Ksarul

Ack! I need a ThumpNugget fix! I hope he is still with us--and his scans are priceless!

It was definitely MiniPede. I used to have it on tape, but the tape got destroyed when my apartment got flooded while I was living in Turkey. On the MiniMem questions: you can use a CR2032, and a lot of folks have added a battery holder over the years to make replacements easier. The spring-loaded dust doors were in a lot of the cartridges--but not all. No harm if they are missing, but they are aesthetically pleasing. TI eventually changed the case design to create a small compartment around the card edge. It reduced the part count for the cases.

It could also be one of the ones I already mentioned: SXB. That one also allowed you to mix and match routines as you needed them, IIRC. I'll have to check my manual (with all of the update sheets) to see for sure.

The gray keyboards are pretty much of a crapshoot now anyway--you are often much better off with one of the really old black ones with the sticky keys (just open them up and carefully clean the contact fingers and they work good as new). The gray ones have membrane contacts that crack and wear out much more quickly than the metal fingers do. . . I always keep some cotton swabs and a vial of denatured alcohol handy for sticky keys (the ones that either fail to strike or that strike multiple times with a single keypress).

The ad actually answers the question on the missing SF Management modules--they most likely never made it into production. Each of the five missing modules is prefixed by an asterisk to denote that they are still in preparation. As the ad came out right in the middle of the winding-down process for their TI series, it is likely they never got around to finishing them. That is both good and bad news: it means that I only need two modules and one set of manuals to complete my set--but it also means that there is very little possibility of a prototype for any of the other five turning up, as SF later did a massive clearing/destruction of their unsold stock (as documented in an article I read on the subject many years ago--someone saw the dumpster full of modules/books but was unable to rescue anything before the trash truck came and mangled them beyond repair in its crusher). Many thanks for the heads-up on that one! I saw a copy of that ad many years ago, but that was long before I started hunting the SF Management stuff, so I didn't remember the list of titles that were still in preparation at the end. At least I can use my new 512K GROM cartridge to make functional copies of the two I'm missing from the GRAM files so that I can have a virtual complete set until I find two originals!

In answer to the Myarc Extended BASIC Level IV question, Retroclouds: it requires the 128K OS version of the Myarc 128K or 512K memory card--and it requires a loader cartridge to load the main parts of the program from disk and into the memory card. There are also variants of the Foundation 128K (can be modified to 512K) card using a specially-tailored version of the Myarc 128K OS DSR, but it also requires both module to load and a disk. As noted by Eric Bray, some of the loader cartridges use repurposed Pilgrim's Pride 6000+ circuit boards, while others were purpose-made for Myarc.

My apology on not mentioning RXB or the GRAM Kracker extensions that evolved into SEB, Rich. My family arrived for Christmas dinner while I was writing the post, so I had to break it off and send as it was. SEB did include the GRAM Kracker routines as you noted--but those routines were not what updated TI Extended BASIC to Version 110. That was released in the May-June 1982 timeframe by TI, and it was to fix a Randomization issue in Version 100, IIRC. I know the release timeframe quite well, as I ordered the module right about the time that the bug was identified--and had to wait nearly six months to get one of the updated ones (orders were backlogged the whole time, as they were replacing the Version 100 modules before fulfilling new orders, which only made the shortage appear to be worse). I also didn't mention several other BASIC dialects for the TI: Cortex BASIC, which evolved from TI-990 PowerBASIC; Terminal Emulator II BASIC (adds a few commands, and I've seen a small number of programs written specifically for it); Personal Record Keeping BASIC (this has a very small library of programs written for it); Mini-Memory BASIC (this one actually has quite a few programs targeted to it from the European market); and Editor-Assembler BASIC (this one also only has a few programs specifically targeted to it). For completeness sake, one should also include the assembly support routines for the CorComp DSDD controller and the Myarc assembly support routines, as there were programs out there that looked for both of these extensions to BASIC. This completely excludes such interesting objects as Gronos Assembly Translated BASIC, Torpedo BASIC, My Little Compiler, Harry Wilhelm's BASIC/XB compilers, the Kull compiler, or any of the other BASIC compilers out there (the names escape me at the moment).

TI Extended BASIC came in two flavors--Version 100, which was buggy, and Version 110, which corrected most of the problems (the remaining problems were corrected by Winfried Winkler's Extended BASIC III, which also added a whole lot more to the language). MicroPal Extended BASIC, Exceltek Extended BASIC, and Mechatronic Extended BASIC were all carbon copies of the TI Version 110 Extended BASIC cartridge. Triton Super Extended BASIC (identifies itself as Version 120, IIRC, and generally known as SEB) added a lot of the GRAM Kracker extensions to TI Extended BASIC. J&KH Software's Super Extended BASIC (generally known as SXB) added a lot of routines to TI Extended BASIC using the lower memory space of the 32K card. Myarc's Extended BASIC level IV came in two revisions that I know of for the TI: 2.11 and 2.12. The latter was also ported to the Geneve for use while waiting or Myarc Advanced BASIC to be finished (but was seriously buggy on the Geneve). Myarc Advanced BASIC had several revisions, each more functional than the last. Mechatronic Extended BASIC II Plus was TI Extended BASIC with the APESoft Expanded Graphics BASIC routines integrated into the cartridge. One could do the same using the original APESoft disks with TI Extended BASIC (in Europe) or using the Amerisoft Expanded Graphics BASIC routines (in the US). TI Extended BASIC 2 was used by the TI-99/8--and based on information I gleaned from several programmers in the distant past, was also a goodly portion of the source code that went into Myarc Extended BASIC Level IV. I have one of the original programmer's hard disks (connected to a Myarc Personality Card).

