My neighbor had one of these computers…and I fondly remember typing in lots of games from computer magazines. Good times! Got me started on my path for computers because I then asked my parents for the C64 a few years later.
I lived in a small town in the south of Argentina in 1985 or so, my parents sent me to a computer institute, where they had several ti99/4a used for teaching Basic and Logo. I loved going there, having access to the computers for almost an our!. The next year they replaced all by msx machines. Loved them too. I cheat my parents later, saving the money instead of going there, and after several months I used the money to purchase a sinclair spectrum! Great times thanks for helping me bringing them back!
My dad bought one with the expansion. He had the modem card too. The assembler programming package was my favorite, I dove right in and learned all about hexadecimal and boolean operations. I had John Conway's original game of Life running pretty fast. I also wrote a fully functional disassembler and could peek at the operating system code. I ended up getting a job as programmer and developed software for 35 years! Thanks TI!
The up on joystick issue is down to the "alpha lock" key at the bottom left of the keyboard, toggle that key and it will correct the issue with the joystick.
In 1982, I walked into the department store looking to buy a 2600, and ended up with an Odyssey2 and a TI-99/4A. A Ti-99/4A continues to sit in my dining room today, and is booted up at least once a day. Granted, it now outputs over VGA, has 1MB of AMS memory (a slight upgrade from the native 16K), uses my PC as a file server over wifi, and has an 80 column command interface, allowing the mounting of drives, and loading of assembler programs from the command prompt (along with many standard and custom DOS style commands) - all thanks to a very enthusiastic enthusiast community. The C64, Atari 8 bit, Apple II and ZX Spectrum (and even the Odyssey2) have received similar modern upgrades, and I'm not suggesting the 4A is alone in that regard. While I owned several other emerging tech 8 and 16 bit machines over the years, it is the TI-99 that stimulates my nostalgia more than any. It is just so adorably quirky - with its gerry--rigged design (slapping a 16 bit CPU on an 8 bit bus because your 8-bit chip failed was never going to go well). But Ti, more accustomed to selling processors and calculators, had no idea how to market computer hardware and software, and shot themselves in the foot in oh so many ways (drachonian licensing agreements, and falling into Jack Tramiel's competition trap being among the two loudest death knells for the sytem, robbing us of the much improved TI-99/8 of which only about a half-dozen prototypes continue to exist.) Many thanks vintagegeek for bringing this beloved piece of early consumer tech back into the spotlight for a brief period. It earned you my appreciation (and subscription) Also, you probably figured it out, but up will never wortk on a joystick if Caps lock is on. (told you it was adorably quirky)
I started on this computer. Went out and bought one for $49.99 for my older daughter's birthday. After a couple days teaching her the basics, went and bought my own. I still have several computers, pe boxes, cards controllers, cartridges etc. With the aftermarket controllers, you could use the 80 track drives at single density double sided and put lots of stuff on a floppy.
Brings back memories, I had one of these as a kid. My parents did not buy any cartridges or extras for me, I just had the TI99-4A and a tape deck to save data. I still had fun even with that limited set up!
You're correct; that's what it was for. Originally, it was only able to say 300 words and phrases. Later, they discovered they could add more via software, so the add on modules were no longer needed.
About 3 million sold. Its a solid machine and still running in interest groups around the world with new hardware connections via raspberry pi, 4MB ram disk, 1 and 2MB memory cards and more.
I think the TI-99/4A is a very underrated system and very cool looking too! I have one, and the speech synthesizer, but I'm a bit green with envy about your expansion box and monitor 🙂
I grew up with this computer. IT was very fun to own! Loved it. The port on the front of the speech synthesizer was to add language packs/cards to expand its capabilities.
This was my first computer (the 4A). I didn't actually use it very log before I got a Commodore 64. But I remember spending HOURS playing Parsec! One of my favorite games on any platform.
The joysticks were so awful my father bought a WICO converter that allowed the use of Atari joysticks on TI-99/4A. The frustration was greatly reduced and didn't have to junk the Atari compatible joysticks the way we did TI. The Sega Genesis controller is Atari compatible so using the WICO converter or similar you can use a Genesis controller on the TI-99/4A as well.
@@Mrshoujo Now I know the Master System's controllers are also Atari compatible just like the Genesis. I never had a Master System but I did have a Genesis. One day I was curious about the control because it looked like it could fit on the Atari 800XL, which I owned and amazed that it plays. I also had a TI-99/4A with the WICO converter so that meant it was much more fun playing TI Invaders on a Genesis controller that the stock TI joysticks.
I remember this computer, had one when I was a young boy in school. Miss those days.😊we still have the tape deck that goes with this pc.😊I think we also had the speech synthesizer.
The TI-99/4 was my very first computer, bought it 2nd hand off someone upgrading to a TI-99/4A. It got me started, until I reached the limits with what I had available (only had two cartridges Munch Man and TI Invaders). The person who sold it to me was supposed to give me the Advanced Basic cartridge, which allows a lot more capabilities, such as automatic sprite movement and a lot more basic commands. I ended up selling it when the Spectravideo SV-318 was released, with it using the same video chip but having a much better programming environment. I did find about 20 years ago a TI-99/4A with lots of magazines and fair few software titles, and I have since picked up quite a few cartridges. Still works too.
Great video, definitely a shot of nostalgia for me. My grandmother picked one of these up cheap when TI discontinued them, and it was my first PC. I learned basic on the TI-99/4A and mostly used it to create my own simple adventure games, being a massive fan of Infocom games at the time (by the way, looks like you've got the box for Suspended over your shoulder in some of the shots, very nice!). Unfortunately my computer died with a loud pop and smell of burnt circuitry one day, I was devastated. Nice to see there are still some functioning units around!
I use my 40 year old TI every day. Maintaining a vintage computer as a daily driver, when you have zero soldering skills is risky, so your "loud pop and smell of burnt circuitry" caused shivers to run up my spine. I would be devastated (and desperate to get it up and running again.) I will say though, I have rekindled the flame with a few of my old systems...Vetrex, Atari 8 bit and 16 bit, Apple 128k classics and power PC's, and had issues with every one of them (the Atari STe's age problems were beyond my skill set and I had to sell it in frustration - to someone who fixed everything in a matter of weeks) But my 4A is built like a brick sh*thouse, and has never suffered so much as a failed capacitor (I knock on wood as I type), which is good because it was my first computer, and remains my favourite piece of tech-nostalgia now that I am a retired old fart.
