14 replies to this topic

[schuwalker]

Any suggestions or recommendation of good Ti -based websites...

Looking for ones w/ a forum or a buying and selling section....

[JamesD]

There is a yahoo group that is supposed to be good but the admin is pretty stingy of who gets in. I looked at the questions and told them it was none of their business and to bite me. You can find fairly active TI people in the programming section of this forum. Link

Edited by JamesD, Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:03 AM.

[schuwalker]

Those damn TI snobs....

[S1500]

JamesD, on Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:01 AM, said:

There is a yahoo group that is supposed to be good but the admin is pretty stingy of who gets in. I looked at the questions and told them it was none of their business and to bite me. You can find fairly active TI people in the programming section of this forum. Link

Elitism in the TI-99/4A scene? Strange. Mind you, with the ages of some of the enthusiasts and the fact it's a 30+ year old computer, membership might be dwindling due to death of members. How does one get into this Freemason Lodge?

[JamesD]

I don't think it's elitism. More like overbearing admin protecting against spammers.
But that much info is still none of their **** business.

Edited by JamesD, Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:55 PM.

[S1500]

JamesD, on Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:54 PM, said:

I don't think it's elitism. More like overbearing admin protecting against spammers.
But that much info is still none of their **** business.

I'm going to try jumping through the hoops to see if I can get in this elite Brotherhood. I just got the email asking me for personal info, such as my gender, etc.

[JamesD]

S1500, on Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:59 PM, said:

JamesD, on Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:54 PM, said:

I don't think it's elitism. More like overbearing admin protecting against spammers.
But that much info is still none of their **** business.

I'm going to try jumping through the hoops to see if I can get in this elite Brotherhood. I just got the email asking me for personal info, such as my gender, etc.

There were a bunch of personal questions when I tried to join.
Anything that can be used by a bank or similar business as a security question is off limits IMHO.
Besides, I have a TI in my collection and really haven't done anything with it.

[oracle_jedi]

There's alot of people in the TI community who take their systems very very seriously.

I had the same trouble joining the Yahoo group, and I think in the end it took intervention from Hal in the Chicago TI group to get the application accepted.

It's worth joining, especially if you are active with your TI, which I am not due to time constraints and my Atari being my primary retro system. There is alot of good information in there. But I have to say that the bickering and sniping is appauling. I am told that Jaime Mailong quit the group after the release of his CF7 adapter because of the number of people who complained about the things it didn't do.

I have witnessed several flame wars from people angry that someone wants to burn fresh copies of obscure cartridges because such copies will "devalue their investment". I own the original Sparta DOS X but I havn't seen anyone here angry at the folks making new copies for everyone to enjoy, and original cartridges still seem to fetch good prices on Ebay.

Still don't let these negatives discourage you, the TI community still centers on the Yahoo group and it is worth the effort to sign up.

[Tempest]

I've head similar stories and sadly have had to deal with some of the nuttier folks. There seem to be a good number of TI people here on AA, so I'm going to try and see if we can't get some more TI conversation going on here. I think a fair number of the Yahoo group users are members here too.

[JamesD]

I think I'll just hang around here.

[atari2atari]

I've enjoyed my recent TI-99 revival, for sure - - it has reminded me of the "taste" of my first computer!

I had a hard time finding good, current active websites for the TI-99, however, while I was playing.

The AtariAge programming group is quite excellent, though, and there's some really great stuff going on. Did anyone see the recent post about the VGA interface for a TI-99?!?

(This post - - http://www.atariage....ost__p__2411898)


I think as one person pointed out, the TI-99 is an older system, and it was rapidly dwarfed back in the day by the COMMODORE 64, ATARI systems, and others . . . which all proved to dominate the market.

My second computer was a COMMODORE 64, and it blew my TI-99 away, I'm sad to say!


I've actually decided to list my TI-99 collection here on AtariAge, and make some room for other vintage computers (see below, if curious) . . . So it goes!

-a2a

[JamesD]

Quote

I think as one person pointed out, the TI-99 is an older system, and it was rapidly dwarfed back in the day by the COMMODORE 64, ATARI systems, and others . . . which all proved to dominate the market.

