Sergioz82 Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 @Manicminer666 Hi Lapo, welcome to Atari Age! I'm Italian too and I also found a TI in a thrift store and until then (last november) I know nothing about this machine. You've been lucky to find a boxed one, mine was the TI alone, without power supply, joystick, cables etc.. just a cartridge of Connect Four. I also imagine it didn't cost you a lot since 10 years ago retrogaming items weren't as expensive as today. I like your setup very much, I suggest you to get your hands on a speech synthetizer to make it complete. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serafini Lapo Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 9 ore fa, Sergioz82 ha detto: @Manicminer666 Ciao Lapo, benvenuto nell'era di Atari! Anch'io sono italiano e ho trovato anche una TI in un negozio dell'usato e fino ad allora (novembre scorso) non so nulla di questa macchina. Sei stato fortunato a trovarne uno in scatola, il mio era il solo TI, senza alimentatore, joystick, cavi ecc. solo una cartuccia di Connect Four. Immagino anche che non ti sia costato molto poiché 10 anni fa gli oggetti per il retrogaming non erano costosi come oggi. Mi piace molto il tuo setup, ti consiglio di mettere le mani su un sintetizzatore vocale per rendere completo. Ciao Sergioz82! Ti ringrazio per la tua risposta (e gli altri per le "reazioni" sotto il mio post! Che devo capire ancora come inserirle io negli altri post che leggo..) Nel mio TI non ho trovato I manuali?, il modulatore difettoso, la TI con il metallo piegato (mi sa che gli è cas qualcosacato di peso sopra..) e pagata 100€.. ma non mi pento assolutamente dell'acquisto!! Si altri sistemi si trovavano a molto meno.. però rispetto a come sono adesso i prezzi, non mi è andata male! Una domanda, io nella scatola non ho stampato le classiche foto della famiglia con il Ti99 e le varie scritte ai lati.. solo bianco.. mi chiedevo come mai.. Forse una TI destinata ad essere da esposizione.. Vero! Sono alla ricerca proprio di un sintetizzatore per completare la mia TI.. Nel "mondo PEB" mi piacerebbe ma è troppo tecnico e anche dispendioso.. in futuro però non lo escludo! Ho acquistato anche un cavo "composito" credendo che il mio tv fosse compatibile, ma non era così..? Eppure aveva dietro i colori blu e verde. Spero un giorno di trovarlo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 On 3/29/2022 at 8:28 PM, Manicminer666 said: Ciao a tutti, Mi chiamo Lapo. Vivo a Scandicci (provincia di Firenze) in Italia. Sono nato nel 1976 e la mia crescita informatica è stata principalmente il Commodore. poi C64 poi Amiga, fino ad arrivare al PC.. la mia storia Ti nasce circa 10 anni fa, quando in un mercatino, vidi una Ti99 con scatola. Mi sono subito incuriosito ma non avevo molto tempo per documentarmi e così ho deciso (meno male!) di acquistare subito il gioiello! Non sapevo nemmeno come accenderlo e, molto probabilmente, il modulatore era rotto. così ho deciso di "abbandonarlo" ma per fortuna NON di venderlo (grazie Ciro!). Ad una fiera ho finalmente conosciuto il vero potenziale di questa meraviglia.. e la passione cresceva sempre!! Mi sono dedicato (per ora) di più al "lato videoludico" di Ti.. ma non vedo l'ora di imparare, non intendo programmare, ma almeno conoscere i comandi principali di questa macchina! Allego foto della mia configurazione e dei pezzi (pochi!) che possiedo. Ancora un grande saluto e grazie a tutti gli appassionati di questo computer! Hello Lapo! Glad to see you here! I am really happy to have seen your system becoming always more complete and it also appear very nice! Was the recorder working then? You haven't updated anymore me on this one anymore , I am curious. I really hope to see about your progress with the TI-99/4A Ciro 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergioz82 Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 On 3/30/2022 at 8:04 PM, Serafini Lapo said: Ciao Sergioz82! Ti ringrazio per la tua risposta (e gli altri per le "reazioni" sotto il mio post! Che devo capire ancora come inserirle io negli altri post che leggo..) Nel mio TI non ho trovato I manuali?, il modulatore difettoso, la TI con il metallo piegato (mi sa che gli è cas qualcosacato di peso sopra..) e pagata 100€.. ma non mi pento assolutamente dell'acquisto!! Si altri sistemi si trovavano a molto meno.. però rispetto a come sono adesso i prezzi, non mi è andata male! Una domanda, io nella scatola non ho stampato le classiche foto della famiglia con il Ti99 e le varie scritte ai lati.. solo bianco.. mi chiedevo come mai.. Forse una TI destinata ad essere da esposizione.. Vero! Sono alla ricerca proprio di un sintetizzatore per completare la mia TI.. Nel "mondo PEB" mi piacerebbe ma è troppo tecnico e anche dispendioso.. in futuro però non lo escludo! Ho acquistato anche un cavo "composito" credendo