Toucan

The best thing to do is run down Erik Olson and see if he can provide you with the name of the person he might have sold the 99/5 docs to. Right now that would be your best option. Here some neat 2009 info from Erik: ----------------------- At first, the TI-99/4B was a minor upgrade to the 4A planned to reach the market in June 1982. In January 1982, the design of the 4B was: Same 9900, 9918A, 9919A chips ROM expanded from 8K to 16K paged. Scratch pad ram 8 times larger. Fills >8000 to >87FF with a hole for sound chip address >8400. RS232 printer out replaces CS2. There would be a new Y cable to connect both a cassette recorder and a TI Impact Printer. New ROM with Extended Basic was considered but not expected to make it in. Meanwhile a TI-99/4B revision of TI Basic was specified which would use the extra RAM. The 4B would still have 3 GROMS. TI Basic would use the additional 8K ROM as well. The 4B anticipated using more 9900 assembly in GROM, for download to the expanded scratchpad RAM. Some part changes: 2x6810 SRAM replaced by 4x TMS2114 SDRAM VDP ram TMS4116 replaced by a more expensive chip 3 TTL chips replaced by 12L6, 16L2 PALs 9904 clock chip, 48mhz Crystal replaced by 12mhz (already planned for 4A) A constraint for the 4B was no changes in plastics or styling. The 4B was to be compatible with all Command Modules in GPL or assembly language. Another goal was cost savings through 0.5 hour less labor and $5 less parts. However, the 4B parts were going to cost $21 more, with the ROM and RAM upgrade eating up any savings. In fact, even the PAL chips cost more than the ICs they replace. Source TI-99/4B Product Specification 18 Jan 1982 TI internal memos I believe this plan was changed soon after - and a 9995 was contemplated instead. I have one memo quoting a 9995 cost for the 4B. This could have evolved into the 99/5.

Micheal Becker had a TI-99/5 unit in 1999 I know. There's also this article from 1994: By Glenn Bernasek (March 1994) TI-CHIPS Cleveland, Ohio What you are looking at are UN-retouched pictures of an actual TI-99/5! Yes, you read me right! This is a real TI- 99/5. I for one didn't think there vas such a thing, and I'll be the first to admit it! (My sincere apologies to Messes Cohen and Woodward.) It wasn't until I posted a message on comp.sys.ti that the 99/5 didn't exist; that I received an e- mail missive that informed me that the TI-99/5 did indeed exist! The first thing I did was to send an e-mail reply offering to buy this machine or at least get some form of documentation. Well TIers, needless to say, I had to settle for sole pretty super photographs, and here's a couple of what was sent to me. The owner informed me that the TI-99/5 or 4B was being developed to replace the 99/4A when TI pulled the plug. (Probably to go head-to-head with the C-64. THE 5 WOULD HAVE WON HANDS DOWN!) Anyway, here's what was built into the TI-99/5. 1. The cassette port vas replaced with a hexbus port. (The hexbus was an eight wire, four bit wide communication cable, Devices designed for the hexbus Included a floppy disk controller, a serial port, streaming tape drive, 80 column video controller (doesn't that make your mouth water?), portable printers and portable plotters, to name most of them. In a way It was a return to the old “choo choo train" concept.) 2. The insides were greatly simplified by the transition to the 9995 processor! 3. The TI-99/5 also had the 32K memory expansion and speech synthesizer built Into the console. If you still have doubts, a chip on the motherboard picture has a white label on it. The label reads, in part, '99/5 11/22/83' and “TI-99/5” is prominently printed on the circuit board! There are probably sole of you who will be fortunate enough to say, 'Yeah, I've seen one of those before in a garage sale or at a Faire.' You are very fortunate Indeed because there were ONLY TEN TI-99/5s MADE! I think this makes the TI-99/5 a pretty rare animal, don't you? I'll be carrying the original photos around with me to show to those who would like to take a look at the FABLED TI-99/5. Enjoy!

