kl99

interesting stuff, thanks for sharing.

Today feels quite late for Europe time. Tha is midnight towards Monday.

Interesting that this device features redefining characters via CALL CHAR, which is not possible in the TI BASIC for the 99/2.

impressive. very nice achievements!

It really sounds like a nice project. Can you confirm the following assumptions: The 24K GROM can only be permanently "programmed" via some controller. "GRAM" writability is working during runtime, but when the TI is turned off, only the originally "programmed" 24K GROM content is served again. I can imagine this being used as well for projects to - restore a 99/4 with broken or missing GROM chips - restore a 99/8 with broken or missing GROM chips - extend a 99/8 with support for P-CODE (since this is only a GROM board extension) - update a 99/8 which is not on the latest system software (remember, we used the one from Ciro's machine for preservation purposes). - usage for hardware projects like TI(ny)-99 - aren't Speech Modules (the canceled extension modules) in fact GROM chips? (here are some pics of a Speech Synthesizer with the interface, basically it is only a soldered port http://www.ti99.eu/?page_id=1705&lang=en ) And the modules exist for other TI products. Is it meant to be followed by a similar thing for "programmable"/writable ROM chips?

Congrats Rasmus. Saw the videos already. You really impress us. Regarding ideas on the pic: The big blue background area above the two paddles could be turned into a blue TI logo.

welcome to the owners group here is mine http://www.ti99.eu/?page_id=4416&lang=en

The console is labeled "TEXAS INSTRUMENTS FAMILY COMPUTER 99/4A". Very nice!

Hi Guys! I was able to reach Berry by his phone number on Saturday. He was in a hospital for some treatment while we talked. The treatment is taking lots of his time. And most obviously he showed sadness, that his health status is still keeping him from doing any travel activity. I tried to provide the message, that he has friends which also care about him, if he can't travel, if he can't join any meetings, or can't talk TI. If you read this, his birthday is around these days, a perfect time to get in touch with him and to have a nice chat! Let's show Berry we all think of him! Pm me if you need the phone number.

Sounds like yet more improvements. Very nice You mentioned that now you need to introduce delays at the right places. I wonder if you can automize that step by adding an optional delay based on an input value you get for it when doing the CALL RUN command. If set, you delay the execution between each LINE by the provided delay time. Having a generic option like this would allow you to test many more TI Basic Programs without having to think on each where delays are needed. This might not be needed in the final interpreter but might save you a lot of time while tweaking it for compatibility. Have some nice christmas holidays

https://coolnovelties.co.uk/coolnovelties/texas-instruments-ti-994a/95-texas-instruments-ti-99-4a-component-video-cable-euro-models.html what about this one? below shop used to sell a component cable for the pal ti-99, but they removed it from their online store due to complaints because consumers thought it is a YUV cable working with every tv in the world. you might still get one, if you send a mail and tell them you are aware of potential compatibility issues. https://www.retrocomputershack.com/RCS-Website/Products-Page/index.html In the end there is not much magic inside the cable, no diodes or logic, simple 6 pin to 5 indiviual plugs. Your new monitor (yes!) has SCART input as well or only BNC? There is the italian mini PAL RGB device you could use for RGB.

thanks for all this hard work mizapf. this is wonderful preservation efforts on our beloved machines and accessories

Geneve is doing a good job when it comes to run 99/4(A) software. Can't we take their approach? I guess to go beyond some boundaries one would need to rewrite the Monitor&GPL Interpreter. If it comes to replace that all GPL code is coming via one Grom Read Port, same for Video Ram. There could be a 99/4a mode and a full 16 bit machine mode. A FPGA based unit could offer these seamless towards the user.

PVM-M2MDU.pdf

This is interesting, would this approach also allow a Basic or GPL debugger on the currently running Basic? That might also be a nice function for this.