In Spring 1983, JCPenny had these at $49.99 with a free Speech Synthesizer and Extended BASIC Cart. Monitor, Expansion Box, Cassette, etc were all expensive options. My dad and I went to Pennies thinking they'd be sold out, but they had boxes and boxes of them. Also in 1983, there was a recall on the power supply brick. I think they had you send in a card and you received the safer one in the mail. The replacements have a neon green sticker. Btw, the speech synthesizer opens to serve as a convenient ashtray. ;)
I have a TI99/4a + PEB under my desk. Used to write games for it, also produced and sold memory expansion boards. One regret I have is I sold my Logo but still have the P-Card!
To explain, TI BASIC (and its brethren) are implementations of the ANSI BASIC standard, which are, in turn, direct implementations of the original Dartmouth BASIC. The I/O commands in Dartmouth BASIC actually were commands of the underlying DTSS (Dartmouth Time Sharing System) operating system, and OLD was the command to load a file into memory, where NEW would take as a parameter the name of a new program. This nomenclature didn't stick, and thus by the time HP BASIC and DEC BASIC-PLUS happened (which Microsoft BASIC was patterned after), OLD was replaced with LOAD.
Man you have brought back so many memories with your little setup. My Dad bought a similar setup except we had old dsk1 and old dsk2. Getting used to the syntax of TI-BASIC was a bit difficult at times but as a kid I picked it up quite easily. I haven't picked up one of those machines in 35 years. I remember Car Wars (you can switch two lanes at a time when your car is running slower) and you are right about the controller problem. you should take it apart and inspect it inside for what could very easily be simple contact cleaning... but as a computer repair technician I would be interested and geeked out by it anyway. It has been way too long since I played around with one of those. My dad had something like 3 or 4 twenty cartridge cases full of cartridges back then. I even had the grammar game you played. Makes me miss that old huge mess of everything we had. Unfortunately it was discarded by my dad long ago as he moved on. Thanks for the memories.
My first computer was the TI 99/4A back in 1983. I learned to write programs on that computer. I learned to write assembly language on that system using the Assembler cartridge. My first big assembly app was to create the sprite characters and generate the hexadecimal string used to define sprites. The speech synthesizer was known as a side car expansion. You could end up with a whole table taken up by expansion side cars. Really wasn't practical which is why the PEB (Peripheral Expansion Box) was desired. Also, the "killer app" for that system was the game Parsec. Think defender.
I found a TI-99/4A at a flea market once. Some papers on the inside of the box said that the computer came along as a free perk from a carpet installation in someones house sometime in the 80s!
This was the first computer I had when I was about 10 or 11 years old. I learned programming on this, and eventually upgraded to a Commodore 64 a few years later.
My first computer memories were of this and some cheap Spectrum variant. For some reason my dad's workplace had this to lend to workers, and at some point when they were going to throw it out he brought it home permanently. It was missing whatever carts were originally with it, but I bought Parsec off Ebay. That and Tombstone City were some of the very first games I remember playing.
There was a couple minicomputer systems that used OLD to load BASIC programmes from disk, like when using BASIC on Prime minicomputers. Also the Acorn BBC Computers had an OLD command that was used to recover a BASIC programme after the machine was reset.
Loved my ti99/4a. Had the speech processor, the extended basic cart, the extended memory and used a reg tv. Was in the middle of programming a galaga clone because the sprite functionality was stupendous on this machine. Way ahead of apple basic for graphics functionality. Anyway, my aunt came in and unplugged the computer so she could vacuum. Yeah, no way to save my programs except to write them down on paper and re-input them. So, I lost it all. But, since I had typed it a million times, I had it memorized and re-entered it. Later got a cassette tape for saving programs. All the RE-typing helped me to become a better keyboarder. Later that year, I went to a friends house for a birthday party and entered in my program from memory, and my buddy’s uncle offered me 50 bucks for the code. My first professional code sale at 9 years old.
Chiming in that this was my first computer too! I'm sure we saw it in some regular store or Sears and it had a good price tag. I only had the computer and speech synthesizer. No expansion box. I wrote a TON of programs on it as a teenager (just stupid stuff emulating something else I had seen). Saving it all to cassette tapes! At some point I started writing programs that exceeded the memory! It came with an RF modulator to use it on a regular TV. It was SOOO simple to use the speech synthesizer as you demonstrated. Also, I think the speech synthesizer could have other language cartridges plugged in.. that might be why it opens on top. I would use it most of the day, everyday, and it would get really hot! My next computer was an Apple //e.. and then after that was a Packard Bell Legend Ie (earlier than the Legend IV you showed in another video).
Brings back good memory. Nice video. This TI-99 had a good/inexpensive (for the time) graphic processor from TI. I connected this graphic processor (in system) to my 'main' system being a TRS-80 model I. I did this by taking over the data bus and some control lines and putting the processor of the TI-99 in a halt condition (output bus tri-stated). I wrote on the TRS-80 system some assembler program that used a.o. the sprite capability of the graphic processor. One of the benefit doing it this way that i did not have to build the video output circuitry. BTW I bought the TI99 for $49,95.. Great fun.
I may have made the world's slowest PacMan, centipede, Donkey Kong, Space Games - they were all mine programmed in TI Basic. Had a world of fun with this computer.
The joystick will not register an "up" command unless the ALPHA LOCK key is disengaged (up), a known flaw with the TI-99/4A. The hinged lid on the Speech Synthesizer add-on originally was supposed to hide a mini-cartridge port intended to expand the unit's vocabulary (similar to the one on the Speak & Spell). No Speech Synthesizer units shipped with this port, because TI found you could get arbitrary speech, including text to speech, working through software just as well. The Terminal Emulator II cartridge had a screen reader function and gave BASIC programs access to text to speech.
