I hated the Ti-99/4a (a presentazione, sort of)

[Elia Spallanzani fdt]

 

Some time ago I found an old basic manual for ti99 and inside there were some pencil notes from my father. He was not a programmer but, unlike me, he had a lot of faith in the future and in fact he learned to use computers better than me and soon bought an Olivetti m24, which I still have and at the time was quite powerful. Instead, one day I opened the ti-99 that he had given me, to see that it was inside, and then I couldn't close it again.

It's been more than 35 years, I think 37, I had almost forgotten about the existence of that computer when by chance I reviewed an image of parsec (I only had 2 cartridges, parsec and zero zap, which by the way I liked) and as a sort of proustian computer madeleine it all came back to my mind. Then I found this forum.

 

 I hated that computer, in a way, because it wasn't what I wanted, but in reality I didn't have the patience to study to get to know it, and maybe that's why I broke it. Every so often I wonder what my life would have been like if I had learned (my younger brother, for example, did, and became an electronic engineer). I don't know enough English to express this strange feeling clearly.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Elia Spallanzani fdt

[ti99iuc]

About you, instead, I remember the twitter message I replied in the November 7, 2019, the one where you sympathetically called us 'mentally ill who still use TI99'... a few days later I saw you land here in this forum
on twitter you told me that your TI-99/4A had disappeared during a move, but then, now, you found it again? is it the lost one? I'm pleased! ? at least it wasn't really lost, thank goodness!

 

In the 80's I also hated the TI-99/4A at a certain point, I would have wanted at least a Commodore like the rest of my friends, in Italy you could not find anything to expand it or as programs and games, there was little or nothing in the stores and that little was not really cheap.
But as I grew up I appreciated all that this computer gave me also in terms of emotions, and still today it can give me satisfaction and revenge, also thanks to all the great people I found around the world who are as passionate as me, starting from the 99ers of this forum

 

 

[Elia Spallanzani fdt]

No, i don't found it. For some time I kept the pieces of the ti99 that I had broken, perhaps thinking that sooner or later I would be able to put it back together, but then after a move I could not find them anymore. However I had also forgotten that I had opened it, as I had completely forgotten some games that I saw again here and recognized right away.

[+TheBF]

3 hours ago, Elia Spallanzani fdt said:

 

 I hated that computer, in a way, because it wasn't what I wanted, but in reality I didn't have the patience to study to get to know it, and maybe that's why I broke it. Every so often I wonder what my life would have been like if I had learned (my younger brother, for example, did, and became an electronic engineer). I don't know enough English to express this strange feeling clearly.

Your feelings could me more complicated than this but in English we might say "love-hate relationship".

 

I am told the German language has a special word for many things.

Google says Hassliebe

 

Google tells me in Italiano amore odio.  Is this close?

 

[polyex]

10 hours ago, Elia Spallanzani fdt said:

as a sort of proustian computer madeleine it all came back to my mind.

 

[Count9929A]

13 hours ago, Elia Spallanzani fdt said:

 

 I hated that computer, in a way, because it wasn't what I wanted, but in reality I didn't have the patience to study to get to know it, and maybe that's why I broke it. Every so often I wonder what my life would have been like if I had learned (my younger brother, for example, did, and became an electronic engineer). I don't know enough English to express this strange feeling clearly.

ciao Elia,

 

 I wouldn't use "to hate", but I also felt much frustration and envy for Commodore (or Spectrum, or other) users. For us Italian, (maybe European?) the frustration was triple:

1. almost nobody knew the TI99, and 90% of those who had heard of it, really underestimated its capabilities
2. very few software/hardware for the TI, and very expensive ... almost no possibility to get non original software
3. due to the TI imposed restriction and the lack of italian documentation and it was also really hard to learn or do by themself anything beyond BASIC with the TI

[Elia Spallanzani fdt]

10 hours ago, TheBF said:

I am told the German language has a special word for many things.

Google says Hassliebe

 

i think that perhaps in German the most suitable word for what i meant is "Sehnsucht", or "thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for ideal alternative experiences".

[Ed in SoDak]

I'd call that type of thought a "What if?" scenario. We probably all have such thoughts at some point in our lives. It might be "What if I had moved to the city and got a big-paying job?" or "What if I'd learned a computer (or other) skill which might have led to a different career path?" It's only a mental exercise, lacking a time machine there's no "do-over" in real life, but I bet many of us have had such thoughts and simply wonder how things in our lives may have played out differently.

 

When I was a kid in the 1960's, I wanted to be an astronaut. Could I have? What if I'd at least tried? In maturity, I know it was unlikely to have happened for many reasons. But I perhaps could have been part of the team on the ground. First off, I'm lousy at math and a bit of a rebel who doesn't like taking orders. Still, What if...?

Edited May 7, 2021 by Ed in SoDak

[gferluga]

Carissimi, dear all, ciao...

Well, to be honest, at least in Italy, back to the '80s, the TI-99 was never boosted by Texas Instruments itself.

And this is funny, because they have had many hardware factories in the country: Città Ducale, Avezzano, Aversa.

At the age all my friends and schoolmate used to have a Commodore or Sinclair Spectrum.

Only me with the TI-99 and another guy with the Sharp MZ-700... Ah... and, of course, the richest one with an original IBM PC.

Beside that, as there was not much software available, and the only luxury peripherals available were an external 32K RAM and an external PIO (thank you to Essemmeci), that stimulated my creativity to write software for the TI-99.

The best learning model was to type the listings from papers and magazines... kilometers and kilometers of code to learn BASIC programming... and it works and it worth on my side...

In 1984 I saw at a computer shop in Rome (I forgot the name), close to the Quirinale capitol hill, my first PEB... but too expensive for my pocket...

However, at age 18, in 1986, I got the opportunity to buy one PEB from the US, but something inside me suggest to switch to a real computer, an IBM XT compatible machine: the Acer (MultiTech) Popular 500!!!

Wow, what a change... full graphics card, two 5.25 360k floppy disk drives.

And the switch to GW-BASIC was pretty quick from TI-BASIC, starting developing professional programs.

However in 1989 I came across a complete TI-99 system, included a PEB, pre-owned, like new, in my home city Trieste.

Different times, new opportunities, new incomes.

Today, at 53, the TI-99 love is back, trying to keep alive all memories.

Take care folks, God bless...