Chefgon

Weird question, but does there exist an Atari joystick adapter for the TI that doesn't support 2 players? I will literally never use that second player port, but every adapter I've ever seen is an oversized box or a Y cable with an unnecessary plug flapping in the breeze to support that second player. Alternatively, how hard would it be to open up the TI and modify the port internally so it natively accepts an Atari stick as player 1?

I finally found the memory expansion sidecar! Unfortunately I broke my ribbon cable when I was hooking it up so the desk is a little cluttery at the moment, but at the same time it looks great anyway! I'll share again when I get a new ribbon cable and everything is set up the way I like it.

Hey guys, Sorry to bump an old thread, I just wanted to record for posterity that the modern 32k sidecar DOES work as the third car in the chain (after a Disk Controller) with an external power supply. Thanks for the help, everyone!

It's a great monitor! So many different connections in the back. I found two of them at a thrift store a few months ago and I really regret only buying one of them. I went back for the other one the next day and it was gone.

I've finally got my system set up enough to share a picture! I'm probably not your average 99er as I didn't grow up with the machine (my family had an Apple II when I was a lad). I had actually never heard of the ol' 4A before a couple years ago! I first learned about it while watching retro computer videos on YouTube and I fell in love with it, eventually deciding to invest in my own system to experience it for myself. I got really excited and spent probably-too-much on various components on eBay over the last few weeks to piece together the system you see here. So far I have... Silver/Black Console Composite cables Joystick adapter Speech Synthesizer Disk Controller sidecar TI Floppy Drive TI Program Recorder I also picked up a ribbon cable to extend the sidecars under the shelf for a nice tidy look, and I have one of the modern 32k sidecars with a 3D printed case on order but it hasn't arrived just yet. Up next I plan to pick up a Lotharek floppy emulator and find a respectable desk to put it all on.

I've heard that the Disk Controller has to be last in the chain, but I find it odd that it has a pass-through port on the side if nothing will work in it. But then I've also heard that the 32k has to be first in the chain (or second after the speech synthesizer) so it seems there are multiple possible rules working against me. If both of those rules are power-related, maybe the external power supply with Jedimatt's device would solve the problem and let me put it after the Disk Controller? I don't understand the nature of these rules well enough to know about workarounds.

Okay, follow-up question. I already have a Disk Controller sidecar, will Jedimatt's memory expansion work with that? Can it be added after the disk controller in the chain, or can its TIPI expansion interface be converted to a standard pass-through port? For clarity, I currently have no intention of using a TIPI. Outside of maybe a Lotharek my intent is to keep the system as original as possible.

I'm assembling my first TI-99 system and I was hoping to use an original Texas Instruments Memory Expansion sidecar but I'm not sure how rare they are. How often do these show up for sale? Should I give up now and buy a modern alternative or keep checking until one shows up on the market?

Nothing insightful to share, I haven't really done anything with it yet, I'm just excited to finally have it set up.

I have an iPhone 6, from back in the days when phones had headphone jacks. I can load Basic programs from the Bally Alley archives using my iPhone connected to the Cassette jack built into the Astro Basic cartridge. No problems there. I can also save custom Basic programs by running the cassette line into the MIC input on the back of my desktop Windows PC. Again, easy peasy. What I can't figure out is how to get my iPhone to record custom Basic programs directly. I've tried buying splitters that separate the MIC and Headphone pins into separate jacks, but no matter what I do every audio recording app I've tried just records the room noise using the phone's built-in microphone instead of the line plugged into the jack. Has anyone figured out a rig that can save Astro Basic programs directly to an iPhone?

It has always bothered me that the artwork shows Bob with a glorious beard, but in-game Bob is clearly clean shaven.

Honestly, the thought of using an emulator never occurred to me. I bought my Atari so I could use it. I do, admittedly, use a few modern conveniences to enhance my Atari experience. I have an SIO2SD that I use to get new software copied onto floppies, and I have an adapter to use a Nintendo gamepad instead of an Atari joystick (which I've never liked, even in the 80s). Attached is an image of the computer desk in my living room. My modern PC is in my office, which is a separate room elsewhere in the house.

Thank you! That resolved my problem! I had been holding down the Option key when the menu program loads, but it turns out you need to also hold it down when selecting a game from the menu.

I have an 800XL. For a while I was just playing cartridge games on it, but I recently purchased a 1050 floppy drive off of ebay. The drive came with a big stack of disks loaded with copied games and an auto-booting loader menu. I'm going through the disks and every single one of them properly boots the menu program, and when I select a game it will play the beeping sounds for data loading (and the drive spins), but over half of those games load up to a blank screen, or a screen with garbage characters on it, or some of them even boot back out to the Basic prompt after they finish loading. Some of the games do load and play correctly. It's always the same games that break in the same ways, and the ones that load always load. I'm looking for some advice to help figure out if the problem is the disks, the 1050, or the computer. Is there any way to narrow it down and determine the cause of the problem?

Thanks for all the info, guys! Looks like the keyboard thing isn't as straightforward as I had hoped, but this gives me a lot of context to start with. I am, in fact, waiting on Allan to build a new batch of LWRs, so when I get one it should be the newest version. Not sure how much that'll help, but at least it keeps the options open.