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new aquisition ti99/4a

L

linemanduke

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Mar 22, 2006
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517
Location
marietta georgia
well i got myself a B-Day present minus printer
2008-02-15TIComputer4003.jpg

hasn't got here yet but it will be here soon, shipped today. any quirks i should know about or things to check before diving in?
 
came just in time for my birth day party lol hvcing fun with the best of 99'er books and tapes

it came with a parallax ti printer interface will that work with my epson rx-80?
 
Nice unit and accessories.

You know I've never seen a Ti/99 machine in New Zealand. I don't think they ever got here.
 
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btw it works like a charm (printer too) only thing missing is extended basic(and a backspace+arrows ) i think and rf modulator but luckly uses same cheat cord as ,my atari 800
 
Yeah definitely pick up Extended Basic if you get a chance, especially if you like playing around with the graphics end of things, the sprite commands on it are pretty easy to use.

Gotta agree with Terry regarding the keyboard -- the layout with the function key is kinda weird and takes some getting used to, and the overall feel of the keyboard is so-so, at best.

But the TI does have great cartridge games for it, though!
 
The first and only TI-99/4A I have seen in operation belonged to a schoolmate's family, c:a 1984-85. Since then I have seen one or two loose without power supplies. Visually the black and silver reminded me about an Atari XL, or if it is the other way around since the XL series came out many years after the TI.

BTW, I was also low-balling on a loose TI-99/4A this week, but it went for much more than I had expected. It makes me regret not bidding (more) on a very nice boxed unit in Germany before Christmas. The final bid was so low that including international shipping it would've been less than $50.
 
A few years ago at TCF, a guy came around with a couple of TI 99/4A machines.
They looked to be brand new in the box, but nobody wanted 'em.

I suppose they were holding out for a Coleco Adam. :-D
 
I've had my 99/4A systems since they first came out (I have a 99/4, a 99/4P, a 99/8, and a Geneve 9640 in addition to the 4A systems I have). The biggest quirks with them have to do with the contacts in the cartridge port. There is a bit of felt in there that gets really dirty--and which should be either removed or cleaned with some type of solvent (don't do this with it installed). It will cause the cartridges to work erratically or not at all. Some of the keyboards have a tendency to stick as well--the earliest keyboard has a pair of metal contact fingers under each keytop (they are safe to remove). They can then be cleaned with contact cleaner as well. Usual symptoms are failure to be recognized or a double character on screen afterwards. Later keyboards used a different kind of keys--and if they go bad it is just best to replace the keyboard. Most TI users have several of the cream Mitsumi keyboards as spares (Radio Shack sold a lot of these as parts after TI pulled out of the market).
 
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