Floppy Days 56 - TI99 Emulation, Web Sites with Chris Schneider and Rich Polivka

Welcome to episode 56 of the Floppy Days Podcast where old computers come to life again.  I’m Randy Kindig.  I want to thank Ian Baronofsky and Rick Reynolds for providing their thoughts and memories of the TI-99 computer.  This is the fifth and final installment in a series of episodes on the TI-99/4A home computer.  This episode will cover TI-99 ads, user groups and shows, emulation, buying one today, community, and Web sites.  My very special co-hosts for this episode are again two well-known figures in the TI-99 community: Chris Schneider, who produces the SHIFT838 newsletter and Rich Polivka, who manages the popular 99er.net Web site.  They provide a ton of information about the amazing TI-994/A home computer.  I hope you enjoy this.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions

• Juiced.GS Apple II Newsletter - https://juiced.gs/
• Commodore 64 Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner by Danny Davis - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0861611454/?tag=flodaypod-20
• The ZX81 Pocket Book by Trevor Toms - http://www.amazon.com/dp/095073022X/?tag=flodaypod-20
• Introduction to Machine Code for Beginners (Usborne Computers & Electronics) - Lisa Watts, Mike Wharton - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0860207358/?tag=flodaypod-20

News

• Bill Degnan’s “History of Commodore Computers” Poster - http://www.vintagecomputer.net/poster_detail.cfm
• Floppy Days Logo Contest Poll - https://www.facebook.com/groups/floppydays/permalink/1699121653679601/?qa_ref=qd
• TRS-80 Trash Talk Podcast with Peter Cetinski - http://www.trs80trashtalk.com
• Stan Veit’s History of the Personal Computer Podcast with David Greelish - http://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Stan_Veit.html
• VCF Southeast 4.0 - April 2 & 3 2016, Roswell, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-southeast-4-0/
• VCF East - April 15-17, 2016 - InfoAge Science Center, 2201 Marconi Rd., Wall, NJ, 07719 - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-southeast-4-0/
• 25th Annual Last Chicago CoCoFest - http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ - April 23 & 24, 2016, Heron Point Convention Center, Lombard, IL, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-3
• TI Fest West 2016 - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/248617-pnw-ti-994a-fest-west-2016-april-30th/ - April 30, Centralia WA
• KansasFest, 28th edition - https://www.kansasfest.org/ - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, from Tuesday, July 19, through Sunday, July 24
• Atari Party = http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/atariparty/ - Saturday, July 30th, 2016, 12 p.m -5 p.m., Yolo County Public Library, Davis, CA
• Vintage Computer Festival West - August 6-7 at the Computer History Museum, in Mountain View, California. - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west-xi/  
• VCF MIDWEST 11 September 10-11, 2016, Elk Grove Village, IL - http://www.vcfmw.org/
• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - 11th annual Expo at the Oregon Convention Center on October 21-23, 2016 - http://www.retrogamingexpo.com/

Feedback

• Retrocomputer Museum - http://retrocomputermuseum.co.uk/
• Web browser project on the TI written by Stuart Conner - http://www.avjd51.dsl.pipex.com/ti/ti.htm#internet_web_browser
• TI game that allows people to play chess against each other on the web by Corey Anderson - http://myti99.com

Ads

• “TI’s Home Computer. This is the one!” Ad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlU4HTefxmc
• Another Bill Cosby video ad - $100 rebate (1983) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1nB71Ndmvs
• Another video ad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trNcXw6nRU0

User Groups and Shows

• Chicago TI-99/4A Users Group - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php
• Chicago TI International World Faire - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php?page=Faire
• Rich attended the 18th faire in 2000 - http://www.99er.net/chicago/chicago.html
• TI99ers On-Line User Group - http://www.ti99ers.org/news.php
• TI-99 Club in Vienna, Austria still has regular meetings - http://ti99blog.webs.com/
• TI User Group (UK) - In operation for 27 years - http://www.ti99ug.co.uk/index.php
• TI-99 Italian User Club - http://www.ti99iuc.it/

