iCamefromEarth Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Hi everybody. Love this forum and thought I might get involved. I found this board pretty quickly after I got my first TI 99/4A this past winter. I never had any experience with the machine before, I had noticed how easy they are to come by on eBay and originally intended to repurpose one as a Raspberry Pi case. It didn't take long to see what a great community the TI has going for it, so I decided to get a console and use it how it was meant to be. I got hooked right away. Always wanted to get into some classic computing and this was a pretty easy way to get started. At this point I have a silver console, speech synth, program recorder, nanoPEB, FlashROM 99, and F18A. Thanks everyone for making such a cool place and putting out so much information. Looking forward to being here! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you've put together a nice little system already and gotten off to a great start! It's always nice to find out how people come to the TI... so we have the Raspberry Pi to thank huh? Nice! Out of curiosity, as a relative new-comer what are your top five programs or games? I'd be fascinated to find out, considering you've never been influenced by the nostalgia of the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Yea Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Welcome to the fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 welcome to the madness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Welcome, once your hooked you will never be the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Welcome to the fold! It is so easy to get hooked on the TI. I got my first taste back in 1983 and needless to say i'm still here....It's a great place to be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Nice avatar photo. I spent many hours back in the day typing in the programs from that book. IIRC, there is an adventure game near the end of the book call "I.T." or something like that. That was the first time I cheated to solve a game; because I had the code and thus the option to cheat. That did not make it easy though, since it was written in such a way that even though you were entering the game code you could not directly tell what was going on (at least the 13-year-old me could not). I even remember what I did to cheat, so if anyone else types in the game and plays it, I would be very curious to compare notes. :-) Anyway, welcome to the forums! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Welcome! You're off and running with that setup!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iCamefromEarth Posted July 14, 2017 Author Share Posted July 14, 2017 (edited) Thank you all for the warm welcome! I am indeed a very newcomer. *Edit* I didn't quite get how the quotes worked here at first. I'll make it nice next time Out of curiosity, as a relative new-comer what are your top five programs or games? I'd be fascinated to find out, considering you've never been influenced by the nostalgia of the past. Well, I have to admit I have mostly been playing with games so my top 5 TI natives are: 1: Scott Adams Adventure series 2: Munch Man 3: Ambulance 4: Treasure Island 5: Parsec From what I've heard That might change after I've had time to actually play Tunnels of Doom. Even though this machine is new to me, I have been nostalgic about revisiting old favorites on the new toy. Burger Time and Donkey Kong are very nice on the TI, and I basically needed a nanoPEB because *INFOCOM* One thing besides gaming I would like to try is some music stuff, I just haven't gotten to it yet. Nice avatar photo. I spent many hours back in the day typing in the programs from that book. IIRC, there is an adventure game near the end of the book call "I.T." or something like that. That was the first time I cheated to solve a game; because I had the code and thus the option to cheat. That did not make it easy though, since it was written in such a way that even though you were entering the game code you could not directly tell what was going on (at least the 13-year-old me could not). I even remember what I did to cheat, so if anyone else types in the game and plays it, I would be very curious to compare notes. :-) Anyway, welcome to the forums! Thanks! That book is awesome, "Terrific Games for the TI994/A". That's funny you mention "I.T.". I got a little too big for my britches when I had my XB cart and tape recorder and spent a couple nights typing and saving on cassette. needless to say I couldn't tell how the game was actually going to play out either, not that I finished putting it in. I do mean to try again soon now that I have the nanoPEB. I actually bought my copy of that book on amazon. After I got up and running I went searching for books and magazines, and I love buying used books on amazon. Other books that I got there are: 101 programming Tips and Tricks for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Home Computer 36 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Programs for Home, School & Office SAMS TI-99/4A: 51 Fun And Educational Programs SAMS TI-99/4A: 24 Basic Programs (which has a case and a sealed cassette inside I have not opened, yet) and Compute!'s First Book of TI Games I haven't gotten into those yet and I also have some Home Computer magazines and newsletters that I got on ebay. Spring and Summer Is my busy time at work, so I have a lot of reading ready for when it's over! Edited July 14, 2017 by iCamefromEarth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 I was going to say "You'll fit in nicely here" but it appears you already do. Welcome. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 That's really cool! So what are your favorite Infocom and Scott Adams games? My personal favorites are 'The Lurking Horror' and 'Planetfall' for Infocom and for Scott Adams 'The Count' and 'Mystery Fun House'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 Oh, I remember how hard Savage Island 1 was ... drove me right into desparation. It was my second adventure after Pirate's Adventure. But yes, Planetfall was cool. Got to play it again sometime. Stationfall (the sequel) was not bad either, but I think Planetfall was better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 I had a lot of *firsts* on the 99/4A. 1. First computer I owned 2. First text adventure (Scott Adam's Pirate Adventure) 3. First time programming 4. First RPG (computer or otherwise) 5. First time spending more than a few hours playing a game My initial programming education came from typing in programs out of books and magazines. It was a glorious time, full of exploration and mystery. Everything was new and really cool. Saving on cassette sucked for sure though, mostly because of how unreliable it was (at least for me). When I got my PEB and disk drive, it was a whole new experience. As for books, look around online, there are tons of full books and magazines that have been scanned and made into PDFs. You really need to check out: 1. The Internet Archive 2. The pinned resource thread in this forum. 3. The TI book archive (http://www.hexbus.com/tibooks/) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iCamefromEarth Posted July 15, 2017 Author Share Posted July 15, 2017 That's really cool! So what are your favorite Infocom and Scott Adams games? My personal favorites are 'The Lurking Horror' and 'Planetfall' for Infocom and for Scott Adams 'The Count' and 'Mystery Fun House'. I've never actually finished an Infocom game, but I love trying! I have a book with hints and walkthroughs for some of the games, but that takes a lot of fun out of something like that. My favorites are Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (general Hitchhiker's fan anyway) and Zork, because it was always something my friends and I were looking for a chance to play when we were kids. I'm planning on playing Planetfall soon because I've heard it's really great. For Adventure I would say Ghost Town and Strange Odyssey. I had a lot of *firsts* on the 99/4A. 1. First computer I owned 2. First text adventure (Scott Adam's Pirate Adventure) 3. First time programming 4. First RPG (computer or otherwise) 5. First time spending more than a few hours playing a game My initial programming education came from typing in programs out of books and magazines. It was a glorious time, full of exploration and mystery. Everything was new and really cool. Saving on cassette sucked for sure though, mostly because of how unreliable it was (at least for me). When I got my PEB and disk drive, it was a whole new experience. As for books, look around online, there are tons of full books and magazines that have been scanned and made into PDFs. You really need to check out: 1. The Internet Archive 2. The pinned resource thread in this forum. 3. The TI book archive (http://www.hexbus.com/tibooks/) Cassettes are fun to use sometimes, but relying on cassette is not fun at all, lol. I love saving to my nanoPEB now. Thanks For pointing out those resources, I'll check them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 I played the Infocom stuff in earnest when they rereleased as 'The Lost Treasures of Infocom' volumes 1 and 2- I still have the hintbooks i think somewhere. You can play Zork online if you're so inclined at http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/5zyoqrsugeopel3ffhz_vq/zork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith99er Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 (edited) Howdy! You have fine taste in early 80's computers... Edited July 16, 2017 by Keith99er Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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