A collection of TI-99/4A programs from my youth! This repository contains a tape of what's left of my TI-99/4A programs, mostly written between the years 1984 and 1987. Some of these programs are direct copies from the system's manual, others come from magazine listing and there are a pretty good number I've written myself.
For those that don't know, TI-99/4A was a home computer created by Texas Instruments in 1981. In it's most basic form it could run programs you typed in, in a version of BASIC, called TI BASIC. You could then save these to (inexpensive) audio tapes and load them back at will. Cassette tape storage was a cheap (and bad!) way of data storage for home computers in the 80s, and most systems used it. Later systems (like the Amstrad CPC464) would have the tape recorder built in to the main computer. Even later models came with disk drives, eliminating the torture of saving and loading from unreliable tapes.
TI-99/4A was not limited to tape storage though. Disk drives were available (for anyone that could afford them, obviously not for teens like me back then) and cartridge based media (Solid state command modules as TI called them) were also very popular. One of these cartridges - that everyone was buying - is the TI Extended BASIC which greatly adds to the capabilities of this small system by exposing most of the hardware capabilities of it to the programmer.
The demise of TI-99/4A came during 1984, as TI got in a price war with Commodore and ended up selling the machines at a loss. Needless to say the aging hardware and the weird (since day one) architecture of TI-99 didn't help at all. TI-99 systems can still be obtained through ebay in functional condition. The system is very well built and robust and there are plenty many working ones. It is by no means 'rare' although the latest retro craze has brought the prices up to ridiculous points. Good thing I still have my original working system!
The tape included here comes in Side A and Side B. Side A contains all TI BASIC programs (they run on an unexpanded console) and Side B will contain (mostly) TI Extended BASIC programs. You can run these either on the real system or emulators. There are plenty of emulators to choose from including a complete online on, in Javascript (visit https://js99er.net/ )
There are two folders in each Side:
- WAV: Contains WAV (audio) files that can be played back through the cassette interface and get loaded to a real system (or even recorded to tape!). Many emulators can also use these (JS99 works nicely with them)
- FIAD: Contains the extracted program from the WAV file. This format (known as Files In A Directory, FIAD) can be used as virtual disk files for emulator use too.
The WAV files have descriptive text of their content, the corresponding FIAD files only include Side Designation and number. For example, in Side A of the tape, the WAV file:
- Astron Belt.wav
corresponds to FIAD:
A10
Please note that many of the files have content or messages in Greek, though most "games" are playable anyway. Enjoy!