Ksarul

Gamevision boxes are really difficult to find, but they do come up now and again. All of the Gamevision titles except for Yahtzee are about equally difficult to find, with each of them coming up for sale at least once or twice a year. Most of those are without the box though. I usually don't see more than one Gamevision box a year, and for some reason the Hangman box is the most common survivor. The hardest Funware box to find is the one for Video Vegas, with St. Nick and Rabbit Trail being the next hardest. Note one other Funware box may exist that is really difficult: Schnoz-Ola. The cart and box were about ready for release when Funware pulled the plug on their TI line. A few may have been made, but not many.

Good luck finding a copy of the Gamevision version of Yahtzee. MB recalled them shortly after they were released due to a bug in the GROM that caused Yahtzee to show up for the computer player a lot more often than it should have. A very small number weren't returned, and MB never released it again under the Gamevision label. I've only seen/heard of about 5-10 survivors, one of which is in my collection. On the high prices for recent eBay auctions, there are really only 2-3 folks really bidding things off the charts--and as already noted, once they get an item, the prices for that cartridge drop back into the normal $20-$50 range for HTF cartridges (although the really rare ones will still pop into the $200 plus range, because most of the collectors out there still need one to complete their collection). Most of the really rare stuff only makes it to eBay once every 10 years or so, as there are so few of them out there--and they don't generally change hands. Just try to find one of the Scott, Foresman school management modules in the original binder with the manuals. I only know of three people with any of them--and none of them have a complete set. I have 7 of them, and know of physical examples of two others in the hands of the other two collectors with partial sets. There should be about five others, but no one has them. Lost TI software indeed. I just recently acquired an original TI prototype of Crossfire using the final GROMs (these were rumored to exist, but this was the first one I'd ever seen in over 30 years of collecting things TI). Ultra rare, but acquired on eBay for less than $30 earlier this year. Sometimes, luck and deep knowledge of what you are looking at are necessary to find a good deal. Odd variants show up sometimes as well. Navarone packaged their cartridges in ROMOX ECPC cases at the beginning, and TI cases at the end, but there was a time in between these end points that they used the same cases Personal Peripherals did for their Super Sketch. I've found three different cartridges in these cases over the years, but the ROM labels indicate that there were at least six Navarone cartridges in production at that time, so there could be at least three more that I've never seen. The hunt is what makes the hobby fun.

Note that you may want to ask them for a short one (say, 6-12 inches) when you order. That should deal with signal propagation issues if the 18-inch cable is too long. They will do custom builds, as their cables are generally fabricated on an as-needed basis.

Here's the IEC cable you want to extend the side port: http://www.iec-usa.com/cgi-bin/iec/framefly?;L1172 All of their cables work well, and they've supported the TI since the early 80s!

