hofster Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Hi, New user here since i never was a TI-99 user myself... I have recently found a Viditel / Prestel / Bildschirmtext prototype cartridge that I would like to know more about. I have dumped the ROM and and made a short write-up and posted some pictures of it here: https://perhof.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/ti-99-viditel-cartridge/ I hope anyone could tell me more about that little gem. 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Here's it running on real hw..Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 I seem to remember that most of the countries in Europe were using a version of the Viditel/Prestel/Bildschirmtext system. It survived in France a lot longer than anywhere else. I also seem to remember that the communications protocols were the same for all of them, as the national networks were somewhat connected to each other. The Internet pretty much put a stake through it though. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 wow hofster! very nice! i never seen it, very interesting! thanks for sharing all :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 Wonder if there's any servers TELNET able? Or are they all gone...Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hofster Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 Here's it running on real hw..Sent from my LM-G820 using TapatalkSweet!Are you running it from a cartridge or from a disk?Where did you get it from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 9 hours ago, hofster said: Sweet! Are you running it from a cartridge or from a disk? Where did you get it from? I ran the cartridge binary from the link in the first post of this thread.. I just dropped it into my finalgrom99 sd card.. Greg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hofster Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 Just now, arcadeshopper said: I ran the cartridge binary from the link in the first post of this thread.. I just dropped it into my finalgrom99 sd card.. Greg Nice. Thanks for trying it out. I see that you got further than me. Is that because you have a serial port available or did you even have a modem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 3 minutes ago, hofster said: Nice. Thanks for trying it out. I see that you got further than me. Is that because you have a serial port available or did you even have a modem? Yes my system has a rs232 card.. I didn't try with a modem yet as it seems to require servers that don't exist anymore.. if someone has information on how to telnet to a compatible server I can try with a wifimodem Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flottmann1 Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 (edited) I have it on Disk fo the Wiesbaden Supermodul-II, here in Germany it was Bildschirmtext BTX.DSK Edited April 15, 2020 by Flottmann1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hofster Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 16 hours ago, arcadeshopper said: Yes my system has a rs232 card.. I didn't try with a modem yet as it seems to require servers that don't exist anymore.. if someone has information on how to telnet to a compatible server I can try with a wifimodem Greg I don't know how to setup a connection through a wifimodem but there seems to be a Prestel compatible (same protocol as Viditel as I understand it) server at glastty.com:6502 https://glasstty.com/wiki/index.php/The_TELSTAR_Videotex_System 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 Here is a MAME cartridge. The German version seems to lock up in a loop, as I saw in the debugger, but the other languages work. I don't get out of the splash screen, though. viditel.rpk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 (edited) Maybe you need a Decoder ? (ah, this is for Videotext) Edited April 16, 2020 by Schmitzi 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 As I saw, Viditel is the Dutch counterpart of the German BTX (Bildschirmtext), not "Videotext". (Isn't it fascinating that Videotext (teletext) survived until today, basically unchanged since the late 70s?) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 ah OK, thanks And look who built it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kl99 Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 I remember somebody (french or belgium?) showed me as a Teenager on the TI Treff in Vienna in 1995 how they are parsing information from the Teletext (Bildschirmtext), precisely stock exchange data, in an automated way, on a regular basis to produce statistic data on certain stocks and aiming to predict how the numbers will evolve. I was only 15 and my english was not the best, and it was a lot of tech bubbling from the guy. Oliver Arnold and Berry Harmsen were both on the same event, but it was none of them. My brother and me still remember to this day the famous french accent phrase from that guy "...and here you can see information from the teletext." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicBoy Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 You can setup your own Bildschirmtext server and give it a try: https://github.com/bildschirmtext/bildschirmtext 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humeur Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 Do you know this product from Texas Instruments Teletext decoder in the years 1977. The character generator ROM was the 74S262 chip. (TIFAX font) This font was originally generated by the Texas Instruments TIFAX teletext decoder as used in the very first teletext televisions. Here are some pictures of the cards I have. https://www.radios-tv.co.uk/ceefax-teletext/ Jean Louis 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Today, exactly 50 years ago, on June, 1th, 1970, the first Teletext started in Germany (on ARD & ZDF) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicarni Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Teletext, was a project from me in the early 90`s. On the picture from Quadrunner you see a Teletext-Converter of me. The Converter needs a Video-Signal from a TV (or satellite receiver), a TI with 32k and a RS232 to connect it to the TI. The hardware I developed was much easier than the TI Teletex version, cause it uses only a SA5246 teletext decoder which is controlled by the I2C Bus and a level converter (5V to 12V). The software (written in C99) controls the converter, loads till to 4 pages equally (and subpages), shows the pages using a teletext characterset, and save it to disk or dump it to a printer. Depending on your hardware it may load 16-512 pages in memory (using a 512k GRAM card oder 192k-VRAM). Using a 80-column graphic card shows you two pages on screen, so you may read the pages in memory in one window and in the other window it searches the new pages. Another program uses a script file to save selected pages automaticly on disk. It supports a IR controlling to start your receiver and to change TV programs. So it was possible to get a daily weather report, stock exchange data, cooking recipes, etc. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeD Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 I have attached vintage PC software for a Videotex host that runs on an x86 machine. It also will run successfully in a DOSBOX on a modern x64 machine. With it, you can setup a Videotex session using the TI99/4A client firmware (the 99/4A client was written by Rob Tempelmans Plat around 1983) Videotex.zip 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hofster Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 On 7/4/2021 at 9:01 PM, LukeD said: I have attached vintage PC software for a Videotex host that runs on an x86 machine. It also will run successfully in a DOSBOX on a modern x64 machine. With it, you can setup a Videotex session using the TI99/4A client firmware (the 99/4A client was written by Rob Tempelmans Plat around 1983) Videotex.zip 481.28 kB · 4 downloads Luke also shared a very interesting story behind the Viditel software and a plausible background to my cartridge in a comment at my blog. https://perhof.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/ti-99-viditel-cartridge/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wierd_w Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Interesting story. Sorry to hear the author was a douche, but them's the breaks. They shouldn't have pilfered his work like that though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Very cool, indeed. Might be neat to run a Videotex host just to see the software in action. With the Internet and all its frills, I would so much prefer an old content service today. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyPilot Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 17 hours ago, wierd_w said: Interesting story. Sorry to hear the author was a douche, but them's the breaks. They shouldn't have pilfered his work like that though. Antisocial behavior and programmers, milk and cookies they often go together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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