pixelpedant

One idea I'd fooled around with was an Atom/RSS feed reader/grabber which pulls feed content via HexTIr RS-232 and ultimately via a Python RS-232 service script on my main system, which grabs that data and transmits in a stripped down format. Not sure if I'll ever do the rest of the work on that, though. I'll probably refocus on game possibilities.

You can catalogue a disk in either TI BASIC or XB with no special routines. The salient point being that (for DSK1, for example) "DSK1." is a special file representing disk metadata. Note the "." which is significant and required. For the details on its use, see this page from the Disk Memory System manual:

Well, there are certainly other SAMS projects, yeah. For another RPG project, check out Rasmus's punnily-named Dungeons of Asgard: Unfinished, but certainly playable, and graphically awesome (because Rasmus).

Yeah, as follows. For lines 100-200 for example: LIST "12",100-200 Pretty straightforward. Or that's how it is for other devices, so it can't really be any different for the printer.

I had some degree of success LISTing and PRINTing to the RS-232 device via the onboard USB RS-232 controller (and hence Type-B connector). Keeping in mind RS-232 configuration parameters ("B=1200,D=7,P=E,S=1" and so on) and device number (20) in this context are the same as for the original hexbus RS-232, and so that can be treated as a reference on the basics (but so can the source code on github). Didn't get as far as looking in greater detail at the source and seeking fuller explanation of observed behaviour, as I didn't *really* have any useful purpose for it, at the time. RS232manual.pdf

And another video on the CC-40. This time mainly on the multicart and HexTIr, as the must-have modern upgrades:

Interesting custom CC-40 overlay from a German unit: Presumably the cart is something custom (to whatever company) as well.

And for the sake of what more completeness may be had, the default overlay:

CC-40 going really cheap. Some damage to the right side of the display panel, but appears to be functioning (and no missing pixel columns apparent in the remainder). Could be of interest to someone on a budget who doesn't have one.

Nice! Thanks a lot. The explanation of the function of the six main general purpose software-controlled indicators is particularly helpful.

E.T.'s Adventure at Sea also has characteristics in common with this genre. Go to various locations around the world, and collect clues to hone in on the location of E.T.'s ship.

Does anyone have images of, or otherwise does anyone possess an original for, overlays for the other CC-40 software products produced by TI. Most importantly, Pascal, Memo Processor, and (least likely) Editor/Assembler? If not, in the case of Memo Processor, Pascal, and E/A, it should be possible to reconstruct them (more or less) from the contents of the manuals and user guides alone, since in each of these cases, the FN key combinations can be found somewhere in their documentation. And in the case of Memo Processor, a (poor quality, monochrome, but still, very helpful) image of the overlay is even provided. But naturally, an image of the overlay itself would be desirable, for the purpose of reproduction or use. Even just for emulator users. Anyone have any?

Finally finished the video (in the works for a few weeks now) which was the reason I ended up asking this question. On the 10 top TI-99/4A release era classics for the system, which (as such) hit the market before 1982: Honourable mentions for me, which fall outside my top 10: Video Games 1, A-MAZE-ING, Mind Challengers/Video Games 2

An alternative approach in any (TI) BASIC incidentally would be to read the disk's file index and check whether the file's there, before proceeding to try to open it. However, this would be slightly more involved than the ON ERROR method. The original scenario mentioned here (where all patterns are loaded by one program file and the rest of the program is in another file) is not as usefully achievable in TI BASIC, incidentally, since RUN can't pass control to a new program, and only the patterns from 128 to 159 are preserved on return to the immediate mode. Now, that is a chunk of custom patterns you have available to redefine permanently (until reboot). But it's not as many as one might like, in this scenario. The situation is better on the TI-99/4. Since patterns from 96 to 159 are preserved in immediate mode. So that's a pretty large supply of "persistent" patterns. The upshot of all this being of course that it makes a lot more sense to load patterns from a dedicated pattern file, in TI BASIC, if you're using a disk.

