It's been a bit since I've caught one of your videos, but they've become very well put together in the interim; fine work! Also, fine work making me want to spend all kinds of money 🤣
Ha ha ha, I don't even own a TI-99, and never did in the past (C64 fan here). But Chris' videos make me wanting a TI-99 with all the extras mentioned in this video, therefore spending all kinds of money as well. 😆
that is incredible stuff! excellent job on getting this great info about the ti out there ..i love that these things are even possible on this format! well done!
Back in the day, the cartridge that truly changed my experience was Disk Manager II. Anf even though there are now variants and substitutes, it was still my go to for most disk and file functions. My experience changed again with Force Command. Don't have a TIPI (yet) but it functions fine with my NanoPEB. Adding a browser with the TIPI will drag me kicking and screaming into the merging of two era's.
I love your videos. It's great that the TI is getting some proper TH-cam love for a change. In fact, I would like to formerly nominate you as the new TI-99/4a spokesman. Don't get too excited...you're replacing Bill Cosby. LMAO!
the TMS9900 was a different beast, but a much more capable beast. It was always the best processor architecture for supporting multitasking by avoiding stack and having the memory-to-memory architecture and workspaces.
Interesting that the OS ROM gave TI-Basic the ability to save/load to/from disk. I was a bit surprised to hear you say at the end that the only DOS TI gave 4A users was the p-system! Given the 8-bit world I came from (Atari and Apple mainly), hearing that sounded confusing, because there, DOS was what gave you the ability to interact with a disk drive. If you didn't have that, all you could do was save/load using a cassette drive. I listened to this video again, and now I understand. You're talking about extended features, like being able to manage files. That still feels weird, though, because without file management, how would you, say, free up some space on disk by deleting an old version of a program? When I programmed on 8-bits, I'd sometimes create different versions of the same program, if I was experimenting with something. Once I solved my problem, I'd want to delete some of the other versions, because they were just scrap. I still do this when I get into 8-bit programming. :) It sounds like if you didn't have a DOS, you'd be stuck with the experiments taking up disk space. Bummer.
We had the Disk Manager 2 cartridge which took care of all those tasks. Later we had DM1000 and DSKU, shareware programs distributed by user groups and on BBSs. Funnelweb, which is mentioned in the video, was an attempt to improve the TI’s word processing and add other utilities to create a disk for daily use. There was also the MUGBoot program which was the same idea -a menu of utilities (which could include disk managers, word processing, loaders, and launching BASIC or other languages) on one disk that would run at startup.
So even if you bought a disk drive and controller for your TI-99/4a back in the early '80s, you could only load or save files? No way to view a directory, or delete or rename files? Did Extended BASIC solve this?
The Disk Manager cart was the main first party tool for disk and file management operations, and that (or a third party equivalent) was a must have if you're dealing with disks. That being said, since BASIC supports various file operations inherently, even though it doesn't have a CATALOG command for example, you can write such a routine in BASIC pretty easily, so you're not helpless without a disk manager.
I had a couple of BASIC programs that gave me my disk commands, including List. Part of formatting any disk was copying your DOS tools to the new floppy. I got a lot of mileage with Super Extended BASIC, which was a library of compiled assembler code. I used it to create a primitive verb-object command line DOS, including a windowed text editor. I can proudly say it even did nested commands. E.g., Verb1 Verb2 Object would apply Verb1 to the result of Verb2-Object.
Munchman with the Pacman palate is very impressive. The graphical changes such as dots instead of the chain and also the power pellets... is that your creation?
No, that's TI's first (disk-based) version of Munch Man, which debuted at Winter CES '82. Naturally, the cart version is far more well known. But the disk version's always circulated too.
