Space Centurion

Here are my thoughts about this. Yes, it is still a 4A. You simply updated the video chip. It is no longer an all original (stock) 4a, but one with an upgrade. I feel it is the same as an Amiga 2/3/4000 computer. If you add a better video card than the stock one, is it still an Amiga? Yes. Is it stock? No. Overall, it is the same hardware, thus it is the same computer. My opinion anyways. :-)

I tried the files(0) which didn't work, but the files (1) worked fine. I'm not sure if it matters too much, but I did the "call" function before using "old".

Thanks, that did the trick!

Hi, I'm still relatively new to the 4a world, and have some memory questions. I have the PEB with memory card. I was copying some games from cassette to disk with no issues there. A few of the games would not run from disk as it said "memory full", I tried from cassette and got the same error. I know there is a ram difference with PEB on and off (11840 vs 13913 bytes). With the PEB off, it works fine. How to you get the program to run in that 32k (24488 bytes free) area? Shouldn't it be automatic? I should mention these games are basic and not extended basic. I personally don't care where the program resides, I just would prefer loading from disk than cassette. :-) Any help would be appreciated. Michael

All I can say is I now have proof I am not alone. :-) Pretty much everything that has be written here, I have done. Early on in my collection phase I made a promise to myself that whatever computers I get, must have a floppy drive. A mandate so to speak. I waited till a 4a with PEB showed up on Kijiji. I have to say, it is becoming one of my favourite computers. So, like so many of you, you have to get a back up in case something happens. I needed one as a few of the keys never worked on mine. Then, you find a great deal on some games, but it comes with the console, so now there is the backup for the backup. Then you notice one day while kijiji browsing that a guy 5 mins from you have a beige 4a for next to nothing, so you figure what the heck, might as well give it a good home. :-) The sad part of all of this is, that I have seemed to screwed up my sons mind with the backup practice. "Hey dad, don't you have that computer already? Yeah, I need this as a backup in case it stops working". So, while shopping at Walmart: "Hey dad. can you buy this ninja turtle for me? Why, I thought you already have that one. Yeah I do, but it is my favourite and I need a backup in case I lose it or it becomes broken". My wife turns to me and said "see what you started". OOPPPSSS!

TI99IUC: thanks for the super quick reply and post. It really helped. It explains why I've been playing for a half hour clearing the screens, and the day would not change. :-) Now I know! Are there any Tombstone experts out there? I have a question, I was reading that there is a "dragging tactic", but never could get that to work. Not that I've tried too hard either. There is some good reading about the game (and the mention of dragging) here: http://www.videogamehouse.net/tombstone.html Interesting enough, as read from the above link, the original title was Saguaro City, and the Morgs turned into crosses instead of cacti. TI made the programmer change the crosses to Saguaro cacti, but changed the title to Tombstone City: of the 21st Century to cover the Western and Alien conflict. :-)

Hi all, does anyone have a PDF copy of the manual for Tombstone City? I've been searching the net for one, and I just can't locate it. Thanks.

Goonies is up there, what about Spy vs Spy I , II and III? Those were fun games especially with two people.

Thanks for the info Fuji!

Hey everyone, can anyone recommend a tape backup program for use with a SCSI tape backup. I have the ICD scsi card and I am using it on a 1040ST. Thanks.

Don't forget the TI-99 had Bill Cosby!

By any chance...would anyone be willing to share their settings from TCPSER or BBSSERV or whatever you are using to get the 4a to BBS by telnet? Thanks, it would help me (along with a lot of other people) out greatly!

Hi all, thanks for the info. Looks like I am going to have to build one! Good thing I enjoy soldering!

Hi all, just a quick question about the 810 emulator. Instead of using an SIO2PC cable, does it work with an SIO serial unit? I have the ICD P.R. connection unit. Just wondering if this would work with the emulator, and if so, would I need a straight or null cable. Thanks.

Thanks Ed, that's good to know! I've been replacing some chips trying to get my card to work. I forgot to check the null modem pinouts..oooppss...but in case anyone else is trying to replace some chips, this is what I have done thus far... Read #21 in this thread. Replaced U20 TL082 and U19 TL084 (Op-Amps), still same issues as #1 and #21. Replaced U13 74LS251, still same issues as #1 and #21. So next on the list, check the null lines...... :-)

"Cantstopclicking" posted a diagnostic zip file in message #4 here. I am going to look into the null modem pins in a few minutes. If it helps anyone, I found the schematics for the card.... http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/schematic/rs232_new_1.jpg http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/schematic/rs232_new_2.jpg

