TI-99/4A development resources

[+retroclouds]

Several changes:

 

* Partly rearranged; Tutorials & Manuals divided in Assembly Language / XB / Others.

* Added CS1er tape conversion to the "utilities -> file/transfer" section.

* Added TMS9900 microprocessor Data Manual to "Tech Manuals" section.

* Added MG Smart Programming Guide for Sprites to "Tech Manuals" section.

* Added Matthews' Assembly sound player for XB to "Tech Tutorials" section.

* Added SN76489 Data Manual to "Tech Manuals" section.

* Added commented sources of Pitfall!, Munchman and TI Invaders to "Tech Tutorials" section.

Edited March 6, 2010 by retroclouds

[Opry99er]

That's great man!!! That sound player

is no joke man... Thanks for the work Filip.

[+retroclouds]

Added reference to the updated bank-switching tutorial.

[Opry99er]

Thanks!!! Once I get rockin in AL (if I get rockin in AL) this will come in mighty handy!!!

[JamesD]

Syntax highlighting file for TMS9900 assembly language and TI Extended Basic.

 

For use with Notepad++

Now that I can use! Thanks!

[+retroclouds]

URL to VDP Programmers' Guide was broken. Fixed that.

[+retroclouds]

Updated the resources:

 

TECH MANUALS

1. Assembly Language

- Added reference to COMPUTE'S Beginner's Guide to Assembly Language on the TI-99/4A

 

2. Basic / Extended Basic

- Added reference to COMPUTE!'s Programmer's Reference Guide to the TI-99/4A

- Added reference to COMPUTE!'s TI Collection volume one

[+retroclouds]

Several changes:

 

* Added book cover pictures to the tech manual section.

* Added COMPUTE's first book of TI games to the tech manual section (Extended Basic).

* Added MG Night Mission to the tech manual section (Extended Basic).

* Added reference to Tursi's Convert9918 utility and to his article "Modern Graphics on the 9918A".

* Consolidated some URLs and fixed a few broken links.

Edited May 2, 2010 by retroclouds

[sometimes99er]

Looks great !

[+retroclouds]

Some changes:

* Added asm990 assembler

* Added notepad++ and syntax highlighting file

* Added TI logo manual

* Added file transfer video tutorials

* Some cosmetic changes

[Opry99er]

Matthew180 has written some assembly tutorials which I have posted to my website if anyone's interested. Also, his brilliantly crafted sound player with an excellent breakdown and commented source is there too. For certain, something to

check out--- and the sound player should absolutely be in this thread. Independent music running in an XB program.... That's some cool stuff there!!! Additionally, Magellan... I don't know if The Codex is ready to release it yet to the general public, but it's an essential part of my programming toolkit, and it really is the best there is already... We're an emulator away from an IDE, you realize that, don't you?

Edited May 12, 2010 by Opry99er

[+retroclouds]

Matthew180 has written some assembly tutorials which I have posted to my website if anyone's interested. Also, his brilliantly crafted sound player with an excellent breakdown and commented source is there too. For certain, something to

check out--- and the sound player should absolutely be in this thread. Independent music running in an XB program.... That's some cool stuff there!!! Additionally, Magellan... I don't know if The Codex is ready to release it yet to the general public, but it's an essential part of my programming toolkit, and it really is the best there is already... We're an emulator away from an IDE, you realize that, don't you?

 

Thanks for pointing this out.

 

Matthews' sound player tutorial was added to the development sticky thread.

Magellan will be addded as soon as Codex does the official release and gives permission for adding it

[+retroclouds]

Some modifications to the development sticky thread:

 

* Partly reorganized for better overview

* Added some video tutorials about the TMS9918/9928 VDP

[+retroclouds]

Added Magellan.

[The Codex]

Thanks Filip! Only one correction, the link to the Java download needs to be updated:

 

Get Java

 

Once I create a permanent page for Magellan on my website I'll post that URL as well. Thanks again for managing this very useful list!

[sometimes99er]

Very good work !

 

The link to Speech Synthesizer video tutorial is not correct.

Edited June 3, 2010 by sometimes99er

[sometimes99er]

You may add this ...

 

4. Graphics

 

• Patterns ^flash
   
  TI-99/4A sprite editor written in Flash for many operating systems and browsers. Draw your sprites, export to clipboard and paste patterns directly into program lines of emulated Extended Basic (Classic99 or MESS).
   
  This utility needs Flash player available for free at Adobe. Most have this installed already.
  Status: Still under active development
  

[+retroclouds]

Thanks for the updates people! I'll add the required modifications

[+retroclouds]

Updates are in, hope I didn't introduce too many new bugs

I can't believe I had the java download link pointing to Microsoft, was so sure I tested that

[+retroclouds]

Added Cf2k (Compact Flash 2000) to the utilities section.

[+retroclouds]

Added GPL Programmers Guide

[+retroclouds]

Graphic tools section updated:

 

* Added GraphiCV by unhuman

* Added Sprite Editor by willsy

* Added Patterns demo video by sometimes99er

Edited July 11, 2010 by retroclouds

[+retroclouds]

Some updates:

 

* Added the Molesworth book "Introduction to Assembly Language for the TI Home Computer"

* Added the "Art of Assembly" series by the late Bruce Harrison. Over 600 pages, very informative.

* Added reference to TI-FAQ on Ninerpedia

[sometimes99er]

Thanks. Good work.

[+retroclouds]

Several changes:

 

* Fixed multiple broken links

* Added the Lime font ripper by sometimes99er and referred to the 200+ fonts library.

* Added the TI Projects page and Matthews' [code/hack/create] site.

* Added screenshots to most of the Tech web sites.

 

 

The Development Resources Thread is getting pretty long and uses quite a few images.

I think the images make sense though, as they emphasize on the documents and web sites.

On the other hand there's a limit of the number of images that can be used in a single post.

So most likely I'll be forced to split the thread in multiple posts if I reach that limit.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing as it can improve navigation.

 

I'm waiting for Albert to upgrade Atariage to the new IP.Board version as it might offer some

new features that can be used.

 

 

There were several broken links I had to fix. I bumped into them by coincidence actually.

That is not good and I hate to be taken to a "404 page not found"

So I'll be looking in writing a tool that I can run like once a week.

It'll loop over all references in the thread and check if they are still valid.

 

Nonetheless, I don't have that tool yet. If you are aware of an open-source tool that does just that,

then please let me know. It'll save me some work. Also, if you come accross a broken link let me know and I'll fix it right away.

 

 

I still have an old copy of the Development Resources thread over at Ninerpedia. Manually keeping the Ninerpedia thread "synchronized" is a hell of a task.

I'll have to find a solution to that very soon, as I don't like outdated information.

 

At this time I see 3 possibilities:

 

• Remove the Ninerpedia Article
  
• Find someone who manually synchronizes Ninerpedia with this thread
  
• Write a program that automatically generates the required wiki code from this thread
  

 

I originially wrote the wiki article because there are some TI'ers that just didn't know about Atariage or didn't wanna visit it.

Things have changed lately and most TI'ers should be aware of Atariage.

So I'm seriously considering the first option and just keep a single reference to this thread.

Edited October 10, 2010 by retroclouds