This was our second computer, which lived alongside (but definitely did not replace) our Vic 20. Our base TI-99/4A (without any upgrades) came with the speech synthesizer and we used tape deck and cartridges for loading software. I used it off and on for a few years, until we got a Commie 64 - at that point the TI went away, and a few years later we gave it to a cousin who had gone to town with his TI build. Sad guy, investing heavily in a platform with a serious maximum limit; but he did have the expansion chassis, and all (or most anyways) of the slots were filled with a modem, RAM upgrades, and whatever else was useful. At the end of the day, I'd still stick with C64 over that beast.
This was the first actual home computer I ever laid eyes on, in 1981/82. A teacher at my school had this and a bit later other computers (ZX80 and 81, Spectrum, Vic 20). IIRC the only thing we ran on the TI-99 was a 'bio-rhythms' programme - I don't remember playing any games on it.
The pacman/ Car game was actually an older Arcade game called "Dodge em" and the big improvement was the Color hahaha. Original was a green screen. Like Apple or Apple 2
I had the ti 99/4a with voice synth, expansion unit with more memory, disk controller ( I fitted two half height floppies ) and the modem. Added a daisy wheel printer and it made an excellent word processor. Proportional typing too! I do miss it
back here in texas when i was i was in middle school 91/92 my teacher had a texas instruments we played donkey kong on fridays fun day lol i would play tower toplors on and old apple floppy didk lol
Still have mine. Hooked it up to my flat screen about 15 years old and the tv looked very discolored. I can remember pecking in code for hours with 50% chance that the program might work.
My first real computer in the early 80's! I didn't have any joy sticks but did use the keyboard a lot. Donkey Kong was my favorite. their was a Dungeon game that was really great fun as well. I spent many hours using the system and there are some games that use the speech unit. Fond memories but took me forever to find the extended cartridge of my own. (was a kid) I also had the expansion system and tape unit. What a blast from my past! Thanks for the video!
One of these was my first computer. It was cheap and I bought one for myself to take with me to go to college. It didn't last very long and the next year I bought myself a Commodore 64 which I enjoyed much more. Still, it was a decent and affordable introduction to personal computers and served me well for my first year of college.
Brought back memories! Just stumbled across your channel and subscribed! Getting in at less than 100 subscribers as I know you are going to grow as your content is outstanding!
My 6th grade math teacher worked a second job at Kmart selling these things. He brought one in to class, and I played with it a little. This was '82-83, but I'm pretty sure it was the /4 version with the crappy keys.
nice work! I stepped out of the 4A when the editor/assembler cardridge was not to be obtained for over 6 months. That was very painful back then, so I moved on to the C64. Get the cartridge, as well as Parsec and TI-Invaders, the probably best game on the TI. But play it with Atari sticks.
I remember they had one of these setup next to a vic20 at the Sears near me. You could type on the computers and they occasionally had a program running on them. I thought the TI994/A looked pretty cool compared to the vic, but boy did it seem like a crappy thing to use - so I got the vic. Loved it. Watching you use this here, all I can think is - wow... what a crappy thing to use.
Hey Vintage Geek. The Speech Synthesizer works with Terminal Emulator 2. My daughter, now 41 spent hours with the speech synthesizer and TE2 module. With a call, you could get the keyboard to go straight to the synthesizer. That way, a random group of keys, no matter what, would try to speak it. Trying kkkkkkkkkk would make her laugh every time. Also, using the 4 arrow keys for munchman was the fastest and best way to win the game. I played it myself for hours.
Apparently you were oblivious to the fact that the little song that the TI99/4A played when you launched "Adjective Restaurant" was "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie.
I still have my TI-99/4A with the PEB, speech synth module, horrible joysticks and all the games and such. Couldn't part with it several decades later. My guess about "old" is that it's the opposite of the basic command "new". "New" to start a fresh programming session, "old" to get one back.
The "OLD" command is taken from the mainframe and mini computers used in the industries during the 70's ... TI990/xxx series used it too I believe. It's literally what you said, old for old program.
Yes, and if you want to enter a new program, you type NEW, so it seems logical to use OLD to retrieve a program saved on disk. In other BASICs, like in many BASIC extensions for the C64, it has a different meaning: Since NEW frees the RAM occupied by a program already in memory (without erasing it), OLD or RENEW reactivates that program.
You have to play Parsec. It was a tough fast-paced game that everyone liked. Also - TI Writer was pretty good. I did all my papers on it. It was a simple text editor but you could type hypertext-like commands and then run it through another program to print formatted text (bold, italic, etc). Just one step short of being Word Perfect, but years earlier.
I actually returned not one but two pairs of TI joysticks to Toys’R’ Us back in 1983 because the “up” wouldn’t work, until I realized you have to release the alpha lock key. Doh!
Oh wow! I never would have even thought of that as being the reason…now I have to go back and play again, should be much better with the ability to use up!
