Jump to content
IGNORED

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


Schmitzi

Recommended Posts

Here is a large zip file with the documentation for
SCHOLASTIC SPELLING LEVEL SIX     PHM3062.
REQUIRES SPEECH SYNTHESISER.
Aimed at US Grades 5 to 8, UK grades 6-9, rest of world ages 10 to 14.

Read, print, OCR (difficult!) or PDF as you wish.

The zip contains hi res (400dpi) clean scans of the 48 page A4 manual, the folder insert, and the new style green cartridge label.  The manual is on high acid newsprint and mine is quite yellowed needing much cleanup. The print is to the exact edge of the paper which may cause difficulty if you wish to print on a printer that doesn't allow that.

An odd piece of software not at all useful in the UK, with unexplained phonetic characters, an ancient "joined up writing" script my parents may have been taught (not me or my son)- the q and g are written identically. 
Some odd words.  The vocabulary is described as "high usage".  US spellings include catalog, neighborhood, realize, recognize, liter, no space in applesauce.   When did I last use the word raincoat? flashlight? beverage?  Gasoline is a US word. 
Nonetheless- more of these oddly archaic and regional manuals to follow...

spelling6_thumb.jpg

SpellingLevel6.zip

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

My latest compilation (v2) for  the Mechatronik 80COL / 80ZK manuals and more:

 

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/292291-mechatronic-80-column-card-side-card/?do=findComment&comment=4758470

 

(Maybe lookout for the ZIP at the end of this post, which contains all the PDFs in one file)

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Here is a large zip file with the documentation for
SCHOLASTIC SPELLING LEVEL FIVE     PHM3061.
REQUIRES SPEECH SYNTHESISER.
Aimed at US Grades 4 to 7, UK grades 5-8, rest of world ages 9 to 13 - but the Level 5 indicates US Grade 5.

Read, print, OCR (difficult!) or PDF as you wish.

The zip contains hi res (400dpi) clean scans of the 48 page A4 manual (the smaller print answers pages are at 480dpi), the folder insert, and the new style green cartridge label. 
  
The manual is on high acid newsprint and mine is quite a dark yellow, brittle and powdering... magic tape can only do so much.   Repair work has also been carried out digitally with cut and paste and paint!  Clean up has included removing my sons felt-tip answers...  The print is to the exact edge of the paper which may cause difficulty if you wish to print on a printer that doesn't allow that.

spelling5_thumb.jpg

SpellingLevel5.zip

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Here is a large zip file with the documentation for
SCHOLASTIC SPELLING LEVEL FOUR     PHM3060.
REQUIRES SPEECH SYNTHESISER.
Aimed at US Grades 3 to 6, UK grades 4-7, rest of world ages 8 to 12 - but the Level 4 indicates TARGET US Grade 4
I am quite a bit older, and one word in this stumped me, and the internet was no use either!!  I solved it by digging out my old large paper based Websters Dictionary (the standard US dictionary). 
Words and spellings used include good-by; quart; drugstore; railroad; downtown; automobile;  highway; mi; rfd (Webster tells me this is not an abbreviation for referred); Blvd;

Read, print, OCR (difficult!) or PDF as you wish.

The zip contains hi res (400dpi) clean scans of the 48 page A4 manual (the smaller print answers pages are at higher resolution), the folder insert, and the new style green cartridge label on a black cartridge (ATA2083). 
   
The manual is on high acid newsprint and mine is not white. The print is to the exact edge of the paper which may cause difficulty if you wish to print on a printer that doesn't allow that.

spelling4_thumb.jpg

SpellingLevel4.zip

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Tursi said:

Oh, I had that first edition one... :) Memories!

Same here. I thought to myself when I opened the book, do I really want to cheat or do I want to figure it out, as I was looking for a piece of code to write to a file, back in shoot, 83-87.  Not sure the dates?? And so I closed one eye and opened the book..

Edited by GDMike
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

   Here is a large zip file with the documentation for
SCHOLASTIC SPELLING LEVEL THREE     PHM3059.
REQUIRES SPEECH SYNTHESISER.
Aimed at US Grades 2 to 5, UK grades 3-6, rest of world ages 7 to 11 - but the Level 3 indicates TARGET US Grade 3

Read, print, OCR (difficult!) or PDF as you wish.

The zip contains hi res (400dpi) clean scans of the 48 page A4 manual (the smaller print answers pages are at higher resolution), and the initial black module label (ATA2083).
I do not have the folder insert for this module. 
   
The manual is on high acid newsprint and mine is not white. The print is to the exact edge of the paper which may cause difficulty if you wish to print on a printer that doesn't allow that.

 

spelling3thumb.jpg

SpellingLevel3.zip

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have boxes of mixed documentation, with many loose leaf magazine extracts. Here is one which I treasure as the program was written by a UK TI owner who was 1 a good programmer, 2. who died far too young and much too early.

It is from Computer and Video Games magazine, January 1983. C&VG  loved to publish unreadable listings. This wasn't too bad. They loved printing things at odd angles so here you have the original page layout plus deskewed pages.


