Still inching back into game design mode... I found an error with my battlemap editor, which was screwing up the tail end of maps. That's fixed, but now I need to consider making a monster editor... I can always hack something together for test data, but the combat engine will need something to chew on. *sighs* A lot of work to even get a basic framework going...

In other news, I recently aquired some old TI equipment from a fellow 99'er in my area. His name is Hans Quennet, former USAF. He had it in his garage for quite some time (20 years), and his wife wanted him to get rid of it. I told him I'd be happy to take it and make sure it got to good homes. (And before you ask, the P.E. box is spoken for, and does NOT have anything exotic like a Myarc HDFC. All authentic TI cards.)

I must admit I felt quite a bit of nostalgia firing the box up. That musty smell of old electronics really gets the blood going! Of course, I do have my own P.E. box in my parent's garage back home, so I'm hardly deprived... but all the little notes taped to the computer and box are heartwarming to see, I remember doing similar things myself!

The little monitor there is particularly cool. It's a small comfortable size, and very similar to the old TI monitor in form, although it also has a B/W switch. Very nice! I think I may hang onto that.

The 'phat lewt' included several TI consoles, including one missing a space bar and in dubious operating shape, a beige/cream TI, one that's pretty shiny new with the cables still in original cardboard packaging, Hans's personal unit (in photo), and one that looks all right. All the black/silver ones have the mechanical keyboards instead of membranes that I can see, which is good news.

Software-wise, a small stock of base TI cartridges, nothing exotic of the later Triton/TM Direct days. Disk software consists of the E/A disks and TI-Artist (copy) with TI Artist's Companions 1 and 2.

I spent an hour or two chatting with Hans, and he's earned his ribbons as a 99'er. He spent a lot of time writing BASIC and XB programs, including a Scrabble game that he managed to optimize very effectively for speed. To which a friend asked him "How does it know it spelled the words right?" which was an annoying revelation for him. :)

He also told me a story about how an Apple store guy has shown him a fractal plotter, and scoffed when he mentioned his TI. Hans took that as a challenge and converted the Apple BASIC program to TI-BASIC, and left it to run overnight. In the morning, he'd gotten a fracal curve on screen (courtesy of CHAR defining) and he took a photo with a camera to show the guy, who was quite blown away. "You did this on a TI?!" he said incredulously. A dream moment for any 99'er. :)

I also found, while doing some eBay shopping, that I have a place in town here that buys and sells vintage and modern computer equipment. It's called RE-PC, and they would probably be any vintage guy's place to shop. I saw several old systems and some software; the only TI stuff I saw of note was a copy of Narovine's Console Writer and Database cartridge... Not much else TI, although they just sold a P.E. box on EBay for a nice chunk of cash. If you live in the Seattle area and are into hardcore retro-vintage computing, check them out.

RE-PC Home Site