Documents TI-99 - DOCs, Manuals, eBooks, Lost & Found

[+Ksarul]

Labels are actually a good thing. One thing I noticed on my copy of the Pre School Early Learning Fun cartridge was that there was a slight difference in the depth that the cartridge board sits in the cartridge case. The cartridge works perfectly in every 99/4 I've tried it in, but it sometimes fails to make good contact in a 99/4A, as the board is just a little bit too short for good contact.

[blackbox]

Here is the European  six language version of the manual for Number Magic, presented as TWO zip files due to size.
The clean hi res scans in TIF format are here at 600dpi.   Read, print, OCR or PDF as you wish!

 

My next post will be updated lists of manuals on line, then next up will be the UK only manual (light blue cover) for Pre School Early Learning Fun followed by the newer US "clown cover"  manual for Early Learning Fun..

Number_Magic_EU_Pt1.zip Number_Magic_EU_Pt2.zip

[blackbox]

Updated lists of manuals to be found online, both sorted alphabetically.
.
The PDF covers principal sources including atariage. Some manuals have been excluded where the quality is low, to avoid deterring anyone adding better quality scans. In most cases, only source name not specific links.

 

The text file only covers atariage, and includes links to the actual post- these have now been updated to be compatible with the new forum introduced in June 2019.

s

softwaremanualsamalgAug19.pdf omegalist.txt

[blackbox]

Documentation for Pre School Early Learning Fun PHM3002.  Usual zip file of tif images, clean and bright, scanned at 480 dpi for you to read, print, ocr or pdf.

Confused by the title?  This is a special manual for GB only, printed in Holland on rather thinner paper than usual.  The guarantee at the back is specifically for the UK - but my copy of the manual still has the obligatory sticker on the front suggesting the manual was prepared for the US market.  Nope.  I suspect someone was given the job at TI of sticking these little stickers on all the UK manual stock.

Two bonuses- the zip has the front cover with and without the guarantee sticker, and as the original manual only has keys for the TI99/4, I have added an alternative inside front cover with TI-99/4a keys.  The cover with the sticker is authentic, the inside front cover with TI-99/4A keys is not.
 

Notable changes to the illustrations and text compared to Early Learning Fun- the screen images in this UK version show- on the cover as well- a lower case letter. Also under "a is for Apple" the screen pictures do not show the words and the central letter is lower case.

Query- I do not have the UK module myself- does it in fact use the lower case letters as shown in the illustrations?  If so is there an FG99 BIN file for the UK version?
 

Coming next will be the US manual for Early Learning Fun PHM3002, the one with the clown on the front.  There may be some delay to this as we have what the hospital labels as "EOL Pathway" in the near family. Hope to be back with you in 10-14 days.

(Please ignore it if you see a link to a tif image- I have deleted it but still see the link. I replaced it with the jpg image of the cover!)

regards s

pselfthumb.tif Pre_School_Early_Learning_Fun.zip

Edited August 20, 2019 by blackbox
refer to deleted tif file

[+Ksarul]

I have the cartridge somewhere in my collection of protos. I don't remember at the moment if it was on an EGROM board or if it was the final GROMs though, so there may be differences. If I can dig it out, I'll dump it, unless someone else beats me to it.

[blackbox]

Documentation for EARLY LEARNING FUN PHM3002 - the US manual with a clown on the cover.

The cover suggests for children aged 3-6. Activities for numbers, shapes, sorting, and alphabet.

The zip contains 480 dpi TIF images for you to read, ocr, print or pdf.  There is a separate zip of the label on the module I have- the imprecise printing is exactly as TI did it.

 

This is still an ancient manual and the text refers to keys for the TI99/4, however there is a note of the TI99/4A keys inside the front cover.   My manual also has a rubber stamp referring to the guarantee/servicing- if you don't want it, paint it out.  I don't know what country this was for or when used, and I don't have the referred to attachment!

earlylearnfunlabelpng.zip early_learning_fun_us.zip

[blackbox]

Scanned documentation in 480 dpi clean TIF images zipped together for you to print, read, ocr or pdf for:
Scott Adams Adventure Module- Manual for separate data media (cassette and diskette).