@@vintagegeek TI's hardware system was quite advanced. The operating system in the console only 'knows' about the hardware that's in the console or can directly attach to it, specifically joysticks and the cassette cable. There's no code in the console for operating a disk controller, RAM expansion, RS232-C/PIO (which you're missing), Speech Synthesizer or anything else. How those work is the peripherals contain their own driver, in TI parlance the Device Service Routine or DSR. At boot the computer scans "ports" on its 8 bit expansion bus, looking for DSRs announcing their existence. The DSRs seamlessly integrate into the operating system. Plug in the disk controller and the device names of DSK1, DSK2, DSK3 and all the commands used for disk operations are available. Unplug the disk controller and all of that is gone, like it was never there. By being so flexible, unlike other micro computers that attempted to pack all the system software for every peripheral they made (or intended to) into the base unit, the TI-99 can have *any* kind of peripheral made for it, as long as a DSR can be written to operate it and make it accessible to the console. There was a card with USB 1.1 ports and a Smart Media slot, unfortunately introduced almost simultaneously with the ending of Smart Media use by Fuji and Olympus when they switched to xD Picture Card. There have been various hard drive controllers for MFM, SCSI, and IDE. The ForTI card was a MIDI card which used four of the TI sound chips of the same type as in the console. I don't know if its software could use all five chips or just the four on the ForTI. Other 3rd party hardware packed various expansions into the console (like the Zenoboard) or into a side connected box smaller than the huge Peripheral Expansion Box (PEB). There have been a number of hardware projects that drastically enhanced the computer like the TIM and SOB (Son Of Board), the PGRAM, SNUG. SNUG is a German group that produced cards like the SGCPU (Second Generation CPU), BwG drive controller, HSGPL, 32K16 and others. There was a wide variety of 3rd party hardware produced, long after TI pulled the plug in 1983. Some is still in production. IIRC one can still buy new PEB cards to build a complete SNUG system. An early one was the Myarc Geneve 9640. That was a single board computer which plugged into the PEB and didn't need the 99-4/A console. It had a connector for a PC/XT keyboard. IIRC it began as a collaboration with TI then became fully Myarc's project when TI quit computers. The most recent innovation is the F18A FPGA replacement for the TMS9918A Video Display Processor. That adds a VGA output and fixes several issues with the original VDP, like the max of four visible sprites on a line. TI would work that limitation into some games like Chisholm Trail where some of the enemies could briefly turn 'invisible'. It's not a hardware limitation, it's a 'feature'. What the F18A should be able to do but hasn't been programmed for yet is a true bitmap mode where each pixel can be individually colored. In "bitmap" mode the display is split into 1 pixel tall by 8 pixel wide stripes, each able to have two colors. If one color is transparent then the background color shows through. The MSX1 computers used the same VDP and there are a lot of game screens showing how that limitation could be worked around. The TI system I had was a console, PEB with TI floppy controller with three drives, TI 32K, TI RS232-C/PIO, Speech Syntheziser, homemade dual Atari joystick adapter, and various cartridges and disks. I had an Epson LX800 dot matrix printer connected to the PIO (Parallel Input Output) port. I had six other consoles and a second PEB that (IIRC) only had a floppy controller, might have had the 32K or the serial/parallel card. I don't remember which.
I had bought the 99/4a when it was 99 dollars back in the eighties then the bottom fell out and TI quit the home computer business triton took over and I bought the expansion box which came with a disk drive, 32 k memory and the controller board for the disk drive for 299.00. I already bought extended basic so now I actually had a full working computer. Minus a printer. I also bought the game console that was voice recognition so I could play the baseball game and name each player. The other three games were big foot, I'm hiding , and sewer mania my favorite was bigfoot I went through all levels then it got too hard. The other games I didn't like too well was parsec , mountain climber and an adventure game I had no clue how to get out of the first level. Kinda like Narnia game but much harder. 73
What's the copyright date for "Car Wars"? Steve Jackson Games brought out the tabletop game of the same name (still available in its 6th edition) in 1981, but I don't think they are related.
I had one back in the day. It was slooow. And suffering from very poor software support. I went from ZX's over TI99, and finally saw the light with a C64.
My uncle gave me of them from is pile in the late 80's. My mom threw out all the books/ tapes/ hardware/software in the trash when i went to college. :(
If I remember you can use the arrow keys instead of the joysticks. I have the complete setup including the expansion box , disk drive & dot matrix printer.
The TI 99/4’s greatest legacy was probably to light a fire beneath Commodore to release a significantly more capable successor to the VIC-20: the Commodore 64.
@@vintagegeek disk manager II is the most used version. Should be a few on eBay. Also the cassette port works well as strange. Also a serial port card option can be added to the expansion box for a serial printer or serial control. In basic you can send to the serial card example List “RS232” will list the program to the serial printer or serial device connected. The TI had some different commands in their basic interpretation. This was my first computer back in school in 1984. After that I moved on to the Apple II computers in high school
The Ti99 was a great machine for its time. Munchman and Ti Invaders were much better than Pac Man and Space Invaders in my opinion. What is the background music track during the Munchman segment?
make sure the ALPHA LOCK key is OFF (in the UP position) - that will fix the up movement on the joystick. If ALPHA LOCK is on, UP will not work on the joystick
My neighbor had one of these computers…and I fondly remember typing in lots of games from computer magazines. Good times! Got me started on my path for computers because I then asked my parents for the C64 a few years later.
I lived in a small town in the south of Argentina in 1985 or so, my parents sent me to a computer institute, where they had several ti99/4a used for teaching Basic and Logo. I loved going there, having access to the computers for almost an our!. The next year they replaced all by msx machines. Loved them too. I cheat my parents later, saving the money instead of going there, and after several months I used the money to purchase a sinclair spectrum! Great times thanks for helping me bringing them back!
My dad bought one with the expansion. He had the modem card too. The assembler programming package was my favorite, I dove right in and learned all about hexadecimal and boolean operations. I had John Conway's original game of Life running pretty fast. I also wrote a fully functional disassembler and could peek at the operating system code. I ended up getting a job as programmer and developed software for 35 years! Thanks TI!
The up on joystick issue is down to the "alpha lock" key at the bottom left of the keyboard, toggle that key and it will correct the issue with the joystick.
I had forgotten about that - good memory!
In 1982, I walked into the department store looking to buy a 2600, and ended up with an Odyssey2 and a TI-99/4A.
A Ti-99/4A continues to sit in my dining room today, and is booted up at least once a day. Granted, it now outputs over VGA, has 1MB of AMS memory (a slight upgrade from the native 16K), uses my PC as a file server over wifi, and has an 80 column command interface, allowing the mounting of drives, and loading of assembler programs from the command prompt (along with many standard and custom DOS style commands) - all thanks to a very enthusiastic enthusiast community.
The C64, Atari 8 bit, Apple II and ZX Spectrum (and even the Odyssey2) have received similar modern upgrades, and I'm not suggesting the 4A is alone in that regard. While I owned several other emerging tech 8 and 16 bit machines over the years, it is the TI-99 that stimulates my nostalgia more than any.
It is just so adorably quirky - with its gerry--rigged design (slapping a 16 bit CPU on an 8 bit bus because your 8-bit chip failed was never going to go well). But Ti, more accustomed to selling processors and calculators, had no idea how to market computer hardware and software, and shot themselves in the foot in oh so many ways (drachonian licensing agreements, and falling into Jack Tramiel's competition trap being among the two loudest death knells for the sytem, robbing us of the much improved TI-99/8 of which only about a half-dozen prototypes continue to exist.)
