Micropendium Volume 1 Number 2

Inside this issue: We bring you stories about Tl99/4A compatible hard ware, games you can play on your TI home computer, an update on the Phoenix, a look into the future, a glance back to the past, in fact there's so much that we couldn't possi-

Micropendium Volume 1 Number 2

March 1984 Micropendium (Home Computer Compendium) Front Cover
Editor	Laura Burns
Categories	Home Computers, TI-99/4A
Publisher	John Koloen
Country	USA
Based in	Round Rock, Texas
Language	English

What's next for home computer users?

It's hard to believe, but the TI99/4A has been around for less than three years and already it's out of production. But that's the way it is in high tech. Here today, gone (or upgraded) tomorrow.

So what's next for TI home computer users?

I don't have a crystal ball so I won't pretend to have all the answers. But there are many indications that the TI home computer market is not quite like any other, and I think its uniqueeness will play in the favor of TI owners.

Why?

For one thing, regardless of how many TI consoles are on the market I've seen figures ranging from a low of one million to a high of four million the perception among vendors is that the market is large enough to support many product lines.

My personal view is that the "real" TI market is much smaller than one million. No doubt, many who purchased the 99/4A during the fourth quarter of 1983 have already tucked it away in a closet. There are also those who, having purchased the computer, either do not have the income or the desire to expand the system. That leaves those users who like, the system and have or are in the process of expanding it. This is the real market that vendors want.

Here are some predictions about what may happen in the home computer market:

1. Diversification: Just about everybody who has been depending on the TI market exclusively is or will be diversifying. However. few will be closing their books on the TI home computer.

2. New Companies: Now that the big cheese is out of the market, the little cheeses will be able to come in from the sidelines and call some plays. I'm not talking about companies forming to deal with the TI market exclusively. I'm talking about established companies creating TI product divisions to sell products for the TI home computer that they've been selling to users of other brands.

3. NeW Products: Don't look for anyone to pick up the rights to the TI99/4A, despite what you hear. The only companies foolhardy enough to do this are in the red ink business. Do look for lots of TI compatible hardware, starting with Cor-Comp's 99/64. Also. look for increased interest in such peripheral devices as light pens and graphics pads.

4. NewSoftware: Yes, you'll be hearing a lot about new software. Actually, much of it will be old software translated or adapted for use by the TI home computer. Despite the current trend, not all of it will be cartridge-based. There are limitations to using cartridges as the medium for software distribution. In fact, any "serious" software developments will require disk drives and memory expansions. Even TI couldn't get TI-Writer or Microsoft Multiplan to work out of a cassette recorder. Look, too, for a good database program that will run using the Extended BASIC cartridge and expansion memory.

5. New Publications: There will be a greater diversity of publications for TI and compatible computers. It's clear that no one publication can serve the needs of all TI users. However, these publications will be oriented toward a specific TI audience. They will be smaller than the general interest computer publications that you find on newsstands. but they will be packed with information that is useful to TI users. Why is this? Look at the former 99er Magazine. It never developed the kind of advertising support it needed to compete .in the general market. Rather than keep its focus on a market that was not growing very rapidly, it chose to expand its market by including other computers and, hence, advertisers.

So much for now.

— JK

Feedback

GROM solutions

I would like to share the following with your readers. This is something that we just encountered.

When TI built the silver and black 99/4A units. a built-in problem was provided at no extra cost. A felt pad is positioned around the slot where the command module's card plugs into the computer's GROM connector. This felt pad is used to burnish (clean) the contacts of the command module's card when inserted.

This is where the problem begins. The material in the felt pad builds up lint inside the GROM connector (and inside the command module) that prevent the contacts of the two frommating. This causes many rather weird things to happen. For example:

1. After inserting the module and initializing the system. the cursor quits flashing (indicating computer lock-up).
2. After inserting the module and initializing the system, the keyboard comes "alive" and randomly provides a character that can not be stopped unless the computer is turned off.
3. And, after inserting the module and initializing the system, if you grasp the module and move it from side to side. either number 1 or 2 listed about will occur.

To correct this problem, the GROM connector and module contacts must be cleaned from time to time. Caution must be used, however. DO NOT attempt to clean the GROM connector when the computer is on: DO NOT use anything sharp or metallic: and DO NOT use excessive pressure or force.

What I recommend is a very thin, long-bristled brush with a wooden handle. With one hand open the door covering the GROM connector to remove any lint build-up. Blowing into the connector occasionally will also help remove the lint. (A can of compressed air would even be better but I didn't have any).

