What did I find? (2nd Edition)

[StanJr]

At the local thrift today I found a COMPLETE TI-99/4A computer with all docs, etc (sans box) for $8.

 

Now, what the hell is it and what does it do?

[King Asmo]

It's a terrific early 80's computer. It takes carts, and there's a whackload of good games for it. The Atarisoft games tend to be really good, and much more fun than the 2600 versions. I have Moon Patrol and Donkey Kong.. and maybe a couple more.

 

The only downside is that the joysticks aren't Atari compatible.. so you either have to get TI joysticks or an adaptor. I got my WICO adapter for $4 on eBay.

 

KA

[Lemmi]

heh i mostly play Yahtzee on my TI computer

 

i have 2 of them both in boxes, one is the black version and the other is the silver version

 

I have 2 pairs of the TI joysticks and they both dont work for some reason, the guts look fine, no cracks, no warn out rubber or plastic pieces, i just dont know why they wont work ???????

 

Good find Stan, and be very proud of that find

[Albert]

The TI-99/4a is a pretty cool computers. I suggest you check out the following site for tons of great information on it:

 

The TI-99/4A Home Computer Page

 

Have fun!!

 

..Al

[Adrian M]

Mmm....Tunnels of Doom! This was the first PC D&D-style RPG that I ever played. My friend had the TI computer and we played this during our summer vacations from school in the mid-80's.

 

If I recall correctly, this glorious game used a cart and cassette combo. It had 3D tunnels and 3/4 overhead strategic battle scenes.

[StanJr]

thanks for the help. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle!

[CaliColts]

I have 2 pairs of the TI joysticks and they both dont work for some reason, the guts look fine, no cracks, no warn out rubber or plastic pieces, i just dont know why they wont work ???????

 

Mine are just like that, nice but no work

[gulag picture radio]

I just found one of these TI computers today for $6 with joysticks and the voice synthesizer. Anyone know of any programs that will speak whatever I type? I'd love to find something like SpeechToy on the Amiga.

 

I guess that I could try to find a copy of Parsec, eh? Thanks for help!

[King Atari]

Nice find Stan! I share your joy, as a few weeks ago I picked up boxed one, with all original hookups, and 6 boxed/complete games. All working. For $5. It's an excellent little machine. My joysticks don't work either, I had to use the keyboard to play TI Invaders, Alpiner, Parsec, as well as a few others (2 of the games are cassette games).

 

There's a thrift by me that's selling the silver version, but with no hookups, box, or games. And knowing them, it's probably wayyyyy over priced.

[Paul Slocum]

I've tried to find a way to make it say what I type, but with no luck. Terminal Emulator II is supposed to support the speech synthesizer but I can't figure out how to do anything with it. TE2 It may not work without the RS-232 adapter. I tried guessing commands in Extended Basic too.

 

-Paul

[Pitfall Harry]

It must be raining TI-99/4A's. I just picked up mine at a thrift yesterday. I had to solder some jumpers onto the main board to get the space bar to work, and I had to hack together a joystick from a Genesis and an Atari controller to make my own TI-compatible joystick, and I had to use a different RF modulator (the one it came with was DOA. Still, for $5 bucks it wasn't too bad. I can finally play a few TI games I've had sitting around for years, which I could not play before because I refused to buy a TI unless I could get one complete in the box and for $5 or less.

 

It's worth five dollars.

 

Ben

[Andrew]

Man, I miss my old TI. My parents sold mine at their yard sale years ago for like five bucks. They found it in the attic and got rid of it -- right after I started collecting classic games. Their reasoning was that I didn't play it anymore and "It was a computer and we didn't think it was worth keeping."

 

Gotta love parents. I miss the old days of Tombstone City and Parsec.

[ScottHuggins]

1. if the joysticks aren't working, make sure the caps lock is not pressed in. Yep, that's right...if you read the Addendum Guide that came with the TI-99/4a, that's what they said to do. I tried it and the sticks worked properly.

 

2. How to make your TI "Speak". If you get the Terminal Emulator cartidge... you can then use TI Basic to make your TI speak. It's great fun. Plug in the Terminal Emulator cartidge (they are extremely common), and you can use statements like CALL SAY('hello world')

and it will say the phrase...

[moycon]

From what I remember on the voice you had to type out words phonetically sometimes. For instance if you typed CALL SAY('business') you would hear something that sounded ridiculous but CALL SAY('biznis') sounded just fine.

 

Of course when we used it, it was mostly to just get our TV to say dirty words!!!

 

BTW: I believe all the Scott Adams adventures are on the TI. I always liked those.