Subject: An Honest Note From Bill

From: "Postle" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:50:10 -0000

Bill,

I have three TI-99/4As.  System One is currently dormant.  It was the Geneve System.  System Two is a Standard TI-99/4A with an IDE Card System.  And...  System Three is the Standard TI-99/4A with a SCSI Card System. 

The most I do with these is run Lottery Numbers.  Never a winner, but better than a Quick Pick.

I think I wish for one to run "FUNNELWEB" and the other to run "BOOT PLUS".  And...  Later.  To Get MultiPlan up and running again.

It is wonderful to know that one CF Card holds more than the Myarc H&FDC Card System.  10 Meg Hard Drive as to a 256meg Solid State Memory Card which Formats to 1Gig.  That is a lot of instant load programs. 

Talk some more about the "AFTER The Working Years Hobby" Bill.  I think it is a great place to be.

I have more TI-99/4A equipment now then at any time before.  Not always being able to afford the new equipment when it came on the market is one thing.

Having the TI-99/4A do things today that were not even dreams in 1988 is still another.

Postle
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

I really enjoy pushing the limits of my TI/Geneve hobby systems. Even
though it requires me to "drum up" lots of assistance from those in this
community with expertise I don't have. I wish I could do it all myself,
but that's not in the cards I'm holding--life happens. So enjoy it as
much as you can, especially in your retirement years--I am.

---

From: fdos <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:26:18 -0700

Hi James,

Right now I'm somewhat sad as I've had to take several hobby systems 
down to pack for the up coming move to--I still don't know where.  It 
is, however looking more like a double move will be required, and that 
is really up-setting me.  I don't really want to stay in this area if I 
have to move anyway as there is almost nothing to do away from home 
unless you're prepared for an over 60 mile round trip.  The only local 
possibilities are the Senior Center or the VFW, and for some reason I 
don't feel that old yet.  No one in this town speaks TI-99/4A or Geneve, 
so conversation would be limited.

The first move would have to be local, so I can keep the costs down and 
the process simple and the rent cheap (meaning a smaller place than what 
I need, as I can store lots of stuff in my daughter Tara's garage, 
temporarily).  This way I can take my time in determining where to move 
to permanently.  I can go to the Phoenix area as my sister is a Real 
Estate Agent and she has property herself that might be available to me 
at a bargain price.  I can go back to the Sacramento area and tap my IRA 
to make monthly budgets if my son doesn't have room for me.  I haven't 
asked him about this, yet.

Another possibility is that Tara's husband is being considered for a job 
that will take them out of this state.  In which case, they will 
consider purchasing a home with a "father-in-law" (slight change in name 
here) apartment or whatever they're called (a very large home in any 
case).  Obviously, I would then move with them to their new location 
when that happens.  Probably around the first of the new year or there 
abouts.  We won't know about this one until the end of this month.

The double move means that I won't have space for my hobby systems until 
after the second move.  Therefore, I will have to become a "emulator 
only" hobbyist during this interim time.  Depending on the specific 
scenario above, I could be in limbo for months.  Not much fun.

I know this first part is not what you're asking for, but it is where 
I'm at right now.  I will continue this post as I can with more hobby 
specific ideas and plans that I have for all the great hobby hardware 
that I have.  If I just didn't have to move soon.......

Bill S

-- 
Bill R Sullivan (FDOS)
Go Forth+ or X4th99

---

From: fdos <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:53:28 -0700

James,

(Continuation)

I think most everyone here knows pretty much what I have in TI/Geneve 
hardware by now, so I won't bore everyone by repeating that long list. 
They/you also know that I'm currently involved in several software 
developments (all pretty much on hold while I prepare to move); MMLS for 
TuroForth, X4th99, and TI BASIC+, and if the Geneve2 actually launches I 
will also restart Forth+ 2.0 development.

I'm really upset about delaying MMLS for TurboForth the most as I 
believe it would have spurred TurboForth APP developments, and provided 
an easy means for sharing small utility apps between TF APPS developers. 
  Besides, I finally reached a comfortable point in converting fig-Forth 
(more specifically TI Forth) syntax to TF/F83 syntax, and now I have to 
break it off and maybe loose development speed once I get back to it.

Next I really want to resolve the MSAVE/MSAV6 limitation to GROM/ROM and 
GRAM/RAM page 0 only.  I need to be able to use MSAVE/MSAVE6 in pages 1 
~ 15 also.  Any help here will be most welcome.  Once this is 
accomplished I will be able to finish TI BASIC+ (a few features I wish 
to add might require more AL or GPL assistance).  Then the real fun 
begins as there's not only SAMS access to add (not a problem as I'm 
pretty good at this one), 4 ROM banks in HSGPL for data or BCART 
operations to utilize, and lots of TI BASIC programs to enhance with TI 
BASIC+ features, and hopefully lots of storage space in all those 
GROM/ROM pages due to flexible MSAVE/NSAVE6 capability.

I still have to solve the not able to boot MDOS from my Solid State SCSI 
drive.  I'm pretty sure that I verified that this is true even if I 
separate the Geneve's SCSI bus from my two other TI-99/4A & P systems.

There are a few issues with shared SCSI bus that I want to work out, and 
experiment by removing one TI system and connecting to a PC SCSI bus 
instead.  Lots of possibilities with this idea.

There are also numerous utility libraries that I want to add to the MMLS 
for TF and X4th99/Forth+, so I have more than enough to keep me busy 
during my retirement years.  I just pray and hope that I will have the 
time to complete them all.

Somewhere in here I need to install my SNUGTI-99/4P in that mid-tower 
black & silver PC case.  Not really a big job as I have a couple of 
spare PEB card cages and the connector board ready to go.  I also have a 
couple of +/-15VDC power supplies to serve as feed to the TI +/-12VDC 
line, the PC power supply's 12VDC can feed the TI 5VDC line, etc.  I 
know others get away with using the PC power supply for the TI 12VDC, 
but I have some exotic hardware in my TI Geneve systems that I like to 
be sure that all voltages are up to snuff.  If I have floor space I will 
want to fix the power supply in the mid-tower PC case that I used in 
Poland for my PFM+512K with 384K SRAM Geneve, so I don't have to share 
the desk top PC case with 2MB GenMod Geneve with the PFM+512K Geneve.

This is most of the major stuff I have on my plate or back-burner. 
Although there could still be some small items that may come to mind 
from time to time; like can I convince someone to expand the Current 
SCSI single partition hard disk structure to a multi-partition structure 
like the IDE card with Fred Kaal DSR?  The SCSI document on WHTECH shows 
that this was in the original plan along with lots of subprogram CALLs 
for BASIC/XB support.

Bill S

-- 
Bill R Sullivan (FDOS)
Go Forth+ or X4th99