 

I have a few early TI99/4a loose-leaf articles (1982-1983) from magazines to add here if you think it is appropriate.  Does anyone else have the 12 page TI supplement from "Electronics and Computing" !!
Otherwise I have boxes of user group newsletters and magazines- usually just odd samples rather than complete runs.  They could be better filling in gaps at WHT??? Not sure how I could add them there though... what do you think?  s

cvgJan83_target.zip

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@blackbox I already scanned and scanning lot of stuff including newsletter/magazines too also if not published because the post editing work still needed. (for example I also already had scanned the Scholastic Spelling series ones too)
If you want, and if you agree it could help, you could send me a list preview of the stuff you have so I can check if I have them already scanned and you can save your time and dedicate to other still missing.
about '
Electronics and Computing' I haven't nothing.

Edited by ti99iuc
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a bit of a rarity, a special 12 page insert from "Electronics and Computing" magazine dated May 1982, reviewing the TI99/4a.  

The magazine was published by David Raven, and is very rare- one UK computing museum has one copy from August 1982, and there is almost no mention on the web.  The reviewer is Dr Mike James (PhD in Computing) who has written lots from a Dragon 32 book of games to books on QBasic, Python 3 all the way up to Kotlin with articles and books on cyber security and penetration testing...

With usual clean hi res scans in tif format, zipped together, this includes all the adverts, where you can enjoy the insane prices and the claims- such as a TI99/4a with an A and with Equation Calculator or the well known module "Attack from Outer Space".  Most of the adverts seem to be spoofs (they never responded to me) - I am sure many never stocked a thing.  TI listed Pascal as being available in May 1982.  TI listed for Manchester: Wildings a camera store who I don't think stocked any computers, and Boots- a vast pharmacy store with ONE unpacked TI on display but no apparent stock or interest in selling any.


 

 

 

ti99iuc- I will try to put together a list of what I have- may be lengthy- and message that to you.  Then you can advise what you are likely to put online in the next six months or so.

 

In the meantime, to keep my scanner happy I will do my usual hi res scans of the Personal Computing World TI99/4a review and benchtest and their earlier TI99/4 benchtest- not very rare at all and already online but not so clean or hi res.

 


 

ecm_May82_4A_review.zip

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Zipped up tif images, clean and hi res for you to read, ocr, pdf or print - and enjoy.

Some old magazines for historic reasons....


Good Housekeeping UK edition, 1980?- aimed at the market that TI needed to penetrate.
Publishers announcement sheet for Vince Apps book of programs.


 

Creative Computing March 1980- 99/4 review- of supreme value this one!  Myths often start with lazy reporting (hasty unchecked assumptions) or simple journalistic fiction- nothing new in fake news- and become established fact.  Here is one- a very early written claim- unsourced of course as are all myths- that TI Basic was written by Microsoft, which is now considered at best doubtful, and probably quite untrue. Here may be where it started.

Creative Computing- May 1981- review of Extended Basic (Vn 100 of course)- with not one but two egregious praises of M$ Basic!! Hello- remember ANSI basic!!   I don't think I value CC reportage as independant or reliable! 
s

EarlyMagazine01.zip

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

But every one of the mass-market computers back then went to Microsoft for their BASIC implementations. Well, except for TI and one of the early British computers (I don't remember which one right now), both of which used ANSI standard BASIC. Failure to do research would have any lazy reporter relying on the first sentence above, as they had no idea that there were still a few exceptions out there. . .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Three files for you today to read, print, ocr or pdf...

Australian Personal Computer Sept 1983 pdf from archive.org, reviews of TI games modules. APC Often reprinted articles from the UK Personal Computer World magazine but this was an original Australian article.

UK letters from Texas Instruments before the PAL TI99/4 was released. The TI employees did their best in the face of indifference from TI in the USA who supplied them with zero information but expected them to sell computers. Historic record of people with bad employers really trying. Do not consider any statement to be authoritative.

Personal Computer News- a selection of items- Personal Computer News was a weekly computer magazine published in the UK by VNU from 1982 to 1984, running for 110 issues:-
PCN01- letter re using alternatives to logical operators OR/AND in TI Basic
PCN08- How to use less memory in your Basic programs
PCN16 and PCN17- listing:  Video Screen Titles.
PCN18 and PCN19- extracts from supplements, part work "Micropaedia" on TI Sound and speech. 
        note- first page is missing. There are errors in the article.
        
PCN20- review of Funware module Rabbit Trail
PCN26- Using Mini Memory to see program listing in memory (CALL PEEKV).

PCN29- Programs that rewrite themselves.  
     NB: XB Vn 110 uses slightly differing memory mapping to Vn 100. XB programs loaded into the 32k ram are stored from location -25 in version 110 if there is no disk system attached. 
     PC29 article supplied as:
        midres tif images taken from pdf from Archive.org
        text file OCRd from archive.org and hand corrected
        pdf derived from the text file and omitting the table-
        the table of codes as a png image file.

        
Enjoy.    s.