I'm going to digress a little here...

With only minor design changes the TI-99 could have been a lot more competitive. (ok... minor now maybe, but TI fans have done the same or similar mods)

The TI-99 should have offered internal 16 bit RAM expansion, you should have been able swap RAM in for ROM under program control, GPL should have been very different if not left out altogether, and most of all, the machine should have been more accessible to developers and machine language.

If an internal 16K/16 bit RAM upgrade had been placed at $0000-$3FFF (half banked with ROM) it would have made a huge performance difference and improved flexibility for developers. I'm not sure adding 16 bit RAM in the 24K area as well would have been practical unless the machine had stuck around longer. They really needed to reduce the parts count as it was.

Sadly, the idea of swapping RAM for ROM wasn't common when the TI-99 was originally designed. The Apple II language card came out the same year as the TI-99/4 and I think the first computer that had such banking built in was the Tandy CoCo. The TI-99/4A came out around the same time as the CoCo owners were starting to do the upgrades, so it's not like TI engineers could take cues from it.

At the very least, GPL should have supported 16 bit RAM upgrades.and should have been more like SWEET16 on the Apple II. Use it when it's appropriate and use assembly when it's not.

Between the CPU being slowed down by the 8 bit buss and BASIC running on top of GPL, the machine was crippled in benchmark comparisons written in BASIC. BASIC had the potential to be at least twice as fast.

Ultimately, the biggest problem TI had was their attitude towards 3rd party developers. Sad really, the TI-99 was well liked in the press until they figured out how crippled it was. And consumers really liked the TI name and the computer's look. (it does look cool)

[atari2atari]

JamesD, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:30 PM, said:

I'm going to digress a little here...

...

Ultimately, the biggest problem TI had was their attitude towards 3rd party developers. Sad really, the TI-99 was well liked in the press until they figured out how crippled it was. And consumers really liked the TI name and the computer's look. (it does look cool)

You sir, are an excellent individual!

Good, well thought out points. On the last bit, I think my parents were definitely won over by the looks of the machine. And the educational "promises." And maybe a little bit by Bill Cosby.




I'd buy a computer from THAT guy! AND he's funny!

-a2a

[JamesD]

atari2atari, on Sat Jan 14, 2012 10:53 AM, said:

You sir, are an excellent individual!

Good, well thought out points.

Just stating what I believe the facts to be. It's not really anything that hasn't been said or done by people hacking the machine.
The 9900 CPU isn't the most efficient beast out there, but at 3MHz it certainly should have been more competitive.

Really, I hate to see how so many of these old machines were crippled from their full potential.
For example, I also think the VTech VZ/Laser 200-300 and Tandy MC-10 shouldn't have had their graphics capabilities crippled, the Oric should have been able to swap out it's ROM for RAM without plugging in a floppy controller (the extra 16K is there, you just can't access it), etc...

Quote

On the last bit, I think my parents were definitely won over by the looks of the machine. And the educational "promises." And maybe a little bit by ...

It definitely looks sharp. And face it, how many yellowed TI-99/4As with the black and brushed metal case are there today?
I do have one in my collection and it looks almost new.

Your parents weren't the only ones to fall for the education line.
I think a lot of kids ended up with computers in the name of education.

<edit>
BTW, I never saw the purpose of requiring the CALL statement and double ::, that made TI BASIC less efficient and made it more difficult to port programs to.
COMPUTE! supported the TI-99/4A, but it got left out of the support list when it came to many of the larger games.

Edited by JamesD, Sat Jan 14, 2012 5:35 PM.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

JamesD, on Sat Jan 14, 2012 5:23 PM, said:

Your parents weren't the only ones to fall for the education line.
I think a lot of kids ended up with computers in the name of education.

Ha that was the good old fallback reason / excuse so many of us gave to our folks begging for a computer back in the day while we we're thinking "Oh man I can hardley wait to get it so I can play ( INSERT POPULAR GAME TITLE HERE) " LOL.