che il mio tv fosse compatibile, ma non era così..? Eppure aveva dietro i colori blu e verde. Spero un giorno di trovarlo. To add a reaction in other users posts you just click on the grey heart on the bottom right of their message. What a pity for the bent metal but from the pictures it doesn't look so bad, maybe you can find a way to fix it. The simplest idea is to find online a cheap non working TI that you can cannibalize to replace the damaged part. Another way is to give it to someone who knows how to work metal (a smith or even an auto body mechanic, for example) but I don't know how much could it cost. Anyway, some posts before your first one you can see the pictures of my TI-99 setup. All the parts you see there has been provided by TI99IUC, if you need to find something he's the best. Without his help I couldn't even turn the machine on (I made a test with an arcade machines power supply but that's another story ). Unfortunately I can't answer to your question about the box because I've never seen a boxed one except in some pictures so I don't really know how it's supposed to look like. About the composite cable, I bought the scart converter (my crt only has that connector) and it works perfect. Before knowing the TI video output specs I used a C64 video cable but I ended up with black and white image. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLERB Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 I might as well do this now that I’ve tested everything and have a stable setup after bringing everything out of mothballs. I kept everything (carefully stored) in the basement for 25 years since we got a PC and no longer had room to set up the TI. When we got it, the kids were 2, 5, and 7. When I put it away, my kids were in high school. (Now they’re approaching midlife). I got the original silver console about a month before TI announced they were discontinuing it, so I snapped up everything I could get over the next few years, at pretty good prices. But times were still tight - I had to put the Extended Basic cartridge on layaway at E.J. Korvette and pay for it over six months to be able to afford the $79.95 price. I used TI-Writer to do my master’s thesis, and for a bunch of papers for my graduate school courses. The computer was a workhorse. I also frequented CompuServe and the local BBS’s (to avoid toll calls). Not shown: My Packard-Bell 1200 baud modem, which still works although there’s no phone jack in that room and few dial-up numbers still working. I was occasionally chastised by BBS sysops for downloading more than I contributed, but I didn’t have much aside from my opinions to add, since I had only written a few programs (including a BASIC “Snake-like” game). I really wanted to learn Forth (and still do). So what is shown is my second console (a beige one with the original non-V2.2 motherboard), my original PE box containing TI 32K and disk controller, two Panasonic half-height drives, a CorComp Triple Tech card (the clock still works despite Y2K worries) which also holds the Speech Synthesizer and has a 64K printer buffer, a Myarc RS-232 card, and a Panasonic printer (which we actually got in a bundle with our first 486 PC in 1992 - the GE thermal transfer printer I used to use bit the dust a long time ago). i still have a working Samsung CRT monitor, but it takes up too much space in the back room so I’m using a Dell monitor with a composite-to-VGA adapter. Also inside the PE box is my new TIPI with a Raspberry Pi 3+ mounted on it. I’m enjoying that addition immensely. And it has a mouse connected! I missed the boat on all the RAMDisks, 80-column cards, and the Geneve (though I always wanted those things). So I have a “classic” setup, aside from the TIPI. Keyboards and power supplies have been replaced on both consoles, and I’m currently trying to replace bad VDP RAM chips on a third console to get that working too. I guess my approach to retrocomputing is that I’m more of a “curator” than a “hot-rodder,” but I do love the TIPI and the FinalGrom cartridge, now that I can run most of the programs that have ever been written. I did try to be good about sending contributions for fairware back in the day (except to Australia). My semi-retirement and the pandemic gave me the excuse to drag all this stuff out, much to my wife’s consternation (she thought we were downsizing). But now it will stay with me as long as I’m around and able to remember the difference between “Load and Run” and “Run Program File.” By the way, I decided on my screen name here in tribute to my quixotic quest to learn Forth. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 Lots of Forthers around here, @XLERB?, so you will have plenty of helpers in your quest to learn more Forth. It is good to see another system return to life! 