Cool things happening on the TI-99/4A

[+Lee Stewart]

My only complaint with our continued popularity are all the folks who say "My dad bought our first TI when I was 5" or "I grew up with the TI as our family computer"...

 

Not slamming young-uns with life-long nostalgia for the 4A, but seeing as I was already in my 30's when I brought home the TI, makes me feel like I should be drinking a bottle of Geritol everyday (of course only 25% of readers are old enough to even know what Geritol is)

 

I was 40 when we got a /4A in December, '83 and had been messing with computers (mostly mainframes and minis) for 20 years by then!—and, yes, I remember the Geritol ads.

 

...lee

[majestyx]

ElectricLab,

 

Your experience is very similar to my own. In fact, it appears we're about the same age. I got my TI a little less than a year earlier than you did (I was in 8th grade which is the reason I remember when I got it) for the same reasons - very little money and a buddy of mine already had one. It definitely gave me a leg up when they introduced computer programming courses in high school, having gone through the Beginner's BASIC book numerous times as well as trying out the numerous commands in the User's Reference Guide, typing in the few programs that COMPUTE! would publish along with a book or two of type-in programs led me to program my own simple programs which are now lost forever. Good times, for certain!

[PeBo]

 

I was 40 when we got a /4A in December, '83 and had been messing with computers (mostly mainframes and minis) for 20 years by then!—and, yes, I remember the Geritol ads.

 

...lee

Luckily the Lawrence Welk Show did not survive (Wonnerful Wonnerful) as well as the 4A.

 

I am kind of glad that I remember a time before personal/home/family computers (heck, even remembering the NBC "In Living Color" peacock (on our B&W TV) is cool)...It puts things in perspective when I watch a family in a restaurant all staring at their phones, not saying a word to each other in this post "Colossus, The Forbin Project" world.

[Airshack]

I was just 14 so I mowed lawns all summer/fall and scrimped and saved up for a TI, right before Christmas of 1983. I saw an ad in the paper that K-mart was going to have a limited supply for just $50 (!) and since I just had to have one, I got up early and rode my bike to the store, hours before they opened. There was a huge line of people already there, and some guy was handing out numbers since they only had 25 or so. I remember I got the second to the last one.

 

Getting a computer this young in life changed my life and from then on...

 

 

Long live the TI!

This is a great story! Second to last at K-Mart. I can only imagine your excitement taking that machine home.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[eightbit]

You know watching this video I can see why the TI99/4A has such a following. Not just because it is a great machine, but because there are a lot of really nice folks involved in this scene. Everyone seems so friendly. If I ever have the ability to attend I certainly will. Lots of really exciting happenings around the TI99 for sure. SMB, Tilda, Dragons Lair? Yep, count me in!