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Texas Instruments TI-99 4A


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Any fans of this old computer??? Besides the Atari 5200 my family also bought this system in the early 80's.

 

 

I remember really liking some of the games like A-Maze-Ing, Munch man,and Space Invaders....

 

 

I liked typing in the Basic program too.

 

Most definitely. I got one in early 83. The sad thing is that I use it now more than I ever did back then. I did work with it a bit though. In fact here's a pic of me back at that time: (can't believe I still had those Star Wars drapes up. :lol: )

post-10357-1233686474_thumb.jpg

 

 

Hell yeah. Tunnels of Doom is one of the best games ever made. :cool:

 

For that matter Compact Flash card interfaces were even recently made for the TI99.

 

TOD is an excellent game. I still need to try out the other adventures for that game engine. I also regret not buying one of those flash card interfaces' when I had the chance.

 

I remember a game i played in a shop display called Parsec on your system...preety good defender'ish type game, nice to see that it's since been converted to the A8

 

I never knew that. Thanks for the info. I just dl'ed it from Atarimania. I can't wait to try it out.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yes,

 

Hunt the Wumpus and Parsec were great games. As was Shamus for the TI-99 4A. And the Atari made games for the computer were all excellent too. My uncle had one at the same time we had an Atari 800 at home. There are a bunch of websites out there for the computer, and one of them has a lot of screenshots which can bring back some great memories. I'll post the link if I can find it.

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I've always read this computer had some sort of a Modem attachment too(I know they had Speech Synthesis and a Harddrive setup,but my grandparents could'nt affford that)...

 

 

Since it had a modem attachment does that mean the TI-99 4A back then was capable of going on BBS message boards??? I always wondered about that. Someone was able to browse the internet using an Apple 2 a few years ago, is that possible with this computer?? I'd like to try that. I always figured the TI-99 was a way more powerful computer than Apple 2,but I don't know so much about computers from the inside out. I read on wikipedia that this was the first 16-bit system, predating Sega Genesis by 10 years. I'd like to buy a TI-99 myself and it would be trippy to be able to hook it up to modern computers.

 

 

 

btw that's such an adorable pic of you Darkthur lol....awww.....loove your Star Wars curtains. I used to have the Smurfs curtains and Strawberry Shortcake.

 

 

There was a game for this system that I can't remember the name but was very cool. It was a shooter style game but you could actually walk into other screens and you had to shoot up these weird aliens that came fro the sky and in one screen you had to shoot them horizontally. It was kinda weird, sorta like Doom before it's time. I thought that game was really fun.

I loved A-Maze-Ing and Chisolm Trail was a really hard game I remember. We only had the keyboard and some games and playing the games that needed joysticks was kinda hard.

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I've always read this computer had some sort of a Modem attachment too(I know they had Speech Synthesis and a Harddrive setup,but my grandparents could'nt affford that)...

 

 

Since it had a modem attachment does that mean the TI-99 4A back then was capable of going on BBS message boards??? I always wondered about that. Someone was able to browse the internet using an Apple 2 a few years ago, is that possible with this computer?? I'd like to try that. I always figured the TI-99 was a way more powerful computer than Apple 2,but I don't know so much about computers from the inside out. I read on wikipedia that this was the first 16-bit system, predating Sega Genesis by 10 years. I'd like to buy a TI-99 myself and it would be trippy to be able to hook it up to modern computers.

 

 

 

btw that's such an adorable pic of you Darkthur lol....awww.....loove your Star Wars curtains. I used to have the Smurfs curtains and Strawberry Shortcake.

 

 

There was a game for this system that I can't remember the name but was very cool. It was a shooter style game but you could actually walk into other screens and you had to shoot up these weird aliens that came fro the sky and in one screen you had to shoot them horizontally. It was kinda weird, sorta like Doom before it's time. I thought that game was really fun.

I loved A-Maze-Ing and Chisolm Trail was a really hard game I remember. We only had the keyboard and some games and playing the games that needed joysticks was kinda hard.

When my dad bought mine I think the speech synthesizer was free, rebate or something. Also, we had a 300 buad modem (connected to the RS-232 in the PEB) and could connect to bbs's of the time. I can recall 'The Source' and 'CompuServe' but since they charged you by the minute didn't use them much.

