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CB Wilson Items


Toucan

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I just got a box of some goodies from CB Wilson who worked at TI back in the 70s and 80s, was one of the top guys on the 99/4 project. There were some nice things (he's still digging), he even remembers seeing the 99/4 unit they sent to the FCC with IR port and wireless joysticks when at TI. He doesn't think he has that, but he's digging through his stuff. Anyway, some interesting things so far that he sent:

 

  • An original 99/4 joystick manual (with part number 1037084-2). Has this been put on-line anywhere? I can only find the other one with the later joysticks pictured. Funny, they both have a 1979 only copyright, even though the later joysticks came out after 1979 (http://www.99er.net/files/Wired Remote Controllers Manual.pdf)
  • A prestine 99/4 Users Reference Guide
  • A black text cover of the original 99/4 Beginners Basic manual. All the other versions of this manual have white text. So this is an oddity. Has a 1979 copyright and same part number as the ones we usually see with a white font cover. Any else ever see this variation? 
  • 1980 Copyright "Technical Data" book. I have seen the other version that says "TI-99/4A Console Technical Data", but I guess this one is for the 99/4.
  • Text-to-Speech Design Specification and Users Guide for TI Extended BASIC. 1981 copyright. I came across a Text-to-Speech Users Guide at http://www.99er.net/files/TextToSpeech_Draft.pdf, but this one is different (I guess this one is specifically for Extended Basic) and says "Herman Schuurman, M/S 5890". Just wanted to see if this has been scanned in somewhere.

 

20200122_185849.jpg

20200122_185943.jpg

20200122_190007.jpg

20200122_190105.jpg

20200122_192244.jpg

Edited by Toucan
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Interesting finds there, Toucan. I suspect the Beginner's BASIC book was part of a test printing--and that the output of that review was to change the color on the final manual.

 

Definitely check the technical data book contents--having the 99/4 version would be most useful.

 

On the joystick manual, I haven't seen it online, so high quality scans would be a good thing.

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Not sure if this info is well know, but Tom Merrow programmed the intro screen to the TI-99/4 Computer.

 

Tom Merrow:

 

Quote

 

I was a software engineer (nominally a project leader) and I personally wrote much of the system software and the byte-code interpreter. The first screen you see on power-up (greenish background with little colored blocks)--I wrote that code. I also worked with David Levy and wrote a lot of the chess program (another engineer took over the project and completed it after I left).

 

I left TI in December 1978 (if I recall correctly), primarily because I couldn't stand Lubbock. I moved to Tektronix Computer Research Lab in Portland Oregon--a very nice place to work and a great place to live.

 

I've attached one snippet for the start screen as it stood in October 1978 (the text strings in the FMT statement are recognizable).

 

2131558427_HomeScreenCode.thumb.jpg.d624707dfff30bc010457703034bfdf2.jpg

 

Edited by Toucan
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1 hour ago, Ksarul said:

Interesting finds there, Toucan. I suspect the Beginner's BASIC book was part of a test printing--and that the output of that review was to change the color on the final manual.

 

Definitely check the technical data book contents--having the 99/4 version would be most useful.

 

On the joystick manual, I haven't seen it online, so high quality scans would be a good thing.

On inspection, it definitely is for the 99/4 as it shows the 9918 (no A) in the diagrams. 

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In other news, I just noticed something. Has anyone else noticed in the BASIC manual that the word BASIC is there in the picture? Along with the number 2. Never noticed that before :) The "2" might have just been some random number thrown in, unless they were going for "2 Basic", like "Too Basic".

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19 minutes ago, FarmerPotato said:

Toucan,

 

Does your 99/4 technical data have the 99/4 schematics?

 

This one has no schematics and is a mixture of 4 and 4A. 
 

I’d be curious if there is overlap. 

 

 

 

Plenty of schematics, the types that you fold out actually. It says 99/4 throuhout the book (not /4A), but to reaffirm that, there are things in the schematics like "9918 VDP" and "J501 Mini Phone Jack" which were only found in the 99/4. The diagrams that look the same in both are the "System Block Diagrams". The actual schematics in my book marked "99/4 Schematic Diagram" are different from what I can tell and are of the fold out variety.

