firepod Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Hello everyone, Where do I start, well I had a TI99/4a and Commodore 64 back in the mid 80's and early 90's as a child. I did some basic programming with them, had a tape drive only for the ti. I have to admit I never went to far with it back then and so all these years later i have this huge urge that started last week to do some programming in the TI, I suppose some midlife crises but really It's like this fire in me to learn the rules of the language and then have fun making programs for my little boy, I do hope it will get him interested as I was back when I was a few yours older than he is now. I want to thank everyone who worked so hard over the years to make this place and other resources possible, I would not even attempt this without all of those resources, just amazing what people can do when they come together for a cause. Thanks, Joe 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Welcome to the community 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary from OPA Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 welcome to best ti99 hangout and home of many talented people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Welcome aboard! The more, the merrier. ...lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Welcome Joe, your story and experience sounds incredibly similar to mine! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+adamantyr Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Welcome to the forums! I know what you mean about resources... The amount of information and assistance you can get now is so much better than it was in the old days. There's no way I could have accomplished the programming I can do now without it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Welcome here Joe !! ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dphirschler Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Welcome to the community! This place is great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+adamantyr Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 As a starting point, I suggest downloading the very useful and well designed emulator Classic99. You can run any and all old TI software with it, and it also works great with a modern computer system for file usage. Plus, I've found for BASIC and Extended BASIC programming, it's very useful because you can just copy and paste typed out programs directly from notepad into the emulator and it works like a charm! Given you're a few decades out from programming, you'll want to refamiliarize yourself a bit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Welcome to the group! I'm glad you found us! The resources thread will keep you occupied for years. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkeey Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 He's in Chicago I see.. Would the Faire get him in the fast lane? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 And a potential new member for the Chicago TI User's Group too. . .then he can have loads of face to face TI goodness all year long. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Welcome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 welcome to best ti99 hangout and home of many talented people. And many idiots-like myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firepod Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 (edited) Thanks guys, I have taken some of your advice already, and have Classic99 running, and now I am just taking things in slow, I would like to join the Chicago Group as well!!!! Love having all the resources but I need to remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day LOL. I am seriously considering purchasing a Ti 99/4a from Ebay and using a 5 pin din to Composite Av to connect it to a newer tv. Being as new to this as I am, I know there are some neat add-ons "i haven't fully checked out yet" but will soon. Are there any addons that would allow me to take a memory card from my PC with text or bin files or whatever and use them in the TI? I am hoping so because I typo a lot LOL and I remember years ago working on the TI that was one thing that use to frustrate me is the small errors and how difficult it was to fix them compared to today where I can use my Favorite Editor for PC that is a snap to fix errors in. Edited October 24, 2014 by firepod 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Thanks guys, I have taken some of your advice already, and have Classic99 running, and now I am just taking things in slow, I would like to join the Chicago Group as well!!!! Love having all the resources but I need to remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day LOL. I am seriously considering purchasing a Ti 99/4a from Ebay and using a 5 pin din to Composite Av to connect it to a newer tv. Being as new to this as I am, I know there are some neat add-ons "i haven't fully checked out yet" but will soon. Are there any addons that would allow me to take a memory card from my PC with text or bin files or whatever and use them in the TI? I am hoping so because I typo a lot LOL and I remember years ago working on the TI that was one thing that use to frustrate me is the small errors and how difficult it was to fix them compared to today where I can use my Favorite Editor for PC that is a snap to fix errors in. Hi and welcome. It sounds like you need a nanoPEB. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firepod Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 This is the second time I've hear "nanoPED", another member suggested that as well in a private message, I haven't read deeply on what it can do, but I did bookmark their page, looks like it holds a memory card so that is a great sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Yea nanopeb is kinda like a mini peb (peripheral expansion bay) I personally like the real peb as it allows more customizations but it more expensive. I have a lotharek hxc floppy emulator in my peb which gives my TI the ability to use SD cards instead of floppies but again its alil expensive but well worth it in my opinion 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertLM78 Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Welcome aboard firepod - you're in great company 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Yea nanopeb is kinda like a mini peb (peripheral expansion bay) I personally like the real peb as it allows more customizations but it more expensive. I have a lotharek hxc floppy emulator in my peb which gives my TI the ability to use SD cards instead of floppies but again its alil expensive but well worth it in my opinion I agree the Nano-PEB is fine for the CASUAL user with no plans to do much more than play games. A Nano-PEB user also has a couple other modifications/expansions open to them like: 1) F18A Video Enhancement 2) PS/2 Keyboard Mod 3) Alpha Lock Fix They could also plug in a side-car device, like the speech many of the Nano users already have. But hey, the TI is my hobby, for me personally, it's no fun to have a hobby that I cannot continue to grow into. I plan on having the my TI for years to come, so it matters not that I don't have everything right now, but it sure is fun getting the stuff one piece at a time. Having the TI-PEB insures that there will always be new goodies I can buy now and in the future, it helps keep the hobby fresh and exciting. Right now I'm looking forward to gregallenwarner's new speech interface. I have hopes of a PGRAM in the future with the elusive RTC I've had my heart set on. And I'm sure in a couple of years someone will finally come out with a SSHD that plugs into the P-BOX. Why would I want to miss out on all of that or the next great item... whatever that will be! Now yes, going the TI-PEB route will be more expensive in the long run, but it's OUR HOBBY, and if you add things one piece at a time over months or years you'll really barely notice. But you will have lot's of fun every time you plug in something new! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firepod Posted October 26, 2014 Author Share Posted October 26, 2014 I have been looking up the Ti PEb, and I don't know all the addons that exist for it, but I am the type with such a hobby that wants to upgrade things over time and have that ability. I probably should ask you guys the value of a Ti 99/4a including the shipping because I see price range from $45/w shipping used with scratches and such and some for around $300 that are new in box ect. I'd like to get a real Ti in the next two weeks if I can find one that is a good price and good condition/fully working. Any help with prices and how you guys approach buying something like this online from say Ebay or are there forum members that have units that you trust and maybe is a safer route? I agree the Nano-PEB is fine for the CASUAL user with no plans to do much more than play games. A Nano-PEB user also has a couple other modifications/expansions open to them like: 1) F18A Video Enhancement 2) PS/2 Keyboard Mod 3) Alpha Lock Fix They could also plug in a side-car device, like the speech many of the Nano users already have. But hey, the TI is my hobby, for me personally, it's no fun to have a hobby that I cannot continue to grow into. I plan on having the my TI for years to come, so it matters not that I don't have everything right now, but it sure is fun getting the stuff one piece at a time. Having the TI-PEB insures that there will always be new goodies I can buy now and in the future, it helps keep the hobby fresh and exciting. Right now I'm looking forward to gregallenwarner's new speech interface. I have hopes of a PGRAM in the future with the elusive RTC I've had my heart set on. And I'm sure in a couple of years someone will finally come out with a SSHD that plugs into the P-BOX. Why would I want to miss out on all of that or the next great item... whatever that will be! Now yes, going the TI-PEB route will be more expensive in the long run, but it's OUR HOBBY, and if you add things one piece at a time over months or years you'll really barely notice. But you will have lot's of fun every time you plug in something new! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I bought my PEB from a forum member. There's another member selling empty PEBs for $25 http://atariage.com/forums/topic/229758-ti-994a-pebs-for-sale/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 A bare console that is listed as working should not be more than $25-$35 plus shipping. A mint in box machine shouldn't go for more than $50 or so (again, add the shipping). Anything more than that is usually from people who have no clue as to the value of a /4A. If it includes some cartridges/books that didn't come with the console, increase that some, but not all that much (an additional $20-$30 for most things, $50-$75 if it includes a couple of hard to find items like an Editor Assembler and Extended BASIC, or a bunch of third-party cartridges). The PEB is definitely a good thing to have--it opens a lot of possibilities, and there are easily 30-40 different cards out there to put in the seven slots available for that purpose once you install the firehose cable/Expansion Interface card to connect it to your /4A. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I bought my PEB from a forum member. There's another member selling empty PEBs for $25 http://atariage.com/forums/topic/229758-ti-994a-pebs-for-sale/ You can figure at least as much again for postage. Sounds like a fair deal IF the empty box also comes with the firehose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 (edited) I would not go so far to say that a nanoPEB or CF7+ is for low-ambition game-players. With built-in 32k, RS-232 or PIO, and a 400k disk controller, while you cannot load real floppies onto it easily it is still quite functional for productivity. There are methods to interface with a PC, and a CF card adapter and TI99dir is all you need to move data to and from the system onto a Windows-based PC. Now, you will not be mounting your Speech Synthesizer in it, or installing a SCSI or P-Code card, but those seem like nerd to extreme-nerd scenarios to me. As a bonus, the nanoPEB/CF7+ is far more portable, uses less power, makes a little less noise, and does not have a thick cable to hang around. But it DOES lack the pretty flickering lights. Edited October 27, 2014 by OLD CS1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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