especially you as the ti-99 console collector

Hi Ralph, getting this monitor is a great idea. I have one of these Sony BVMs, it directly takes the Y, R-Y, B-Y output by the TI-99 PAL 6 pin. There is no need for any TI Modulator or RGB modulator inbetween. I also bought a NTSC slotin card to use it with the american TI-99s. Back then I posted infos and many photos in this thread: And I can only repeat, the pictures/video inside that thread don't do it justice. It is simple spectacular. The pros are simple: reference quality! scanlines! video/gaming is exactly like intended by the developers. Parsec never looked that good! The CRT gives the video, the sprites, even the text a very natural look, a distinct difference from seeing the same program running on a emulator, or having a NES mini (emulation) connected to your large lcd display. The quality of such CRT is beyond what you might be used from the arcades. The cons: doesn't handle sound, heavy, size of monitor. At the moment I don't have enough space to have this monitor regularly running as a monitor for my TI-99, I still aim for setting it up. Having such a Sony PVM/BVM would definately be the richest TI-99 video game experience you can get. Not sure, if you need it, if you are not into games, or if you are at the moment using the TI-99 for programming/office/management type of things. Since I bought mine, the market prices increased a lot. There is a nice Facebook group on such devices, that I started in 2017.

really awesome results! you can be proud! just to get it right: - this interpreter is done from scratch by you - this interpreter aims to do TI Basic, not XB - this interpreter was not done with the source code or specifications of the TI-99 Basic interpreter and is therefore using the scratchpad different.

i didn't follow the conversation. to get automatic measurement, without looking at the clock the right time one could use Classic99 and include saves to two different files, that both files were not existing yet. like this you can use the windows/dos filesystem timestamp for the windows files PRE and POST to figure out the timestamp, it is at least as precise as seconds. 100 OPEN #1:"DSK1.PRE",SEQUENTIAL,INTERNAL,OUTPUT,FIXED 128,PERMANENT 110 CLOSE #1 120 FOR I=1 TO 1000 130 CALL CLEAR 140 NEXT I 150 OPEN #1:"DSK1.POST",SEQUENTIAL,INTERNAL,OUTPUT,FIXED 128,PERMANENT 160 CLOSE #1 an alternate would be to use a clock device and write the time before and after a test to the screen or to a file.

Thanks very much. After some research i now realize this was preserved 2020 by jbdigriz jbdigriz seems to have many documents on TI XB. Maybe you have some of the applicable documents retroclouds was referring to?

Hi retroclouds! I only know of Revision 2.0 of the Product 359 Basic Interpreter Design Specification from 28th January 1979. It would mean a lot if you could preserve the more upadted version. One documentd mentioned in the list was preserved by Toucan as part of the CB wilson document donation to him while CB was still alive: Specification of a Texas Instruments Standard for the BASIC Language (June 9, 1978) 182 pages pdf There is also a related preserved document named "Home Computer Software Development System Programmer's Guide" from 15th August 1979, revised 6th November 1979. That one was preserved by Ksarul and was uploaded somewhen on atariage. I can upload it if it is no longer available on the original location. There is also a document named "Top Down Operator Precedence" in the Applicable Documents section, which got preserved into The Cyc. We still miss this main internal document: Home Computer Basic Language Specification (April 14, 1979) Does anyone have the ANSI standard yet? American National Standard for Minimal Basic (ANSI X3.60-1978)

big wow!

I am worried so much about our Berry. Several people have troubles getting a lifesign of him. Including David Caine, Fred Kaal and me. His Whatsapp Account shows last online at 18th feb 2021. He used Whatsapp on a daily basis. I think I had a phone call with Berry around his Birthday, 12th January. He was telling me about his health problems back then. His phone seems to be turned off and you immediately endup on the mailbox. In the Facebook Messenger I don't get the "reading" symbol, which would indicate he has seen the message. Was anybody of you in contact with him or got a lifesign of him somehow? Does anyone know the names or contact addresses of his relatives?

all the best from my side as well to you Erik! I read the last months posts of this thread and only want to mention something about your possibility to load a file (cartridge) into the >6000 - >7FFF memory area. There you mentioned it is not write protected and therefore might act as 8K ram slot. While this write possibility is wanted in most places please consider - there are cartridges that use writing to certain memory addresses in that area in order to switch their rom banks. - there are cartridges that do a write because of a bug, which is not making an impact if the cartridge space is write protected (like on the actual hardware with an actual cartridge). - there is Mini Memory, which is (if I am right) also having some special writes for its functionality. Which is one of the few original cartridges actually using part of this address range to store data. Enjoy working on these projects, but also take it easy with your recent infection.

http://www.ti99.eu/?attachment_id=123 http://www.ti99.eu/?attachment_id=87 My keyboards works fine. Jens-Eike has problems with his, some keys don't react at all, some keys auto-repeat too often. I know about many 99/2 having keyboard problems. Not sure if Hex-Bus and its slave mode offers the possibility to come up with a Hex-Bus Keyboard to overcome the problems with the installed keyboards.