Well, I just happened to be browsing the forum at the right time. Back in 1998 I talked with a person who had a binder full of 99/5 documentation. He photocopied it for me and was going to send it to me, but some house moves occurred and it got forgotten about in all the moving. Anyway, he might still have the docs, and maybe could send you the photocopies he made if he still has those. His name is Erik Olson. He was still active on the TI groups as recently as 2012, so he should still be out there lurking.

Well, figuring out how to get that coolant is what makes the game challenging. If we told you how to do it, it would remove the whole point of the game (figuring out how to get the coolant). Actually, I'm only joking. From what I remember you press the space bar to get out of the ship and then move your guy over the water, pressing the fire button (I think) to collect the water, and then move back to the ship and press space bar to reboard. I think that's how you do it. The coolant level should increase once back on board.

Ooops. I meant to say 6809 above. Good catch!

I have a better quality image. In case anyone is wondering from the first image I can make out the following carts in those three rows: "Turtle Maze" is plugged into the system Left Row: Logo (second from bottom) Middle Row: Bug Attack (bottom middle, most likely became Super Fly) Bigfoot (above Bug Attack) Baseball (above Bigfoot) Right Row: Battleship (in back)

Here are some interesting pics from 1982 that I got from Mike Langieri on the MB Gemini game system. It was a standalone system which eventually became the MBX for the TI. Note Turtle Maze and Baseball carts, which must have become "Terry Turtle's Adventure" and "Championship Baseball". All the programmers I talked with said they programmed these games in 6802 Assembly and then had to convert it to TMS9900 Assembly in 1983 for when the project became the MBX. Enjoy:

Don Pan is all you need my friend. It's all any system needs.

I did a little more searching on the web and found that a few people stated they liked Don Pan, one saying it was their favorite title on the CoCo. Well, I just knew Don Pan had to be good. With a name like Don Pan who's a balloon that can shoot enemies with air, but you lose helium with each shot and have to stay replenished...It just had to be good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKm-gPHFAO8 I think it's time for a Don Pan appriciation thread.

I'd like to know, what is Don Pan like? It looks really interesting and sounds interesting too. Is it as awesome as it looks/sounds? http://www.mobygames.com/game/don-pan/screenshots Also, did Tomy licence it to Radio Shack for the TRS-80 as well as a company to put it on the MSX? Since I see the title screen on the TRS-80 says 1984 Tomy, as does the MSX version. Could this be the only Tomy Tutor title ported to other computers? If so, where's Tomy's TI-99/4A version? The TI-99/4A needs some Don Pan loving too!

Here's the original 1983 annoucement from Epyx: Epyx Computer Software plans to make several of their programs available for the 4A, seven on cartridge and six on cassette. The cassette titles include; Seawolf, Spectar, Gun Fight, Circus, Starfire and Fire One. The cartridges are: Jumpman Jr. - 12 screens featuring electrocution traps, moving walls, hellstones, and other dangers. Pitstop - Fast paced racing action, plus the strategy of the pits. Gateway to Apshai - 8 different screens with 50 chambers per screen. Explore the dark labrynth of rooms and caverns which lead to the fabled Temple of Apshai. Glorious treasures and nasty monsters! Lunar Outpost - Alien invaders are preparing a full scale invasion of Earth, and your Lunar Outposts are all that stand between the invasion force and ultimate defeat. Strategy and 3-D graphics are featured. Swat Rescue - Police action plus strategy and planning are combined in this new high-resolution graphics game. Silicon Warrior - 3-D graphics, characters that disappear and reappear and real time competition for up to 4 players. Fun with Music - Learn and play music on your video screen, easy to use with its handy keyboard overlay, the perfect blend of education and fun. Bob Botch from Epyx had this to say on the subject in 2005 when I e-mailed him: Yes I did spend six years at Epyx as VP of Marketing and it was a fun time in the industry. We did lose most of our e-mail when VoiceWeb was closed so I was not in a position to respond to anything sent to that address. Bob Ogden and I go back a long way and continue to work together although not in the game space. The first six were an arcade license deal and I do not know who developed them. The arcade company was called Exidy. I am pretty sure we did ship Seawolf, Circus and Fire One. However the games were not done well. I am not sure we even shipped all of them. I think we ended up putting multiple games together on one disc and selling them as a budget price line. We stopped selling cassettes around that time. I think all the games listed as cartridge below were developed in house. All these games were done around the time we were making a big push toward carts for the C-64.