 

apc_sep83.pdf PersCompNews_uk.zip UKTILetters.zip

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 Magazine Listings 1
 
Unknown magazine- Unknown date -"Byte Back":   Lunar Lander by Neil Lawson.

  In 5 very hi res parts (1200dpi) plus the full second page at a lower resolution.
  Neil was from Leeds, and moved to Devon to work for retailer Parco, where he played a major role is producing the Parco Magazine for TI99/4a users.
  
Games Computing January 1984.  Sheep Dog by S Bonnett
.
  Magazine cover in very low res colour.   Pages 1 and 2 fullpage but not hi res. Page 1 was in colour and is scanned in colour. Page 2 was monochrome only.     Plus six parts in cleaned up very hi res greyscale (1200 dpi)
  
Personal Computing Today- issue 3 - October 1982 Blind Maze by Mike O'Regan.      Magazine cover in colour.      Three full pages at 400 dpi- the print is clear and of reasonable size.
   Mike O'Regan was one of the very first UK TI owners and a starter member of the first TI  UK User Group.  He moved on to another computer fairly quickly.  One of the earliest TI99/4 listings to appear in a UK magazine.


 

 

 

 

Personal Computing World.  September 1983.
   Two page article on Extended Basic sprites by Adrian Bicker. and low res cover image.
   Clean, crisp good size print scanned at 480 dpi.


Your Computer (Australia)  April 1985.      Your TI with two book reviews- TI99/4a books by Peter Brooks and Stephen Shaw.          
pdf extracted from pdf on archive.org- and as their second page has a wonky scan I have added a tif of the right hand column from my photocopy of the page- which is all that I had.      Quite a late piece of TI99/4a coverage in a general computing magazine.

 

MagListings01.zip

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From UK general computing magazines....

COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES 12
cover pdf  and tif images of listing for HUNGARIAN SQUARES by Stephen Shaw
  -game inspired by an old US patent and name inspired by the recent purchase of a genuine made-in-Hungary Rubik's Cube.   
  -Which also inspired- independently- a toy manufacturer to make a puzzle toy called Hungarian Rings, who was not happy to see their Pat Pending game lookalike with a similar name in a computer magazine and took issue with the publisher. The physical puzzle was never seen on sale and must have almost disappeared without trace- a lot of people tried to replicate the sales of the original Cube!.        (see https://www.jaapsch.net/puzzles/rings.htm)


 

COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES 14
cover pdf and tif images of the follow up program Hungarian Hex by Stephen Shaw, also a physical manipulation puzzle.


 

GAMES COMPUTING APRIL 1984
  Two listings- Gunfight by B W Davis, and Air Ship Rescue by D & J Hung
  From pdf found on archive.org so low res but quite legible.

cvg12and14and GCApr84.zip

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Renkforce / MiBeMa EPROG 27011 - Eprommer for the TI-99/4A (Modded 1990 by MiBeMa / Michael Becker)

 

German Manual plus Addendum/Correction DIL-Switches

(Deutsche Bedienungsanleitung plus Korrektur DIL-Schalter)

 

EPROG-27011-Eprommer-MiBeMa--Beschreibung-Bedienungsanleitung--Korrektur-DIL-Schalter--OCR.pdf

 

 

 

 

Find some more infos/software/documents on the SNUG hompage,

section "Utilities / Memory Manager / MM-EPROG":

 

https://s-n-u-g.de/util/index.php

 

 

(OK OK it needs some cleaning) :)

EPROG-27011-MiBeMa-1990--RMS-03.thumb.JPG.4e66654eef5a0545aa7e29fcba52eba0.JPG

 

 

EPROG-27011-MiBeMa-1990--RMS-02.thumb.JPG.8e29b0243ecc979f329cb50d4cbbfb3b.JPG

 

 

 

 

From the "same" Renkforce model: maybe maybe ;)

 

RenkForce-Eprom-Master-27011-GWS-03-PINOUT.jpg.c81bc8b9cd9a9c98aa14b96436cbd381.jpg

 

 

 

Find some JAVA source here to use it with todays computer:

 

http://www.igerlach.de/eprog/index.html

https://sourceforge.net/projects/eprog-test/

 

http://rxtx.qbang.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page (see link below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Concerning RXTX, please use the latest release on Github. I am in contact with the maintainer (or the person who took over its maintenance), and it was just a few days ago that we made it compile and run on current platforms again.

 

https://github.com/rxtx/rxtx

 

One issue was that the Maven project for RXTX did not run anymore since javah was removed from the JDK.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

The zip file contains a single pdf which was extracted from the copy at archive.org.  This one a good high res and very usable.

Games Computing November 1984:
  Quite a bumper issue for TI users. 
  The Runaway Robot Replies has a letter from Stephen Shaw relating to TIHCUC and their response. In seven quarters TIHCUC managed to produced just five newsletters and then disappeared.

 

   
  Review of Lionel and the Ladders from Intrigue
  
  Review of Virgin FunPacs
  
  Listing- NUCLEAR RACE by Graham Baldwin.

 

 

s
  

 

Games Computing Nov84.zip

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...