Many thanks vintagegeek for bringing this beloved piece of early consumer tech back into the spotlight for a brief period. It earned you my appreciation (and subscription)
Also, you probably figured it out, but up will never wortk on a joystick if Caps lock is on. (told you it was adorably quirky)
I started on this computer. Went out and bought one for $49.99 for my older daughter's birthday. After a couple days teaching her the basics, went and bought my own. I still have several computers, pe boxes, cards controllers, cartridges etc. With the aftermarket controllers, you could use the 80 track drives at single density double sided and put lots of stuff on a floppy.
As a Texas Instruments shareholder, it's pretty interesting to see what they used to build. Great video.
Brings back memories, I had one of these as a kid. My parents did not buy any cartridges or extras for me, I just had the TI99-4A and a tape deck to save data. I still had fun even with that limited set up!
I had one too as a kid. I loved that thing! I remember some sort of speech synthesizer and a cassette tape player
I was in a very similar boat although I did have Tunnels of Doom which was awesome
muh first 'puter....sniff.... thanks for the memories.
If I remember correctly (It was a long time ago), the door on the speech synthesizer was for add-on word dictionary modules, which TI never sold.
You're correct; that's what it was for. Originally, it was only able to say 300 words and phrases. Later, they discovered they could add more via software, so the add on modules were no longer needed.
Wow does this bring back memories! The TI is where I got my start. I still have it.
I miss these sounds.
You nailed it with this video, Sir.
I like how you dived in and solved the problems. "Old" was a great catch.
About 3 million sold. Its a solid machine and still running in interest groups around the world with new hardware connections via raspberry pi, 4MB ram disk, 1 and 2MB memory cards and more.
"The Attack" is fun!
I think the TI-99/4A is a very underrated system and very cool looking too! I have one, and the speech synthesizer, but I'm a bit green with envy about your expansion box and monitor 🙂
I grew up with this computer. IT was very fun to own! Loved it. The port on the front of the speech synthesizer was to add language packs/cards to expand its capabilities.
This was my first computer (the 4A). I didn't actually use it very log before I got a Commodore 64. But I remember spending HOURS playing Parsec! One of my favorite games on any platform.
Me too with Parsec, loved the voice guidance, plus making up sentences with the Speech syth and terminal emulator cartridge.
The joysticks were so awful my father bought a WICO converter that allowed the use of Atari joysticks on TI-99/4A. The frustration was greatly reduced and didn't have to junk the Atari compatible joysticks the way we did TI. The Sega Genesis controller is Atari compatible so using the WICO converter or similar you can use a Genesis controller on the TI-99/4A as well.
I use the Sega Master System joypads. ☝
@@Mrshoujo Now I know the Master System's controllers are also Atari compatible just like the Genesis. I never had a Master System but I did have a Genesis. One day I was curious about the control because it looked like it could fit on the Atari 800XL, which I owned and amazed that it plays. I also had a TI-99/4A with the WICO converter so that meant it was much more fun playing TI Invaders on a Genesis controller that the stock TI joysticks.
Ohhh the TI-99/4A, my first and favorite system I ever owned.
"Solid State Software" made me smile.
I remember this computer, had one when I was a young boy in school. Miss those days.😊we still have the tape deck that goes with this pc.😊I think we also had the speech synthesizer.
The games were awesome, we would play at Grandma and Grandpa's in Iowa.
Very cool! New subscriber! I picked up a TI-99/4A from ebay for about 50 bucks about a year ago.
The TI-99/4 was my very first computer, bought it 2nd hand off someone upgrading to a TI-99/4A. It got me started, until I reached the limits with what I had available (only had two cartridges Munch Man and TI Invaders). The person who sold it to me was supposed to give me the Advanced Basic cartridge, which allows a lot more capabilities, such as automatic sprite movement and a lot more basic commands. I ended up selling it when the Spectravideo SV-318 was released, with it using the same video chip but having a much better programming environment.
I did find about 20 years ago a TI-99/4A with lots of magazines and fair few software titles, and I have since picked up quite a few cartridges. Still works too.
I think you mean TI Extended Basic.
I love hearing about vintage computers, but what really peaqued my interest was that Terminator 2 Chess Wars game in the intro.
We’re very much looking forward to breaking that one out of the box…could even be a future video topic, you never know!
My elementary school had a dozen TI computers, nice color & sound in video games.
OLD! of course it is. Those of us that time-shared know that one. And yes, I had a TI and a PEB.
Greetings Santa!
Great video, definitely a shot of nostalgia for me. My grandmother picked one of these up cheap when TI discontinued them, and it was my first PC. I learned basic on the TI-99/4A and mostly used it to create my own simple adventure games, being a massive fan of Infocom games at the time (by the way, looks like you've got the box for Suspended over your shoulder in some of the shots, very nice!). Unfortunately my computer died with a loud pop and smell of burnt circuitry one day, I was devastated. Nice to see there are still some functioning units around!
I use my 40 year old TI every day. Maintaining a vintage computer as a daily driver, when you have zero soldering skills is risky, so your "loud pop and smell of burnt circuitry" caused shivers to run up my spine. I would be devastated (and desperate to get it up and running again.)
I will say though, I have rekindled the flame with a few of my old systems...Vetrex, Atari 8 bit and 16 bit, Apple 128k classics and power PC's, and had issues with every one of them (the Atari STe's age problems were beyond my skill set and I had to sell it in frustration - to someone who fixed everything in a matter of weeks)
But my 4A is built like a brick sh*thouse, and has never suffered so much as a failed capacitor (I knock on wood as I type), which is good because it was my first computer, and remains my favourite piece of tech-nostalgia now that I am a retired old fart.
In Spring 1983, JCPenny had these at $49.99 with a free Speech Synthesizer and Extended BASIC Cart. Monitor, Expansion Box, Cassette, etc were all expensive options.
My dad and I went to Pennies thinking they'd be sold out, but they had boxes and boxes of them.
Also in 1983, there was a recall on the power supply brick. I think they had you send in a card and you received the safer one in the mail. The replacements have a neon green sticker.
