Texas Instruments TI-99/4A User Manual Download

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Summary of Contents for TI-99/4A

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Page 2: ...as C ML New York N Y 10020 Copyright 1933by Publications International Ltd All rights reserved including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever For information address Pocket Books 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York N Y 10020 ISBN 0 671 49504 6 First Pocket Books printing December 1983 10 987654 3 21 POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon Schu...

Page 3: ...p through the details of setting it up Troubleshooting Guide CHAPTER 3 MEET THE KEYS 42 Each and every key on your keyboard is presented here complete with exercises to teach you how the keys work Detailed photographs show you how your screen will look as you work through the exercises CHAPTER 4 PERIPHERALS EXPANDING YOUR SYSTEM is So you want your new system to do even more for you Here s the bac...

Page 4: ...some software packages you might use for various kinds of purposes CHAPTER 6 YOUR COMPUTERS NETWORK 221 Many resources areavailable to help you get the most from your computer system You can share all sorts of information with other computer users and with national information banks as well ...

Page 5: ... offersexpansion capabilitiesthat willserve the needs of many home computer enthusiasts from the noviceto the advanced programmer You will quickly notice that the TI 99 4A isde signed to be easy to use Andyou ll undoubted lyfind manyusesforyourcomputer precisely what those usesare will depend on your inter ests Inlearningto useyour TI 99 4A you ll be come familiar with theuse ofyour computer in pa...

Page 6: ...ore and recall electronic files you canuseyourcomputer for countless household chores Keepingclose track of med ical dental insurance and automobile mainte nance records arejust some of the possibilities that come to mind Tracking home finances isone of the most pop ularapplications forhome computers You can examine your budget planexpenses and pro ject your financial future based on expected sala...

Page 7: ...n the screen and the com puter monitors your answers Some programs take the form of interactive simulations you are placed in a situation say the Battleof Gettys burg so that you can learn about the event The wide array of educational software on the mar ket for the TI 99 4Awillcontinue to grow asthe popularity of educational software increases Games and hobbies alsoadapt to computeriza tion Inadd...

Page 8: ...you ll need to choose the rightsoftware and accessories for whatever you want to do Many people are under the impressionthat to use a home computer they have to become pro grammers but that isfar from the truth You ll findthat using your computer iseasierthan you ever dreamed For example your computer uses plug incartridges as a form of software Allyou have to do is insert the cartridge into a slo...

Page 9: ...4A provides ample storage for the novice to inter mediate programmer And your computer is capable of using many additional programming languages including Extended BASIC Pascal Logo and Assembly Language Whether you are a first time computer owner or one who is trading up from a basic learning computer you ll find that you have a powerful expandable home computer in your TI 99 4A The purpose of th...

Page 10: ...s needed to connect these items to your computer The heart of your computer system isthe TI 99 4A Home Computer Console which con tains the keyboard a slot forthe use of cartridge software and a built in version of the BASIC computer programming language Inthe box with your HomeComputer Consoleisthe Video Modulator a TVadapter which allows you to connect the computer to a television set Also packe...

Page 11: ...TI 99 4A computer front view On the front of the computer at the right side are the Power On switch and the Power Indica tor Lamp Sliding the Power On switch to the right turns your computer on 10 ...

Page 12: ...l use this connector to attach many peripherals but more about that later The door that covers the Expansion Con nector should remain closed when the connec tor is not in use And you should be careful not to touch the metal pins on the Expansion Con nector delicate circuits inside the computer can be damaged by static electricity ifyou touch these pins 11 ...

Page 13: ...TI 99 4A computer left side view On the left side of the computer is the Game Controller Port it has nine little pins This is where you plug injoysticks when you want to play games 12 ...

Page 14: ... computer resembling the Game Con troller Port iswhere you attach the Cassette Recorder Interface Cable Next to the right is a connector with four pins here you plug in the Power Cord Finally on the right rearof the com puter isa circular connector with five pins This iswhere you connect your video monitor or television set 13 ...

Page 15: ...the rear of the cartridge software access area is a series of ventilation slots THESE SLOTS SHOULD NEVER BE OBSTRUCTED they are necessary to maintain proper cooling of your computer when it is in operation The area on the left side of the computer console is the keyboard It resembles the keyboard of a normal typewriter plus some special function keys Chapter 3 covers the functions of the keyboard ...

Page 16: ...e are the components you need to set up your TI 99 4A computer All these compo nents except the television come with your computer Video modulator Standard home color or black and white TV Power supply 15 ...

Page 17: ...ps are called overlays One of the strips has some writing on it place that strip on the computer console in the angled space just above the keyboard Pick up the Power Supply that was packed with your computer Insert the four pin plug at the end of the Power Supply cable into the four pin connector on the left rearof the computer Plug the Power Supply into a standard 115 volt AC electrical outlet A...