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyPilot Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 @XLERB? Nice, very nice! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 I found that learning Forth really will require you to have a good bit of good understanding of the machine that you run it on, of course that sounds simple, but their are big differences between "call beep" in basic and finding the code and understanding the addressing and timing information in Forth plus learning the syntax and the way forth is layed out.. Just FYI. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serafini Lapo Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 On 31/3/2022 at 00:20, ti99iuc said: Ciao Lapo! Felice di vederti qui! Sono davvero felice di aver visto il tuo sistema diventare sempre più completo e sembra anche molto bello! Allora il registratore funzionava? Non mi hai più aggiornato su questo più , sono curioso. Spero davvero di vedere i tuoi progressi con la TI-99/4A Cirò Ciao Ciro! Come va? Finalmente ce l'ho fatta ad iscrivermi per bene al forum (non so perché ma mi aveva preso in automatico una vecchia iscrizione..?). Si dai, sono molto soddisfatto del mio "setup"! Recentemente ho provato a far passare il segnale video con la VGA ma mi perdeva di definizione..? Il tuo cavo Composito non è compatibile con la mia ? e quindi ho optato per modulatore con i 2 cavi audio video e adattatore scart "marcato" x-box.. così vedo bene.. Per il registratore, ho ancora tutto da imparare! I comandi tramite Ti funzionano, quindi dovrebbe andare tutto bene.. Che dire, sono alla ricerca di giochi nel sito, per adesso ne ho trovati di stupendi! Complimenti a tutti.. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLERB Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 On 4/3/2022 at 8:21 AM, XLERB said: I might as well do this now that I’ve tested everything and have a stable setup after bringing everything out of mothballs. I kept everything (carefully stored) in the basement for 25 years… Update… I now have another working console, since I fixed a non-working one (with the help of the “Video RAM Failure” screens on the troubleshooting page of Ninerpedia) by replacing some of the 4116 VDP RAM IC’s with 4164 chips. It was a tight fit, since I tried to use adapter boards rather than bending and clipping pins. I actually had to cut a hole in the metal shield because one of the chips stuck out so far. And I had to improvise something to insulate those boards from touching each other - using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails borrowed from my wife (a nitrocellulose lacquer thick enough to finish a Gibson Les Paul), and tiny strips of polyethylene sheeting. But it works! My second silver console, with a really rock solid TI mechanical keyboard (even heavier than the Stackpole keyboard in my original console). All these pieces cobbled together from Ebay. Lots of soldering I didn't think I could ever do neatly. Practice practice practice… 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch1995 Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 32k, 838 Speech (thank you, Chris), two TEAC 360k drives, the Corcomp DSDD FDC was DOA when I got it. Swapped the TMS 9901 and upgraded to MG (thank you, Bob) and she is back to life. The Dell monitor is light and thin. The good thing is it still has a VGA input that I’m using now with a RCA to VGA converter. It has a HDMI input for a better solution down the road. https://www.ebay.com/itm/224864653917?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=4pjxbYsrT0G&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=QfU6nnIiRby&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY The speakers are as cheap as they come. But for the beeps, boops, and occasional “Hello” they are more than fine. https://www.ebay.com/itm/394003041151?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6PHW88_eSWm&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=QfU6nnIiRby&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLERB Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 On 4/17/2022 at 6:34 AM, Switch1995 said: The speakers are as cheap as they come. But for the beeps, boops, and occasional “Hello” they are more than fine. I ran the audio output from the TI into my old Dynaco amp and preamp - my college stereo (older than the TI by a decade or so) that I built from a kit. The bass sounds amazing when run through a decent audio system. But I only bothered because all my ancient gear has been relegated to the same room so it was nearby - next to all the vinyl records. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serafini Lapo Posted June 6, 2022 Share Posted June 6, 2022 (edited) Buongiorno a tutti?. Ho aggiornato ulteriormente il mio Ti99 con lo speech sintetizer. Finalmente ce l'ho fatta! Adesso ho un sistema che mi sta dando tante soddisfazioni?. Colgo l'occasione per fare i complimenti a tutta questa grande community con i loro preziosi consigli sul Ti99. Computer che è entrato nel mio cuore anche grazie a voi!? Un grazie speciale a Ciro di Ti99 italian User club per.. tutto! P.s. Naturalmente chiunque si voi, se vuol darmi qualsiasi genere di consiglio o altro scriva pure! Anche, ad esempio, con lo speech quali sono i programmi da provare o altro.. Serafini Lapo Edited June 6, 2022 by Serafini Lapo 7 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 Representing at Vintage Computer Fest South East (VCF-SE.) 15 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuf Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 On 7/17/2022 at 9:51 PM, OLD CS1 said: Representing at Vintage Computer Fest South East (VCF-SE.) We marveled at your digitizer and homebrews. Enjoyed meeting you! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 On 7/17/2022 at 8:51 PM, OLD CS1 said: Is that some kind of improvised, super-sensitive alarm-system, I see hooked-up to the DL cart.. You-know, they don't always work! Spoiler ...Locks/alarms, are for gentlemen, and honest people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 hour ago, HOME AUTOMATION said: Is that some kind of improvised, super-sensitive alarm-system, I see hooked-up to the DL cart.. You-know, they don't always work! The cartridge is an attractive target. Statistically, there will be at least one motivated offender at these events. So long as custodianship is present and greater than motivation, then I still control one of the three precipitants of a crime. 1 hour ago, HOME AUTOMATION said: ...Locks/alarms, are for gentlemen, and honest people. Sure, no sense in making it easy for 'em. Am I to get from that clip that I should use glass cases and a Kendo stick to protect my stuff? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said: The cartridge is an attractive target. Statistically, there will be at least one motivated offender at these events. So long as custodianship is present and greater than motivation, then I still control one of the three precipitants of a crime. Well, at least I still have motive, and means, going for me! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said: Am I to get from that clip that I should use glass cases and a Kendo stick to protect my stuff? ...You never know where/when I'll show-up... Spoiler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted September 3, 2022 Share Posted September 3, 2022 (edited) Very small start but I'm moving my TI gear into my new home office. (apologies for terrible handwriting on the two binders, lol) Edited September 3, 2022 by digdugnate 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted September 7, 2022 Share Posted September 7, 2022 (edited) the area is still WIP, but here's a couple of pictures of me testing my 994A and PEB after it having been in the closet for three years I'm also playing @OLD CS1's favorite game, Zero Zap! Edited September 7, 2022 by digdugnate 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serafini Lapo Posted September 21, 2022 Share Posted September 21, 2022 (edited) Buon giorno a tutti.. Alla fine sono riuscito a completare la mia configurazione. Ho trovato questo fantastico registratore per il mio Ti99. Qualcuno di voi sa dirmi qualcosa in più? è una marca di strumenti del Texas, ma c'è anche il bianco? Ce ne sono altri a marchio Texas Instrument? Grazie! Un'ultima domanda: Adesso vorrei provare subito a scrivere un semplice programma/gioco per poi salvarlo su cassetta per ricaricarlo successivamente, quali sono gli input principali che devo dare alla mia Ti99 per fare questo? Grazie in anticipo per le risposte, buona giornata a tutti. lapo. Edited September 21, 2022 by Serafini Lapo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 I had a little bit of downtime from work so I switched gears to testing disks (well, and making sure the disk catalogs I had were accurate). An interesting fact about some of these music demos my dad programmed is that if you watch the PEB, the 32k card (I think this is the card I'm thinking of) will 'blink' in time to the music. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romulan Posted September 28, 2022 Share Posted September 28, 2022 Something I built 30 years ago. Yeah its "unsafe", but I've never shocked myself. More of an art piece than a p.c, but fully functional with a High-Low switch. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted September 28, 2022 Share Posted September 28, 2022 (edited) @Romulan it is nice but it seems like you can't use it with joystick or sidecar expansion like Speech Synthesizer? a friend of mine instead, had a similar idea and built this four years ago Edited September 28, 2022 by ti99iuc 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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