Hi all, I've been having the same 1302 error too, and after reading some of the posts I'd thought I'd experiment a bit. Made some progress, but it is not fully working yet. I want to try and tele-bbs with the TI, so I've been BBS server, similar to TCPSER, but GUI based. Works well on my Commodores and Atari 1040ST. I am also using the TELCO communication program, if that helps. Anyways, there was no response to the BBS server, and I even tried a modem, same thing. But I did notice that when I tried to type anything, the card would blink with the keystrokes, as if it was at least processing the requests. I opened the card and took a good look at it, and noticed that the heat sink compound on the regulators had dried up. I got to thinking that perhaps they were not working well anymore, and may not be supplying enough volts for some chips. Someone mentioned it might be the 74ls259 chip, which needs 4.7v min. So, I replaced both the 7805 and 7812, added some new heat sink compound, and tried it with the diagnostic. Still failed....lol.... So I replaced the 74LS259. Still failed. But, I figured lets try it again with the modems....got some LEDs to light up this time.Sadly, I did not test the modems after I replaced the regulators, so it may just be them and not the chip. Anyways...it would not respond to AT commands though. I did notice something while using the BBS Server, if I set the Telco program to local echo and half duplex, it would repeat the keys as I typed, but it would repeat them continually. Example, ATZ would start off with.... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa(then I hit T)atatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatat(then z)atzatzatzatzatzatz....and it would fill the screen. Once I hit return, the cursor would start stay on the same line, but jump back and forth with the characters. Not sure if this info helps anyone, but there is hope on the horizon! I am going to replace the caps in the next few days, see what that does. If I can ask, what communication programs are being used out there successfully to connect to other tele-bbs's? Maybe it's the program too? And before any asks about the BBS Server....here is the link... http://www.jammingsignal.com/leif/bbs/ If anyone else has any ideas, or further guidance, let us know!!!

Well, found mine, but it is an Alps keyboard so it won't work for your needs. As Ksarul mentioned above, It may be better to just replace the whole keyboard with a different one. I did that to one of my 4a's. It is the black model with a white keyboard now, and actually looks quite nice. Gives it a later 80's look as compared to the early 80's look! :-) They show up on ebay quite often. Hope the repair goes well!

Well...turns out Moonsweeper was right. You can add as much RAM to the PEB as you want, but it will only recognize one of them. Or possibly all of them, just accessing them all at the same time in parallel. In any event, nothing blew up, no smoke was released from the ICs, and the TI is still 32k. Ok, 48k total!

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. With all that room in the PEB, you figure that one could just add additional memory (to a point). All well.......I might get brave and try it......

Hi all, just wondering if it is possible to get 64k on the 4a by simply adding a second 32k card in the PEB. I've read that the 4a can address 64k of ram, but I'm too afraid to try it on my own and blow something up if it does not work. So, just wondering if any one has any experience with this. Thanks.

Hi, are you still looking for a keyboard? I have a dead/parts keyboard, just have to see if it is the same one you need. It is buried in a box or two, so I just want to make sure you still need one before I go looking for it! Thanks!

Time for an update.... In the year since my last TI99 update post to this blog, a lot has happened in my TI99 life. I bought a lot of games and cartridges for it. I bought a defective speech module from ebay that I got working. My floppy drives started to act funny, so I cleaned them and replaced the belts, but my DSK1 was still not working well, as determined by the disk manager II test utility. So, I went on a bit of an upgrade mode. Just for fun, I replaced all of the PEB LEDs with bright blue ones, and they look good. I swapped out my DSK2 to be DSK1 and replaced the LED in it too. The original DSK1 is a tandon type, and is still acting up. I am trying to replace it with some other type of floppy drive. The original DSK2, now DSK1, is the other type, MSI I think is the manufacturer, I forget the exact name. I then decided to upgrade the 4a as well. I did the alpha lock fix, the video fix, took out the power supply and added a plug so that I can use an old AT power supply as I figure it would give better voltages and voltage protection. I added a blue LED to it as well. Everything works fine, my only complaint is that the super bright LEDs I used look amazing in the PEB, as it has the small bezel that the light must shine through. On the 4a, it is too bright and a bit irritating....lol....so I placed a small piece of scotch tape on it for now... :-) I also bought a navarone port expander, so now I can have my extended basic, disk manager II, and another cart plugged in and simply move the selector switch. I love it. Also bought a Foundation 128K card. I got excited, thinking I could add 128K to the 4a, but alas, the card works as a 4 bank 32K card and in normal mode only works as a 32k card. Certain programs can take advantage of the other three banks to allow for a total of 128k. One such program is rapid copy, which apparently uses all the ram as a swap drive to help cut down on copying times. I still need to try this, which was included with the card. Next on my list is to make an RS232 Y cable, and try to get this thing to tele-bbs somewhere. I tried copying some cassette games to disk, only to find out the TI99 has a protection system built in to cut down on piracy. ARGH. There are probably ways to do it, just not high on my list right now to try and find out. That's it for this posting.... Thanks for your time!

Hi all, just wanted to share a funny story with you. As I mentioned in my last blog, I bought a Timex Sinclair from a guy who sounded like he was in his early 20's. I did not meet him as he left the items with his dad for me to pick up. In the Kijiji posting, he mentioned it comes with a game called Archer. Not knowing much about the Timex Sinclair or the game list, I thought the Archer game was a Robin Hood type game. So....once I get home, I inspect everything and notice the game is missing. The cassette cables are there though. I started to write him back to inquire, when I thought I'd better look at the posting pics to see if I missed something. Turns out, as I figure, he took the RF module made by Archer as a cartridge. A close look at it says "Archer" then "Game" underneath it, therefore it must be an "Archer Game"... hehe! You can see it in the pic on the bottom left. Of course, if you look under the switch, it says "TV", so would this make it an Archer Game TV? :-) In today's world of high def TV and HDMI cables, or even basic component cables, the screw type of RF connector and game switch has definitely gone the way of the dodo bird. Heck, I don't use them any more either as I try to use composite out on all of my retro computers. I feel kinda old.....also trying to explain to my kids what a record player is (as referenced in the song "you spin me round") makes things worse too....lol. I hope someone finds this funny, I did!