Btw, the speech synthesizer opens to serve as a convenient ashtray. ;)
I have a TI99/4a + PEB under my desk.
Used to write games for it, also produced and sold memory expansion boards.
One regret I have is I sold my Logo but still have the P-Card!
OLD was the command to load programs in the BASIC+ RTS (run time system) under RSTS/E on the DEC PDP/11.
To explain,
TI BASIC (and its brethren) are implementations of the ANSI BASIC standard, which are, in turn, direct implementations of the original Dartmouth BASIC.
The I/O commands in Dartmouth BASIC actually were commands of the underlying DTSS (Dartmouth Time Sharing System) operating system, and OLD was the command to load a file into memory, where NEW would take as a parameter the name of a new program.
This nomenclature didn't stick, and thus by the time HP BASIC and DEC BASIC-PLUS happened (which Microsoft BASIC was patterned after), OLD was replaced with LOAD.
Man you have brought back so many memories with your little setup. My Dad bought a similar setup except we had old dsk1 and old dsk2. Getting used to the syntax of TI-BASIC was a bit difficult at times but as a kid I picked it up quite easily. I haven't picked up one of those machines in 35 years. I remember Car Wars (you can switch two lanes at a time when your car is running slower) and you are right about the controller problem. you should take it apart and inspect it inside for what could very easily be simple contact cleaning... but as a computer repair technician I would be interested and geeked out by it anyway. It has been way too long since I played around with one of those. My dad had something like 3 or 4 twenty cartridge cases full of cartridges back then. I even had the grammar game you played. Makes me miss that old huge mess of everything we had. Unfortunately it was discarded by my dad long ago as he moved on. Thanks for the memories.
My first computer was the TI 99/4A back in 1983. I learned to write programs on that computer. I learned to write assembly language on that system using the Assembler cartridge. My first big assembly app was to create the sprite characters and generate the hexadecimal string used to define sprites.
The speech synthesizer was known as a side car expansion. You could end up with a whole table taken up by expansion side cars. Really wasn't practical which is why the PEB (Peripheral Expansion Box) was desired.
Also, the "killer app" for that system was the game Parsec. Think defender.
I found a TI-99/4A at a flea market once. Some papers on the inside of the box said that the computer came along as a free perk from a carpet installation in someones house sometime in the 80s!
This was the first computer I had when I was about 10 or 11 years old. I learned programming on this, and eventually upgraded to a Commodore 64 a few years later.
My first computer memories were of this and some cheap Spectrum variant. For some reason my dad's workplace had this to lend to workers, and at some point when they were going to throw it out he brought it home permanently. It was missing whatever carts were originally with it, but I bought Parsec off Ebay. That and Tombstone City were some of the very first games I remember playing.
There was a couple minicomputer systems that used OLD to load BASIC programmes from disk, like when using BASIC on Prime minicomputers. Also the Acorn BBC Computers had an OLD command that was used to recover a BASIC programme after the machine was reset.
Sounds good. Tonight I'm gonna party like it's TI-99
Loved my ti99/4a. Had the speech processor, the extended basic cart, the extended memory and used a reg tv. Was in the middle of programming a galaga clone because the sprite functionality was stupendous on this machine. Way ahead of apple basic for graphics functionality. Anyway, my aunt came in and unplugged the computer so she could vacuum. Yeah, no way to save my programs except to write them down on paper and re-input them. So, I lost it all. But, since I had typed it a million times, I had it memorized and re-entered it. Later got a cassette tape for saving programs. All the RE-typing helped me to become a better keyboarder. Later that year, I went to a friends house for a birthday party and entered in my program from memory, and my buddy’s uncle offered me 50 bucks for the code. My first professional code sale at 9 years old.
Do you know what the opening on top of the device was for?
I’ve really been enjoying this channel. Dude is like computer Bob Ross over here…
My dad bought one of these!! We had a lot of fun with it.
Great video, looking forward to more content
Chiming in that this was my first computer too! I'm sure we saw it in some regular store or Sears and it had a good price tag. I only had the computer and speech synthesizer. No expansion box. I wrote a TON of programs on it as a teenager (just stupid stuff emulating something else I had seen). Saving it all to cassette tapes! At some point I started writing programs that exceeded the memory! It came with an RF modulator to use it on a regular TV. It was SOOO simple to use the speech synthesizer as you demonstrated. Also, I think the speech synthesizer could have other language cartridges plugged in.. that might be why it opens on top. I would use it most of the day, everyday, and it would get really hot! My next computer was an Apple //e.. and then after that was a Packard Bell Legend Ie (earlier than the Legend IV you showed in another video).
Brings back good memory. Nice video. This TI-99 had a good/inexpensive (for the time) graphic processor from TI. I connected this graphic processor (in system) to my 'main' system being a TRS-80 model I. I did this by taking over the data bus and some control lines and putting the processor of the TI-99 in a halt condition (output bus tri-stated). I wrote on the TRS-80 system some assembler program that used a.o. the sprite capability of the graphic processor. One of the benefit doing it this way that i did not have to build the video output circuitry. BTW I bought the TI99 for $49,95.. Great fun.
I may have made the world's slowest PacMan, centipede, Donkey Kong, Space Games - they were all mine programmed in TI Basic. Had a world of fun with this computer.
The joystick will not register an "up" command unless the ALPHA LOCK key is disengaged (up), a known flaw with the TI-99/4A.
The hinged lid on the Speech Synthesizer add-on originally was supposed to hide a mini-cartridge port intended to expand the unit's vocabulary (similar to the one on the Speak & Spell). No Speech Synthesizer units shipped with this port, because TI found you could get arbitrary speech, including text to speech, working through software just as well. The Terminal Emulator II cartridge had a screen reader function and gave BASIC programs access to text to speech.
This was our second computer, which lived alongside (but definitely did not replace) our Vic 20.
Our base TI-99/4A (without any upgrades) came with the speech synthesizer and we used tape deck and cartridges for loading software. I used it off and on for a few years, until we got a Commie 64 - at that point the TI went away, and a few years later we gave it to a cousin who had gone to town with his TI build. Sad guy, investing heavily in a platform with a serious maximum limit; but he did have the expansion chassis, and all (or most anyways) of the slots were filled with a modem, RAM upgrades, and whatever else was useful. At the end of the day, I'd still stick with C64 over that beast.
