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torch

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  1. I just stumbled onto this website this weekend. I'm astounded there is still a following for the old TI! I googled for some info because my grandson and I were talking about the computer his dad first started off with. So in one sense, you have a point. However, even back before the internet event horizon, we were not completely isolated from other users. And "free" is hardly a word I would use to describe the TI-99/4a system. I spent some time researching the purchase. My previous computer purchase consisted of a PC board, a box of chips and a photocopy instruction sheet with suggestions on how to build an RF modulator, and adapt a teletype keyboard for input. A great learning experience, but hardly suitable for a young family. I felt that familiarity with desktop computers would be an edge for my kids as they grew up (possibly the single biggest underestimate I ever made, as it turns out). Of the available systems out there at the time, TI had the greatest emphasis on practical uses and education. I spent thousands of hard-earned 1980's dollars on hardware and software over the next few years, starting with a single console and several accessory add-ons daisy-chained to the side and by the time TI bailed out, we had two systems, one with the big expansion box complete with memory, RS-232, and SSSD disk drive, the other with the CorComp micro-expansion box that provided the same capability in a sidecar about twice the size of the speech synthisizer. We did have some game cartridges, including classics like Parsec. We had the Milton Bradley speech recognition accessory and one or two games for that too. But mostly we had educational games and software. We had the full Plato series on diskette, which I think cost as much as the hardware to run it. I attended monthly meetings of the local TI user group ("Channel 99" -- mostly techs from the local TV station, Chanel 11). The terminal emulator cartridge and a 300 baud modem gave us access to electronic news via a BBS and a primitive form of e-mail called "Fido net", IIRC. We did trade cartridges with other owners, but the only free software I can recall having initially were cheasy Basic or Extended Basic games from magazines we labouriously typed in. Eventually there were some really great, cheap, user-written programs like Funnelweb writer and DM1000 of course, but that was after TI pulled the rug out from underneath us. For a while, there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel -- every month there was a new rumour about another aftermarket manufacturer who would step in to support the huge installed base. Someone had reportedly bought the rights to the 99/8. Someone else was going to make a new computer that would run the existing software. Yet another company was going to make a card for the expansion box that would replace the CPU and allow a harddrive. Should see it in 6 months, then a year, then two... In the meantime, it was clear that other platforms were developing by leaps and bounds, and that the future was in machines that could run MS-DOS compatible software. So I finally bit the bullet, bought a 386 based clone, and the TIs were relegated to game-machine status, getting less and less use as components failed. The usergroup that used to rent an auditorium for it's meetings dwindled to a handfull that met in one member's basement. Maybe they still do -- I had my own family to worry about, I couldn't spend any more time trying to look after TI's orphan as well, so I quit going. As for my grandson, well, we found an emulator that one of you die-hard enthusiasts created and he had fun this weekend exploring Parsec and Tunnels of Doom and TI Invaders. His dad got a real nostalgic kick out of it too. But I don't think they are going to start scouring eBay for a used TI-99/4a system any time soon.
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