One useful note here for those following the discussion: all behavior of this module and the terms used are fully explained n the manual. Tursi is right when he notes that there is a "difference" between the capabilities of the AVR side of the cartridge when compared to a simple set of GROMs (6K or 8K). On 3rd-party code that works on any of the well-known GRAM devices, the real question is whether or not it would have worked when burned into an original set of GROM chips. If it followed the TI specifications, it might have (or it might not have). Tursi designed to the original hardware specification for behavior of a GROM device. P-GRAM, HSGPL, GRAM Kracker, the Wiesbaden Supermodul, the GRAMULATOR, and even the Geneve used a slightly modified behavior that we as a community are VERY comfortable with, as it makes certain types of programming much easier (as you so beautifully described, Gazoo). Tursi extended the possibilities of what kind of DEVICE could reside in the space normally occupied by a GROM chip. To make that extension, a GROM had to adhere to the original standard behavior addressing-wise, as failing to do so would interfere with the new GROM-constrained devices (as nicely described by Tursi). Thus we have five slots per GROM base, and those slots may include 5 standard GROMs (the norm) or they may include a mix of GROMs and other GROM-Constrained devices (a number of which are unique to this module, and which set the stage for some pretty interesting possible extensions of the TI through the cartridge port). As we use multiple GROM bases (original TI terminology for multiple sets of GROM), that has to be accounted for as well, since it activates the Review Library function on the console when it is detected. By definition from TI, the cartridge slot will recognize 16 GROM bases (as a side note, only 4 GROM bases are usable on the cartridge slot on the 99/8, per the design specifications). The AVR can use all 16, as the individual "slots" can be rearranged to any position of the five available to us in each GROM base. Thus we could be using only GROM 4 of GROM base 5, GROMs 3-7 of GROM base 1, and a smattering of individual or multiple slots in multiple GROM bases using the 9 remaining slots available to the cartridge. This IS very different from previous GRAM devices, as it is highly configurable as HARDWARE. The software we put into it is thus placed into an environment that makes it very happy. Some TI cartridges don't like to move around--now they don't have to if we want to program multiple cartridges into a single one. We just put the GROM in the proper position in one of the many GROM bases available to us and we don't WASTE any of our additional slots on that GROM base--we use them somewhere else, in a way that doesn't CONFLICT with the one we've used. Slots really is the most appropriate answer here, as we can now plug MANY small cartridges into the device without modification or wasted space. Thanks for the spirited discussion, as it helped me crystallize what needed to be in this portion of the description of cartridge behavior in the manual. I'd explained much of it already, but this explanation is much more useful. Tursi and Gazoo, please add any additional thoughts to the thread, as both of you have given me much food for thought in this. Tursi: did I miss anything on the behavior? I realize that the PIO (or any of the other devices can be occupying available slots in a single GROM base next to utilized GROMs) can be used instead of a GROM (which might allow the cartridge to replicate the behavior of the DataBioTics cartridges that had a built-in PIO). I used that as an example--as I suspect that option would require someone to write a NEW program that put their word processor onto the ROM (and GROM side) of the cartridge and integrated the cartridge's existing PIO slot into their code, giving us a full-featured word processor on a cartridge. The possibilities are a bit endless here. No slight intended to anyone--I'm just contributing to a very good discussion.

I found a US seller that had a few hundred of the Motorola '378s for sale, so I bought 300 of them for $108, shipped. That actually works out to being even better than the price you found Jon. Now I'm sure we'll have enough of them to build about as many of the carts as we will need. . . many thanks for your inputs too, as it keeps my mind actively looking for improvements for the project!

Note that the source you quote is in Taiwan. I've had some dealings with this seller before (I bought a bunch of keyswitches from them), and no issues, but chips from Taiwan and China are often not what they seem (and sometimes that is no fault of the seller's as they bought them on the local market as overstock). That said, the chips cost .68 each from Unicorn Electronics (shipped). A higher price, but they are guaranteed NOS chips.

Mike Bunyard was the chief engineer for the reduced component count /4A and also for the 99/8. He wrote MOST of the TI internal documentation for these systems. I would say he definitely knew what he was talking about--though it would have been based on tests he and others did at specific times in the production process, so date codes may be very important here. I wonder what would happen if I dug out my 99/4 from Oct of 1979 and tested it? If I have enough time, I will, but no guarantees right now, as my boys are just getting out of school and I am one of those victims of sequestration=mandatory 20% pay cut for three months, with no decrease in expected work output (although the work schedule is cut by 20% as well). I'll be scrambling to keep those dudes occupied. . .at least they are young enough that their pleasures are not too hazardous on the pocketbook!

Agreed, Jon. That would be a better route. I just wanted to get the low-end pricing data identified. We'd just have to do the same thing with the '378s on this one that you did with the '379s. At least I have more than enough of the 512K chips. We could do 2,000 plus cartridges before I run out of them. . .and I really don't think we'd ever need to do that many (but one never knows!).

I just checked. 100 boards cost about $570; 250 boards cost about $1,050; and 500 boards would be just shy of $1,800. Somewhat more expensive than the last runs we did, but not significantly so. On any quantity less than 100, the largest part of the cost is setup, as that is a fixed fee of $245. Everything else is variable, based on the quantity ordered. I think I still have about 20 bare boards from the test batch I did.

