80 replies to this topic

[pjduplooy]

Hi guys

My name is Pieter, and I am from South Africa.

Just a bit of my TI background.

I received my first TI in 1981 or 1982. Got the Beige Console, the Speech Synthesizer, a cassette recorder, and Alpiner.

During the following years, I also got Mini Memory, Parsec, and Munchman.

I also started buying Compute Magazine, and through various other sources, also TI related clippings, which I pasted into a book which I still have today. Since then I have purchased various books which I also still have.

A friend of mine (school buddy)'s father worked at one of the first sellers of mainframes etc in South Africa, and he got hold of a set of Assembler Manuals for computers based on the 990* including the TMS9900 , that had tutorial tapes included. This I still have.

In about 1993 I got rid of my TI, but still kept an eye on TI things.

About two years ago the TI emulation bug bit me, and I started to download emulators for the TI, roms, cart, disk, and tape images, as well as scanned books, magazines, etc. I purchased some books on assembly, and had a guy in France scan in the EA manual.

This forum has been one of my greatest sources of info on goings on in TI world. THANKS!!!!

The beginning of this year (2012) the bug bit me to look and see if I can get some TI hardware, and start retro gaming in earnest.

I would like to know from you guys, about what is new in TI world (Hardware Projects mainly). I know of a project in the UK to build a G2 (Geneve 2), but dont know if it is still alive (refers to info about 2010 plans, and nothing further).

Also looking for info on people that might ship TI hardware and software to South Africa (most of the stuff on ebay doesnt ship to South Africa).

I wish you a wonderful and prosperous 2012.

Pieter

[kl99]

welcome Pieter! My name is Klaus and I am from Austria, Europe.

Well, did you try ebay.com. Normally they send worldwide as far as I know.

Geneve 2 project is ongoing, my latest status update is from the International Meeting in Roma, happened October 2011, where Trevor from the G2 project members talked about it. Currently the hardware guy is assembling (soldering chips on a prototype board) to check if everything from the design is working as it should. TCP/IP DSR is already finished. You could even have WLAN, if you want. There will be two possible ways to operate it, either use it as a card inside the PEB or install it in an ATX Tower as it fits perfectly there. In both cases it needs a power supply (from ATX or PEB).

NanoPEB/CF7+ is a great hardware project:
http://webpages.charter.net/nanopeb/
He sells those devices for ~50 euro including shipping, so it's almost at manufactoring costs.

Cartridge Project V9: there is a V9 cartridge currently developed from Jon Guidry and Tursi (and others?). The most wanted feature is probably full ROM/GROM emulation. So you can fake the TI any cartridge you want, even those with GROM chips and/or bank switching. Cartridge Images will be on a onboard compact flash storage. They want to make it managable (image selection, configuration) from within the TI system.

F18A: Matthew180 is making a pin compatible replacement for the TMS9918/TMS9928 Video Display Processor, which fits the TI-99/4a. It gives you everything the original TI chip can, but features VGA out, can eliminate the 4 sprites per line limit from the original chip, gives you 80 column mode, hardware controlled multicolor-sprites, hardware controlled scrolling. There is a dedicated thread on this board for it. Current status: beta test phase.

TMS9995 CPU project: there is a lot of guys currently building computers featuring this TI 9900 compatible CPU:
http://www.vintage-c...n-Cortex/page34

Klaus

[RXB]

Which emulator are you using the most? My favorite is Classic99.

[pjduplooy]

Hi guys

Have checked ebay (but not in a while) lol.

Have used Classic99, Win994a (Have used it quite a lot), and MESS.

Saw a copy of PC99 on the net, and downloaded it before it was taken off, and used it once or twice in DosBox, but my conscience got the better of me, as I have problems with stuff like that (People spending time and money creating software, and then other people the just distributing it on the net).

I find that a mix of these emulators satisfy my needs. I have just downloaded the TI 99 Gamebase, and that looks very promising. Does anyone know if I can put in non game-related software in this?

As I said I have a lot of Emulator files etc etc etc. Just looked at my archive, and it is about 50GB. Hehehe

[Lee Stewart]

Pieter...

There is also TI994w by Fred Kaal that can be run in 80-column mode. Unfortunately, Fred's website will be down for a few months. The version I have is 4.2c. There is an older version (2.1a) at the Western Horizon Technologies site (ftp://whtech.com) under emulators (ftp://whtech.com/emu...9/Ti994w21a.zip), but I do not know whether it handles 80-column mode.

...lee

[pjduplooy]

Lee, I have downloaded TI994w (I think I have downloaded all versions including the one with 80 col suppt)

Havent used it at all though.