 

The manual scanned was a "brown cover" version, printed in Italy for the Cassette media for "Mission Impossible", however the zip includes a text file on how to use these scans to make your own complete set of "Printed in USA" manuals for all ten adventures.  Only the outer covers varied.

adventuremedia.zip

[blackbox]

Documentation as a zipped collection of clean hi res TIF images for you to read, ocr, pdf or print for:
EARLY READING  PHM3015  by Scott Foresman 1980   REQUIRES SPEECH SYNTHESISER.
For "beginning readers" 
Pick a Picture, Pick a Word and Make a Story. Uses a vocabulary of 73 words- the usual cow, dog, cake plus astronaut and helicopter.

As usual manual text refers only to TI99/4 keys- use the guide inside the front cover for TI-99/4a keys to use.

 

The cover with a flaxen haired little girl in a pink flouncy blouse and severe sunburn is by an artist better known for tv program adverts in TV Guide and cinema posters when they used to be painted- for example the initial release of Labyrinth (1986). Name of Steven Chorney. The cover does not show her using a TI keyboard!

EarlyReading.zip

[blackbox]

 

Documentation as a zipped collection of hi res 480dpi clean tif images for you to read, print, OCR or PDF for:
Milliken Math Sequences DECIMALS  PHM3096.

Program by John Plaster. 56 levels.
Marked as suitable for grades 5 to 8 (UK: years 6 to 9) (World: Age 10-14)

It has been a while but I am sure I was aware of this material at age 10 apart possibly from decimal long division.  Is the long division format still taught in todays modern PC world?

No problems with what keys to use in this later manual, good for both 99/4 and 99/4a consoles. I am only aware of the one version of this manual.

milliken_decimals.zip

Edited September 19, 2019 by blackbox

[wierd_w]

Hey-- Does anyone have very high res, high quality scans of box faces for this system, and or software?

 

A thought occurs to me that I can get suitable paper to print replicas.

[+arcadeshopper]

On 9/19/2019 at 3:54 AM, wierd_w said:

Hey-- Does anyone have very high res, high quality scans of box faces for this system, and or software?

 

A thought occurs to me that I can get suitable paper to print replicas.

or you can get the originals.. what do you need.make a list people have a ton of this stuff sitting round, if you need 45 copys of the early reading fun manual I'll send them to you for postage

[blackbox]

Documentation as a zipped collection of hi res 480dpi clean tif images for you to read, print, OCR or PDF for:
Milliken Math Sequences NUMBER READINESS   PHM3098.

Program by John Plaster. 16 levels.  1982

Marked as suitable for up to grade 1 (UK: years 1 to 2) (World: to age 6)
How Many? (1-5, 0-7, 6-10);  Add (add shapes, add N1 numbers to N2 shapes)

 

The zip file includes a hi res module label image.  In this post I have added an unscaled untouched 800dpi scan of part of the label to reveal the sharp clear printing that TI used (not).

NumberReadiness.zip

[wierd_w]

It's an artifact of the printing method. It's clearly a lithograph print.

 

Basically, it's a dot/line matrix embossed stamping technique that uses sequential stamps.  If the registration of the stamp or the paper is off on subsequent operations, the image will have registration issues between colors. (Such as between the yellow and blue above. It also is what is responsible for the "ghosting" around the white lettering above it; the stamp is flexible, because it is a continuous process roller. As such, the stamp does not lay flat in areas of high contrast, because part is much thicker and part is much thinner, and the stretch/deformation is not uniform.

 

A low res scan that blurs these imperfections, scaled up with a neural-net up-scaler (Like Waifu2x and co.) will give you vastly superior results than will a high resolution scan.

[blackbox]

A zip of clean hi res (480dpi) tif images of the documentation for:
MEASUREMENT FORMULAS   PHM 3101     Milliken Math Sequences series

Ready to read, pdf, ocr or print
Marked for grades 6 to 8 (UK years 7 to 9)  (World: ages 11 to 13)
25 levels
Program by John Plaister    1982
The zip includes a scan of the module label.

 

 

measurement formulas.zip

[blackbox]

A zip containing the documentation in clean hi res TIF images for you to read, print, PDF or OCR for:
Alligator Mix   PHM 3114  (DLM),  program by Mary Anne Six for up to Grade 6 (UK to Year 7) (World,  up to age 11).
Addition and subtraction of numbers up to 9.
The word arcademic is a made up word by DLM.
The zip has a scan of the module label and two versions of the inside front cover- with and without a rubber stamp referring to the warranty.  There was never an "attachment" to the manual but there may have been a small sticker on the outer box.
 

alligator_mix.zip

[blackbox]

Another manual in zipped TIF image format- clean hi res (600 dpi) for you to read, ocr, pdf or print.  Due to the large size (36 pages, lots of screen photos) this is in THREE zip files.