It should work in here without any problems at all, Rich.

I went and checked in my boxes of original TI disks for anything from Aardvark. I have a manual or two that I've picked up over the years but none of the original disks. This is not surprising though, as most of the disk/cassette software in my collection was acquired MANY years after TI pulled out of the market if it was game software. Until the mid-nineties, the majority of the games I bought were on cartridge, as I'm not too much of a game freak. I have a huge collection of original copies of utility software, and probably the most complete hardware collection there is (although I have some glaring holes there too). I also have about the most complete set of International literature of anyone I know--others may have more in specific languages, but I've got stuff in almost every language TI stuff was released for. I saw that nice set of TI manuals in Danish that Sometimes99er provided the link to and drooled--Danish is completely missing from my collection of TI manuals unless it is in one of the multilingual cartridge/harware manuals. The same goes for Swedish.

One disk drive (terminated) and the power supply to give the drive its voltages and you should be good to go. Note: that controller is single-density only (and I don't remember right now if it supported double-sided operations or not--if it doesn't the drive will still work, but in SS only).

Actually, there are a couple of threads on here that show what the cartridge board it is designed to use looks like. I did a layout and a short run of bare boards for us to experiment with (and sent a couple to Tursi and a couple to Jon). Jon tested the 512K ROM side and Tursi tested the GROM side. It looks like the design works fine now (although I'm not sure that both sides have been tested together yet), so that part is ready to go final once I make the changes Tursi sent me for the manual (it has a somewhat extensive manual to allow folks to tinker with the cartrifge board to their hearts' content). Then it becomes a matter of community interest as to whether or not a larger run of boards gets done. . .

Moonbeam Software. Their programs are not particualrly rare, but they seem to sell well on eBay. Prices range from a low of around $10 to a high of around $25 or so when there are regular bidders looking for one. I've seen them go higher, but not often. Other Moonbeam Titles: Death Drones and Robot Runner. I have all of these and one or two more that I bought back when they were new products.

Now I know why I was outbid on that Superspace II, Jon. LOLOL Though it is still a much better price than the one that the same seller sold a week or so ago. That one went for almost $150. They also sold a copy of SpotShot for $635! There is someone out there with a real need for DBT cartridges. They've bought a whole bunch of them from this seller for between $100 and $300 dollars (some Parker Brothers too). Insane, considering that the cartridges usually go for $10 to $40 each. . .at best.

There are multiple answers to your question, due to the fact that the TI has TWO different types of chips used in its cartridges. The first is the vanilla ROM chip you are used to. The multicart boards require you to place each ROM within an 8K space and a menu program to access them if you are using more than a single 8K block. That menu has to be in the first 8K to ensure the computer comes up in it (although, since the 74LS379 used here doesn't have a "forced" initial state, we usually put the menu in the first and last banks to ensure it works every time). The second part is a bit hairier: TI used a proprietary memory chip called a GROM. GROMs are addressed on 8K boundaries, but they generally only hold 6K of data. They do not occupy processor memory space, they are addressed as devices, with their own, internal 13-bit address bus. Reading the GROM causes that address bus to auto-increment to the next byte of data. These are your real problem children, because you only have a limited number of options here. You can use a GRAM device (there are many flavors of these) to contain the programs and run them (they simulate a GROM environment in RAM), or you can use a GROM emulator (like the 512K module that I've been working in with Acadiel and Tursi). your 6K files are almost certainly GROM files, while your 7K and 8K files are almost certainly ROMs. Note that a cartridge may have BOTH types of memory. A standard cartridge can contain up to 5 GROM chips (equates to 30K) and up to four ROM banks (though only one original cartridge from TI used four ROM banks--TI Calc). Nothing used more than four ROM banks until the 64K cartridge boards came out, although the Superspace boards from DataBioTics were apparently capable of being modified to do so. Are your three files capable of executing from cartridge space in emulation? If yes, then you should just need to burn each one into an 8K space (although Camelot is a bit odd and may not work unless it is intended to use 2 banks as programmed). You'll need a menu program if you burn a larger EPROM (look at the TI section under classic computers here on AtariAge and there is one attached to one of the cartridge board threads). Note also that the TI is backwards from other systems you've used--what you think of as A0 is A15 on the TI (using 16-bit addresses) and D0 is D7 (cartridge space uses an 8-bit data bus and reads two addresses (even and odd) to get a full word for the CPU to work with). I hope this helps.

