Why is the TI99/4a so popular here?

[Opry99er]

I almost never find any in the wild these days... and eBay is becoming snipe-town

[Willsy]

I'm beginning to wonder if the price bubble on the TI is going to pop soon. With these new pieces of hardware being developed, people are now able to do things at a fraction of the price that only a year ago would have REQUIRED a more expensive disk system.

 

I think that's a good point. Take my SGCPU system for instance. It has SCSI controller for hard disks and CD ROMS, and a RAM disk and a GROM card (all cards that go in the PEB). The 4A console is redundant. You can throw it away. The 4A is on a card in the PEB. Uses a PC keyboard.

 

However, this is only going to appeal to a die-hard fan now that we have SD Card readers on the side port and in the cart port. You just don't need that stuff any more. Therefore I think the price of these is going to fall.

 

The Geneve might stay quite stable, though.

[Tempest]

 

The 4A is on a card in the PEB. Uses a PC keyboard.

 

 

That's possible? I didn't know that. Of course you'd lose the cartridge slot then.

[matthew180]

IMO it has to do with activity. With a few exceptions, the 99/4A did not have a lot of good games and did not really attract a gaming kind of user. 99/4A users did other stuff, and a lot of that was writing code and building expansion hardware. So 99/4A users became producers instead of consumers (you can only talk about playing a game so many times), and having new stuff keeps the hobby interesting. If you want a community to be vibrant and active, start producing, and be supportive of others who are making things no matter how small (simple BASIC programs) or big (new hardware, etc.).

[Shift838]

Every TI'er I know is a very dedicated user to the TI community. We have even seen an uptick in new TI'ers and renewed TI'ers coming back to the fold over the last few years. The TI Community is very helpful and quite a lot of new development in both hardware and software is always being worked on.

 

There is still only a handful of BBS' that support the TI (mine is one of them), but all of us are very dedicated to this machine.

 

I remember being a kid and the TI was considered the top of the line for educational use. Of course accompanying that was a huge price tag. But many of us some how managed to get the TI, piece by piece.

 

I still have my original TI system and it's running!

 

I have quite a few retro computers like the Atari 800 and 1040ST and Amiga. I even have splurged and bought the MIST FPGA to have them all in one box too. But I always prefer my TI..

[Opry99er]

IMO it has to do with activity. With a few exceptions, the 99/4A did not have a lot of good games and did not really attract a gaming kind of user. 99/4A users did other stuff, and a lot of that was writing code and building expansion hardware. So 99/4A users became producers instead of consumers (you can only talk about playing a game so many times), and having new stuff keeps the hobby interesting. If you want a community to be vibrant and active, start producing, and be supportive of others who are making things no matter how small (simple BASIC programs) or big (new hardware, etc.).

 

Yes, this is what I was trying to say in my earlier post...

 

The community is strong because the members inspire one another. We also carry on the tradition of the regional/local user groups by collaborating with other members and pushing what were thought to be "limits'.

 

Check out the "Don't Mess with Texas" demo on YouTube to see what a stock TI can really do.

[Airshack]

The TI group has zero threads on how to get the yellow color out of its case and keyboard.

[Omega-TI]

The TI group has zero threads on how to get the yellow color out of its case and keyboard.

 

<< GO HERE >> and click # 5 on the list.

 

** EDIT ** -- Make that # 8!

Edited March 13, 2017 by --- Ω ---

[+OLD CS1]

The TI group has zero threads on how to get the yellow color out of its case and keyboard.

 

[Airshack]

The beige one is not a real TI-99/4A.

[S1500]

We still need a TI podcast. Just typin'.

[Willsy]

 

That's possible? I didn't know that. Of course you'd lose the cartridge slot then.

That's true but it *also* has a HSGPL card which can hold (iirc) up to 16 carts in its memory for instant recall.

[Tempest]

That's true but it *also* has a HSGPL card which can hold (iirc) up to 16 carts in its memory for instant recall.

 

Weird. Of course you'd also need to fit an F18A on there somewhere.

[Willsy]

It had its own 80 column card (V9938).