Further to this, here is an ON ERROR approach which 1) Tries to find a DV80 called MYFILE on DSK0 through DSK5 2) If that fails, prompts the user for the disk name and tries that 3) If that fails, prints "DISK NOT FOUND" and terminates. 10 ON ERROR 40 20 OPEN #1:"DSK"&STR$(W)&".MYFILE",INPUT 30 GOTO 120 40 W=W+1 50 IF W<6 THEN 10 60 INPUT "DISK NAME? (E.G. DSK9):":DSK$ 70 ON ERROR 90 80 GOTO 110 90 PRINT "DISK NOT FOUND" 100 STOP 110 OPEN #1:DSK$&".MYFILE",INPUT 120 ON ERROR STOP 130 PRINT "LOADING..." REM WHATEVER WE DO WITH THE FILE GOES HERE Of course, file type can be whatever, but it is imperative that the file be explicitly opened as INPUT, since if the open mode is not specified, an absent file will simply be created, and no error will be generated.

Presuming this is in an XB context (since this doesn't really work in a TI BASIC context), you could have an ON ERROR handler which tries DSK1.MYFILE, DSK2.MYFILE, and DSK3.MYFILE in turn until one of them works. Then, if *none* of them work, angrily prompts the user for the disk name.

In my case, this does not start successfully on a real iron TI-99/4A via FinalGROM (w/ SAMS+TIPI). Listed correctly and menu option appears correctly as MUSIC VALUES, but selection results in a sustained beep on cyan screen. On unexpanded (likewise real iron) TI-99/4, however, the menu option does not appear at all (i.e., 2 is Equation Calculator, 3 does not exist).

Well, I do want to do something worthwhile in the CC-40 game development realm, so if I can figure out a Hell's Halls tie-in for it, that would definitely be neat. Probably shared as a type-in spread, given the nature of the platform. Also just to be sadistic (given the nature of the platform).

Neat. Looks like, indeed, it comes with TMS5220 reflection coefficient values (K values) in source, and these would consequently need to be modified for the sake of optimal use with our TMS5200. Just as previously, with BlueWizard. But it's great to have another tool.

I can only say I'm delighted that folks are still discovering it Provides me a motivation to keep working hard on the sequel, which hopefully I'll have ready some time later this year:

TI-99/4 and Disk Controller sidecar and RS-232 sidecar and external disk and PEB up for auction here. So that should be interesting.

North American TI-99/4As output NTSC composite video. The VDP doesn't allow for much (or really any) funny business, that tends to make recording some systems difficult (like weird VBLANK timing or use of artifact colours). So almost any solution for recording NTSC video will work to the extent of its abilities, and the answer to the question of which is right for you doesn't really have anything to do with the TI-99/4A itself (which can just be regarded as "generic thing that outputs NTSC video") and more so has to do with your recording process and budget and expectations, etc. You could buy a $10 USB capture device and it would more or less do the job, or at the other extreme you could spend anywhere up to $1000ish on a bunch of fancy pants signal conversion and capture hardware and for various complicated reasons, it would also do the job, but while satisfying various parameters and qualitative considerations which may or may not be relevant to your purposes. You really might want to just try a dirt cheap USB composite capture dongle and see whether it satisfies your purposes, given it seems like you're starting with no particular criteria.

And here are some videos on the subject (usually about 20 minutes each), in case you find that a helpful instructive medium: - Compiled BASIC - The Next TI-99/4A Frontier (XBGDP, XB256) - The Missing Link (TML) - XB GEM (T40XB, T80XB, TMLGA)

Now the question is, can it be convinced to write a TI BASIC game. Understanding that TI BASIC and TI-BASIC are unrelated dialects, and so it must attend to this distinction.

Munch Man did not come out in the 1979-1981 era. It debuted its disk version at Winter CES 1982 with its announced commercial availability being for March 1982. What I was aiming for with the 1979-1981 window here was really the titles that were already there for the TI-99/4A's first Christmas. The "release titles" if you will. Though a few of these (Video Chess, Football, the Gamevision titles) were straightforwardly 99/4 release titles as well. And several released in the interim. While TI Invaders, Car Wars, and Tombstone City are kind of the odd ones out, in that they debuted before 1982, but after the 99/4A had fully replaced the 99/4.