It's been a while since I've been posting in the TI community in general, but I have been in lurk mode for the past few years. I've been involved with the TI since 1998, so it's nice to see this great forum over here on AtariAge vs. what we have on the TI Listserver. Anyway, I wanted to make mention that I noticed someone found a Jumpman Jr. conversion for DBT before it was changed to Junkman Jr. I noticed someone got in touch with Steve Mildon the programmer so I became curious, is there any connection to this Jumpman Jr. and the official one Epyx mentioned for the TI-99/4A in 1983? The TI version of Jumpman Jr. by Epyx was even listed for sale by one TI vendor with a part number. I have talked with Epyx people in the past and most in management knew about the TI titles, Bob Botch (head of marketing) even thought the TI titles were released, some of them anyway. I just wanted to see if anyone out there knows if Junkman Jr was a reworked version of the original Epyx Jumpman Jr code or if it was made from scratch by Steve Mildon? I have yet to find out who did any TI programming at Epyx, but it most likely would have been contracted out. However, all the magagement seemed to think they were far in development, even going as far as saying they might have seen some type of limited release.

Hey all, The Retro Junkies who host the Genesis Gems and Supershow podcasts have just launched their own website at http://www.theretrojunkies.com. Right now there are 3 different podcasts hosted on the site, with some high scores, a forum, and many videos. We hope to expand the site with more classic gaming podcasts and other goodies in the near future (new episodes of podcasts currently hosted will be uploaded as they are completed). If you are interested in hosting your podcast on the site, let me know. In a few months, there will be the option to register and upload your own material, but for now all submissions would have to be through e-mail at [email protected] (a link to where to download your podcast would be all that's needed, unless you don't have it hosted anywhere, then you can attach the file). Check it out and take in the Retro Junkie experience Hopefully this will be the start of something good. Sincerely, Bryan Roppolo

It’s every classic gamers favorite time of the year…When the Christmas issue of Retrogaming Times Monthly comes out! In addition to the classic Christmas issue, we have a few announcements to make: The new RTM Forums are open (http://retrogamingti...m/forum/YaBB.pl) RTM now has a new logo, you can see it in our Christmas issue! Retrogaming Times Monthly – Decemeber 2012 Issue #103 The Retro Junkie - The Batman Effect Retro Collecting 101 - Perler Mania! CoCoLicious! - It Takes Two, CoCo2 That Is! The Thrill Of Defeat - The Dragon That Faintly Roared MAME Reviews - Pirate Ship Higemaru Apple II Incider - Scouting The MicroLeagues The Retro Junkie (Strikes Back) - TMNT III: The Manhattan Project Freeware Alert - Iji & Not Tetris 2 +More! Retrogaming Times Monthly, now running 183 months in a row! Visit us on the web at http://www.retrogamingtimes.com

The monumental issue #100 of RTM is now out! In this issue we have not only 19 columns all about retrogaming, but also RTM’s very first video game called RTM Invaders. See if you have what it takes to get the top score! Since all high scores are saved just like in the arcades, your initials have a chance to live on forever as long as your score stays in the top 5! Be sure to check this issue out, it is crammed with tons of goodies, from the game to all the great articles inside! Have fun! Retrogaming Times Monthly – September 2012 Issue #100 http://www.retrogami...rs&theme=purple Apple II Incider - What A Long Strange Trip Its Been Train Of Thought - "Retro Gaming" Virtual Memories - What Happened To The Video Game Arcade? Cabinet Fever - So I'm Building An Arcade Cabinet The Business Of Gaming - Who's Suing Who? Gaming Tetralogies - Vertical Shoot 'em Ups Of The 8-Bit Console Era Retro Collecting 101 - Interview With Sivak, The Creator Of Battle Kid 1&2 The Titles Of Tengen - Super Sprint Revisited NES'cade - Mappy Encounter Rate - Mother Beyond The Plastic - The Magical Quest: Starring Mickey Mouse De-Making It! - 2600 Super Mario Bros. & Pixel Land The Thrill Of Defeat - Awe Inspiring ZX81 Games - Part 1 The Pixelated Mage - Soulless Freeware Alert - Momodora A Pixelated 21st Century +More! Retrogaming Times Monthly, now running 180 months in a row! Visit us on the web at http://www.retrogamingtimes.com