Page 18: ...STEP 1 Turn the television set OFF Loosen the screws on the VHF antenna terminals on your television set and remove the antenna cable 17 ...

Page 19: ...2 Pick up the Video Modulator that was provided with your computer system Connect the Video Modulator Television Interface Cable to the VHF antenna terminals on the TVset Tighten the TV set antenna screws 18 ...

Page 20: ...STEP 3 Connect the television VHF antenna cable to the Video Modulator antenna terminals and tighten the screws 19 ...

Page 21: ...tor s computer interface cable and insert it into the circularfive pin connector on the right rear of the computer Besure that the pins are properly aligned to the socket to avoid breaking the pins Connect the plug firmly but don t try to force it into position 20 ...

Page 22: ...STEP 5 Use the peel and stick adhesive tape on the rear of the Video Modulator to attach the modulator to your television set 21 ...

Page 23: ... 6 In your area television channel 3 or 4 should be unused Place the channel select switch at the bottom of the Video Modulator in the unused channel position Also set your television set to that channel 22 ...

Page 24: ...CO CM ...

Page 25: ...Jlgf Ifyou are using the TlColor Monitor follow these steps STEP1 Unpack the Tl Color Monitor and locate the Color Monitor Video Cable supplied with the monitor 24 ...

Page 26: ...e Video Cable and insert it into the circular five pin con nector on the right rearof the computer Be sure that the pins are properly aligned to the socket to avoid breaking the pins Connect the plug firmly but don t try to force it into position 25 ...

Page 27: ...Locate thejacks marked VIDEO and AUDIO on the rear of the Color Monitor Insert the plugs on the end of the Video Cable into thesejacks The plugs are different sizes so you can t put them in the wrong places 26 ...

Page 28: ...purchased Tljoysticks with your com puter follow these steps Locate the nine pin plug at the end of thejoystick cable Insert this plug firmly into the Game Controller Port on the left side of the computer 27 ...

Page 29: ...age follow these steps STEP Obtain the Tl Cassette Recorder Interface Cable This cable is not supplied with the computer it is supplied with the Tl Cassette Program Recorder or you can buy it separately ifyou want to use a different cassette recorder 28 ...

Page 30: ...STEP 2 Locate the nine pin plug at one end of the Cassette Recorder Interface Cable Insert this plug firmly into the jack on the left rear of the computer 29 ...

Page 31: ...STEP 3 Locate the set of three plugs at the other end of the cable The wires that lead to these plugs are color coded red black and white 30 ...

Page 32: ...STEP 4 Locate thejacks labeled MIC EAR or ex ternal speaker and REM on your cassette recorder 31 ...

Page 33: ...STEPS Insert the plug with the red wire into the record er s microphonejack labeled MIC 32 ...

Page 34: ...STEP 6 Insert the plug with the white wire into the recorder searphone or externalspeaker jack labeled EAR 33 ...

Page 35: ...STEP 7 Insert the plug with the black wire into the recorder s remotejack labeled REM 34 ...

Page 36: ... set for the best picture possible Ifthis image shown in the photograph on this page does not appear on your screen check the cable connections between the com puter and the TVset or monitor Ifyou have purchased any software cartridges with your computer this isan excellent time to try one of the cartridges with your new com puter Insert the software cartridge into the car tridge access slot on th...

Page 37: ...r on the screen indicating that you should type the number I to select Tl BASIC or type the number 2 to use the software cartridge that you have inserted Your screen should look similar to this TEXAS INSTRUMENTS HOME COMPUTER PRESS 1 FOR Tl BASIC 2 FOR THE ATTACK 36 ...

Page 38: ...levision sets could damage your computer The ventilation slots along the rear and at the top of the computer console should not be restricted or covered when the computer is turned on Youmay want to consider obtaining a computer desk for your system Many computer owners eventually expand their systems Ifyou decide to add the Peripheral Expansion System described in Chapter 4 you will need an addit...

Page 39: ...pens occasionally to everyone who uses a personal computer often The best plan of action to fol low ifyour system crashes isto proceed slowly while trying to find the cause A system crash can occur for a number of reasons A first check that you might want to make would be your computer s connections Are allof the cables tight Ifyou were using cartridge software is the cartridge fully inserted Ifyo...

Page 40: ...me tasks that you can perform routinely to minimize the bad effects of a system crash Ifyou are programming you should use the SAVE CS1 command on a cassette system or the SAVE command on a disk system to save the information that you re using often Doing so will minimize the amount of information you lose when system crash occurs Ifyour computer doesn t appear to be operat ing normally the follow...

