Six TI-99/4A Hardware Upgrades I Can't Live Without
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- čas přidán 13. 06. 2021
- A review of the hardware upgrades that contribute the most to my TI-99/4A experience, in which I talk about why I think these upgrades are the must-have items for just about anybody in the 2020s on the TI-99.
#ti994a #retrocomputing #texasinstruments - Hry
Also I have said this before but I really appreciate these videos of yours. I love learning about the 99 and there isn't much in the way of videos. I'm glad you are making them. This hardware addition was much needed. Thank you
It warms my heart to no end seeing the SAMS card being made into such an important upgrade. I, Joe Delekto, Chris Bobbitt, Art Green, and of course Tony Lewis never could have imagined the software being written for it!
It may have taken a while to see the fruits of that labour, but in 2022, SAMS is pretty much a must-have. I suppose all it took was a couple killer apps. Between Force Command and Realms of Antiquity, no present-day 99er should go without!
@@PixelPedant Bruce Harrison made a few good apps but nothing like these two that you mentioned.
Joe Delekto and Jon Dyer made TINopoly, which used 72K of SAMS memory.
I think I still have the AEMS Project notes, but I am not 100% certain of that. They may have been given to the Hoffmans or the SW99ers.
@@jameskrych7767 if you find them let us know and we will get them archived in the ftp
If you do have those notes, doubtless folks would be interested! Either post on AtariAge, or message me there, or email me at pixelpedant@gmail.com if you have something you're able to share of those! That's some important TI history.
@@arcadeshopper Will do!
I got back into the TI with perfect timing...The F18A and NanoPEB (and SID master) were easily available, and a year later SAMS cards and FlashROM99 were released.
So my TI got decked out far more conveniently than those purchased a year before or later. (although I missed the released of Pitfall on cartridge ... Yes I have it for my FinalGrom, but cartridge versions of software look so nice on the shelf. I learned my lesson and fire money off to Greg at Arcade Shopper whenever I see something new that I NEED on cart - like Turmoil !!!)
The NanoPEB has served me so well for so long, that I have still to make the step-up to TIPI, but will probably pick up a sidecar 32K and TIPI sometime this year (a pensioner's income makes such decisions for me nowadays)
But first I have to replace my PEB fan...fired it up to load Realms of Antiquity the other day, and the racket made it impossible to use (the NanoPEB, causes it to be used so much less frequently that I had no idea how loud the fan had become...man, pay a fortune for hardware in the 80's and it needs repair just 40 short years later!!! sheesh!)
There is one addition I would dearly love for my TI (that does not exist) An FM radio card and a program to tune the radio and play through the speakers.
Neat idea. The fact that the PSG has a wide open, externally accessible analogue audio input means that the limits on sound expansion are basically non-existent. As long as you're fine with the fact that it's always going to be a bit noisy, any sound expansion that can be imagined is possible.
You indeed hit on all the essential upgrades to the TI. Well done.
It’s so exciting all the new upgrades available.
Wow alot of comments here. I just got back into restoring my older collection and made it to my childhood consoles, the Atari 2600 and my TI-99. I managed to snag a second one a little while back.
Hope you enjoy the rediscovery! Revisiting the system with every release and surviving prototype at our fingertips, these days, is a wonderful luxury. Just need to pick up a FinalGROM to make that happen, if you haven't already.
With TIpi installed you can now add clock time & date functions to your software that you write, especially to assembly programs. I find that a must to include in any of my development lately.
Just discovered your channel. I'm 52. I'm proud to say I've been a 99'er for 40 years 😁 I do attend events of the TI-User Group UK, but unfortunately my TI gear has been in the garage for a few years, including around 3 PEBs, 2 Geneve 9640's, and an MBX 😉
Sounds like you've got all the gear you need, any time you do want to revisit it. I hope you find something on my channel to spur on a new project or interest, even four decades in!
OHHH! More goodies to get! One problem I have with my TI/99/4A, or one of them is that it will randomly restart and I think it has something to do with heat, it seems to get really hot just forward of the cart slot? I know they all do but??? Then once I fix that, time to get the upgrades. Very good video!
Yeah, that 40 year old PSU can be an issue. Random restarts itself isn't a common issue, in general. But a good PSU replacement solution is something folks have poked away at for years. Problems in that department just haven't been quite bad enough and pervasive enough to make it top of the priorities list, so far. I suppose we'll get there.
Thanks to you PixelPendant, I really enjoy the TI99. I'm retired and fairly new to retro computing. I've seen most of your videos and plan to see them all. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on a TIPI or at least a FinalGROM99? Thanks!!
Thanks for saying! Glad you're enjoying the TI-99. Peripherals have been a little harder to come by lately due to the chip shortage, but the two vendors who often have TIPIs and/or FinalGROMs are Brewing Academy (thebrewingacademy.com/products/texas-instruments-finalgrom-99?variant=16911146942564) and ArcadeShopper (www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/store/#!/TIPI/c/115338525).