This was the first actual home computer I ever laid eyes on, in 1981/82. A teacher at my school had this and a bit later other computers (ZX80 and 81, Spectrum, Vic 20). IIRC the only thing we ran on the TI-99 was a 'bio-rhythms' programme - I don't remember playing any games on it.
I still have my Ti-99/4a with speech synthesis and peripheral expansion.
My dad bought it for me I think in 1984.
FYI, the port on the left side was to plug in a proprietary audio cable so you can save data to a cassette recorder.
I think that top on the Speech Synthesizer was for future voice expansion that never happened.
In Australia we had radio shack nice to see this ❤️🇦🇺🇺🇸
The pacman/ Car game was actually an older Arcade game called "Dodge em" and the big improvement was the Color hahaha.
Original was a green screen.
Like Apple or Apple 2
I had the ti 99/4a with voice synth, expansion unit with more memory, disk controller ( I fitted two half height floppies ) and the modem. Added a daisy wheel printer and it made an excellent word processor. Proportional typing too!
I do miss it
back here in texas when i was i was in middle school 91/92 my teacher had a texas instruments we played donkey kong on fridays fun day lol i would play tower toplors on and old apple floppy didk lol
Still have mine. Hooked it up to my flat screen about 15 years old and the tv looked very discolored. I can remember pecking in code for hours with 50% chance that the program might work.
My first real computer in the early 80's! I didn't have any joy sticks but did use the keyboard a lot. Donkey Kong was my favorite. their was a Dungeon game that was really great fun as well. I spent many hours using the system and there are some games that use the speech unit. Fond memories but took me forever to find the extended cartridge of my own. (was a kid) I also had the expansion system and tape unit. What a blast from my past! Thanks for the video!
One of these was my first computer. It was cheap and I bought one for myself to take with me to go to college. It didn't last very long and the next year I bought myself a Commodore 64 which I enjoyed much more. Still, it was a decent and affordable introduction to personal computers and served me well for my first year of college.
Great video, I never owned a TI-99 but I did get use them in school. Liked and subbed, I can't wait to see more videos.
Brought back memories! Just stumbled across your channel and subscribed! Getting in at less than 100 subscribers as I know you are going to grow as your content is outstanding!
My 6th grade math teacher worked a second job at Kmart selling these things. He brought one in to class, and I played with it a little. This was '82-83, but I'm pretty sure it was the /4 version with the crappy keys.
You need to check out Realms of Antiquity -- a modern tile based rpg (al al Ultima) for the TI-99. Its amazing.
That sounds like it would be fun!
"OLD" is a hold-over from TI BASIC's Dartmouth roots
nice work!
I stepped out of the 4A when the editor/assembler cardridge was not to be obtained for over 6 months. That was very painful back then, so I moved on to the C64. Get the cartridge, as well as Parsec and TI-Invaders, the probably best game on the TI. But play it with Atari sticks.
I remember they had one of these setup next to a vic20 at the Sears near me. You could type on the computers and they occasionally had a program running on them. I thought the TI994/A looked pretty cool compared to the vic, but boy did it seem like a crappy thing to use - so I got the vic. Loved it. Watching you use this here, all I can think is - wow... what a crappy thing to use.
looks like a good fun computer.
I bought one of these in the late 80ies for $5 :D I was just collecting stuff back then.
This is a fascinating computer to me.
Hey Vintage Geek. The Speech Synthesizer works with Terminal Emulator 2. My daughter, now 41 spent hours with the speech synthesizer and TE2 module. With a call, you could get the keyboard to go straight to the synthesizer. That way, a random group of keys, no matter what, would try to speak it. Trying kkkkkkkkkk would make her laugh every time. Also, using the 4 arrow keys for munchman was the fastest and best way to win the game. I played it myself for hours.
Apparently you were oblivious to the fact that the little song that the TI99/4A played when you launched "Adjective Restaurant" was "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie.
in the basic lore i read as a kid, "OLD" was named in contrast to "NEW" which empties the basic interpreter so you can type a new program.
I still have my TI-99/4A with the PEB, speech synth module, horrible joysticks and all the games and such. Couldn't part with it several decades later. My guess about "old" is that it's the opposite of the basic command "new". "New" to start a fresh programming session, "old" to get one back.
The "OLD" command is taken from the mainframe and mini computers used in the industries during the 70's ... TI990/xxx series used it too I believe. It's literally what you said, old for old program.
Yes, and if you want to enter a new program, you type NEW, so it seems logical to use OLD to retrieve a program saved on disk. In other BASICs, like in many BASIC extensions for the C64, it has a different meaning: Since NEW frees the RAM occupied by a program already in memory (without erasing it), OLD or RENEW reactivates that program.
Very nice video. Thanks.
You have to play Parsec. It was a tough fast-paced game that everyone liked.
Also - TI Writer was pretty good. I did all my papers on it. It was a simple text editor but you could type hypertext-like commands and then run it through another program to print formatted text (bold, italic, etc). Just one step short of being Word Perfect, but years earlier.
As a proud Texan, i approve of this video
Just got yourself a new subscriber, interesting vid.
lots of information in my website for the TI-99/4A .. including a FAQ
This is a awesome channel.
8-bit guy has some competition?
You have the alpha lock pressed. That is why the up on the joystick doesnt work.
“Alpha Lock Ausrasten”! (From “Freddy,” a German game which checked the alpha lock)
I had no idea! Looking forward to trying it again now!
I actually returned not one but two pairs of TI joysticks to Toys’R’ Us back in 1983 because the “up” wouldn’t work, until I realized you have to release the alpha lock key. Doh!
Oh wow! I never would have even thought of that as being the reason…now I have to go back and play again, should be much better with the ability to use up!
@@vintagegeek TI's hardware system was quite advanced. The operating system in the console only 'knows' about the hardware that's in the console or can directly attach to it, specifically joysticks and the cassette cable.
There's no code in the console for operating a disk controller, RAM expansion, RS232-C/PIO (which you're missing), Speech Synthesizer or anything else. How those work is the peripherals contain their own driver, in TI parlance the Device Service Routine or DSR.
