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***TI Users Group - Anyone Interested***

C

cudasales

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
306
Location
Colorado, USA
Hello,
With the recent Retro move of Computers from the 1980s we are considering starting up another Users Group for the TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A computers. We are currently looking to see how many individuals would be interested in participating in forums, chat, classifieds and etc. Everything would be 100% FREE but we are just trying to determine if there is enough interest for us to proceed.

Thanks!
 
You do know that there are several forums for the TI family of computers out there already--on Yahoo and on several independent sites.

This would be a good place to start, as it has links to most of the other English-language sites out there:

http://99er.net/ti.shtml
 
Thank You for the information and we are aware. We actually want to take this to the next level and go above and beyond what some of the others are doing. Of course we will be cooperating with them, exchanging information and etc. but we plan on doing a central (Main) hub where TI users goto and then they branch off to these other sites as well. We plan on going back in time and having physical meetings, TI shows and etc.

Thanks for the input!
 
Several groups linked to those forums have regular meetings (Chicago User's Group monthly meeting is today and is also being broadcast online), there are regional meetings held quarterly in Holland and Germany (the Germans had one last month), annual conventions held in Chicago and Europe (usually in the September-November timeframe). The Dutch user's group puts out a magazine four times a year (in Dutch, but I read enough of that to figure out what's up, so no problem here), Several groups here, in Holland, in Italy, and in Germany produce new hardware and software too.

The main TI hubs that link to all of the others already exist. WHTech is the software and documentation repository, the Yahoo group is the message base, and both 99er.net and ti99ers.org act as gateways to all existing sites. The TI community has been pretty tightly linked together for a long time. The latter sites also have forums, classified ads, chat rooms, and a lot more. If you are thinking of doing something completely new--more power to you.

I'm just noting that there are a lot of active resources out there that have the necessary traffic to sustain them, and that a new site that does more of the same might not get enough traffic to survive. Rich Polivka (99er.net), Tom Wills (ti99ers.org and the main Yahoo group), Dan Eicher (SWPB on Yahoo for TI programmers), Berry Harmsen (TIGG Netherlands), Wolfgang Bertsch (TI Club Errorfree Germany), Michael Becker and Harald Glaab (System 99 User Group Germany), Hal Shanafield (Chicago TI User Group), Don O'Neil (WHTech), and many other people have been working to keep this system alive and accessible for decades. I know every single one of them from many years of working together to promote the TI. I'm one of their reference resources because I have one of the 10-15 most complete TI 99 collections on the planet--and between me and the others on that list, we have nearly everything ever produced for the system. If the resource for what you want to do exists, please use it. It strengthens the community as a whole. I watched many efforts over the years crash and burn because they were more interested in being the center of things than in promoting the community. They reinvented the wheel dozens of times, but very few of these attempts took root and grew strong.

If you have something you want to do that is a new approach to the old problem of getting people interested in these old systems, go for it and link off of one of the existing resources. Don't try to get them to subjugate themselves to you as the new center of the universe TI--it will be frustrating for you and turn them off completely.

If any portion of this appears to flame--please accept my apology in advance, as it is not meant to do so. It is meant to get you thinking though--and if what you plan to do improves the available options, that is a good thing.
 
Ksarul said:
Don't try to get them to subjugate themselves to you as the new center of the universe TI--it will be frustrating for you and turn them off completely.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that kind of thing happens too often. Well-intended newbies show up in the hobby and decide THEIR site will be portal for some particular thing. They don't get that making a site even credible, nevermind a master destination, can take YEARS of hard work.

Cudasales, where are you located? Some regions (like here in the U.S. northeast/mid-atlantic, for example) have vintage computer user groups.

Also, if you have a couple of specific ideas for features lacking at 99er.net, then the proper thing to do would be suggesting those features to them. Pretty nutty to make a whole new site, and expect the '99 community to just migrate over, based on a few new details and odds 'n' ends.