Thanks!
Thanks! I'm a (relatively) new owner of both a black/silver and a beige. I bought a joystick adapter and FinalGROM99 already, just tried out the FinalGROM99 for the first time today, and on both machines it was a little unreliable. I've used some contact cleaner on the cartridge ports on both machines, and it's still a little hit-and-miss. I'm glad to hear about all of the other essential upgrades. Are the TIPI and SAMS sidecar only? I'm actually not that fond of things hanging off the side of the machine.
FYI after writing this I did learn about the QI board, and yes my beige is a QI. That mystery solved, although the FinalGROM99 is still temperamental.
Both SAMS and TIPI are available as both sidecars and PEB cards. I have both, but use the sidecars more, for simple reasons of practicality and space economy.
I don't own a TI-99 but now that I know that it has a speech synthesis module I would at least love to emulate one and make a full text adventure without text!
Not just speech synth, but text to speech as well. And the values to which TI's text to speech software (via the Text to Speech disk or Terminal Emulator II) encodes speech are generally more compact than equivalent English text (e.g., "tell" is three phonemes, which are encoded as three bytes in TI allophone speech, but is represented by four letters as text, and thus four bytes, in that case). So there is a great deal of opportunity to use this medium as freely and abundantly as one would use text, if not more so.
Oh wow! That could be even more fun!
I m ready for another legends of antiquity video!!!
As am I! It's right near the top of my list of upcoming videos.
New to this. Was wondering where I can looks for the SAMs card. And where to watch for a F18A and finalgrom to come on sale?
Arcadeshopper (www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/store/) has some SAMS cards at the moment. The major builder in the community has just finished a batch, so we've now once again got supply. FinalGROM and F18A availability are difficult to predict right now, as the parts shortage has meant getting the required components is a nightmare, for the moment. I am optimistic F18A will see some action soon though.
@@PixelPedant Thanks for the fast reply. With the Tipi I think I can use my TI 99 in term for work, since I work from home now. And it will help me stay focused. Also it will be fun customizing the heck out of it. Well at least that is my goal. ;). I am glad I found your channel. I am slowly going through it on breaks.
Could you put out a picture of all this connected to your TI?
Thanks for that video! I bought a TI-99/4A on eBay (looks great but was very cheap because "untested" -- hopefully it will be easy to get working!). 🙂 I already have modern upgrades for my Apple II and Tandy CoCo computers, and I was very curious about what was available in the way of useful modern upgrades for the TI-99/4A. I'll definitely have to look into getting a Final GROM and one or two others!
Yup, the FinalGROM is definitely the place to get started. Given nearly all of the most popular software for TI-99 is 1) cartridge software, or 2) disk software that has been turned into cartridge software for the sake of convenience. So the FinalGROM gives you access to about 95% of the library.
@@PixelPedant Hey pal, speaking of upgrades. Is there any upgrade for unlocking the GROM constraint on the 1983 firmware ?
I have been a TI99 user since 1983, I still have the silver console with it´s beautiful PEB, only thing I dont have is the monitor.
Recently I bought a beige one for having the PAL version, but this one has the new firmware and I am keen on atarisoft cartridges
"GROM Buster" devices were released by a couple vendors, for running ROM carts on machines with the 2.2 operating system. But they're pretty uncommon and never attracted a lot of interest, as the 2.2 units to which this is relevant were always just avoided, aren't very numerous, came very late, and at any rate could just run (originally) ROM software from the 32K instead if necessary.
@@PixelPedant Thanks for the info, i will look for some of those grom buster
Good morning and another wonderful video. I'm sure at some point I'll have all of those upgrades. I'm into the commodore pcs as well as the 99 and I have this personal choice probably when it comes to upgrades. Where do I draw the line? First off I will say if I could have all original hardware in a new state I would go that route. I want to experience the 99 as it was with all the wait times and frustrations. However getting a disk system and good disks is getting hard to do. So I have decided that it's ok to upgrade if there is no alternative because of price or availability. Where I kind of draw the line is upgrading beyond what was possible back in the day. Why not just emulate then and if you are playing a fictional machine that never existed than what's the point? What is your take on this? It's just a personal preference thing, no wrong answers. And maybe I'm just look for a reason the go past my own line because realms looks fun.
What about rebuilding the TI99-4A using the TMS99105A+1GB RAM instead of the TMS9900 so you can run programs like the Mandelbrot Set that requires Floating Point.
Good choices! But, I would have added the GOTEK disk system. And, who is the person making the new "F-18a"?
The F18A Mk2 is being made by Matthew Hagerty (but is still in the works). Small numbers of the original F18A design are being made by Hans23. For details, see here: atariage.com/forums/topic/315327-f18a-diy/
So I have a SAMS card (modern one from a few years ago) for my PEB. So I'm looking for a Tipi for it. But man they seem to be pricey! Do you recommend getting the PEB version (therefore, completing my setup) or perhaps invest in the sidecar version? Which means I would need a side card SAMS too?
