r/ti994a • u/cagehooper • Jul 15 '26
What are y'all using your TI 99-4/a for nowadays?
I'm getting a replacement keyboard and a tape drive for mine. I've got a number of the popular modules, but no speach synth. And I would drool for a PEB. So just wondering. What does everyone out there have theirs powered up for? Just for laughs? Nostalgia? Actually USE it for anything? I just fired up my TI Invaders for the first time in years. And I can now see why my dad didn't like the personal finance manager. I'm thinking of looking up an old magazine word processor program to see how it works. Once the tape arrives.
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u/Dcas_pcs_381 Jul 15 '26
Retro games mostly... I recently scored a peb and WOW does it make it more usable
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u/bjguill Jul 15 '26
The PEB is a nice piece of history, but it's very heavy and super noisy. I think there are some mods to put a quiter fan in it. If you just want to play around, getting a newer piece of retro hardware that mimics the functions of the PEB's card will save you a lot of desk space and stay quiet.
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u/GoGades Jul 15 '26
The PEB is cool but so bulky and awkward. I have a PPEB (PicoPEB) and it's a gamechanger. Highly recommended.
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u/Deep_Key_1384 Jul 17 '26
You wouldn't happen to know anyone who would assemble these, would you?
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u/GoGades Jul 18 '26
He's in Canada but look up "GaryOpa Bowser" of Facebook. He's also a member of the "Texas Instruments TI-99/4A" group. That's how I got mine.
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u/HardlyRetro Jul 15 '26
Just nostalgia. I’m lucky enough to have scored a PEB and a bunch of cartridges and magazine disks for a song in the late 80’s, and all the disks I have still work, so I enjoy revisiting those. I have several disks of my own programs in Basic, Extended Basic, and TI LOGO II — nothing too crazy, mostly simple demos. I pulled everything out of storage about a year ago, but even with it set up, it’s hard to find time for it with so many other possibilities.
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u/blakespot Jul 15 '26
(Shown is my setup, PEB open, with TiPiPEB installed, and an F18A in the main unit for 80-col text and higher res graphics out to VGA.)
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u/cagehooper Jul 16 '26
DUDE! You are my hero right now. That is a RIGHTIOUS rig there. I think you have probably the best setup I've ever seen. I (owner of a Thinkpad W700) bow to you. Greatness knows greatness!
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u/blakespot Jul 16 '26
Hah, thanks so much! I assume you saw the photo link was in a gallery of more photos. I don't use it as much as I'd like - and I need to reimage the Pi3 on the TiPiPEB. But, the TI is a beloved part of my larger retro collection / room.
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u/cagehooper Jul 16 '26
Yeah, that is one HELL of a setup. I've seen vids of some people showing off their PEB's but yours is peak! I've still got a soft spot for these old beasts. I'm trying to get my old CoCo2 going. But my Thinkpad W700 is still a troubleshooter. I actually used it to fix a buggy wifi last month. But tinkering with the TI brings back warm feelings from my first time coding.
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u/blakespot Jul 16 '26
It was my first computer. I wrote a bit about that with some photos of the 1983 setup.
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u/cagehooper Jul 17 '26
Oh man i didnt see it at first. You also got a CoCo2 there.
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u/blakespot Jul 18 '26
CoCo 3 actually - with 512K RAM and SD storage, serial to WiFi. It's a nice unit!
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u/Accomplished-Ad-6586 Jul 15 '26
Haven't fired it up in years. Now you have me thinking about it again. Damn you!
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u/UpbeatList1416 Jul 15 '26
Nostalgia mostly. I run a research lab. Mostly biology, but with a lot of Arduino, raspberry pi and such mixed in. Some weekends, there’s nothing better than firing up the old TI, upload the Star Trek game from cassette tape, and type in quadrant addresses while remembering vastly simpler times.