moonshyne Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 My father is the Mr. Moon behind Moonbeam software. His health is failing and I recently had to clean out his apartment. Sadly the games he had saved got mixed up in this process and I am trying to find replacements, although even he did not have all 8. So far I purchased 4 titles on eBay and it cost me almost $1,000. I'm looking for Astromania, Moonbeam Express, Zero Zone and the elusive Robot Runner. Losing these was devastating, and I'm almost out of money, so if nothing else I hope to connect a little with the community. I grew up with computers as basically the favorite sibling of the family. The keyboard clicks of my dad programming was my nightly lullaby. I wish I had learned more from him when I had the chance, and I hope to be able to resurrect his legacy, even a little. Thanks, 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch1995 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 This is an older post, but has a link to a zip file a few posts down. Might be able to make "copies" while your hunt for physical copies continues. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 (edited) Ohhh my, I am very sorry for your father's health. I tried to find your father online several months ago to get a contact and ask for an interview, but I was unsuccessful... how I would have loved to get in touch with him, though. Also because on the TI99iuc's Database, we had published Cavern Quest, and this game was also created as a compiled version with the help of the user @tmop69, I would have been happy to get it to your daddy thinking he would like it. The goal was to publish each of her titles in the database for preservation purposes as I always like to do the best I can. They are all great games. You have had a good idea to think of our community of enthusiasts for your research and I really hope you will be able to collect all the software packages. I haven't spares packages of them but I am pretty sure to have seen someone trying to sell a pair of moonbeam software some days ago on a Facebook group, I do not remember who at the moment and I do not know if he sold them already, but I can check who was and in case put him in contact with you. Edited March 22 by ti99iuc 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 They are on the Great GAMEBASE! ...I'll see if I can glean them all. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 (edited) Found... I found it on a disk with a menu. The game wont start from the menu, but, it does work stand-alone. Edited March 22 by HOME AUTOMATION 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 (edited) Here's the moonbeam.dsk, it has MOONVASION, GARBAGE BELLY, DEATH DRONES, ASTROMANIA, STRIKE FORCE 99, CAVERN QUEST and MOONBEAM EXPRESS. The zerozone.dsk has ZERO ZONE on there and some others. Hope these help. Moonbeam.dsk zerozone.DSK Edited March 22 by Fritz442 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Retrospect Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 6 hours ago, moonshyne said: I hope to be able to resurrect his legacy, even a little. Whilst I personally can't help you to locate the games (if you're wanting originals boxed, that is) ... I , and others, can point you to several TI emulators that might help to fulfil your desire to resurrect your father's legacy, if I've gotten it right what you mean. The disk files that Fritz442 has put up will work in the emulators. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.mad. Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Robot Runner disk auto boots and runs with XB ROBOT RUNNER[xb].dsk 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshyne Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 You all are really great, thank you!! I would love recommendations on a TI emulator and any other helpful info you can offer for someone totally not familiar with how to do any of this 😂 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Retrospect Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, moonshyne said: You all are really great, thank you!! I would love recommendations on a TI emulator and any other helpful info you can offer for someone totally not familiar with how to do any of this 😂 Okay. So I'm thinking you've not used any of the emulators before? If that's the case you'll need to be eased in quite gently at first so that you don't get overwhelmed with jargon. Here's a couple of easy options, http://harmlesslion.com/software/classic99/ << That's a really nice emulator for the TI , but read the manual about how to use DSK images. https://js99er.net/#/ << This one's online. It boots with TI Extended Basic already present as if it's a cartridge in the slot. Next to the blue "software" tab, there's an option for "load disk" .. so say you've put the DSK images in your downloads folder, after clicking "load disk" you'll want to route it to there. Then , the very top of the js99er screen you'll see some tabs. next to "log" is "disk" .. click that and it'll show the disk that's in the drive and it's name. Choose extended basic by pressing "2" at the TI option screen, and load the game with OLD DSK1.whatevername (press enter) then type RUN. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewmacattack Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 @moonshyne if your looking for original new sealed moonbeam titles, I know Zach Beschorner who sometimes use this forum or you can look him up on Ebay isellhomeszach. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhodes Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 On 3/22/2023 at 10:19 AM, moonshyne said: Do you have access to a scanner? That's a pretty interesting looking article, and i don't think the TI community has that article scanned yet (please correct me if i'm wrong). 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Retrospect Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Here's a recording from my Desktop, of how to use JS99er to load a disk and play it. The disk I chose ran automatically as soon as I pressed "2" for Extended Basic. simplescreenrecorder-2023-03-24_01.45.08.mp4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 (edited) On 3/22/2023 at 11:19 AM, moonshyne said: My father is the Mr. Moon behind Moonbeam software. His health is failing and I recently had to clean out his apartment. Sadly the games he had saved got mixed up in this process and I am trying to find replacements, although even he did not have all 8. So far I purchased 4 titles on eBay and it cost me almost $1,000. I'm looking for Astromania, Moonbeam Express, Zero Zone and the elusive Robot Runner. Losing these was devastating, and I'm almost out of money, so if nothing else I hope to connect a little with the community. I grew up with computers as basically the favorite sibling of the family. The keyboard clicks of my dad programming was my nightly lullaby. I wish I had learned more from him when I had the chance, and I hope to be able to resurrect his legacy, even a little. This is sad news indeed. I actually first talked with Mr. Moon in 1999. He had just joined the TI Listserver and people were excited to have someone like him on board. He eventually built a Listserver archive as the Listserver at the time was a mailing list only at The River (before the OLUG was created on eGroups/Yahoo). He came up with a