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You know, I really need to drag mine out. I have a *really* nice setup. I've got two or three computers, the voice attachment, the uber-rare giant expansion box thingy, and about eighty carts.

 

Definately underappreciated. Lots of good, solid arcade knockoffs. Get a joystick adaptor though, the default controllers are butt.

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TI99 acoustic coupler modem

 

I'd like to buy a TI-99 myself and it would be trippy to be able to hook it up to modern computers.

I hooked my TI99 to the internet just to say I did. Not much use though... ;)

 

Also, we had a 300 buad modem (connected to the RS-232 in the PEB) and could connect to bbs's of the time. I can recall 'The Source' and 'CompuServe' but since they charged you by the minute didn't use them much.

Damn right, back in the day all the big content providers were pay per minute and they were expensive.

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I hooked my TI99 to the internet just to say I did. Not much use though... ;)

 

 

 

 

 

I'd like to hook it up just because I remember liking the text and graphics/colors on that alot and I love the keyboard design and rather use that keyboard than the one I normally use. What were you able to do on the internet with that?? That sounds cool.... I guess you really had to have alot of money in the 80's to use the BBS boards...

 

 

 

edit- I remember there was a program for Basic....I had to type up 3-4 pages worth of crap just to make a pixelated character called Mr.Bojangles dance lol...

Edited by lushgirl_80
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Geez, I'd forgotten about having one of these. I must be getting old!

 

My parents bought it for me, and I liked it just fine. Then, just a few days later, there was an article in the newspaper about the TI 99/4a power packs catching fire. So back to the store it went!

 

That's the extent of my experience with TI computers.

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Geez, I'd forgotten about having one of these. I must be getting old!

 

My parents bought it for me, and I liked it just fine. Then, just a few days later, there was an article in the newspaper about the TI 99/4a power packs catching fire. So back to the store it went!

 

That's the extent of my experience with TI computers.

 

 

 

I thought that was the colecovision adam that had the problem with the power bricks?

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Geez, I'd forgotten about having one of these. I must be getting old!

 

My parents bought it for me, and I liked it just fine. Then, just a few days later, there was an article in the newspaper about the TI 99/4a power packs catching fire. So back to the store it went!

 

That's the extent of my experience with TI computers.

 

 

 

I thought that was the colecovision adam that had the problem with the power bricks?

 

Could be! But TI had it, too (although it seems to have been garbled by the media and/or my parents' understanding of the story back then):

 

"Shipments of the TI-99/4A are halted due to an apparent defect in the power transformers shipped with the computers. According to the March 1983 issue of TI’s Product Support Review newsletter, "A laboratory test revealed that under very unusual conditions specific AC 9500 transformers may have a potential electrical shock hazard."

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Could be! But TI had it, too (although it seems to have been garbled by the media and/or my parents' understanding of the story back then):

 

"Shipments of the TI-99/4A are halted due to an apparent defect in the power transformers shipped with the computers. According to the March 1983 issue of TI’s Product Support Review newsletter, "A laboratory test revealed that under very unusual conditions specific AC 9500 transformers may have a potential electrical shock hazard."

Indeed it was a shock hazard they were worried about, not meltdowns or explosions.

 

The inline AC9500 adapters were 'retrofitted' with a small electrical cord that has one female end with double sided foam tape on it (to plug the power supply into) and one polarized male end (to plug into the wall). This little device is known as part number 9500/2, and has a small plastic box inline that presumably has some sort of additional breaker in it. I have one of them here attached to an original AC9500 power supply.

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Indeed it was a shock hazard they were worried about, not meltdowns or explosions.

 

The inline AC9500 adapters were 'retrofitted' with a small electrical cord that has one female end with double sided foam tape on it (to plug the power supply into) and one polarized male end (to plug into the wall). This little device is known as part number 9500/2, and has a small plastic box inline that presumably has some sort of additional breaker in it. I have one of them here attached to an original AC9500 power supply.

 

Oh, but for breaker I would have grown up TI instead of A8! :)

 

(Makes me wonder if the 9500's were designed by the same people who designed the Star Ship Enterprise's famously exploding control panels. Sorry, there are no fuses in the 23rd century!)

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