Many thanks, Ciro!

Many thanks for making them available--and I hope you have some happy holidays!

I had a conversation with him using the eBay messaging system back in June, and pointed him here and to the Yahoo! group. He said he is on the Yahoo! group, though mostly as a lurker I figure he'll let us know when he's ready to participate actively in the community (and as I don't have permission to release his name, I figure it would not be a good idea to do so here, especially since he didn't respond to any of the threads on the Yahoo! group about crazy eBay prices this summer).

It looks like the online file is good, as my copy just extracted fine, Gazoo--you may need to download it again. The archive should be 414,669KB long.

Thanks, Ox, this is a huge amount of work! I just downloaded it.

I haven't seen any of the manuals out there, so I should probably scan those in as well. . .

I just went looking ar the MESS RPKs. The only two they have that I don't are Class Data Recorder (I have the manual/binder for this one) and Payroll Assistant. Both still exist physically, as I know of copies in at least one collection. The five that are not known to be in collector hands are: 30419 Student Data Recorder 30422 Test Scorer 30424 Mark Reporter 30425 Scheduling Assistant 30432 Data Analyzer I hope this helps--and more importantly, I hope it turns up one or more of the missing modules!

I have the disks for the eight SF management modules I have (I have complete copies of each of them with the manuals and binders), and the documentation/binder for a ninth cartridge (and I've seen GRAM files of that one, so I know there's at least one of them out there). As already noted, I know of five or six collectors with partial sets, and almost all of them are subsets of the group I have. One note on the disks, except for the Mathematics Courseware library, most of them just require a specific file to be on the disk as the seed for the stored data. Very easy to replicate if you know what the file is supposed to contain (I should probably dig into each of mine and record the data, now that I finally have an archival disk imaging device).

I have literally the last set that SF sold, according to the letter/bill of sale for mine--and they apologized that they could no longer supply a complete set, as the ones in the package were the last copies they had (the buyer had asked for a complete set, but they were only able to partially fill the order, thus the letter and apology). I hold out hope that the others will turn up in a school basement somewhere, but the fact that the only ones that do show up when new copies are found are within the group that is already known speaks volumes--and says they may never turn up. Unfortunately!

Unfortunately, I was the underbidder on that SF cartridge auction too--they guy who won is about the only collector out there who is willing to pay more than I am for the really HTF cartridges missing from our collections. . .we need to find him and get him to join the forums sometime, as he does have some really unique items in his collection now.

On the red cartridges, they were early release ScottForesman cartridges--nothing special about them except for the case/label combinations. They were not the only things in that lot that were different: two of the other SF cartridges had both the TI and SF logos on an SF-release cartridge (look at the Numeration 2 cartrige right next to the red-case Addition and Subtraction 2 and the Red-Letter label for the Addition and Subtraction 2 in a black case in the middle of the other column of cartridges). All three of the red cases have similar logos. What makes the red cases special: none of the colored-case cartridges from ScottForesman are very common, so for someone who is a bit of a completist cartridge collector, they are a necessary component to the collection. Most of them were sold in really nice color boxes or flip-cases (one or the other, I've never seen both variants for a single cartridge) along with a teacher's version of the color manuals. I have a small number of them, as well as about half of the ScottForesman School Management modules. I suspect most of the School Management modules I don't have are permanently lost to the community (I know of people with one or two of the titles I don't have, but the remaining five haven't turned up anywhere that I've seen). Note also that the color boxes/flip cases and teacher's manuals are much harder to find than the cartridges are, and that not all cartridges from those boxes were color--some were black cases with red labels, like the Addition and Subtraction 2 mentioned above, which almost certainly came from a color box (and not one of the somewhat later black boxes that were apparently their consumer release boxes).

I got my SuperCard Pro this weekend, so I'll be doing some experimentation with it once I get one of my systems set up properly for it. Definitely quick service on the purchase!

Well, I just bought one--now to see how the transaction goes, and just as importantly, how everything works once I get it. . .the link to the manual on the site is broken, but the link to the installer software works. I'd been looking at this, Cryoflux, and Disc Ferret as possible disk preservation systems. I liked the direction this one seems to be going, so I decided to try it out.

Actually, I use a BwG controller with my Geneve--it works fine using the standard Geneve DSR. . .

If you don't have access to them, I guess I should make some images of the UCSD Pascal V4.11 disks for the /8, since they are now useful to people other than me. . .

Bill is probably the best bet on this one. I have very few of the Tigercub disks, as I spent most of the time when they were readily available over in Europe, and very few of them showed up there.

Good thing you weren't like my younger brother. He pillaged my Dad's toolbox one Sunday morning (he was also about six then), went out into the driveway, and dismantled the entire passenger compartment of the family car. By the time we woke up, the seats, dash, inside panels, windows, and any other removable parts were in a huge pile next to the car. He was looking for the cotter pin to release the steering column when we found him. It took my Dad almost a week to get it all back together correctly. My first bit of programming was on a TRS-80 Model I that a friend owned, followed by a lot of programming on another friend's TI-99/4. I then bought my own TI-99/4, which I still have and use. When I got married to my current wife about 15 years ago, she saw it and said, "get rid of it, it's old," so I turned it over and showed her the manufacture date code: 0880, which was the eighth week of 1980. I then told her what that meant, and that the computer was indeed old, older than she was, and that I'd had it and I'd been using it since before she was born. I then commented: "guess which one of these two things will leave my life first--you or it?" She was not amused--but we're still together and I still have it, so all is good. . .