Emulation

• Classic99 by Harmless Lion - www.harmlesslion.com/software/classic99
• MESS (Multiple Emulator Super System) - http://www.ninerpedia.org/index.php/MESS
• Using MESS along with TIIMAGETOOL - http://www.ninerpedia.org/index.php/TIImageTool
• Win994a - TI99/4A Simulator for Windows by Cory Burr - http://www.99er.net/win994a.shtml
• ‘ASM994A’ program - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/229206-using-asm994a/
• TI-99 For Windows (TI99W) by Fred Kaal - http://www.ti99-geek.nl/
• JS99er - http://www.js99er.net
• V9T9 Emulator - http://eswartz.github.io/emul/
• TIGAMEROOM - http://www.ti99iuc.it/web/go?94RUNC
• PC99 from CaDD electronics - http://www.cadd99.com

Community

• TI 99er’s Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2209774843/
• 99er.net Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/The-Ti-994a-Home-Computer-Page-196432643721232/timeline/
• Yahoo Online Groups - https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ti99-4a/info , https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TI994A/info
• AtariAge - http://ti99.atariage.com/
• Google+ - TI99 Videos (YouTube) - https://plus.google.com/+Globeron-TI99VIDEOS/videos

Web Sites

• TI Magazines - http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/micro/micro.html
• TI-99/4A Home Computer Page (Rich Polivka) - http://www.99er.net/ (or .org, but not .com)
• Bill Gaskill’s TI Timeline - http://www.ti99ers.org/timeline/ , http://www.99er.net/hist1.html
• TI-99/4A Home Computer Book Archive - http://www.hexbus.com/tibooks/
• Archive.org - http://archive.org
• Mainbyte - http://mainbyte.com  - great reference site for TI-99/4A material hardware and command references as well as hardware projects for building and upgrades
• Video Game House - http://www.videogamehouse.net/ - Covers game carts for the TI; Manuals, boxes, screenshots, trivia
• TI Tech Pages - http://www.nouspikel.com/ti99/titechpages.htm - Architecture, processor, memory, peripherals, upgrades, programming.
• TI-99/4A Game Shelf - http://tigameshelf.net/ - Collection of disk/cassette images for use with emulators.  Frequently updated, good instructions.
• WikiPedia for the TI-99 - http://Ninerpedia.org
• Hexbus - http://www.hexbus.com/TI-99_4A_Home_Computer_Page/The_TI-99_4A_Home_Computer_Page.html - John Guidry’s site for hardware and software for the TI-99/4a
• TI99 Geek - http://www.ti99-geek.nl/ - Fred Kaals site.  Designer of the HDX upgrade (store files on a PC via serial connection); many good projects and programs.
• Arcade Shopper - http://www.arcadeshopper.com   Original carts (Rasmus), cartridge boards, eproms
• Tex*In Treasures - http://www.texintreasures.com/ - Used to have NOS & used TI and CC40 items. Site still available, but has been showing maintenance message for months.
• Rabbit Engineering - http://www.rabbitengineering.com/ has mini TI99 ‘models’
• Zazzle - http://www.zazzle.com/jchildre has Alpiner and Wumpus shirts/hats; Cafe press stores (search TI-99)
• Terry Stewart (Tezza) video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6VjsVwRXYk
• The TI99ers Online User Group - http://www.ti99ers.org.  It is intended to be a "clearinghouse" for TI-99/4A and compatibles information.
• TI99ers Hall of Fame - http://www.ti99hof.org/
• The Western Horizon Technologies FTP server - ftp://ftp.whtech.com - maintained by Don O'Neil and, through the efforts of many but most notably Charles Good, has become the premiere archive of TI-99 and related material
• TOSEC collection at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/Texas_Instruments_TI-99_4a_TOSEC_2012_04_23