I saw in another post about Fred's programs now on WHTECH until April, and have grabbed it earlier today.

Pieter

[Tursi]

I've got a couple of projects on the back burner in addition to the GROM work for Jon and Jim's cartridge. It's all moving very slowly but it gets occasional traction! My YouTube channel already hypes them more than is fair for the lack of progress, but my hope for this year is to finish the MPD and the Linux-based external interface (which I'm thinking of calling the World DSR), as well as an update to my image converter that showed promise at the end of last year. I'd also like to do a run of PS/2 keyboard adapters for people, if there's interest in that. As always, still hung up on getting the cables. I think I can get the keyboard cable now if I'm a little creative, but I still need a source for the power cable (it needs the 4-pin connector that's on the internal power supply on both ends of the cable as a pass-through. I built one by hand to test it but I'm not keen on making cables for people. )

I only just unpacked my console since the TI Faire in November, and the airlines banged up my bag bad enough to break a key off the keyboard. I liked that keyboard.

[pjduplooy]

Ok guys another question.

What will a TI-99/4A set me back on ebay? (Console, PEB if I can find one, otherwise the NANOPEB or CF7+), Speech Synthesizer, probably Minimem cartridge, EA, XBASIC, TEII, Alpiner, and maybe a cassette player (Maybe harder to find than a TI?) The Ti should be PAL i suppose.

Who are the reputable sellers on ebay, and whom should I be wary of?

Pieter

[OX.]

pjduplooy, on Thu Jan 5, 2012 4:22 AM, said:

Hi guys

Have checked ebay (but not in a while) lol.

Have used Classic99, Win994a (Have used it quite a lot), and MESS.

Saw a copy of PC99 on the net, and downloaded it before it was taken off, and used it once or twice in DosBox, but my conscience got the better of me, as I have problems with stuff like that (People spending time and money creating software, and then other people the just distributing it on the net).

I find that a mix of these emulators satisfy my needs. I have just downloaded the TI 99 Gamebase, and that looks very promising. Does anyone know if I can put in non game-related software in this?

As I said I have a lot of Emulator files etc etc etc. Just looked at my archive, and it is about 50GB. Hehehe

Sure, you can add whatever you like - if you run into any problems just let me know. I plan to start on V2.0 sometime in the future as I still have hundreds of games to add to it.

[marc.hull]

OX., on Thu Jan 5, 2012 4:22 PM, said:

Sure, you can add whatever you like - if you run into any problems just let me know. I plan to start on V2.0 sometime in the future as I still have hundreds of games to add to it.

OX....

There seems to be a lot of material in your gamebase that isn't PD stuff. How did you get permission to include them in your distro ?

[sometimes99er]

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Abandonware

Edited by sometimes99er, Sat Jan 7, 2012 10:20 AM.

[ti99userclub]

marc.hull, on Fri Jan 6, 2012 7:40 PM, said:

OX., on Thu Jan 5, 2012 4:22 PM, said:

Sure, you can add whatever you like - if you run into any problems just let me know. I plan to start on V2.0 sometime in the future as I still have hundreds of games to add to it.

OX....

There seems to be a lot of material in your gamebase that isn't PD stuff. How did you get permission to include them in your distro ?

yes, i agree with Mark Hull.

[marc.hull]

sometimes99er, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 4:30 AM, said:

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Abandonware

Did you read that article ?

[sometimes99er]

marc.hull, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 1:30 PM, said:

sometimes99er, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 4:30 AM, said:

marc.hull, on Fri Jan 6, 2012 7:40 PM, said:

There seems to be a lot of material in your gamebase that isn't PD stuff. How did you get permission to include them in your distro ?

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Abandonware

Did you read that article ?

Yes.

Edited by sometimes99er, Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:19 AM.

[marc.hull]

Yea tha's clever. Assuming

[marc.hull]

Yea that's clever Karsten.... Assuming that I made no attemt to secure permission from the owner of the site and that he made no attempt to get permission from the owners of the works and there wasn't notice that the origional works are property of the authors etc etc. The ownership claim is made against the conversion process only and is an attempt to prevent exploitation from those that would do so.


It's not like I went to a web site, downloaded someone elses work and presented it on my site as if it were my creation. No MSX graphics thievery going on here Sometimes....

[sometimes99er]

Edited by sometimes99er, Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:19 AM.

[marc.hull]

sometimes99er, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 5:13 PM, said:

marc.hull, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 4:43 PM, said:

Yea that's clever Karsten.... Assuming that I made no attemt to secure permission from the owner of the site and that he made no attempt to get permission from the owners of the works and there wasn't notice that the origional works are property of the authors etc etc. The ownership claim is made against the conversion process only and is an attempt to prevent exploitation from those that would do so.