So you should either have a MAJOR new approach to a '99 community, or you'll be doomed to fail.
 
Printer Help!

Printer Help!

Thanks Guys! That is a lot of Great and Useful information. I am located in Colorado Springs, CO.

If you don't mind I do need some TI help. I am looking for a Dot Matrix printer for my TI and need a list of compatible printers. Would you happen to have such a list?

Thanks Again!
 
Pretty much any dot matrix that was listed as Epson MX-80 compatible will work (including most Star Micronics printers). In addition, the Seikosha GP-550 could be made to work, as could several other brands. Some required special cables to get them to work though--and how some worked depended on which RS-232 card you were using. CorComp had some compatibility issues, Myarc was OK, TI was no problem, Atronic was related to the CorComp and had similar issues, and the Wiesbaden RS-232 is too rare for you to have even heard of. . .
 
Thanks so much for the information. Will the Star N-1000 work with a TI RS232 Card and if so, what cables do I need to purchase for it?
Thanks Again!
 
The Star NX-1000 printer is one of the standard printers on the TI (I think somewhere in the vicinity of half of all TI printers are this model or the NL-10). It is the printer I have on one of mine, as a matter of fact. It uses a standard TI parallel cable like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PARALLEL-PRINTE...oryZ4193QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It used to have a special resistor pack in it to work with Smith-Corona printers (and it would also work with several Okidata models if I remember correctly), but the seller modified it to the standard TI configuration.
 
Thanks for the Link and I will go ahead and purchase it. I found a Star NX-1000 locally in Excellent Condition with the box and all documentation for $25.
 
Texas Instruments Professional Computer (TI PC)

Texas Instruments Professional Computer (TI PC)

$31
Rare Texas Instruments Professional Computer (TI PC)
bundled with a 720x300 resolution 14” TI color monitor

I am selling this at this E-bay auction link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Texas-Inst...goryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Collector's item.
The best color graphics Personal Computer from 1983.
Vintage Intel 8088 CPU and 512 Kb RAM memory.
Stargate Multi-function board by Hybrilonics with clock/calendar.
3-plane graphics video card.
10 Mb Winchester hard disk and controller with manual.
5.25 inch 360 Kb floppy drive.
MS-DOS 2.11 for the TI PC with manual.
MS Basic 1.1 for the TI PC with manual.
Original Manuals.
Includes some custom software.
Original Boxes in worn condition.
Original List Price: $5,660!
Worked fine when recently tested for photos. More photos and a short video available.

See associated auction for TI PC Speech Command System, various TI software and vintage publications. Item# 270254288743
See related auction for Fujitsu DaisyMax 320 daisy wheel printer from the same era. (Item # 270254275337)
 
Colorado Springs Front Range 99ers

Colorado Springs Front Range 99ers

During the mid-80s, the Front Range 99ers of Colorado Springs monthly meetings filled an auditorium of 150+ seats at the Cheyenne Mountain Inn. It was standing room only for special guests like Craig Miller (twice) and Tony and Will McGovern (touring from Australia). I was a member from 1986-1991, by which time it had split up into PC and TI-99/4A groups, with about 20 people attending meetings.

The FR99ers had dedicated core leadership like Joe Nuvolini, Bonnie Snyder, John Pearce, Cliff Swank, Gene Fleming, Kevin Kapus, and many others I'm sure I would recall if reminded.

Colorado Springs had a TI office, and many engineers from Lubbock who worked on the home computer transferred there after Lubbock downsized. They were not necessarily TI-99/4A enthusiasts but you might have seen them at one or two meetings.

(Similarly, there were never that many TI employees at the Lubbock users group either. I was a member from 1983-1985 and last visited in 1987.)

Several members of the Colorado Springs group attended 2 fairs put on by the Denver Rocky Mountain 99ers, but there wasn't a lot of cross-membership that I was aware of.
 
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