[eightbit]

The beige one is not a real TI-99/4A.

 

 

I love the beige one!

[Airshack]

It's less capable (Atari neutered) and turns yellow just like every other ugly cheap computer of that era. Love is in the eye of the beholder, so not criticizing you or your ilk. It's just, this model is part of a long line of poor decisions at TI. I'd laugh if it didn't make me cry. A model specifically designed to thwart third party software support. It's an atrocious perversion of the -99/4's lineage. Other than that I'm sure it's a fine machine.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Opry99er]

Actually, while Airshack is not entirely incorrect (and I happen to agree with him on the poor decisions) many of the beige TI consoles were not neutered with the QI system ROM. Only some of the beige TI consoles were limited by disallowing ROM cartridges. The ones that were, however, only accepted TI carts (which were GROM or Graphics Read Only Memory). GROM was a weird thing, proprietary to TI games.

 

They thought somehow that limiting 3rd party software was a good idea.

[+save2600]

I had a beige unit growing up (was my first computer), but got "lucky" in that it didn't block out the third party stuff. Love TI Centipede and feel it's one of the best home versions ever. Would have been super disappointed/pissed had I learned of a computer I purchased, was built to prevent certain software from running. Horrible decision by TI, no doubt.

 

Ran a black/silver model for the longest time since (90's and 2000's), but since obtaining an MBX unit, decided the beige model needed to come out of retirement.

[Casey]

I, too, grew up with a beige model that did not have the lockout that prevented the Atari games from working. I've actually never even seen a V2.2 console in person. But yes, it would have been upsetting to get one of those.

[carlsson]

In this thread it is said that the beige models without QI may have been due to vendor or user downgrade and that TI sold chips at $4 to de-neuter it. I wonder how much they charged for a license from 3rd party publishers to get access to the GROM, and if the $4 extra per sold machine would compensate for the missing licenses from other publishers. That is a rather interesting way of doing business if it is true: we need X amount of extra money, and will acquire it either from other companies profiting on our product, or from our end customers who will want to use products from competitors.

 

In the end of course TI lost big time and if the starting production date June (August?) 1983 is correct, the snow ball was already rolling fast at that time. Bad decisions yes, but also bad market analysis which seems odd as TI were a big company in many areas with long experience. Unless of course the home computer division were disallowed access to business expertise in other parts of the company so they had to plan their business entirely on their own while the main board of directors would just watch and have one hand on the brake lever.

[Tempest]

My beige TI had a regular 'silver' board in it. I'm not sure if the original owner did that or it came that way from the factory.

[jhd]

They thought somehow that limiting 3rd party software was a good idea.

 

Perhaps they decided to follow Tandy/Radio Shack, and try to convince their customers not to shop elsewhere.

[Opry99er]

Only difference is, Radio Shack had a store front.

[carlsson]

Mostly restricting your customers to buying first party software relies on that you have top quality software developers in-house or can at least sign up some software products to publish. While e.g. Jack Tramiel supposedly liked to discuss Commodore in terms of selling discounted razors and making money on the razor blades, he might've thought other companies will make blades that a lot of people will want and need to buy a Commodore razor in order to use, which is the reverse of hoping for all the profit from first party additional sales.

[PhileasJWhoopie]

It's interesting that the Apple isn't better remembered, even by younger (late 20s-30s I mean) people. If were in elementary school at any time between 1980 and, like, 1996, chances are you worked with an Apple.

 

...there are only about five or six people who regularly post in the Tandy forums, which seems to jive with the unfortunate lack of interest in TRS-80 systems I see in general.

First, I am delighted this forum exists, and that the TI99 is getting new hobbyist made hardware. Its fun. Second, I am a grey hair whose first computer experience was learning a bit of BASIC on a TRS80 in 1979. While its special, the ubiquitity of the Apple units in school and Commodore at homes overwhelmed it for my set of nerdy friends in the early 80s.

 

Its a good point on the Apple units not being as popular as the numbers exposed to it might suggest. Is it because TIs and Commodores work well on CRTs, but I associate Apples with needing a monitor? Or is it the association with education versus games?