Omega-TI Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Dig through your old photos or scour the web for something cool and post it here. This thread is for posting any photo, along with a description of what and when it was taken. Sometimes old photos are not the best quality, but but worry about that, if it's interesting, cool, historical or just something you like and think others will, post it! So, who is going to be the first to post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbox Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) Pre history. In June 1980- quite some time before the 99/4 was on sale in the UK - the BBC demonstrated FIVE A SIDE FOOTBALL (or SOCCER) on the program TOMORROW'S WORLD. This image is a zoom in of the console- but what is plugged in? The presenter rebooted to the master screen then pressed a key and up came the menu you would expect for that module- TI BASIC, EQUATION CALCULATOR, and the numerous language variations. The box connected to the console by ribbon cable is presenting as a normal module- but there is another ribbon cable going off to the right somewhere. The presenter says that "when it is available" the computer will cost a thousand pounds (that is $4000 at the exchange rate in 1980)- it was an NTSC output console which "required" TI to supply a large NTSC tv set, all in that wonderful price. The BBC of course never gave TI a mention by name due to their then strict rules on advertising (not permitted)!!! Rumour has it the module was designed in the UK and the GPL then written in France as the UK had no development kit. We also had and have display problems with PAL consoles, as especially for France the console was designed to work with both PAL and the France-only SECAM tv systems. The French designed PAL modulators for the French market- and the UK used a differing standard of PAL with a wider audio bandwidth, which meant the picture OR the sound could be good on a UK tv set. Yes it's a rotten picture, zoomed on a 625 line tv set- but it is history. I'll look for something sharper for next time. s Edited January 18, 2019 by blackbox 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Actually, that box looks like a perfectly standard EGROM box. I have two different variants of it, along with the cabling and the cartridge boards (also two different variants). The box has a console power supply in it in the lower section and a circuit card on top that has 10 sockets for TMS2532 chips (two per GROM). These were later replaced by the GSIM boxes (pizza-box GRAM simulator) or the CEC9914 boxes (a box with space for EPROMs to simulate multiple cartridges simultaneously and generally used for demonstrations of the TI's capabilities). I have both of these types of GROM simulator as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 20, 2019 Author Share Posted January 20, 2019 I still think the TI section NEEDS a thread called "Ksarul's Museum" with photos of everything you have! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbox Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Seconded! There is material out there we haven't heard of! Something of a shortage of pictures here - I've been working on something creative to try to waken interest but FIRST here is an untouched photograph, guaranteed no manipulation. I received Video Games 1 with my console and then had to wait... and wait... for an Extended Basic module Vn 100 which was some months later. So what to do to pass the time. Possibly influenced by my using a PAL 99/4 console, this photograph shows you my high score for the so-called pinball. Can anyone beat it? Can you work out just how long it took! Hint- the module does not have a PAUSE option. Regards Stephen 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 My son and I were playing this last night. I think we maxed out at 30k or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LASooner Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/31277/Memories-Getting-Started-with-the-Texas-Instruments-TI-99-4A-by-Stephen-Shaw/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LASooner Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 http://sakrison.com/radio/KIK-2.htmlRadio Station in Anaheim, CA Engineering OfficeThis was my office at KIK. The cabinet on the left was 12 inches deep and contained all of the interstudio wiring connections. On my desk is my trusty Texas Instruments TI-99/4A computer and Epson MX-100 dot matrix printer. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 http://sakrison.com/radio/KIK-2.html Radio Station in Anaheim, CA But where is the monitor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LASooner Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 But where is the monitor? I would guess, just to the right of frame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbox Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Message 7- most of the equipment pictured is still working, even the old Epson printer. Only the tv set has gone to recycling. Video Games 1 Pinball - I notice I have two different Video Games 1 modules- one is English only and one is multi linqual, but they seem to play about the same. Hint- if you find the ball is "going down the drain" and giving you no chance of batting it, try holding your joystick hard left or right towards closing the drain, when the paddle will flicker a little- it seems to catch the ball more often. Stephen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kl99 Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 In the year 1993, when I was 13, our children room looked like this. TI PEB, 2 Consoles, Navarone Expander, Speech Synthesizer, some cartridges, a Sharp Tape Recorder. Each time we wanted to use the TI in our room we had to get permission to get the televison from another room Only during school holidays the television was permanently in our room. We never had a printer, a modem, or an accustic coupler to connect to the outer world. We had no IBM compatible computer at that time. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterfleeman Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Actually, that box looks like a perfectly standard EGROM box. I have two different variants of it, along with the cabling and the cartridge boards (also two different variants). The box has a console power supply in it in the lower section and a circuit card on top that has 10 sockets for TMS2532 chips (two per GROM). These were later replaced by the GSIM boxes (pizza-box GRAM simulator) or the CEC9914 boxes (a box with space for EPROMs to simulate multiple cartridges simultaneously and generally used for demonstrations of the TI's capabilities). I have both of these types of GROM simulator as well. I found a picture of an example EGROM box here: https://aug.99er.net/images/Unreleased/EGROMbox.JPG And here's the GSIM (I think): https://aug.99er.net/images/Unreleased/ROMSIM.JPG I have an EGROM very similar to this, but it is a raw board without a box or power supply. I'll take a picture of mine and post it as soon as I can. I would love to see more of the GSIM boxes! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 The second picture is, in fact, a GSIM box. It was the first GRAM device. There were apparently quite a number of them floating around TI, as somewhere between 10 and 20 of them made it into the wild afterwards. That is significantly more than the EGROM boxes, as I only know of about five of those out there. I'll have to send you a layout of the circuit card that attaches to the end of the cartridge cable if your board didn't come with one, as the box won't work without it. I've made a set of GERBERS for it, so it will be relatively easy to made one if you need it. I also have a set of GERBERS that I made for the EGROM box board. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FALCOR4 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I found a picture of an example EGROM box here: https://aug.99er.net/images/Unreleased/EGROMbox.JPG And here's the GSIM (I think): https://aug.99er.net/images/Unreleased/ROMSIM.JPG I have an EGROM very similar to this, but it is a raw board without a box or power supply. I'll take a picture of mine and post it as soon as I can. I would love to see more of the GSIM boxes! Ksarul, I can't quite tell from a front view of the second picture if that is the GRAM simulator that Craig and I used. Do you have a photo of the top of the circuit board in the aluminum case, with the top off of course? That might spark some memory of it. Also, this is a stretch, do you know if it incremented the GRAM address on a GRAM address write? Some of the early simulators tended to do that. Thx. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kl99 Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Ksarul, I can't quite tell from a front view of the second picture if that is the GRAM simulator that Craig and I used. ... There was also the CEC 9914 Cartridge Expander Device, shown by Jon here: http://hexbus.com/TI-99_4A_Home_Computer_Page/The_TI-99_4A_Home_Computer_Page.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Yes, I have a CC-9914 as well. Each one of those is a bit different, as the module load they were demonstrating was generally unique (standard modules, but a different mix in each one). I'll have to pull out a GSIM and take some pictures of the board inside. I also have a PLATO module prototype built on what looks to be a modified CC-9914 board. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbox Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Just for fun this one... only TI related 'cos I made it so. Brownie points if you can name the lady and say what she was looking at in the original picture.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoodland Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Firefly - River & the "object" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 It loos like the girl from Serenity-Firefly River Tam, and wasn't she looking at a branch? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoodland Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbox Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Well done, Sumer Glau as River Tam looking at a large twig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 I think I actually have one or the other of those two Doryt boxes. . .I have some from Tachyon Systems and Essemmeci as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbox Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 November 1983 was when TI had had enough- November 1984 is when UK TI owners at last got together in a big way, as over 1000 somehow got to the first TI UK users meeting, held at Manchester's RITZ Ballroom on a very wet day. This photo shows at left a stand for Timeless Software from Glasgow, with a hazy Ian Martin, who died only a few months later. In centre is a joint stand by Stainless Software and Arcade Hardware with the very dark hair of Howard Greenberg, hero of the Thorne Games. To the right is Dennis Webb and his family on the Intrigue stall. Behind is a very large stall (not visible) for Parco Electrics of Honiton with Francis Parrish. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 oh my, fantastic picture Stephen! thanks for share! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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