Just thought you guys might be interested in knowing that Ianoid has done a review of Candy Catcher in Retrogaming Times Monthly for the November issue which has just come out: http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/magazine/?issue=90&page=301&theme=brown

HI! Just thought I would post a message that Retrogaming Times Monthly would love to have more volunteer writers for its magazine. It seems like every once in a while after the current staff dries up of ideas and we need to get some fresh blood in the system, so I figured I would ask here on AtariAge if anyone was interested in helping out? If you don't know about Retrogaming Times Monthly, it is a free on-line classic gaming publication that has been around since 1997 and it is the longest running free on-line classic gaming magazine out there. If anyone is interested in helping out, shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll be sure to get you on board. In addition we just put up our January 2011 issue with a new look to the magazine. If anyone is interested in checking it out here's the link: http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/magazine/index.php?issue=80&page=frontcover. Look it over and see if you might be interested in writing. If anything you get to put your articles out in a high traffic place so many other classic gamers can see it. The only thing we ask is that all your content is original and not something that is currently available elsewhere. That way we can keep things fresh in the magazine and not turn it into a collection of articles from the Internet. Anyway, hope to hear from some of you guys soon! Sincerely, Bryan Roppolo e-mail: [email protected]

Thanks for the nice comments. In addition, there were 2 articles that ended up in my Spam box which I missed and have now added to the May issue. They are Donald Lee's Apple II Incider and Paul Zimmerman's Pixelated 21st Century columns. Enjoy the bonus columns!

Thanks for the correction. The news clip came from the press release for the event itself, so they also had it wrong as well. I'll change it to something more appropriate.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I changed "Pixilated" to "Pixelated". I was spelling it the right way initially, but the spell checker kept saying to change it to the other way so I figured the spell checker could not be wrong (well, I guess it was not wrong, but since there was no "pixElated" in its dictionary I went with the I instead. Thanks for the neat background info on the word though, maybe I should change the column name to Pixilated Pixels. Not a bad idea ). I also took off the Game Core information and told Sal Esquivel to include some screen shots in his next column. His responce? He's going to instead make a video with snippits from each game version. I think that's a great idea, let me know what you guys think. Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for the New Many Faces Of... since it is indeed back! Hopefully RTM can rise to the magazine that it started out as. All we need now are more non-review submissions, so if anyone out there has some non-review ideas, send them to [email protected] and I'll be sure to try and work them into May's Retroworks section.

Reptron is the current name for K-Byte. Here's an e-mail I got in 2004 from Brent DeGraaf: Bryan, K-Byte, in its latter years, turned into Reptron and relocated down to Florida (Tampa area, I believe). I haven't seen Howie in years, but Doug Craig worked over at GM Research (where I was) for a while, then did some work for the University of Michigan, I believe. The memory and disc duplicating side of K-Byte still exists, I believe, in some fashion up in Gaylord, Michigan. It was a really neat place to work for a college student just getting into the field, and we turned out some of the best stuff that existed at the time on ridiculously short development cycles (typically 3-12 WEEKS, unheard of today). As to Donkey Kong and Moon Patrol for the TI, they were done at K-Byte, along with Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. Howard Scheer did the Pac-Man conversions, while Doug Craig did the other ones. They both worked at Micro Courseware International before going to K-Byte. Those games, however, were programmed at K-Byte and not MCI as mentioned in that post that was linked to above.

Hey, I have a great name for a homebrew project. How about we get a game called "Robo Dodo" programmed for the 2600, just credit me for coming up with the genius name (Just Kidding). Just think of it, you could play a robotic dodo bird that goes about terrorizing the town. Anyway, I better end this message since it's not totally on topic as it's not about programming per say, but instead a name for a hopeful future game. I just had to share the name since I liked it a ton