Edited by Toucan
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Hi Toucan,

CB Wilson shared nice stuff with you. I remember that Hank Mishkoff mentioned his name when talking about a 99/4(A) simulator running on a TI-990.

The 99/4 Wired Remote Manuals and Joysticks are rare, since the 99/4 was not a big seller, not many were produced.

I bought a Beginner's Basic Guide with the black font on ebay some year(s) back, I tought it was for Europe (maybe the UK edition) but the book revealed no indications of that. European products typically had a European product code and were printed either in Holland or Italy.

 

The Text2Speech Document you refer to is so far only part of The Cyc:

http://www.ti99.eu/?page_id=25&lang=en#aaef4735ec04428189a0d73c04c4641f

So a decent public scan would be nice and welcome.

 

Wow, where is that GPL Snippet from Tom Merrow from?

Is there an actual print out of the 99/4 source code that you can ask for?

Even more interesting, that it says Copyright 1978.

That is a very nice find.

 

Continue your research! :)

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18 hours ago, kl99 said:

Hi Toucan,

CB Wilson shared nice stuff with you. I remember that Hank Mishkoff mentioned his name when talking about a 99/4(A) simulator running on a TI-990.

The 99/4 Wired Remote Manuals and Joysticks are rare, since the 99/4 was not a big seller, not many were produced.

I bought a Beginner's Basic Guide with the black font on ebay some year(s) back, I tought it was for Europe (maybe the UK edition) but the book revealed no indications of that. European products typically had a European product code and were printed either in Holland or Italy.

 

The Text2Speech Document you refer to is so far only part of The Cyc:

http://www.ti99.eu/?page_id=25&lang=en#aaef4735ec04428189a0d73c04c4641f

So a decent public scan would be nice and welcome.

 

Wow, where is that GPL Snippet from Tom Merrow from?

Is there an actual print out of the 99/4 source code that you can ask for?

Even more interesting, that it says Copyright 1978.

That is a very nice find.

 

Continue your research! :)

Tom gave me that snippet an a pic, not sure where it came from actually, but maybe he has the source code? I could ask him. But yes, there was a 1978 copyright title screen, as I saw it pictured in a TI brochure/catalog at one point. Just can't remember which one...Found it. A UK brochure no less.

ti994-5.jpg

Edited by Toucan
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9 hours ago, sometimes99er said:

Very nice. Still the TI-99/4 has to be considered entering the market in 1979 !?
 

Sure. This is rather about the preservation of the source code of the operating system of our beloved machine. Even if it is different than the final release for the 99/4, many parts of the code and especially the comments can be taken to better understand and debug the machine. And we know that the 99/4 is similar to the 99/4A system. So this is really awesome if recoverable!

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Suggest:

 

(Photoshop)

Select color range. Hold down the CTRL key, and click in all the "blue" area to get mass selection, Turn up tolerance to something absurd, like 50%. Delete the selection.

Convert to greyscale.

Manually adjust levels.

Convert to black and white 1bpp

 

Feed into Waifu2X. Upscale 200%.

 

(inkscape)

Trace bitmap

Save as PDF

 

 

Give me a bit, and I will do exactly this. :P

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OK Omega--

 

Do you want:

 

1) Super clean black on white

2) Super clean Black on (averaged color) Blue

 

I have (1) nearly completed, but if you want (2), I will have to do some extra processing.

 

In either case, the result will be a very clean, sharp image that can be taken to Kinkos if you want.

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2 hours ago, wierd_w said:

OK Omega--

 

Do you want:

 

1) Super clean black on white

2) Super clean Black on (averaged color) Blue

 

I have (1) nearly completed, but if you want (2), I will have to do some extra processing.

 

In either case, the result will be a very clean, sharp image that can be taken to Kinkos if you want.

Sir, I'll take it anyway you are willing to post it or send it!  THANKS!

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