Finally, where's a good place to buy this stuff?
If you've already got a 1MB SAMS via PEB, a TipiPEB would certainly make sense to me. Looks like Greg at www.arcadeshopper.com has them in stock, so that's where I'd grab one.
Good vid, I have the finalgrom, 32k sidecar, speech synth and joystick adaptor, but the rest is a bit beyond me as I've never soldered anything. At the same time I'm never sure how I feel about upgrading systems beyond what was around in the day(32k as an example was), feels a little like coverting a historic piece into a different machine than it ever was if that makes sense? Alot of these systems have great upgrades available these days but I always have that same nagging feeling. Kind of prefer a seperate updated system as with Spectrum Next and keep my old hardware vanilla.
Just so you know, if F18A's become available again....grab one. There is no soldering in the instalattion...just remove the TMS9918A chip and plop in the new one. No fuss no muss...about a 5 minute task once the case is opened. (The hardest part is deciding whether to keep the TI heat shield or not...I Dremelled mine to work, but I would recommend just ditching it.)
Being able to hook your TI up to any VGA monitor while providing emulator quality display on real iron is worth the effort (not to mention removing the 4 sprites per line limitation making all your games look sooo much better - no more disappearing/flickering pickles in BurgerTime)
But I hear you....I also have a 100% stock TI...but it never comes out to play anymore.
@@PeBoVision damn those flickering burger time pickles, haha. Thanks for the info, that does sound good, I will keep an eye.
@@PeBoVision Will all the regular old TI games look and play the same with the f18A or does it change colors on them too?Thx
Oh, I also need to get the speech version of super demon attack. Was that a whole different cart or some mod to the regular cart?
It was a disk version and a prototype. A fully functioning one, so there's every reason to play it, and nowadays it's been turned into a cart image, so somebody could burn it if they were motivated. But all commercial carts had speech removed.
Since I'm a bit of a purist, I use an old RCA CRT tv with my ti99. Would I notice any graphical improvements with a F18A installed?
Not if the signal needs to be converted to Composite NTSC for use by the TV in the end. F18A outputs RGB (specifically, RGBHV@31KHz), so your best cases scenario CRT is an RGB display supporting 31KHz (i.e., VGA monitor). The purist option of just sticking with Composite+CRT is fine if you don't need 80 column mode.
I cant sleep, watching your video on a 40 year old system- need more upgrades-- I really need an intervention, but thanks!
Check out the emu for Win 10.
@@tenminutetokyo2643 thanks, I will!
How about doubling the scratch pad memory speeds up the operation across the board no other mods needed than replacing the two men chips
Are there any third party sidecar floppy drives? For all those floppy disk games.
There aren't any modern third party sidecar floppy drive controllers per se. There was TI's own sidecar floppy controller, but it's rare. For most folks, if they've got a floppy drive, they've got it in their PEB attached to a legacy controller. And modern expansion is overwhelmingly floppy emulation. Partly motivated by the fact that the legacy TI floppy solution is SSSD, and nobody's willing to settle for 90K. Partly motivated by the reality that drives fail.
You need to put links to these products!
myself i bought 2 atari joystyk and wired them instead the originals
Unfortunately it's impossible to get a lot of this stuff now.
Are you aware of any speech synthesizer PEB adapter that is available to but in 2022?
Chris Schneider (a.k.a. Shift838) has a new speech synth PEB adapter he's been producing just recently. Details are here: atariage.com/forums/topic/332229-838-speech-peb-adapter-pre-order-up/
Do you have to disconnect the floppy drive to run the TIPI PEB?
Nope, no problem leaving the floppy controller (and drive) in there. I expect most people will. It's just customary to put the TIPI at a lower CRU base address so it takes precedence with respect to device names (DSK1, etc.) it maps.
@@PixelPedant Thanks
@@PixelPedant One other question. I was shocked to see how much the Raspberry PIs cost have gone up. I remember buying them for $40-$50. Now there $100 plus. Do you think the Raspberry PI Zero W is too week for the TIPI PEB?
Yeah, prices have gone crazy, with supply scant. Happily, a Pi Zero W is fine.
@@PixelPedant So there is no loss in speed or ability?
Is it possible to connect a HP inkjet printer to the TI 99/4a?
Printing options are kind of all over the place. But that's mostly just a function of how chaotic printing technology itself has been, over the past 40 years. TIPI's "PIO" device provides one modern option with legacy compatibility. But the legacy solution is an Epson-compatible printer hooked up via the RS-232.
@@PixelPedant Thank you. 👍
I really need an ebay break.
Don't we all :)
Oh yeah….
No peb??
The best argument for the PEB these days it seems to me is the p-Code Card, since that's still PEB only (with the sidecar version being unobtanium - never sold on the consumer market). And while I'd kind of feel my TI setup was incomplete without it, it's not hard to understand why so few TI users take an interest in it. Between the failure rate of the cards themselves, and the lack of native software. I do hope more take an interest in the future, though.
Why?
Owt???