It's not like I went to a web site, downloaded someone elses work and presented it on my site as if it were my creation. No MSX graphics thievery going on here Sometimes....

Hehe, I'm no saint.

I should have pointed out were the MSX graphics were taken from. Apparently they would have been cool with that. I never claimed to own the reproduced MSX graphics, I said I found it on the net and had to try and do something on the 994A. I removed it within hours of dissatisfaction being expressed. Apart from the name calling and threats being given there and in the following weeks, I was stupid to waste a lot of peoples time.

Yea.... people tend to over react when some one is stealing they're stuff but once it stops they get really cool.....KMA


....

[sometimes99er]

marc.hull, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 4:43 PM, said:

It's not like I went to a web site, downloaded someone elses work and presented it on my site as if it were my creation. No MSX graphics thievery going on here Sometimes....

I think it's like that.

Edited by sometimes99er, Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:20 AM.

[OX.]

OK guys, looks like some people are upset so I've pulled the link, I thought I was preserving TI99/4A software history in emulated form so I have to ask is there really any commercial interest in emulated TI99 software? Apologies I offended anyone

Edited by OX., Sat Jan 7, 2012 6:55 PM.

[sometimes99er]

OX., on Sat Jan 7, 2012 6:54 PM, said:

OK guys, looks like some people are upset so I've pulled the link, I thought I was preserving TI99/4A software history in emulated form so I have to ask is there really any commercial interest in emulated TI99 software? Apologies I offended anyone

I don't know if you have upset anyone, but Hull apparently thinks I'm a thief, and asks how you got permissions.

I think what you have done is great work, and yes, I would consider most 994A software, apart from what's been released in recent years, as abandoned and preserve worthy.

Edited by sometimes99er, Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:14 AM.

[marc.hull]

sometimes99er, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 6:34 PM, said:

marc.hull, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 4:43 PM, said:

It's not like I went to a web site, downloaded someone elses work and presented it on my site as if it were my creation. No MSX graphics thievery going on here Sometimes....

Mr. Hull

I think it's like that.

Thievery. These MSX guys had stolen a lot of stuff everything from games and arcades, not only graphics. They had been asked to remove one of their games by some copyright holders, and they had done so. But they got all upset when someone copied their work.

Now you ask how the gamebase got permission to include non PD stuff. Stuff that for the most has not been for sale in years. While at the same time distributing a lot of non PD stuff, music, that also say, all rights reserved, and still are on sale. And like defend yourself as not being a thieve. Very clever. And then when someone copies your game, you get all upset.

sometimes

What ever jack ass.......

[marc.hull]

OX., on Sat Jan 7, 2012 6:54 PM, said:

OK guys, looks like some people are upset so I've pulled the link, I thought I was preserving TI99/4A software history in emulated form so I have to ask is there really any commercial interest in emulated TI99 software? Apologies I offended anyone

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........Apparenly there is some interest in the software, otherwise you wouldn't have built a big project around it huh ??? So what did you think you were doing..........Preserving history ??

[marc.hull]

sometimes99er, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 7:17 PM, said:

OX., on Sat Jan 7, 2012 6:54 PM, said:

OK guys, looks like some people are upset so I've pulled the link, I thought I was preserving TI99/4A software history in emulated form so I have to ask is there really any commercial interest in emulated TI99 software? Apologies I offended anyone

I don't know if you have upset anyone, but Hull apparently thinks I'm a thief, and asks how you got permissions.

I think what you have done is great work, and yes, I would consider most 994A software, apart from what's been released in recent years, as abandoned and preserve worthy.

Being accused of being a thief once again, for something I did try to correct immediately back in 2006, from one offering copyrighted music for free, does it for me.

I wish everyone a good time.

AMF..........

[OX.]

marc.hull, on Sat Jan 7, 2012 8:03 PM, said:

OX., on Sat Jan 7, 2012 6:54 PM, said:

OK guys, looks like some people are upset so I've pulled the link, I thought I was preserving TI99/4A software history in emulated form so I have to ask is there really any commercial interest in emulated TI99 software? Apologies I offended anyone

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........Apparenly there is some interest in the software, otherwise you wouldn't have built a big project around it huh ??? So what did you think you were doing..........Preserving history ??

The Gamebase projects are only ever meant as a way of preserving gaming history, the only people interested in them are a very limited audience of those that once owned the original systems and want a taste of the past in emulated form, the project did not make me a single penny of profit or contribution as it was purely done for preservation, furthermore as I have already stated links on this site have now been pulled due to your disatisfaction.