Airshack

Note: Blasto is a TI-99/4A port of this 1978 arcade game by Gremlin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasto_(arcade_game)

I'll take a stab at this... In Blasto it appears we have sprites that are moved 8-pixels at a time purely by the programmers technique. Sprites are not bound by the 32col*24row grid used for character graphics. So, the tank movement does not need to be jerky like that. The programmer is probably just trying to avoid intermediate positions for the tank, where shots won't necessarily meet their targets head-on. Its a way to simplify collision detection. This approach greatly simplifies the code because it forcibly lines up objects on the play field. All 32 sprites may smoothly move along one pixel at a time on a 256*192 grid. More on sprite positioning and movement, page 25: http://www.digitpress.com/library/manuals/ti994a/ti extended basic.pdf

More info for those considering: https://www.kansasfest.org/wp-content/uploads/KansasFest-for-Newcomers-2018.pdf Having a TI-Mafia at the event would make it even better. It's titled the 2018 Newcomer's Guide but pretty much tells you what to expect. This year's Keynote Speaker was Penguin Software founder Mark Pelczarski. His Graphic's Magician software was legendary back in the day. Another guy demo'd live video streaming on an Apple ][ in three modes: hi-res, lo-res, and even ASCII. Many of the presentations were beyond clever. Matthew's F18A on the Apple ][ was presented a few years earlier, so I'm told. One of my favorite presentations was built around a guy whom converted the single payer game Karateka to a two-player version. When he was finished they surprised everyone with a live stream presentation from the game's author - Jordan Mechner. Jordan went on to create the Prince of Persia franchise.

Jason Scott attends regularly. He's an extremely approachable person. He's the guy in the black ball cap in the seventh photo. In that photo they're downloading disk images from Apple ][ floppy disks directly into their modern laptops via a system named AppleSauce. At any given time there were up to three systems constantly archiving disk images for the internet archive. https://www.kansasfest.org/wp-content/uploads/KansasFest-Session-Disk-Imaging-with-Applesauce-Presented-by-John-K-Morris.pdf If you have floppyEMU then you'll defiantly need to download "Final Replay" from the archive. There was a presentation on it at this year's fest. It'll run on a stock //c with floppyEMU configured as a smartport drive. The entire 32mb disk image is on the internet archive. Turns your //c into a 203 game mult-cade. Brilliant! https://archive.org/details/TotalReplay Total Replay is a frontend for exploring and playing classic arcade games on an 8-bit Apple II. Some notable features: UI for searching and browsing all games Screensaver mode includes hundreds of screenshots and dozens of self-running demos In-game protections removed (manual lookups, code wheels, &c.) Super hi-res box art (requires IIgs) All games run directly from ProDOS (no swapping floppies!)

KansasFest 2020 is 21 - 27 July. It's a Tuesday through Sunday event with move outs on Monday morning. So actually six days of retro computer college.

Looking for the disk image of this program for the VIC-20 as well as the two fuel tank version for C-64. I uploaded the manual to archive.org, yet I’m unable to find the program itself. Recent messaging with the author tells me the source code may be lost as well...unless someone here knows differently. Please help. Im trying to play the game in preparation for a programmer interview. Thank you!

You can always reinstall windows if it's bad.

My understanding is that bad RAM usually results in garbled screen with colors upon startup. I’m getting no video at all — black.

Thanks! I guess that’s a good start for all of these old machines. One technique I’ve seen is piggy-backing the RAM to check for open-failures. If that doesn’t work I’ll be pulling RAM and adding sockets one by one.

Too much of a good thing ain’t good.

My wife and I went to KansasFest this year. What a great event! The Apple guys rent out a college dorm room and cafeteria at Rockhurst University, Kansas City. The week-long event is like going to retro computer camp with 100 like minded individuals. Each day they have scheduled events from 8am to past midnight. You sleep in a dorm room which was actually quite comfortable. The food was good too! You leave the dorm room door open to welcome visitors. Of course everything is mostly Apple // related. I did get to see and talk about other systems at the event: Atari 400, TI-99/4A, MAME arcade, and CoCo. There were podcasters from the retro community related shows as well: Jason Scott, Antic, retro computing round table, assembly lines, etc. In the first day they get together for a giant give-away. Here’s a few shots of the offerings: The pile had a TI-99/4A. It wasn’t working but one dorm room has techs who repair things all day long. They replaced a bad RAM chip for the recipient. Yes, I’ve pointed him in the direction of this forum and Arcadeshopper’s store! The CoCo guy had a version of Hunt the Wumpus he cloned from the TI-99/4A. I thought that was pretty cool: I had no idea this existed?!?!? Hopefully -next year- some 99er reading this may consider KansasFest so the we can get a small "TI-Mafia" presence at the event. It’s basically retro computer camp for adults. I hesitated to attend KansasFest since I figured it was all Apple //. Not true. The attendees were very interested anytime I brought up the TI-99/4A and/or demo’d my game project. Lots of questions about TIpi, Matt’s 32k, F18A, nanoPEB, and the TI homebrew scene. They’re open to a TI-99/4A presentation next year. Anyone want to help? Super cheap billeting and food for a week long event. Much, much, much more enjoyable than anticipated. Imagine attending college with only geeks, no homework, and dozens of retro related events...late night hacking...etc. Enjoyed it so much I thought I’d share the experience with the TI community. Red cups and wine:) Who knew the Apple // guys were so cool?

I have a 99/4A which squeals like a pig when I turn it on. Loud constant tone — no video output. Any known solutions? Do we have any known service manuals scanned for the 4A?