Video Chess- EU Manual- PHM3008.

An unusual manual in many ways.  I have corrected an error in the GB section which listed FCTN D twice and omitted FCTN I - the other language texts are fine.  I have left in the GB section the lovely word bishpos.  Although headed GB it is of course American and I have left in "maneuver" which should be "manoevre".
Note that the I in FCTN I differs from the I in Instruments at the page top- the manual uses sans serif, but for clarity the I in FCTN I is serif.
Printed in Italy the manual throughout uses the German »quotation marks« , inward facing guillemets.
Text is for five languages, GB D F I and NL.  Italian and Dutch users are treated to screen photographs in their own language, of screens which the module did not show them. Warranty information is for GB D F I NL S DK P and E.

Video_Chess_EU_pt1.zip Video_Chess_EU_pt2.zip Video_Chess_EU_pt3.zip

[+mizapf]

Ouch ... they wrote "Schach Meister" on the cover (instead of the correct "Schachmeister" that is found inside). The blank between the words is what some people less diplomatically call the "fool's blank". I seem to remember that the classic manual did it right.

[blackbox]

Yes- see this one.   Most manuals were in US English only, some were in multi-language European editions or English/French Canadian editions.  There seem to have been several German or German/English manuals. Add in the variations for TI99/4 and TI99/4a, updated colourful covers and so on and there are an awful lot for a collector seeking a full set!

 

[kl99]

1 hour ago, blackbox said:

Yes- see this one.   Most manuals were in US English only, some were in multi-language European editions or English/French Canadian editions.  There seem to have been several German or German/English manuals. Add in the variations for TI99/4 and TI99/4a, updated colourful covers and so on and there are an awful lot for a collector seeking a full set!

And this one, the TI-99/4A Classic Manual for Europeans:

http://www.ti99.eu/?attachment_id=867

[blackbox]

Documentation in hi res (480dpi) clean TIF images zipped together for:
PHM3044  Personal Report Generator 
All of forty pages to read, print, OCR or PDF.
The software in this module requires files you have created using either Personal Record Keeping or Statistics modules.
Works with just cassette and thermal printer or full disk system and 132 column printer.

My next piece of work will take some time- all 50 pages of the Statistics Manual to come.

 personal_report_generator.zip

Edited October 24, 2019 by blackbox
add thumb

[blackbox]

 

 

 

Just received a package of manuals on loan to scan so Statistics will have to wait its turn!

Here is a zip file of clean hi res TIF images (480dpi) for you to read, OCR, print or PDF...

CHISHOLM TRAIL       1982
PHM 3110
Design and Program: John C Plaister
"Adds 14k active memory"
Quotations from the Manual: "The steer has a limited firing range". "Destroying a wrangler adds to your mileage but does not help you proceed to the next day".  I never did get the hang of this one.

 

ChisholmTrail.zip

[+mizapf]

Chisholm Trail has won several unofficial awards in this forum*, among these the game with the most annoying, repetitive shooting sounds, the game with the most unplausible story line, and the game with the greatest distance between the game idea and its implementation.

 

(* not really, but it would if we did)

[blackbox]

Updated lists of online manuals.  To encourage newer better manuals I have omitted some of the older low res or smudgy manuals.

First is an alphabetic list of manuals online from all sources, the list is in pdf format, it lacks the specific URLs and only tells you where to look for each manual.  Always eager to hear of new web sources.   (Where I spot them I am omitting documents just copied from The Cyc which is a commercial offering). About 400 titles with some duplicates.

softwaremanualsamalgOct19.pdf

 

Second is a text format listing of all the manuals to be found on Atariage, with full URL references to help you get to them.  Something like 213 titles.

omegalist.txt

Edited October 29, 2019 by blackbox

[blackbox]

Here is a zip file of clean hi res TIF images (480dpi) for you to read, OCR, print or PDF...
YAHTZEE   PHM3039   (Milton Bradley 1980)
"adds 6k active memory"

 

Yahtzee.zip

[Omega-TI]

5 hours ago, blackbox said:

Here is a zip file of clean hi res TIF images (480dpi) for you to read, OCR, print or PDF...

Thanks! ?  Done.

 

Yahtzee.pdf