Just saying hi! A new old owner!

[jorge-1987]

Hi!

  I'm new on this forum, and I wanted to introduce myself since I think that in the future I will be a little more active.

My name is Jorge, I'm from Argentina (now living in Canada, so sorry for my english, spanish is my native language), and when I was around 7 or 8 we had a TI 99/4A, I remember that we also had a book with BASIC examples, and I was always amazed by the metal futuristic look. This was in the early 90s, since technology at that time would take years to reach south america, so even if the machine was not being produced anymore, it was brand new technology where I was living.

Long story short, I was never able to accomplish anything interesting with the machine, but I have been fascinated by it all my life.

 

Now in my middle 30s, I decided that I could afford a second try. (Also I'm a Site Reliability Engineer, so I understand a little more how computers work, and how to replace a line in TI Basic if I made a mistake, haha).

I searched for weeks on ebay for a TI 99/4A below 50 Usd without a crazy shipping rate, and I found an "Untested one". I finally got it this week, but the voltages on the output of the DC power were too low, so I didn't wanted to use it too much and risk having a failure becouse of dry capacitors. I know that the old capacitors laster way longer that the new cheap ones, but still, it's a 40 years machine that I didn't know how it was being kept.

I didn't wanted to post anything here until I was sure that I had my machine working, haha. So here I finally am, I have been lurking on these forum threads for weeks, so i wanted to say hi to all of you!

Attached you can see my new TI (I think it was produced on 1983, or at least one of the PCBs has a 11-83 mark), the TI dissasembled after I changed all the capacitors in the main board (later I changed the big ones on the power board).

And the third image is an issue that I have with Super Demon Attack, I don't know if it's the catridge or what. The colors are not right, and some green vertical lines form on the right side of the screen.

 

Hi to all of you, and thank you for keeping this machine alive.

Jorge. 

As a bonus, I was streaming while changing the caps, so at the end when the machine worked fine I tried to do Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water intro with TI Basic, at that moment I didn't know how to stop the program after it starts running, haha: https://clips.twitch.tv/LazyRenownedClamOpieOP-FIphIou87HDllGGC
 

[HOME AUTOMATION]

1 hour ago, jorge-1987 said:

I was never able to accomplish anything interesting with the machine, but I have been fascinated by it all my life.

   HaHa, that's good enough for me...

 

     Bienvenido!

[Retrospect]

Argentina, I think that was the country that sold TI-99's up until 1987 am I right?  Where most other places didn't get them after 1984

[jorge-1987]

7 hours ago, Retrospect said:

Argentina, I think that was the country that sold TI-99's up until 1987 am I right?  Where most other places didn't get them after 1984

That would make sense, during the 80s we were in the middle of a Disctatorship, then in a weak democracy, so it's the perfect place to sell stuff not produced locally were people without access to travel abroad not even knows that exists. We probably got it around 92, and I had it until 2001 or 2002, that I was a teenager and dind't understand the concept of nostalgia or collectible, and ended up disassembling it "to see what is inside", and then throwing it away.

 

Either way, I have found this site, in spanish, that has a few interesting things: http://www.compuclasico.com/site/museo/ti_trs

 

I attach a few of the images here, because they are super interesting.

One says:
"La industria informatica Argentina sigue creciendo" - "The Argentine computer industry continues to grow"

"Microcomputador TI 99/4A de Texas Instruments, ahora fabricado en el pais" - "Texas Instruments TI 99 / 4A Microcomputer, Now Made in the Country" 

 

Now this last phrase is super interesting. I know that Commodore 64 was assembled in Argentina by "Dean" with refurbished parts from other countries, and that the Spectrum was also assembled in the country using Portugal to import the parts, because the since the Dictatorship started a war on England, we were banned on importing from UK. (I actually still have one of those spectrums, but is stored in Argentina)

 

More from the website:

"This was one of the first computer families to arrive in the country, perhaps before the arrival of the Commodores and the Spectrum. It is very possible that they have not remained as the first in the preferences of Computer addicts first because in Spain they were not too widespread (almost nothing) and therefore in the magazines originating in that country (which had a lot of circulation here) it was impossible to find programs or news about her, only in national magazines (K-64, Popular Programming, etc ...). The TI-99 Users Club operated at Av. Pueyrredón 860 9th Floor."