I had the TI-99/4 in 1980 - $450 w/rebate, loved the machine! Went to Dallas area TI User's Groups and got really excited about computing. BASIC was slow compared to the competition. XB (another $90) was cool but collision detection was hampered by the slow BASIC. Cassette storage got old so I looked into a disk drive option. Cost was staggering! I needed to sell my TI-99/4 to get the newer TI-99/4A. Numbers didn't add up. By 1981 the Apple ][+ seemed to be the best deal. Fully expandable with disk drive for less than the cost of a loaded PEB. Apple had lots of software on computer store walls. The Apple 2 itself made VIC-20 and the TRS-80 Color Computer look like toys. Atari-800 would also have been a good choice at this time...maybe a better choice. The Atari was clearly the most powerful of the day but seemed to have less software availability. The Atari name probably influenced my decision in a negative way as it sounded like a video game console. I was happy with the Apple2+...eventually upgraded to the Apple //e which stayed my main system for five years. Apple2 graphics and sound are horrible when compared to the TI. As a BASIC programmer I was very disappointed with Apple2 graphics. Woz pulled off all kinds of digital-yoga moves to get that think working in color. The speaker beeps and clicks! Enough said. Still, Apple 2 was supported by many software publishers and hardware manufacturers because it was wide open. IMHO the TI-99/4A is probably the most interesting machine of the era due to all of the peculiarities and mis-steps made by Texas Instruments. I agree with OX, "the competition just ran straight out of the box." TI should have never made the PEB. They should have made a new computer with RS-232, disk interface, and more RAM...and a cheap expansion port like Atari's serial deal. They held on to a bad design and tried to use the PEB to save face. It's all very confusing to understand why the PEB was a solution and not just another computer in its place? I'd like to read interviews to see why these decisions were made. So far all I've read on the subject is the Orphan Chronicles. Any good sources out there to map out TI's thought process?

Source code preservation is probably the best reason to share all of it we can find.

I am presently learning Assembly on the TI-99/4A. Reading source code from older games would be a nice resource to have available. Maybe a thread of its own? Why don’t you want to ask without searching? This forum is here for many reasons, one of which is making discovery a little easier. To facilitate learning. Remember now, the only stupid questions are the ones we’re afraid to ask. If someone here can save this guy hours of research please do so. The notion that anyone should spend hours of research/work before asking for help is invalid. Now where do I find that Parsec and Munchman code again?

I’ve practiced cutting plastic with a Dremel on beige units better looking than this one. Reminder: www.shopgoodwill.com appears to be the best source for cheap TI-99/4As. They don’t usually have the knowledge to test things well so “untested” mean untested, not like eBay where “untested” means broken.

Anyone else having problems logging in via Tapatalk?

Since it’s in an STE I’m guessing a variant of 1.62. Too much unexplained info regarding the serial numbers: the number “163” on one EPROM label, and an undocumented serial number on the other. Perhaps something unfinished or someone’s lone project? I don’t know enough. Hope to figure it out with that TOSDUMP program.

Thanks for the file! I need help figuring out how to get it written to an Atari floppy? I have an old PC so maybe that way? I’m new at this STE deal. You are correct that a ROM dump is the only way to know for sure. Thank you again for your valuable inputs. As soon as I copy this to floppy I’ll give it a whirl. A friend offered up his GoTek which I should have by months end.

Thanks again! Your link is helpful! Of course the lists do not include “C301164-002A,” which I what I have. Perhaps it’s the same as C301164 ?? For now I’ll assume TOS 1.62 Wondering why all the photos of motherboards I’m finding on the net have ROMs installed when mine look very much like EPROMS? Possibly this was was a test bed machine? Possibly C301164-002A was a beta of TOS 1.63? I know that’s a stretch yet the second module is labeled “163.” Why? Based on your link’s omission of C301164-002A I’d have to say there’s some possibility this thing is unique.

How does one determine the TOS version in his system? I clicked around yet didn’t find any version numbers? I've torn down many different systems, and this one does not look tampered with or modified at all. The bottom of the console still had the complete warrantee sticker covering one screw hole. I did find peculiar handwritten labels on two modules: Assuming C113 is TOS...can there be a version 1.63? Then again, maybe C113 is something else?

Thank you PLM for the excellent feedback. My experience with the ST line consists of two hours I’ve put into this tear down. I believe you misunderstood my post. I was simply asking questions about the STE model, of which I know absolutely nothing. Those specs which apparently set you off and made you “less nice” were nothing more than a cut-and-paste from a google search. Wikipedia I believe? I was asking questions — not bragging. I’m a newb here. Now I understand my source was inaccurate. Thank you for your thoughtful inputs regarding my new system. Hopefully, you will see I’m much nicer than the Amiga people. I’m a Ti-99/4 guy who is probably a little bit to excited about his recent find. That’s all. We 99ers are a humble bunch. Trust me — I want to play 100 games on this system! That’s the motivation behind my line of questions.

Thanks! On www.shopgoodwill.com ($62) with a local pick-up requirement in Los Angeles: https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/69797491

HAHA! I've been working on this thing all day and didn't even notice the little "E" next to the ST badge. I'm 20-10 vision so no excuse there! Discovered: STFm = 3 channel sound, 512 colours, little or no hardware. STe = 4 channel sound, 4096 colours, extra hardware in the form of a barrel shifter (what we would call a blitter, only the Atari version is a joke! It can only scroll on 16pixel boundaries!!!) Thanks for solving that mystery for me....gosh! Newb. Looks like this may work out for me: 4MB (4x1MB) 30 Pin RAM Matched Set Non-Parity 8 Chip 100ns