years, occasionally removing it from the box and having some fun with it, while the pangs of nostalgia got deeper each time.

 

Now a while ago I stumbled upon a link to a place called Atari Age, and I simply could not believe what I was seeing… a cartridge for the TI that took a modern day SD card! OH HELL YES, I HAD TO HAVE ONE OF THESE! I signed up on Atari Age, contacted Ralf and ordered one via Pay Pal. When it arrived, damn, it was like Christmas in July! I download a lot of the free game images, loaded them onto the cart and was having a total blast. Then it happened…

 

I discovered a lot has happened in the TI world since the early days, for example, a guy by the name of Rasmus wrote some totally kick-ass killer games that no one had ever thought was possible back in the day. But those games needed the 32K memory expansion, so I found that a guy named Marc could fix up my console for me at a really good price. I sent him my baby and he took good care of it, and sent it back rather quickly with the modification. I was having a total blast playing all the new ‘homebrew’ games… then I learned something else…

 

I discovered some of the games have extended graphics capabilities, and perform better using a modern-day upgrade. Well, since I was into the TI now for the new cartridge and memory expansion, why not really enjoy the extra capabilities on my modern big screen TV? So I popped for yet another item, the awesome “F18A” video enhancement made by a guy named Matthew Haggerty.

 

OMG! OMG! OMG! Once I installed that video upgrade I simply could not believe what I was seeing! The video was sharp as heck, I was seeing things I never noticed before! Man, my upgraded TI ROCKS!!

 

Everything was perfect, then I noticed….

 

 

[Omega-TI]

Part 2

 

… that the F18A could display 80 column ANSI graphics with a program by Tim, a guy who goes by the name “Insane Multitasker”. His program, called TIMXT allows one to call Heatwave BBS where a group of other TI users hang out. If that was not enough I also learned that Stuart Conner wrote an Internet browser for the TI… yeah, no kidding! If that was not enough, I learned that Corey Anderson wrote a series of applications for people who use the browser. Now TI’ers have a chat room that cannot be seen by anyone other than another TI’er, and there are interactive games like chess too and yes… even email capability! I could never have imagined that the TI would ever be able to do so much.

 

It was time to take the next step…

[Omega-TI]

Part 3

 

… I hung out and basically lived on Ebay for the next couple of weeks until I managed to score a Peripheral Expansion box at a fair price, but the idea of messing around with a clunky 5.25” disk drive just plain sucked, so I ordered one of those fancy Lotharek HxC SD-card based drives from Poland. The HxC was the best option for me because my P-Box came without an RS-232 card and I wanted to easily get my all downloaded goodies over to my new silver box of joy.

 

Now hanging around and waiting is not my strong suit, so I also looked around Atari Age, asked a few questions and found an awesome thread by a guy called Wyerd that showed me how to hook it all up. I even found the best and most inexpensive place to order parts… Atari Age ROCKS too!

 

So now I had it all hooked up and working, then guess what… IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

[iKarith]

Omega, I think you hit the nail firmly on the head here. All I wanted was to play some games with a little machine I picked up for $20 at Goodwill. It would've been smashed to pieces there and was in such fine shape I just had to take it home. I remembered Alpiner and Parsec because they talked. There were others, but I didn't remember them so much.

 

And I haven't gotten so far as most of that yet--I don't have and don't plan to get a PEB--I just don't have the space. The F18A might happen. A nanoPEB is happening. Internal RAM I think isn't compatible with the nanoPEB but I'm not 100% sure about that, so even though internal RAM could be faster it's not happening yet. But a HxC-based floppy thing might happen along with a nanoPEB replacement.

 

Haven't gotten to try out the new games yet because I don't know how to work with the nanoPEB's CF card yet and don't have any but TI beginner BASIC. (I'm not sure I need Extended or XB to do anything more or not yet.) But I'll figure it out at some point and then ... yeah.

 

The quirky little machine I only ever played a couple of games on at a friend's house and that I got myself at some point but couldn't use at all, and now own again and am determined to make useful... Addicting hobby, you know.

[Omega-TI]

Hey iKarith,

 

Oh yeah, Parsec... the game that sold more TI's than anything else. It's too bad the majority of other TI game programs did not live up to it's standards. I'm glad you saved a TI from the getting all dented and thrashed. It'll pay you back with hours of enjoyment.

 

You are right, you will NOT need the internal 32K memory modification if you are going to be using a Nano-PEB. You WILL need to get a hold of arcadeshopper and get an Extended BASIC 2.7 Suite cartridge though. That cartridge has many games built-in, but more importantly it also has Extended BASIC, and Editor/Assembler and many other useful utilities that you WILL NEED. If I were allowed to have only one cartridge for the TI, that would be the one I'd own.

 

You *WILL* want to get your hands on a copy of TI99DIR by Fred Kaal. With that program you will have the ability to download stuff from the Internet, create compatible disk images, and put the programs you've downloaded into those images and then put them on the CF card.

 

Yes, VERY addicting!

[iKarith]

I have notes to play with a nice python alternative to ti99dir, particularly since I mostly pair my retro computers with small $35 ARM toys. Actually, aside from a basically abused 2009 or so vintage Mac, I think the fastest computer at my fiancee's place with a keyboard is probably my Pi 3. I've got an i5 Mac at home, but there's construction outside my place and I keep nerd hours so I'm usually here.