 

I didn't know that, and would explain why my father was able to get a used TI first, and a Spectrum later. 

 

The second attached image is great, wih better quality:

"Tan facil de tener como de operar" - "As easy to have as to operate"

 

The last bit of the long text says:

"Por estar producido en la Argentina con toda la tecnologia de avanzada de Textas Instruments, este microcomputador cuenta con el maximo respaldo tecnico, un completo asesoramiento y el mejor service. Microcomputador personal TI-99/4A, de venta en todo el pais, convirtiendose en el lider del mercado Argentino."
-
"Because it is produced in Argentina with all the advanced technology from Texas Instruments, this microcomputer has the maximum technical support, complete advice and the best service. TI-99 / 4A personal microcomputer, sold throughout the country, becoming the leader in the Argentine market."

 

Then at the end of the flyer is the manufacturer information:

"Texas Instruments Argentina", in the city of "Don Torcuato", in the Province of Buenos Aires.

 

The website makes a comment on the video output, saying that the USA ones had an incompatible NTSC DIN 5 output. It would make sense that the ones assembled in Argentina were actually from Spain, since Argentina uses PAL-N if I remember correctly, and also speaks spanish.

The third image is the Argentina assembled beige model.

 

 

------

 

@HOME AUTOMATION Thank you! Gracias!

 

[Casey]

Very interesting.  The beige model in the last image is like the one I got when TI was getting rid of them here in the USA.  The box, however, is very different, and reminds me of the TI 99/4 box

[+Ksarul]

Here's another Argentine TI site. They have a lot of interesting TI data as well. The TI was manufactured in Argentina, using parts that were for the most part imported from the USA. The TI was only manufactured at two locations in Europe: Holland and Italy, with the majority of that production happening in Italy. The US also sent machines to Brazil and several other countries in South America, so PAL machines weren't a major issue (the motherboard was designed to be easily switched between PAL video chips and NTSC--and the rest of the chips were identical on both).

 

The US also supplied several Pacific countries with both PAL and NTSC variants of the TI, so both were a bit widespread outside of the European PAL and SECAM units.

[jorge-1987]

Wow, I didn't know that site.

And thanks for the input on where the parts might come from.

 

 

[+TheBF]

Bienvenido a Canada Jorge.

From your photograph I see you have the right clothing for our country.  

 

"There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing" 

           

Old saying in Canada and most of Minnesota.

 

[jorge-1987]

Thank you! Gracias!

 

And I agree. Also, I lived for two years in Winnipeg, if I was able to handle that, I can handle any other part of Canada, haha (photo attached to ilustrate Winnipeg in winter)

 

 

[Ed in SoDak]

[+Ksarul]

Hopefully, the dog in that photo is OK. . .although the positioning of the legs says that may be otherwise.

[JB]

3 hours ago, Ksarul said:

Hopefully, the dog in that photo is OK. . .although the positioning of the legs says that may be otherwise.

Seen my dog do that when she's just playin' around. Or when she's discovered a delightful new smell.

That looks like a dog rolling in something to me.

[jorge-1987]

19 hours ago, Ed in SoDak said:

 

Seems accurate.

And I agree that it looks like it's playing.

[+mizapf]

A good rub of Yellow Snow, maybe.

[+TheBF]

"Don't eat the snow where the huskies go!"  

Canadian wisdom.

[+OLD CS1]

[jorge-1987]

In Canada you use the car in front of you to stop in a traffic light.

[Ed in SoDak]

I think the Huskie is the only one enjoying the situation.

[matthew180]

@jorge-1987 Welcome to the forums, it is great to have you here.  There is a very good bunch of people here, so don't hesitate to ask questions or help on something.

[jorge-1987]

On 12/19/2021 at 6:22 PM, matthew180 said:

@jorge-1987 Welcome to the forums, it is great to have you here.  There is a very good bunch of people here, so don't hesitate to ask questions or help on something.

Thank you very much!

As soon as I get more active on the BASIC dev side with the TI you are going to see me more active on the forum.

Thanks!