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Tuxon86

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Posts posted by Tuxon86

  5. Posted

    My Ti story is a sad,unfulfilled desire story...

     

    I was poor growing up, and to past the time once a week I walked to the mall and hang around the Compucenter kiosk, drooling at the beautiful display of computational power. Commodore Vic-20, C64, Atari 800 and front and center a fully equipped TI-99/4A with PeB with dual floppies, Ti branded composite monitor, printer... it looked so professional. But sadly it was an impossible dream. We were from different social class, her parent wouldn’t have approved and the were no question of eloping, I respected her too much for that.

     

    so instead I had to made due with a vic20 on liquidation with a dataset. Then I moved on to c64 who fled a difficult relation, by saving her from a repair shop where she’d be abandoned. A quick side job let me gift her a repaired 1541. But my heart is too big for just one love at a time. My friend and I met a pair of twin Atari 130xe hanging out in the bad part of town with their 1050 and 1027 little brothers and sisters. We had to save them!

     

    Sadly, the flame of envy for that TI-99/4A slowly dimmed in my hearth, never to really rekindle. Even years later when I had the means to make a home for her, the will isn’t there... Sad.

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    I’d be interested in one. I’m also open to added ram capabilities and upgraded video.

    And option to decide at power on to use the stock capability of the 130xe or to go all in with 1 Meg ram and new graphic  circuit/mode, stereo pokey etc... I’m presently populating a new C128 for which I acquired a brand new motherboard (bright red and gold, looks quite good). 
     

    Will you provide a BOM? If you have one, I may place an order and validate what I have on hand in the shop so as to be ready when and if you decide to sell me one.

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    49 minutes ago, leech said:

    Both of these came out in 1985, by which time the RGB monitors were standard with the 16bit machines... so how expensive were they?

    About the same price of the machine. It was an investment back in the day and the 80's weren't all that great for the working class in North America with the transition from heavy industries. As I said in another thread, back then my father made $300 per week as a boilermaker and once every bills and groceries were paid up he had about $45 left. Not enough to by a C128 + 1571/1541 + rgb monitor or any electronics... We got our first color TV when I was 14, that's in 1979 and we got it because he won it in a draw...

  8. Posted · Edited by Tuxon86

    9 minutes ago, leech said:

    Thanks for the list!  (Just bought a C128 off ebay).  Yeah, unlike the 130XE, the C128 actually was a new machine with new capabilities.   sure, some people may have just ran it in C64 mode, but with built in 80 column mode, some would have been using that, no? 

     

    That would have been a killer feature for the 130XE.  Also if we had gotten a 800/1200xl keyboard for the 130XE, it would have made a great / cheap word processor.

    Some may've used the C128 in 80 columns if they were rich enough to get the rgb monitor with their machine, which wasn't cheap at the time. Most used it with a TV or composite monitor and were limited to 40 columns, negating one of its biggest selling point... This would've applied to the 130XE also if it had an 80 col mode. 

     

  9. Posted

    1 minute ago, JKK said:

    @Tuxon86 Not sure how about other European countries but in Poland these 8-bit computers were extremely expensive comparing to salaries. So many boys and girls didn't have them. Most discussed just having very limited experiences ex. just few hours of gaming on friend's computer. However the subject was very very hot! I even remember starting my first programming experiences writing first programs in the notebook, not even running them once. So there were only 100% theoretical programs. :D However we had hours and hours of discussions with friends. Sometimes very silly... :P as noone was expert. But still we were trying to prove which computer is better. :P

    Oh, they were just as expensive here in Canada. My father was making $300 a week and once he had paid all the bills there was about $45 left and he loved his beer 🙂

    If I wanted something Id better work to get it or I'd lived without it. And also the 80's were a bad period for the economy here as the heavy industries were on the decline. He sometime went nearly a year without work so food and rent was the priorities.

  10. Posted

    It was a sily fight back in the days and it's still a silly fight.

     

    At the price those were selling back then, you bought what your friends also had so as to benefit from a growing software and knowledge pool.

    I couldn't afford either when they came out and had to wait for people replacing them with PC or Amiga/ST to buy either at a discount, so I got first an Atari 600XL/410 in '86 and the next year I got a deal on the C64/1541 from a repair shop. I then replaced the 600XL with a 130XE/1050/1027 in '87.  

     

    At no point in time I could've afforded an Apple computer and none of my friends had TRS-80s so I didn't get those until recently and they're mostly for collecting purpose in my "museum". Funny thing, the one I really wanted back in 83/84 was the TI-99/4a after seeing it on display with its PEB at Compucenter. It looked so professional but it was way costly and I didn't knew anyone who had one.

     

    This war thing wasn't really a thing were I live. Nobody started flame war in the schoolyard about which computers or console someone had. Hell, 99% of the school didn't have any at home! It may have been a thing in Europe, but in Canada/USA? Nah, we were more interested fighting over girls or hockey teams 🙂

    It did happen on BBS's, but again only a minority had modems and most family had a single phone line. And since the C64 was more popular than the Atari by the time I got into the game, you had to search real hard to find a dedicated Atari one. Those that existed had or were transitioning to the ST line by then.

     

    So, in conclusion, I liked the OP video, but I wouldn't have used the term war to describe it. It's great to see comparaison on gaming or other piece of software since I may end up chasing one version or the other in order to get the better one. Or maybe a hidden gem video on titles that were exclusive to one or the other but in the same style.

     

     

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    Hi,

     

    If it was your first time at doing a Youtube video, and not in your native language, then a big bravo to you, as I couldn't find the courage to do one myself.

    I'd like to point out though that, as others have pointed out, the comparaison to modern tech is not necessary at all. It only distract from the subject.

    The chess games was a good idea, even though it is more a test of the quality of the software than of the hardware it runs on. But I did like the games comparaison that you used.

     

    In short, I did enjoy the video. 

  18. Posted

    59 minutes ago, polyex said:

    Could someone walk me through the steps of putting a spacebar on a IIe? I am confused as to the metal bar, do you thread it through the holes in the black tabs in the space bar first, then try to put the spacebar in (seems too easy to drop the metal bar into the case, difficult to snap it in place), or do you snap the metal bar into the keyboard then try to thread it through the holes in the black tabs (can't see anything)? 

    Through the holes than with the help of needle nose pliers to hold it I snap it in place.

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