I've helped fix two computers with this problem so far. Each computer was approximately one year old at the time when it really acted up.

I would also like to point out that the article you published in the February issue entitled "GROM Problems" (User Notes) is exactly what I just addressed. However, that article did not fix the problem. In fact. in my opinion. I would not even recommend placing the matchbook cover beneath the module!

Chuck Moats
President
Cedar Valley 99er Users Group
Marion, Iowa

Adventuring

I have both the TI99/4 and the TI99/4A, furthermore, I have what I believe to be the most complete system for the TI system. I am 38 years old and still a child at heart. Therefore, I have always purchased each and every command module available, with the exception of those designed for very young children. I consider the game cartridges as adult material and have hours of fun playing games. With the Scott Adams' adventure series already mastered (with the exception of Adventure 14-Return To Pirate Isle ... which I'm working on now) as well as numerous other computer text-adventures solved, I consider myself a real adventure fan. Therefore, I must take offense to your opinion as to the "anomaly" of the Jack and the Beanstalk adventure available from Tex-Soft. I never had a syntax error during my own adventure with this game. Furthermore, I would say that of all the text adventure games available to date for the TI that the Beanstalk adventure ranks number one. Far ahead of all others, it gives the seasoned adventurer a real run for the money and still offers the novice adventurer a firm beginning for future adventuring. Perhaps you fail to realize what other adventures have to offer in comparison to value.

Still, you have a point. Value is in the eye (or mind) of the buyer. I know of no better value, all things considered, for the time and money spent than that of adventuring, and the Beanstalk Adventure is an excellent buy. I do realize that your review was in itself favorable and I feel that if you do indeed go on other adventures you'll realize that your single negative problem with the "error messages" produced in adventuring were not the real fault of the adventure but rather the fault of the adventurer himself.

I look forward to future issues of your magazine and hope that you have an enjoyable and profitable "adventure" in your publication.

D. Larry Gibson
Kettering, Ohio

The Feedback column is for readers. It is a forum to communicate with other readers. The editor will condense excessively lengthy submissions where necessary. We ask that writers restrict themselves to one subject for the sake of simplicity. Our only requirement is that items be of interest to persons who use the TI99/4A home computer. Mail Feedback items to: Home Computer Compendium, P.O. Box 1343, Round Rock, TX 78680.

Debugged

For want of a digit

Last month we told you about a program statement that would allow a user with a disk drive to turn the drive off without disconnecting it from the computer. Well. we left out a single digit. an 8 to be precise. and without it it won't work. We appreciate the thoughtfulness of readers who pointed out the error. The correct statement is: CALL LOAD (-31888,63,215).

Where to order

Last month's Newsbytes column included an item about a disk backup utility program called Quick-Copyer. We neglected to include ordering information: Quality Software, 1884 Columbia Rd. No. 500, Washington, D.C. 20009. The phone number is (202) 667-3574. The company says the program will copy disks in three passes or less. The cost is $39.95 and it requires either the Extended BASIC, Editor/Assembler or Mini-Memory cartridge.

Bugged

Before we tell you what we did wrong, let us apologize to those readers who tried to run a brief routine included in last month's User Notes. Copied from a user group newsletter, it worked perfectly. Until WE put it into print, that is. It seems we covered over a part of Line 110. The program. which ran under the heading "We dare you." demonstrates the computer's calculation powers. Readers were urged to run it side by side on a TI and Commodore 64 (not that everyone has a 64). As one of our readers noted: "... a Commodore 64 home computer could not have done any worse than a TI! Unless, of course, it prints bad line in 110 slower than a TI."

Here is the correct version (we promise):

100-FOR N= 1 TO 100
110-IF SQR (N) < > INT (SQR (N)) THEN 130
120-PRINT N
130-NEXT N
140-END

TI signs with Imagic, Sierra; list of million names available

Texas Instruments signed software production agreements with Sierra On-Line and Imagic in January and is making its list of TI home computer owners available to a firm in New York that is expected to publish a quarterly catalog of TI vendors.

The software agreements were announced at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The agreement with Imagic means that the software developer will take over production of software that it had licensed to Texas Instruments last year. Late last year TI introduced several Imagic titles, including Microsurgeon, Jaw Breaker, Fathom and Moonsweeper. In addition to producing these titles, Imagic is expected to release a fifth game cartridge, Wing War.