"Freaky bastard, that Wumpus!" 👍🤣👍 As to the Internet in "text only" mode, I used to use "Lynx" over Telnet, but that was with an IBM-PC AT clone in the early 1990's. I wonder if someone EVER implemented "Lynx" for the TI-994/A or any other 1980's non "Apple" or "IBM" system.🤔
Both FCMenu and Virgil do come with Force Command. They're disk-based programs that are part of the standard distribution and would normally be launched from the command line. In the same way that EDIT and FDISK, for example, are binaries which come standard with MS-DOS.
I setup my disk drives on the 99 and the disk manager reads the floppy use but when I shut down and insert Ext Basic and chose Ext Basic the screen stays blue no cursor. The TI Basic is ok. Any ideas? Thanks.
The key difference is that XB looks for a file called LOAD on DSK1, which will function as an autoloader if present. TI BASIC does not do this and will be unaffected by the status or contents of disks insofar as startup is concerned. But conversely, XB may fail to load successfully if 1) There is a problematic LOAD file on DSK1, 2) There are other issues interfering with successful reading of DSK1.
It does not have a built-in format command, which I suppose partly reflects its TIPI orientation, where this would never be necessary. All commands can be found explained here: github.com/jedimatt42/fcmd/wiki/Commands
Thanks! I really like your editing and transitions in this video...please dont tell anyone I watched several minutes of video on a DOS system!!!!!
Awesome coverage of force command and previous options. Keep this content coming.
Thanks! I'll certainly do my best to keep it up.
It's been a bit since I've caught one of your videos, but they've become very well put together in the interim; fine work! Also, fine work making me want to spend all kinds of money 🤣
Ha ha ha, I don't even own a TI-99, and never did in the past (C64 fan here). But Chris' videos make me wanting a TI-99 with all the extras mentioned in this video, therefore spending all kinds of money as well. 😆
that is incredible stuff! excellent job on getting this great info about the ti out there ..i love that these things are even possible on this format! well done!
this was cool to see the latest hardware for the 99 and how it ties together
Excellent video! I need to get this for my TI99/4A
I try to never miss an episode !
Back in the day, the cartridge that truly changed my experience was Disk Manager II. Anf even though there are now variants and substitutes, it was still my go to for most disk and file functions.
My experience changed again with Force Command.
Don't have a TIPI (yet) but it functions fine with my NanoPEB.
Adding a browser with the TIPI will drag me kicking and screaming into the merging of two era's.
I love your videos. It's great that the TI is getting some proper TH-cam love for a change. In fact, I would like to formerly nominate you as the new TI-99/4a spokesman. Don't get too excited...you're replacing Bill Cosby. LMAO!
"This is the one!"
What interesting inflection on random words. It's like there's exclamation points randomly scattered in every sentence.
Just becoming more aware of Force Command, late to the game. Looks fantastic!
I once owned 3 TI 99/4A computers. How I wish I still had them and these upgrades for them. I'm still bitter about their loss.
I love the sound! Retro fun!
Another great video, I really like your work, thank you :)
Very informative and looking forward to more best regards Alan uk
the TMS9900 was a different beast, but a much more capable beast. It was always the best processor architecture for supporting multitasking by avoiding stack and having the memory-to-memory architecture and workspaces.
What's the palette command you used to get the dark Hunt the Wumpus?? ( THAT'S the way the game palette SHOULD have been B) )
You are the TI99 power user
One of them, anyway. As I say, there are dozens of us! ;)
@@PixelPedant Read my comment above. You are nominated as the official TI-99/4a spokesman.
I just got a TI99 from a friend, and... all I really want to do is mod in a fricken backspace key .... >_< what were they thinking!!
Interesting that the OS ROM gave TI-Basic the ability to save/load to/from disk.
I was a bit surprised to hear you say at the end that the only DOS TI gave 4A users was the p-system! Given the 8-bit world I came from (Atari and Apple mainly), hearing that sounded confusing, because there, DOS was what gave you the ability to interact with a disk drive. If you didn't have that, all you could do was save/load using a cassette drive. I listened to this video again, and now I understand. You're talking about extended features, like being able to manage files. That still feels weird, though, because without file management, how would you, say, free up some space on disk by deleting an old version of a program? When I programmed on 8-bits, I'd sometimes create different versions of the same program, if I was experimenting with something. Once I solved my problem, I'd want to delete some of the other versions, because they were just scrap. I still do this when I get into 8-bit programming. :) It sounds like if you didn't have a DOS, you'd be stuck with the experiments taking up disk space. Bummer.