really amazing searchable archive of Listserver messages going back to 1996. So I got to see messages posted by people before I joined in 1998. I met up with him again around 2003 and he helped build another archive, but this time of TI-99 eBay auctions. It would grab completed TI auctions along with images, categorize them, etc. and put them in a searchable database. He was into something called MivaScript at the time which is how he accomplished building these databases. Both of these were amazing and I believe it was his way of giving even more to the TI community. Just wanted to share my memories of him. P.S. I did have a boxed copy of Cavern Quest for the longest time on the top of my nightstand since I liked the looks of his packaging! His games and packaging were definitely more on par with what the companies that put out cartridge based software were doing at the time. Most of the smaller tape publishers seemed to go the plastic baggie route. Edited March 24 by Toucan 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 5 hours ago, jrhodes said: Do you have access to a scanner? That's a pretty interesting looking article, and i don't think the TI community has that article scanned yet (please correct me if i'm wrong). I've never seen it either, so I would be interested in a scanned version as well. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Here's a good message from Mr Moon to Bill Gaskill in 1999: -----Original Message----- From: Mister Moon [mailto:mister_html@mrmoon.com] <mailto:[mailto:mister_html@mrmoon.com]> Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 1999 9:02 AM To: lucky7@gj.net <mailto:lucky7@gj.net> Subject: TI99/4 Dear Bill, This morning, on a lark, I did a web search for 'Moonbeam Software' and discovered your website. I was surprised (and I must say quite pleased) to see that you have images of most of the box fronts of the the Moonbeam line of software. Due to a fire in 1990 which destroyed everything I owned, I was left without any of my TI99/4A software or equipment until a friend gave me an original Moonbeam Software box, still shrunk-wrapped, of 'Moonbeam Express'. Although I have not used a TI99/4A in a very, very long time, I still have an enormous amount of respect for the computer. It was, in fact, my first computer for which I still have my original bill of sale: dated 11/05/1981 from 47th Street Photo for $369.95. A reluctant purchase, it was inspired by my friend, Richard Guenette (subsequent co-author of 'Easy Programming With the Ti-99/4A'), who wanted to play with a 'micro-computer' but couldn't afford one himself. Even though I was not interested in owning a computer, Richard convinced me that I could use it to do my bookkeeping on, so I took the plunge. In a couple of months I had taught myself TI-BASIC and had written a bookeeping system using two cassette recorders as the storage medium. For better or worse, I had become 'hooked' and now, almost eighteen years later, I am still sitting in front of a computer screen more often than not... One thing I would like to know is, on your timeline 1982 page, how did you know that: > Hi-Fi Exchange, Northampton, MA., changes its name to Moonbeam Software Mr Moon 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Also, here's his old website for kicks: https://web.archive.org/web/20010401110318/http://mrmoon.com/ 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshyne Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 15 hours ago, Toucan said: Here's a good message from Mr Moon to Bill Gaskill in 1999: -----Original Message----- From: Mister Moon [mailto:mister_html@mrmoon.com] <mailto:[mailto:mister_html@mrmoon.com]> Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 1999 9:02 AM To: lucky7@gj.net <mailto:lucky7@gj.net> Subject: TI99/4 Dear Bill, This morning, on a lark, I did a web search for 'Moonbeam Software' and discovered your website. I was surprised (and I must say quite pleased) to see that you have images of most of the box fronts of the the Moonbeam line of software. Due to a fire in 1990 which destroyed everything I owned, I was left without any of my TI99/4A software or equipment until a friend gave me an original Moonbeam Software box, still shrunk-wrapped, of 'Moonbeam Express'. Although I have not used a TI99/4A in a very, very long time, I still have an enormous amount of respect for the computer. It was, in fact, my first computer for which I still have my original bill of sale: dated 11/05/1981 from 47th Street Photo for $369.95. A reluctant purchase, it was inspired by my friend, Richard Guenette (subsequent co-author of 'Easy Programming With the Ti-99/4A'), who wanted to play with a 'micro-computer' but couldn't afford one himself. Even though I was not interested in owning a computer, Richard convinced me that I could use it to do my bookkeeping on, so I took the plunge. In a couple of months I had taught myself TI-BASIC and had written a bookeeping system using two cassette recorders as the storage medium. For better or worse, I had become 'hooked' and now, almost eighteen years later, I am still sitting in front of a computer screen more often than not... One thing I would like to know is, on your timeline 1982 page, how did you know that: > Hi-Fi Exchange, Northampton, MA., changes its name to Moonbeam Software Mr Moon This is so great 🥰 Yeah we lost everything in that house fire. Geez. I have the receipt of that computer purchase, framed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshyne Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 21 hours ago, jrhodes said: Do you have access to a scanner? That's a pretty interesting looking article, and i don't think the TI community has that article scanned yet (please correct me if i'm wrong). I will get this scanned in for you! Probably next week. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshyne Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 15 hours ago, Toucan said: Also, here's his old website for kicks: https://web.archive.org/web/20010401110318/http://mrmoon.com/ He created the definitive searchable sherlock holmes database. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhodes Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 1 hour ago, moonshyne said: I will get this scanned in for you! Probably next week. On behalf of the whole TI community, thank you (and your father) 🙂 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshyne Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 Scanned article. Added the backside for the curious. Moonbeam1.pdf Moonbeam2.pdf 5 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshyne Posted May 3 Author Share Posted May 3 I'm sorry to announce the passing of Mr. Moon. I am comforted that his legacy in gaming lives on. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 35 minutes ago, moonshyne said: I'm sorry to announce the passing of Mr. Moon. I am comforted that his legacy in gaming lives on. So sorry for your loss. ...lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Sorry to hear this. Looks like his obit is published here: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/gazettenet/name/keir-moon-obituary?id=51782290 I always wondered what his first name was, and now in his passing we learn something new. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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