kl99

got an Atari game cartridge with that connector/Interface from Bernhard L on the last europe ti treffen.. Bernhard bought it on ebay but had no use for it.

Another feedback from my point: I have started to use this XB Compiler for my game development on the weekend and I am very impressed with the quick results. Now I need HUGE delays in XB to make the game not too fast to play! Crazy world! Will use Call Sound for those delays like suggested in the manual. The includable assembler routines "DISPY" and "VWRITE" are really useful! I use them to synchronisly relocate 2 sprites to the next char. Amazing! CALL LOCATE(#1,Y1,X1,#2,Y1,X1+1) was never satisfying sync at least in XB - non compiled. You can see a delay between the first Sprite relocation and the 2nd Sprite relocation. CALL LINK("VWRITE",768,CHR$(Y1)&CHR$(X1),772,CHR$(Y1)&CHR$(X1+1)) does the same but the relocation of both sprites is perfectly in sync, even in XB! It writes directly to the Sprite Description Table of the Video Ram. Call me back into programming With this Compiler XB Game Programming is fun again! The manual is good written, congrats on that! As a sidenote: for a non assembler person it will be heard to understand the usefulness of VWRITE/VREAD. I know it's out of scope to explain all possiblities with direct VRAM writing but maybe a link to a good document on whtech, that deals with that, could be added to the manual. If you wanna make arcade games in XB, go for this!!! A question: I haven't tried it yet, but it is said that multiple CALL SOUND statements will make the compiled code to be just playing the sound until the sound is finished. With this limitation, how do you suggest to get background music to a game that doesn't interfere with game play?

I made an unfinished TI Basic (no XB) version for the Basic On Cartridge Contest called Virus Fever. It always bothered that I didn't finish the game because I ran out of memory and failed at one big algorythm. Here is the former game thread: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/174172-virus-fever-bocc-thread/page__hl__+fever?do=findComment&comment=2180206 Now I am trying to recreate and finish the game in XB with 32KB. The new version is still a prototype, all you can do is move/spin the pill and pile them on top of each other

wow! impressive release! my congratulation to finish this. can we (as users) add meta data to the game entries and share these added data with others users?

we had the 25th austrian ti-99 club meeting yesterday, where kurt presented his updated version of SSGC Racer on a real setup. I also was doing a short demo of current status of my dr.mario clone in XB, I am thinking about trying a compiler (MLP or this one) for that...

Hi, I have collected the Gamevision Versions of Connect Four, Zero Zap and Hang Man so far. Yahtzee is still missing and according to what I have read it contains a bug which got fixed with the TI Label version. I consider them quite rare as well since they were available for a so short period of time when only the 99/4 was available.

retroclouds, i am glad you enjoy programming tms9900 again! Hope to see you at Augsburg this year???

"Opening this beast reveals an MC68A09 processor, 4K of 6116 2K × 8 CMOS RAMs, a 8K × 8 Mask programmed ROM, a General Instrument SP1000 Speech Synthesizer Chip (I don't know if it's a TI licensee or not), an MC6821 parallel port chip, and two ADC (analog-to-digital converter) chips (ADC0809 and ADC0831)." [source Cyc DVD] The GI SP1000 is doing speech encoding and speech recognition, i see it as the key chip that will not be easy to emulate.

Before you start I suggest using the rare but known TI Invaders Version that has the 838 cheat enabled. This way your hacked version will be even more interesting for gamers.

hm, there are emulators for the 6809 out there. mame (mess) included 6309 emulation in their project a while ago. 6309 is compatible to the 6809 as far as i know. so not too much is missing for mess supporting ti99 with mbx console emulation???

thanks for the update! really appreciating your work!

@rocky007: many emulators run all the mbx cartridges that don't explicetely need the mbx console. but OX. was asking about the 3 carts that really depend on the mbx plugged in, otherwhise they won't even start.

not that I know off. Without the mbx console those games aren't making much sense.

If I got it right, there are 16bit instructions as well, they just take longer to execute because the f18a internal interface between GPU and VPU was designed 8bit only. I am excited as well!

Hi retroclouds! As far as I understand you can execute code from the VRam (16k+2k) through the GPU (which is a 9900 clone @ 25 mhz). The GPU has direct access to the VRam. The VRam is not a memory mapped device for the GPU. @BML-idea: i like it!!!! This baby has a lot of "sprite" potential! 32 Sprites in a line, Linked Sprites, 4-color sprites, hardware scrolling, and now BML! all at once if you want. wow!

