Texas Instruments TI-99 4A

[+remowilliams]

IIRC the 9500/2 was green colored.

Close, mine is black with green stickers on both sides.

[tremoloman2006]

I bought my TI-99/4A in 1983 the day after they announced they were no longer making them. Bought it brand new in the box for $1.00. It quickly became one of my favorite gaming systems.

 

I wrote an educational game and sold it in my local newspaper for $15 each. I think I sold 10 copies. Back then $150 felt like a million so I was happier than a pig in $h!t. I was only 11 so I felt like a millionaire.

 

The TI has some GREAT games! Burgertime, Moon Mine, Jawbreaker II, Moon Patrol, Dig Dig, Defender, Q*Bert, Popeye... the list goes on and on.

 

Any classic gamer should have one! Right now they sell for around $10-$20 in mint condition.

 

If you do get one, be sure to get the Atatri joystick adapter as the TI ones are absolute CRAP. If you cannot find one its easy to make one yourself.

 

Darthkur... I LOVE that picture! Maybe we should start a thread of posting pics while gaming as a kid. I think that would be pretty neat.

Edited February 23, 2009 by tremoloman2006

[Prodos8]

i remember my best friend buying the ti-99 from radio shack back in the day. he kept it 2 days, returned it and picked up a vic 20. havnt seen one since.

I don't recall RS ever selling TI-99/4a's back in the day. Yes I was there. They had the TRS-80 series and COCO. The the Vic-20 was decent with a RAM expansion but the not the equal of the TI-99 series.

[Numan]

Alpiner was a game I spent alot of time on.

[grandcross]

Any classic gamer should have one! Right now they sell for around $10-$20 in mint condition.

 

Where? That's not including shipping I assume.

 

I'd buy one...I just picked up Burgertime and Wumpus from a Goodwill, and I want to try them out.

[darthkur]

Any classic gamer should have one! Right now they sell for around $10-$20 in mint condition.

 

Where? That's not including shipping I assume.

 

I'd buy one...I just picked up Burgertime and Wumpus from a Goodwill, and I want to try them out.

 

 

Here's one that seems nice. There are others on there now as well but are either unreasonable priced or untested.

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/TI-99-4A-COMPUTER-AWES...%3A1|240%3A1318

 

 

 

Enter the text below at any given time and it should, conceivably, turn up any and all TI related objects currently available:

 

(ti99,ti 99,ti-99,ti-99/4,ti-99,ti994a,ti994,ti99*,ti 99*,ti-99*,texas instruments computer)

[darthkur]

Here's is a rather nice set with 10 games on The Chuckwagon: (even can come with additional beige unit, albeit missing a couple keys, for free)

 

http://www.chasethechuckwagon.com/item.cgi...item=0000079209

[grandcross]

Hmm..those two auctions look good so far. Thanks.

 

I asked because when I searched for a TI-99 computer on ebay, I saw "complete" ones go for about $60 :\

[Mirage]

Hmm..those two auctions look good so far. Thanks.

 

I asked because when I searched for a TI-99 computer on ebay, I saw "complete" ones go for about $60 :\

 

That's way too much to pay for a run-of-the mill TI-99/4a, even complete. Remember, all sorts of stuff sells for too much, too little, and just the right price on ebay. There have been Pac-Man carts that sell for $20 or $30 CIB, which is just ridiculous. Know what you want to pay for common stuff, what they normally go for, and don't pay more. Heck, I don't want to sell my boxed TI, but if you're willing to pay even $50 for it, it's yours!

[Tempest]

I remember first seeing a TI-99/4a at my Uncles house when we went to visit about 1987 or so. He had Parsec and a few other games, but it was Parsec that I remember playing until dawn. After that I didn't see one again until I got back into classic gaming around 1995 at a thrift store. I picked it up and I've had one ever since. Since then I've picked up a PEB and assorted cards (32K, RS-232, Disk Drive, etc.), a TI monitor (it's tiny!), and almost all the peripherals. I have a pretty decent sized TI collection and I really like the system since it's different, but in a good way. Unfortunately while many of the games look great, they play kind of sluggish. Still, lots of good gaming fun to be had, and there are tons of original titles that no other system got.

 

About the only thing I'm missing now is a P-Code card which I've avoided picking up because they're a. really expensive, and b. completely useless unless you want to program in Pascal. I'd like to get my hands on all those weird sidecars they made before the PEB, but those are really expensive too. There's a cute picture floating around the net of what it would look like if you hooked all them up to a TI. I think they made an 8ft long chain!

 

Tempest

[Mirage]

Here's one with just 3 plus disk drive: (Memory Expansion (32K RAM), RS-232 Serial, and Disk Controller)

 

 

Already ungainly!

 

And another, with more! (adding thermal printer and modem)

 

 

Try to find a desk that big!

Edited February 25, 2009 by Mirage1972

[darthkur]

Here's one with just 3 plus disk drive: (Memory Expansion (32K RAM), RS-232 Serial, and Disk Controller)

 

 

Already ungainly!

 

And another, with more! (adding thermal printer and modem)

 

 

Try to find a desk that big!

 

 

You've got to remember in 1979, when the original TT99/4 was released, this is what was considered as a typical business desk:

 

Still, even so, I think the full set up would reach from one end to the other even on one of those old behemoths.

Edited February 26, 2009 by darthkur

[Mirage]

You've got to remember in 1979, when the original TT99/4 was released, this is what was considered as a typical business desk:

 

Still, even so, I think the full set up would reach from one end to the other even on one of those old behemoths.

 

Er, yeah... but where would your legs go? There's a hole for your legs in the center, but the keyboard would be all the way at the left edge.

[maibock]

Here's one with just 3 plus disk drive: (Memory Expansion (32K RAM), RS-232 Serial, and Disk Controller)

 

 

Already ungainly!

 

And another, with more! (adding thermal printer and modem)

 

 

Try to find a desk that big!

 

 

haha excellent! Never realized there were that many attachments..

[+remowilliams]

Alternatively here's a TI99/4A with onboard disk controller card, 3 disk drives, on card huge disk image storage, 32K expansion, and a printer port.

 

[Tempest]

Alternatively here's a TI99/4A with onboard disk controller card, 3 disk drives, on card huge disk image storage, 32K expansion, and a printer port.

 

Yeah but you lose your 'retro cred' with an all in one device like that. Real classic gamers have 10 foot wide desks for such setups...

 

Tempest

[S1500]

There's a certain Brazil-like beauty in the "sidecar" expansions for the TI. Nice & bulky, but not as practical as the PEB that was built like a sherman tank. I still want to gut one to make the ultimate retro casemod.

[darthkur]

You've got to remember in 1979, when the original TT99/4 was released, this is what was considered as a typical business desk:

 

Still, even so, I think the full set up would reach from one end to the other even on one of those old behemoths.

 

Er, yeah... but where would your legs go? There's a hole for your legs in the center, but the keyboard would be all the way at the left edge.

 

 

Ah, good point. Hmmmm. Well, unless you had TWO of those desk's you were out of luck. I really don't believe the designers at Texas Instruments had thoroughly thought this one out.

[+remowilliams]

Yeah but you lose your 'retro cred' with an all in one device like that. Real classic gamers have 10 foot wide desks for such setups...

Possibly, but I've got a PEB and a PCODE card. The PEB is one of the single most awesome pieces of industrial retrocomputing. PEB FTW!!

[Foster]

That CF7+ sure looks like a thing of beauty to me. I sure wish they were still available. Perhaps there will be another run at some point for those of us that missed out.