The agreement with Sierra On-Line involves the production of educational software that has been developed by TI and the Walt Disney Company. Some half-dozen programs will be released using such familiar Disney characters as Professor Ludwig von Drake, Pinocchio and Peter Pan. The programs were developed by TI but all aspects of their continued development and production will be carried out by Sierra On-Line, according to a TI spokesman in Dallas. The programs are expected to be marketed for other computers as well.

March Direct Marketing (MDM), of New York, is expected to produce a quarterly vendor catalog that will be sent to some one million TI users free of charge. The company will be using TI's list of home computer users, which is also available at a charge to other vendors, according to a TI spokesman.

Although officials of MDM could not be reached for comment, the TI spokesman said TI worked with MDM to develop the vendor catalog concept. It is not known when the first of these catalogs will be available. "The problem is not designing software to be used with the 4A but in getting it to the market," the TI spokesman said in explaining the value of the catalog to vendors. Vendors may contact MDM at (212)286-0460 for more information about the proposed catalog.

A TI spokesman says the mailing list includes the names of all TI owners who sent in rebate cards or owner registration forms prior to TI's announcement that it was leaving the home computer market. The spokesman indicated that home computer owners who are not included on the list may have their names added by sending the owner registration card to TI. Or, they may send a letter with their name and address and the serial number of the computer console to TI. Such information should be sent to the following address: Texas Instruments, P.O. Box 53, Lubbock, Texas 79408.

The information may also be phoned in via TI's toll-free telephone number — (800)842-2737. However, the line is often swamped with callers and the likelihood of getting through is not very good.

"We're apologetic about it," a spokesman said, "but we're probably get ting to only one in four or five who call. The wait on the line can get to be very long."

The spokesman said that TI is continuing to negotiate with other third party vendors regarding software production rights. He noted that the company will offer whatever assistance it can to vendors who support the Tl99/4A.

"We're licensing anything that is necessary for use with the 4A," the spokesman said. He noted that some one million of the computers were sold during the last three months of 1983.

— JK

Phoenix to hatch soon

Cor-Comp Inc., the California-based company that says it has developed the successor to the TI99/4A, is begin ning to firm its plans for delivery of the new machine, the 99/64. At the same time, company officials are planning a publicity drive that may get under way in mid-February.

However, as with everything regarding the 99/64, all dates and deadlines are projections. As an example, in December Cor-Comp officials indicated that the new computer would be on the market sometime during the first quarter of 1984. Now, how ever, that seems unlikely.

The 99/64, which is supposed to be fully compatible with all TI99/4A software and hardware, is a feature-laden machine. It was described in the February edition of the Compendium.

The computer is dubbed the "Phoenix" after the mythical bird of ancient Egypt. According to company spokeswoman Betty Loeffel, 1,000 of the machines will be distributed by the end of March as display models for vendors. The company is calling this model "the silver edition."

If all goes according to plan, Loeffel says, the computer will go into mass production by ApriCwith delivery to dealer shelves to follow.

Meanwhile, in late January, the company was scheduled to introduce several new hardware products to go along with the 32K expansion memory card and RS232 card it already markets for the TI home computer.

Ready for delivery late last month, according to Loeffel, were a peripheral expansion box and a disk controller card. A bundled system that includes the PEB, memory card, RS232 card and disk controller card is priced at only $300, Loeffel says.

The peripheral expansion box is supposed to be similar in appearance to the TI PEB and includes an opening for a disk drive.

According to Loeffel, who is the company's chief financial officer, Cor-Comp is able to price the bundled system at $300 because of cost-cutting production techniques. For example, the company has been able to reduce the cost of producing its RS232 card by 48 percent through such techniques, she says.

Loeffel says the company is referring all inquiries about the new computer to its vendors. "Our phones have been ringing constantly," she says. You wouldn't believe it. We can't get off the phone."

— JK

Phoenix Distributors

Here is a list of the national distributors of the 99/64 computer, according to a spokesman for Cor-Comp Inc. Sales of the new machine will also be conducted by some 1,000 local vendors throughout the country. The list may not be complete.

• R&S Distributing, Bridgeport, New Jersey — (800) 257-0453
  
• Unisource Electronics, Lubbock, Texas — (806) 745-8835
  
• Microsphere Inc., South Bend, Indiana — (219) 272-7488
  
• Microtronics, Oak Park, Michigan — (313) 968-0050
  
• Computech, Springfield, Missouri — (417) 869-1684
  
• C&R Distributing, Acworth, Georgia — (404) 928-8791