luckybob Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Hello from Denver! Just like the title states, I picked up a complete setup this weekend, and I'm just lost as to where to go next. To clarify, this is not my first TI. I had one as a kid from like 6-10. I remember going so far as to program my own text based dungeon crawler instead of my homework. I've always had computers under my fingers, and in the last decade or so, I've made a nice collection of old computers. I picked up an IBM 5150 last month, so I am no stranger to old systems and their idiosyncrasies. That said, I've never owned a PEB (cassettes FTW), so I'm in unexplored territory in that regard. I'm hoping this site is the "go-to" for info. I seen the recent demo released by Desire (jaw dropping work, kudos), and it seems to be a stroke of fate to have a pristine setup dropped in my lap. I'm not joking about how clean this setup is. The setup I acquired is still on craigslist for the moment at: https://denver.craigslist.org/sys/5996991791.html (but i attached the image from the listing.) All told I got: 3x silver consoles with wall warts and all cables 1x PEB - a very early one by the looks of it Standard 32k, floppy, and aftermarket serial cards 1x external disk drive A literal shit-ton of documentation 30+ cassettes 100+ disks I'm working on getting an 'unboxing' video up. There was a large box full of old early 80's newsletters, and magazines, and even technical manuals describing the cpu/video/etc. I honestly don't know where I'm going from here. I've done some research as to the latest hardware mods and upgrades. The owner of this machine had lived in the same house since the late 70's and it evident because the magazines still had the address from where I picked up the unit. Obviously the man loved this machine and was very knowledgeable, as there were many manuals regarding asm programming. He told me he worked at the nearby military base, and how he would work on their computers, and about the flaw he found in some government system. Instead of taking the computer all night to process a batch of data, it was reduced to a few hours. He also found typed programs that changed how ti-writer worked. It seemed he did not like how it printed. Speaking of printers, I have an old HP laserjet 4mp. I has serial, parallel, and mac interfaces, so maybe it will work here? I don't believe anything is particularly valuable, and I have no interest in selling anything. However, when I do make a 100% inventory, and there is some missing documents/software that needs to be preserved, I would certainly like to know. When I got the before mentioned IBM 5150, there was a boxed educational program that was missing from some internet database, and I was happy to just send it to someone who made a kyroflux copy. I will do my best to get a full inventory up, OR if someone here can point me in the direction of such a pre-existing database, and I could look up things myself. That would also be fine. Apart from preserving any data, I don't know what else I'm going to do. I was not planning on getting one of these setups anytime soon, but I'm certain everyone here would pickup what I did. Hunt the Wumpus traumatized me as a 5 y/o, and I don't need a physical system to play it again and get flashbacks. I have a lot to do for now, cataloging things, but once that's done, I have no plans. I think the Germans have a word for it; I feel like the dog, who always chases the car, and suddenly I caught it. I don't believe I have a proper cassette deck, so I'm going scour my local thrift stores for one. Suggestions are welcome here, but I'm going to just assume any quality unit will get the job done. Anyway, thanks for letting me rant a bit. I hope to post here as long as I'm chasing this rabbit down the hole. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Looks like a nice system. The PEB looks like an earlier model with the square power button and "99/4A" label. Functionally I think it is the same as the later PEB units, but I'm sure someone else will verify that or correct me. The external floppy is a nice bonus, since the original single-disk setup could be a pain in the ass for tasks that required two or more floppies (all the disk swapping would be old really fast). However, these days you can use half-height drives, 3.5" drives, hard disks, flash-based disks, etc. There are a lot of mods available, new cartridge systems, etc., just look around the forum a little and I'm sure you will realize how much is available for the 99/4A now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Congratulations on the nice score there! "LuckyBob" is right. It looks like a great system to build upon. About forgetting...I hear ya! The old adage, "If you don't use it, you'll lose it" applies. Believe me, you are not alone, but the good news is once you start reading the messages here, much of what you forgot will start coming back, as for the new stuff you'll pick up whatever interests you fairly quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnuphis Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Hey that's a great setup. The external drive is an added bonus. I had to chuckle about 'Hunt The Wumpus'. That was the first game I bought for my TI back in 1983. So did that closing jaw animation when you were caught give you nightmares? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybob Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 Hey that's a great setup. The external drive is an added bonus. I had to chuckle about 'Hunt The Wumpus'. That was the first game I bought for my TI back in 1983. So did that closing jaw animation when you were caught give you nightmares? When I was 5? Oh yea. Later, when it became my computer. I took it to my room. I got angry, because all the keys were in the wrong order. So my 7 year old brain decided to just pull all the key caps, and re-arrange them in alphabetical order. Parents never let me live that one down. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeBo Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Excellent find there! I sure never find treasures like that on Craigslist (of course maybe I should stop looking in the "casual encounters" sections - never find any deals there either!) I would suggest that you leave the keys in QWERTY order this time around. And like so many people on this board, you do make me feel mighty old (when my first brand-spanking-new TI entered my home, I was already in my late 20's). But welcome back to the fold anyway!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Great find. Every time I find deals like that on Craigslist I'm 10 minutes too late... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 And like so many people on this board, you do make me feel mighty old (when my first brand-spanking-new TI entered my home, I was already in my late 20's). But welcome back to the fold anyway!! Don't feel bad. I was 40! ...lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybob Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 I'm curious; is there a recommended way to emulate the cassette recorder on a new machine? I remember seeing one for an Apple 2, but I can't find the video to get the name of the software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 MAME offers an emulation of a cassette recorder (can read WAV files that contain the cassette data), but I do not know any cassette emulator for the real machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 I'm curious; is there a recommended way to emulate the cassette recorder on a new machine? I remember seeing one for an Apple 2, but I can't find the video to get the name of the software. I have been having good success using a windows tablet with vlc to play wav files.. I haven't tried saving anything.. I just use a stereo minijack to rca splitter then a rca to mono minijack to go to the cassette cable Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybob Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 I had the same thought using audacity, I was just curious if there was a more refined approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LASooner Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Just a tip, the thing I forgot about when I got back in the TI game, check your alpha lock when playing games. I thought my joysticks were broken until I found the reminder about the alpha lock messes with the up direction on joysticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybob Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) oh yes. I'm looking at doing the alpha lock mod, as well as the 2 video mods. Definitely making the atari joystick adapter. I remember the TI joysticks sucked so much ass. Anyway, I blew my March budget on this, so it will be a little bit before I can go out and buy more things. Edited February 22, 2017 by luckybob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 One note on the MPI drive in your PEB. Those drives LAUNCH diskettes at you when you pop the door open. It is a surprise if you are used to the behavior of other types of disk drives. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 not that i know of.. there is room for an application that has an aux control set up with usb or something like that .. that would be excellent especially for multiple systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Just a tip, the thing I forgot about when I got back in the TI game, check your alpha lock when playing games. I thought my joysticks were broken until I found the reminder about the alpha lock messes with the up direction on joysticks. There's an easy fix for this.. http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/console/alpha_lock.html I should put these diodes up on arcadeshopper for sale.. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 These diodes are DIRT CHEAP on Ebay from China. << CLICK HERE >> I mean really 100 of these things for $0.99... with shipping INCLUDED? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybob Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 shameless plug, but I recorded a video of me opening all the stuff I got in the CL ad. LOTS of software and documentation. I'm going to have to get a proper scanner. I think there might be some magazines/articles/etc that might not be on the internets. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 shameless plug... Nothing wrong with a shameless plug now and then! It was kind of bittersweet watching the video. You got some great stuff at a great price, and I'm really happy for you, but at the same time I was thinking, "... a good portion of a man's life was in that box" and it was a shame to see him give it up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 One note on the MPI drive in your PEB. Those drives LAUNCH diskettes at you when you pop the door open. It is a surprise if you are used to the behavior of other types of disk drives. i almost missed mine when i upgraded to dual ds/dd floppy drives.. KACHUUUNNGGGG .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 check ftp.whtech.com before scanning, lots there! shameless plug, but I recorded a video of me opening all the stuff I got in the CL ad. LOTS of software and documentation. I'm going to have to get a proper scanner. I think there might be some magazines/articles/etc that might not be on the internets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 check ftp.whtech.com before scanning, lots there! We need to get Don to upgrade sitelist.txt once a week or month, with all the activity. It has been almost a year since it has been updated and that was at my suggestion. ...lee 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I'll ping him Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I'll ping him Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk Thank you, Kind Sir! ...lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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