 

Would the 2.7 cart be a better investment than XB at this point? And how would the FR99 change the equation? I sent an email to inquire after one of those this morning.

Edited June 3, 2016 by iKarith

[Shift838]

I have notes to play with a nice python alternative to ti99dir, particularly since I mostly pair my retro computers with small $35 ARM toys. Actually, aside from a basically abused 2009 or so vintage Mac, I think the fastest computer at my fiancee's place with a keyboard is probably my Pi 3. I've got an i5 Mac at home, but there's construction outside my place and I keep nerd hours so I'm usually here.

 

Would the 2.7 cart be a better investment than XB at this point? And how would the FR99 change the equation? I sent an email to inquire after one of those this morning.

 

I use my XB 2.7 cart for everything. it has quite a bit more utilities buit in than the standard TI XB and is 100% compatible with it.

 

Just to name a couple within XB you can:

 

• get a directory on a disk drive with CALL CAT("DSKx.") where x= disk drive #
• Format a diskette with a disk drive
• Utilize the new BOOT menu...

 

Lots of things it can do.

 

i would take that cartridge of TI XB any day.

[iKarith]

I think I may have been trying to ask about RXB(?) demoed at FestWest which seems to be a pretty near superset to all other BASICs for the TI.

[Omega-TI]

I think I may have been trying to ask about RXB(?) demoed at FestWest which seems to be a pretty near superset to all other BASICs for the TI.

 

RXB is good, but for your specific needs and wants, the XB2.7S cart might be more of what you are needing at the moment.

You may want to << CLICK HERE >> for more information on this cartridge to help you make your decision.

[RXB]

 

RXB is good, but for your specific needs and wants, the XB2.7S cart might be more of what you are needing at the moment.

You may want to << CLICK HERE >> for more information on this cartridge to help you make your decision.

RXB does not have FORMAT disk built in as it took up a lot of space and really not used that often when there are so many better tools for it like DM2000 or DSKU or MYARC Disk Manager.

Instead RXB has FCOPY that can copy any file or program from one DISK or HARD DRIVE to another Drive.

I thought this more useful then FORMAT a DISK.

 

Also ONLY RXB has SMART CATALOGER. (Bragging follows...)

 

CALL CAT("DSK#.") ! same as GKXB or Super XB or XB 2.7

CALL CAT("1") ! Smart Cataloger assumed you meant "DSK1."

CALL CAT("A") ! Smart Cataloger assumed you meant "DSKA." RAMDISK

CALL CAT(1) ! Smart Cataloger assumed you meant "DSK1."

CALL CAT(49) ! Smart Cataloger assumed you meant "DSK1.

CALL CAT(65) ! Smart Cataloger assumed you meant "DSKA." RAMDISK

CALL CAT(1,2) ! Smart Cataloger assumed you meant "DSK1." then assumed you meant "DSK2." so during any catalog display SPACE BAR can pause the catalog so you can compare drives.

CALL CAT("SCS1.XB.GAMES1.",2) ! Smart Cataloger assumed you meant catalog SCS1.XB.GAMES1. and when done you meant "DSK2." and SPACE BAR will pause any catalog to compare directories.

 

Additionally unlike XB 2.7 (Good product) RXB has REA (Rich Editor Assembler) built into same cartridge (that also has Smart Cataloger built into it).

REA Example:

At EA5 prompt just push 1 then enter key for DSK1.UTIL1 or 3 then enter key for DSK3.UTIL1 or push A then enter key for DSKA.UTIL1 for using RAMDISK named A.

At EA5 prompt just push 0 then enter key for WDS1.UTIL1

At XB prompt just push 1 then enter key for XB to run DSK1.LOAD or push 3 then enter key for DSK3.LOAD as RXB and REA are interfaced as one unit.

Edited June 3, 2016 by RXB

[iKarith]

Formatting a disk is a rare enough task that some external tool could be used to do it I suppose. ProDOS has that limitation for space reasons and while it's occasionally wanted, it's not so often wanted that you aren't happy enough to have a tool do the same task.

 

My understanding is that the 2.7 suite requires a special cart and wouldn't just run on a FR99 (which can't be gotten for a couple of months at this point anyway...)

[+Ksarul]

Both RXB and the XB 2.7 Suite are currently implemented on UberGROM cartridge boards. It is also possible to run RXB on GRAM devices, such as the GRAM Kracker, GRAMulator, MaxiMem, Mechatronic GRAM Karte, P-GRAM card, the HSGPL card, or a Wiesbaden Supermodul II (or even on one of the Heiner Martin cartridge board variants, for that matter).

[iKarith]

I understand GROM/GRAM chips work like the Apple // slinky cards where a read from them advances to the next address automatically? I also understand the FR99 does not support these kinds of images at the moment, so RXB and XB2.7 need their own carts. Am I beginning to understand this stuff?

[+mizapf]

I understand GROM/GRAM chips work like the Apple // slinky cards where a read from them advances to the next address automatically? I also understand the FR99 does not support these kinds of images at the moment, so RXB and XB2.7 need their own carts. Am I beginning to understand this stuff?

 

There are no GRAM chips, at least not original ones. Over time, people created hardware simulations of GROMs (counter circuit next to a common EPROM), and by using a RAM you could get a GRAM simulation.

 

Have a look at src/devices/machine/tmc0430.cpp in MAME for some details on GROMs.

[iKarith]

I think I've got the idea, so far as my interest in such things goes for the time being.