At boot the computer scans "ports" on its 8 bit expansion bus, looking for DSRs announcing their existence. The DSRs seamlessly integrate into the operating system. Plug in the disk controller and the device names of DSK1, DSK2, DSK3 and all the commands used for disk operations are available. Unplug the disk controller and all of that is gone, like it was never there.
By being so flexible, unlike other micro computers that attempted to pack all the system software for every peripheral they made (or intended to) into the base unit, the TI-99 can have *any* kind of peripheral made for it, as long as a DSR can be written to operate it and make it accessible to the console. There was a card with USB 1.1 ports and a Smart Media slot, unfortunately introduced almost simultaneously with the ending of Smart Media use by Fuji and Olympus when they switched to xD Picture Card. There have been various hard drive controllers for MFM, SCSI, and IDE. The ForTI card was a MIDI card which used four of the TI sound chips of the same type as in the console. I don't know if its software could use all five chips or just the four on the ForTI.
Other 3rd party hardware packed various expansions into the console (like the Zenoboard) or into a side connected box smaller than the huge Peripheral Expansion Box (PEB). There have been a number of hardware projects that drastically enhanced the computer like the TIM and SOB (Son Of Board), the PGRAM, SNUG. SNUG is a German group that produced cards like the SGCPU (Second Generation CPU), BwG drive controller, HSGPL, 32K16 and others.
There was a wide variety of 3rd party hardware produced, long after TI pulled the plug in 1983. Some is still in production. IIRC one can still buy new PEB cards to build a complete SNUG system.
An early one was the Myarc Geneve 9640. That was a single board computer which plugged into the PEB and didn't need the 99-4/A console. It had a connector for a PC/XT keyboard. IIRC it began as a collaboration with TI then became fully Myarc's project when TI quit computers.
The most recent innovation is the F18A FPGA replacement for the TMS9918A Video Display Processor. That adds a VGA output and fixes several issues with the original VDP, like the max of four visible sprites on a line. TI would work that limitation into some games like Chisholm Trail where some of the enemies could briefly turn 'invisible'. It's not a hardware limitation, it's a 'feature'. What the F18A should be able to do but hasn't been programmed for yet is a true bitmap mode where each pixel can be individually colored. In "bitmap" mode the display is split into 1 pixel tall by 8 pixel wide stripes, each able to have two colors. If one color is transparent then the background color shows through. The MSX1 computers used the same VDP and there are a lot of game screens showing how that limitation could be worked around.
The TI system I had was a console, PEB with TI floppy controller with three drives, TI 32K, TI RS232-C/PIO, Speech Syntheziser, homemade dual Atari joystick adapter, and various cartridges and disks. I had an Epson LX800 dot matrix printer connected to the PIO (Parallel Input Output) port. I had six other consoles and a second PEB that (IIRC) only had a floppy controller, might have had the 32K or the serial/parallel card. I don't remember which.
This was my first computer. I learned to program basic in this. We later got an apple//e bandit almost seemed like a downgrade. But I digress.
I had bought the 99/4a when it was 99 dollars back in the eighties then the bottom fell out and TI quit the home computer business triton took over and I bought the expansion box which came with a disk drive, 32 k memory and the controller board for the disk drive for 299.00. I already bought extended basic so now I actually had a full working computer. Minus a printer. I also bought the game console that was voice recognition so I could play the baseball game and name each player. The other three games were big foot, I'm hiding , and sewer mania my favorite was bigfoot I went through all levels then it got too hard. The other games I didn't like too well was parsec , mountain climber and an adventure game I had no clue how to get out of the first level. Kinda like Narnia game but much harder. 73
There was a beige model, too!
What's the copyright date for "Car Wars"? Steve Jackson Games brought out the tabletop game of the same name (still available in its 6th edition) in 1981, but I don't think they are related.
Great video, nicely put together and informative. Subscribed. 🕹️
I had one back in the day. It was slooow. And suffering from very poor software support. I went from ZX's over TI99, and finally saw the light with a C64.
My uncle gave me of them from is pile in the late 80's. My mom threw out all the books/ tapes/ hardware/software in the trash when i went to college. :(
If I remember you can use the arrow keys instead of the joysticks. I have the complete setup including the expansion box , disk drive & dot matrix printer.
The TI 99/4’s greatest legacy was probably to light a fire beneath Commodore to release a significantly more capable successor to the VIC-20: the Commodore 64.
They make a cartridge called disk manager that makes using the disk system much easier.
Saw that in the paperwork and we were surprised that cartridge wasn’t in this particular collection…now we’re going to try to find one!
@@vintagegeek disk manager II is the most used version. Should be a few on eBay. Also the cassette port works well as strange. Also a serial port card option can be added to the expansion box for a serial printer or serial control. In basic you can send to the serial card example List “RS232” will list the program to the serial printer or serial device connected. The TI had some different commands in their basic interpretation. This was my first computer back in school in 1984. After that I moved on to the Apple II computers in high school
My guess on the "OLD" command is that the "O" represents a disk shape and "LD" is an abbreviation for LOAD.
Nice theory... Until you find out OLD CS1 loads from the first cassette drive. :-) Took me FOREVER to figure that out!
The Save command is "NEW"... so, it has to do with "are you creating a new file, or accessing an existing one?"
In original Dartmouth BASIC, NEW created a new named program and OLD retrieved an existing names program.
London Drugs ~1982, "dad can we get it?" , if you learn to program something within a week I'll buy it now. BOOM!
i have car chase on tape for my vic 20. its similar to that game.
What if you have an hdmi tv, what type of adapter cable do you need, please?
The Ti99 was a great machine for its time. Munchman and Ti Invaders were much better than Pac Man and Space Invaders in my opinion. What is the background music track during the Munchman segment?
It would be fun to have "The Hedge Maze" and "Danny and Wendy Torrance" going through it, with "Jack" chasing them!"
"The Shining"
make sure the ALPHA LOCK key is OFF (in the UP position) - that will fix the up movement on the joystick. If ALPHA LOCK is on, UP will not work on the joystick
Why is there so much interface on the screen whenever it plays sound?