There is also a program that runs in XB with memory expansion that does all the text to speech functions that the TEII cart does. Eliminates the need for the TEII cart and runs in faster XB. If interested I'll find it and post it. Yes, that would be a good idea, since you could 'pretty the program up' with sprites and stuff. That program needs Memory Expansion and a Disk Drive, so a basic Peripheral Expansion Box setup. I don't know if the museum has one. If it has, the manual for this disk software is here: ftp://ftp.whtech.com/datasheets%20and%20manuals/Text-to-Speech.pdf

whatever cartridge you use you need the speech synthesizer of course. basically any assembler program can use an attached speech synthesizer. extended basic, terminal emulator II have preinstalled routines to access (use) speech from within basic. the editor assembler / mini memory gives you the possibility to program in assembly so you can create speech using those. and of course there are cartridges that contain LPC sequences or have integrated routines to create speech (Parsec, Star Trek, Super Fly, Bigfoot, Early Reading & other educational modules,...) [just for completeness: there was an italian programmer who created a game that used in game speech using call sound statements, without a speech synthesizer.]

Basic code is this: 100 OPEN #1:"SPEECH",OUTPUT 110 INPUT "INPUT TEXT HERE: ":A$ 120 PRINT #1:A$ 130 GOTO 110 You can build a chat simulator around that. The pronouncation is described in the TEII manual, try these for a first look: PRINT #1:"^SUPERB" PRINT #1:"^>SUPERB" PRINT #1:"_WHAT ^ TIME IS _IT" I found a public download option of the manual here: ftp://ftp.whtech.com...r_II_Manual.zip (unzip the .cbz file to get the jpg files) I guess there will be a few guys willing to help you getting such a demo running. I suggest making one version of the computer messages, that is "printed" to the speech channel including pronouncation optimization and one clean text version that is "printed" on the screen. What should the basic interaction be about? Will this program run as an interaction program when visitors enter the room? Or should this be a one-time demo where you enter the user text (that you prepared because you know how the machine reacts)?

I am not sure I get it yet: Do you want to make a chat between two ti-99 systems connected via serial/parallel interface? On such a system users could enter text on one system and it shows up (and the text is spoken out optionally) on the other system. Text entering and showing/spoken out vica versa between two systems. Or do you want one system that simulates a chat between the user and the system? Where the computer part of the chat is speaken out. Like in Wargames. The TEII speech options are really good for both situations. You don't need a disk system like. Check the TEII manual, Point 14 Appendix C: Accessing Text-to-Speech in TI Basic and Point 15: List of allophones. For a chat simulation with the computer you can optimize the speech quality of its answers: The TEII manual explains how to set the pitch and slope, setting stress points, breaks, setting inflections. In cases where this doesn't work you can setup Allophone speech and create your one words with its own pronouncation. There was a TI Disk Software released for XB called Text to Speech which gives you about the same amount of possibilities like you would have using the TEII, but it needs a disk system and the routines take up a part of your avaiable ram: Here is the manual of this Disk Software: ftp://ftp.whtech.com/datasheets%20and%20manuals/Text-to-Speech.pdf But I suggest using TEII

I like both ways of programming. My real hardware setup is always on my desk and ready to be used. The real console gives me this nostalgic feeling. It depends on my mood: do I just want to code for fun and try out something? Then both is possible. If I am having a ti99 programming session together with my brother, we always prefer the real hardware then. But in any case I need my netbook with all those nice pdf book files about assembler or basic/xbasic.

i don't agree with you microprocessor. we are talking about people who are programming 30 year old systems. like in the old days, every byte counts, speed counts. it's all about memory and efficiency. taking the challenge and programming on such systems doesn't allow lazyness. lazy programmers simply won't choose such old systems. of course there will be programmers who will prefer to have compatibility with non-f18a users and therefore won't touch any of the features. but there will be programmers who will want to utilitize the enhanced features of the f18a, and they will go full road and love the co-cpu! and as far as i understood, you can even make your program the best of both worlds: there is a way from assembler to determine if your machine is a f18a unit. this way you can make a program that uses f18a features in case it is run on a f18a unit.

it was common use that the manufactors wrote the needed bios settings on the label of the harddisk. if not i am sure if you find out the name of your harddisk, the internet gives you the correct info.

Infos about the Gramulator from the Micropendium magazine: It's a Cadd product, from reading a bit more in the Cyc the memory editor software source is available, i have asked cadd99.com for the documentation and the system disk for you a minute ago. But you should be able to test the basic gramulator functions (saving and loading a cartridge) without the memory editor disk, because the software is onboard. You can't use every Gram Kracker Software, but any Tips how to modify the TI-OS or cartridges can be used the same way. The Gramulator can do everything the Gram Kracker can, even more. Good luck on your return, I don't know Jean-Pierre, sorry.

At least in Europe the DIN Plugs 6 pin (6 polig) are widely avaiable: http://www.conrad.at/ce/de/product/733336/DIN-STECKER-6-POLIG-0131-06/SHOP_AREA_17367&promotionareaSearchDetail=005 If you are interested in selling/manufactoring one for the f18a, i suggest making an adapter that looks like this: http://www.jacob-computer.de/pic/artikel/8/5/856819.jpg As far as I know you can make a dual mono audio (left = right) which features two rca connectors, or one female 3.5" phone plug. People will either connect their amplifier (RCA), some pc speakers (Phone jack) or a flat TV (RCA or phone jack) to the f18a system.

kurt from austria doing tms9900 assembler. nice! speech is really a thing that is tough getting emulated correct.