We had the Disk Manager 2 cartridge which took care of all those tasks. Later we had DM1000 and DSKU, shareware programs distributed by user groups and on BBSs. Funnelweb, which is mentioned in the video, was an attempt to improve the TI’s word processing and add other utilities to create a disk for daily use. There was also the MUGBoot program which was the same idea -a menu of utilities (which could include disk managers, word processing, loaders, and launching BASIC or other languages) on one disk that would run at startup.
Now I think that Hunt the Wumpus would have looked a lot better with a black background.
So even if you bought a disk drive and controller for your TI-99/4a back in the early '80s, you could only load or save files? No way to view a directory, or delete or rename files? Did Extended BASIC solve this?
The Disk Manager cart was the main first party tool for disk and file management operations, and that (or a third party equivalent) was a must have if you're dealing with disks. That being said, since BASIC supports various file operations inherently, even though it doesn't have a CATALOG command for example, you can write such a routine in BASIC pretty easily, so you're not helpless without a disk manager.
I had a couple of BASIC programs that gave me my disk commands, including List. Part of formatting any disk was copying your DOS tools to the new floppy.
I got a lot of mileage with Super Extended BASIC, which was a library of compiled assembler code. I used it to create a primitive verb-object command line DOS, including a windowed text editor. I can proudly say it even did nested commands. E.g., Verb1 Verb2 Object would apply Verb1 to the result of Verb2-Object.
Munchman with the Pacman palate is very impressive. The graphical changes such as dots instead of the chain and also the power pellets... is that your creation?
No, that's TI's first (disk-based) version of Munch Man, which debuted at Winter CES '82. Naturally, the cart version is far more well known. But the disk version's always circulated too.
@@PixelPedant if only Atarisoft's PacMan for the TI had the speed of MunchMan
I love "Apple, too!"
"Freaky bastard, that Wumpus!" 👍🤣👍 As to the Internet in "text only" mode, I used to use "Lynx" over Telnet, but that was with an IBM-PC AT clone in the early 1990's. I wonder if someone EVER implemented "Lynx" for the TI-994/A or any other 1980's non "Apple" or "IBM" system.🤔
Nice work, is FCMenunand Virgil built into the DOS if not how do you run them z?
Both FCMenu and Virgil do come with Force Command. They're disk-based programs that are part of the standard distribution and would normally be launched from the command line. In the same way that EDIT and FDISK, for example, are binaries which come standard with MS-DOS.
BASIC!
Which RF adapter do I need for HDMI, there are two types, help, thanks.
IF we had a C compiler, we could get Contiki up and running.
I setup my disk drives on the 99 and the disk manager reads the floppy use but when I shut down and insert Ext Basic and chose Ext Basic the screen stays blue no cursor. The TI Basic is ok. Any ideas? Thanks.
The key difference is that XB looks for a file called LOAD on DSK1, which will function as an autoloader if present. TI BASIC does not do this and will be unaffected by the status or contents of disks insofar as startup is concerned. But conversely, XB may fail to load successfully if 1) There is a problematic LOAD file on DSK1, 2) There are other issues interfering with successful reading of DSK1.
Thx... Now I know the buzz about some programs I did not know anything about. I new world. AND... should I buy into this :p hehehehe
I've got all the HW except FG.
"...it DID have a forward slash, or it wouldn't have been able to type its own name..."😜
Does Force Command have Format, Copy and Move commands?
It does not have a built-in format command, which I suppose partly reflects its TIPI orientation, where this would never be necessary. All commands can be found explained here: github.com/jedimatt42/fcmd/wiki/Commands
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