There is one really active TI-74 programmer out there--Jim Gardner on the VintageComputerForum. He has several threads dedicated to it in the TI subforum. He gets responses from a few of us, so that is actually a good place to start.

Mount the FIAD disk under MESS and load the program from the BASIC prompt using OLD DSK(N).(FILENAME) MESS is good, as is V9T9 (there's a new JAVA based version of this one), and several others. Look on the TI programming portion of the forum and you'll find lots of advice. http://atariage.com/forums/forum/119-ti-994a-programming/

The physical cartridge (and label) is the same Car Wars that was sold in the US. Only the manual is different. My 7-year old happens to love playing Car Wars on my TI, which thoroughly annoys his mother. . . There are a lot of European and a few Argentine variants of cartridges out there that are really difficult to find in the US--though many of them aren't difficult to find in Europe or Argentina, even today. There are also a lot of weird little label variants that only a completist would go after (guilty as charged, as I do have a lot of them).

I have a copy of that version of the Car Wars manual. It is not common at all in the US, most every one I've seen came from Canada. That makes sense too, as it is in both English and French. Good luck on finding boxed copies of all of the Funware carts. The hardest one is Video Vegas (with or without the box), and the next hardest boxes are St. Nick and Rabbit Trail. The others are comparatively easier. You are not likely to find all of them as original, sealed boxes, however.

One note from experience--this program used sector read/write routines, IIRC. It also meant that objects crossing sector boundaries sometimes had to be edited by hand. I learned how to do ALL of my TOD file editing using a sector editor and trial and error long before the TOD Editor was available, so it wasn't a real problem for me. Knowing where things were in the file allowed editing things that were out-of-bounds for the TOD Efitor too. I'll need to take a look-see in my surviving notebooks from that time period (the others were destroyed in a flood while I was living in Turkey) to see if I still have anything useful documented.

I have all of the Asgard TOD files, as I bought them back in the day. I may have the others (and quite a few more, for that matter), as I collected every TOD file I could find back then (and I'm interested in new ones too).

The Renko/Edwards book was translated a few times too: It is available in German as Superspiele für Ihren TI-99/4A , or in French as Les Grands Classiques du Jeu pour votre TI-99/4A . I've seen it in Spanish as well. I have an extensive multilingual library of TI books, including all of the K-Power books GratedTopping asked about. There were actually quite a few interesting original books in German and French.

Disk controllers in the PEB work fine if you happen to have an Armadillo Interface card suitable for use with the type of motherboard on your 99/8. As Ciro noted, he has a HexBus floppy drive--and that option will also work. Note that if it is used with a Double Density Disk, it will only format to 320K--and that can only be read normally by a Myarc Controller on a regular TI (or a TI DSDD Controller, if you have one of the original TI ones that works). A Geneve should read them with any of the DSDD controllers though, as its Master DSR recognizes the 320K format. The hard part on the GROMs will be determining the GROM Bases to read for the different sections of GROM when you're trying to read them out. I think it shows up somewhere in the 99/8 documentation, though. I put all of that that I've been able to find over the years up onto WHT, so the information is available. The p-System GROMs are like the p-Code card for the TI. They create the environment (UCSD V IV.13 IIRC). The Editor, Assembler, Compilers, or Linker are all loaded from disk. I have the disks for the 99/8 p-System.