Page 41: ...ght when the power switch is turned on Picture and or sound fails Joysticks do not operate correctly Cassette recorder does not operate correctly Computer will not respond to input at the key board garbled characters or other erratic symp toms are present 40 ...

Page 42: ...lected on the Video Modulator Make sure the ALPHA LOCK key is in the UN LOCKED or up position and thejoystick cable is connected to the nine pin connector on the LEFT SIDE of the computer NOT the connector on the rear Make sure the Cassette Recorder Interface Cable is connected to the nine pin connector on the REAR of the computer NOT the connector on the left side Turn your computer OFF Wait five...

Page 43: ...he keyboard It resembles the keyboard that you might see on an ordi nary typewriter with one key for each letter of the alphabet and one key for each numeral 0 through 9 There are also keys with punctua tion marks and keys with words on them such as SHIFT and ENTER In this chapter we ll explain how each of these keys is used Press any key on the keyboard and the screen will change SCREEN 2 Press t...

Page 44: ...t character that you type willappear The cursor is important in another way too it shows you when your computer iswaiting for you to provide some type of information When the cursor is on the screen and flashing your computer isn t doing any work It sjust sitting there waiting for you to tell it what to do next NOTE In the photographs in this chapter the cursor is a slightly lighter color than the...

Page 45: ...CREEN 1 The TlColor Pattern will appear each time you turn your computer on TEXAS lNS r ni time cowNj iffJM v VlfVV r SCREEN 2 This screen follows the Tl Color Pattern Press the 1 key to use Tl BASIC 44 ...

Page 46: ...Tl MMK fc ftl SCREEN 3 Note the arrow like prompt and the flashing cursor at the left edge of the screen 45 ...

Page 47: ...1 Now press any letter or number key and hold it down for several seconds What happens Right again The computer printed the letter or number over and over as long as you held the key down This built in feature of your computer is known as auto repeat SCREEN 2 Ifyou try to type more than four lines you ll notice that any more letters you type won t appear and the cursor won t move any far ther on t...

Page 48: ...SCREEN 1 When what you are typing iscontinued on the next line that Iscalled wraparound SCREEN 2 Holding down a key for several seconds causes the auto repeat ofthe character 47 ...

Page 49: ...SCREEN 3 When you get to the end of four lines on the screen the cursor will stop 48 ...

Page 50: ...ard You use it to enter information into the part of the computer that actually does the thinking or calculating As you type letters and numbers appear on the screen but the computer doesn t actually think about what it should do with any of those characters until you press the ENTER key 49 ...

Page 51: ...instruction that your com puter can follow Type CALL CLEAR but don t press ENTERyet Ifyou made a mis take press the ENTER key and try again Notice that the computer sits there with the flashing cursor at the end of the line The computer is waiting patiently for you to tell it to get started SCREEN 3 Now press ENTER What happened Surprise The entire screen turns blank and the cursor appears at the ...

Page 52: ...SCREEN 1 INCORRECT STATEMENT is one error message you can get from the computer SCREEN 2 BAD NAME is another error message 51 ...

Page 53: ...SCREEN 3 Until you press ENTER the computer will not act on your command SCREEN 4 The CALL CLEAR command produces a blank screen with a prompt and a flashing cursor 52 ...

Page 54: ... your computer s ENTER key always tells the computer to act upon whatever information isin the line that youjust typed Even ifyou use a series of words or a command that is not in the computer s vocabulary the computer won t know anything iswrong until you press ENTER and it tries to interpret those words To see what we mean type THIS MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL 53 ...

Page 55: ...press ENTER Now the computer will read the sentence youjust typed discover that none of those words are in its vocabulary and print out the message INCORRECTSTATEMENT to tell you that it doesn t understand what you said SCREEN 2 Instead of INCORRECT STATEMENT the com puter displays BADNAME ifyou type in a word that has more than fifteen characters and then press ENTER Beforestarting the next exerc...

Page 56: ...SCREEN 1 The computer won t know you ve made a mistake until you press ENTER r24 V Vs W 0 v t J J 3 5 i ir SCREEN 2 Afteryou press ENTER the computer will tell you Ifyou made a mistake JWftT 55 ...

Page 57: ...d the spacebar Ifyou re familiarwith typing you already know about the spacebar It s used to add spaces between the words that you type Let s try the spacebar with different words Type the following sen tence pressing the spacebar once after each word to leave a space THIS IS MY COMPUTER 56 ...

Page 58: ... down for a few seconds When the cursor gets to the end of the line it automatically wraps around to the beginning of the next line and continues on SCREEN 3 Now type the word SPACE The large gap caused by your holding down the spacebar may look strange in this case but there may be times when you ll want a large space between words on the screen SCREEN 4 Before starting the next exercise press EN...

Page 59: ...SCREEN 1 Pressing the spacebar puts spaces between i or words on the screen SCREEN 2 When the cursor reaches the end of a line on the screen 58 ...

Page 60: ...SCREEN 3 it wraps around to the next line Mtfffl THXS IS HV CCJHFU TE SPACED SCREEN 4 The screen display will leave space where you have pressed the spacebar 59 ...

Page 61: ...THE LETTER KEYS LETTERkeys 60 ...

Page 62: ...ers Ifyou are alreadya typist then you are familiar with where each of the keys is located Ifyou are not a typist you maywish to locate each let ter of the alphabet on the keyboard now First press each letter key inthe order they appear on the keyboard starting with the top row SCREEN 1 Now try typing allthe letters inalphabetical order SCREEN 2 Beforestarting the next exercise press ENTER type th...

Page 63: ...SCREEN 1 The letter keys on the keyboard are not placed in alphabetical order SCREEN 2 You may have to practice to be able to find all of the keys in alphabetical order 62 ...

Page 64: ...oard locate the key marked ALPHA LOCK The ALPHA LOCK key causes all of the letters to be displayed as uppercase letters The ALPHA LOCK key gets its name from the fact that it can be locked in the down position Let s try using the ALPHA LOCK key Press the ALPHA LOCK key until it locks in the down posi tion Now type a few words like this 63 ...

Page 65: ...not true lowercase letters The TI 99 4A always represents a lowercase letter by displaying a character that is roughly half the size of the uppercase letter There are two rules for using the ALPHA LOCK key 1 when you use TlJoysticks to play games the ALPHA LOCK key must be unlocked in the up position and 2 when you are programming in BASIC leave the ALPHALOCKkey locked in the down position because...

Page 66: ...EEN 1 All of the letters displayed on the screen look like conventional uppercase letters mmmmmmmm l B FEU UORBS FCtf fii kijR i a SCREEN 2 Uppercase letters are about twice as tall as lowercase letters 65 ...

Page 67: ... ALPHA LOCK key the SHIFTkeys are used to type uppercase letters The SHIFT keys have an additional function however one which the ALPHA LOCK does not perform for every key on the keyboard which has two sym bols on it such as the key with the number 4 and the dollarsign the SHIFT key gives you ac cess to the upper symbol 66 ...

Page 68: ... down the spacebar until the cursor moves to the beginning of the next line Now type all the number keys without using a SHIFTkey Then type the same keys with a SHIFT key held down SCREEN 2 Use the spacebar to move the cursor to the next line Now type a few symbol keys without using a SHIFT key Then type those keys again with a SHIFTkey held down SCREEN 3 Before starting the next exercise press EN...

Page 69: ...T QMgR T V U j ff SCREEN 1 Pressing the SHIFTkey with a letter key creates an uppercase letter IHilSlf lf fil l p v SCREEN 2 Pressing the SHIFTkey also creates the sym bols on the upper half ofthe number keys 68 ...

Page 70: ...1234567 890 43 3s 0 SCREEN 3 Other keys have two symbols on them as well 69 ...

Page 71: ...THE FUNCTION KEY FUNCTION key 70 ...

Page 72: ... happens on the screen is the result of the function of the key you typed with the FUNCTION key The special functions of the letter keys are indicated on the fronts of the keys Let s try this to see how it works First hold the FUNCTION key and press the I key What char acter appeared SCREEN 1 A question markjust appeared on the screen Examine the front of the I key on the keyboard and you will see...

Page 73: ...SCREEN 1 Pressing the FUIMCTIOIM key with the I key creates a question mark on the screen P i s a ir C3 SCREEN 2 Pressing the FUIMCTIOIM key with the R and T keys creates the left and right brackets 72 ...

Page 74: ...the keyboard of your TI 99 4A can create many more characters than there are keys Most of the characters that you see on the front of the keys are used in special cases such as in typing a letter when using word processing soft ware with your TI 99 4A The UP and DOWN arrow keys are used in an editing mode during BASIC programming that is a more complex pro gramming function that is detailed in you...

Page 75: ...our keyboard To helpyou keep trackof this new language you have placedthe strip of words above the numberkeys on your keyboard Don t worry aboutjust what the names that make up this new language mean right now We ll explain these functions when we discusseach of the number keys Before starting the next exercise press ENTER type the words CALLCLEAR and press ENTER again to clear the screen 74 ...

Page 76: ...SCREEN 1 Pressing the FUNCTION key with the P key creates a quotation mark SCREEN 2 Pressing the FUNCTION key with the O key creates an apostrophe 75 ...

Page 77: ...stake or want to add a letter or word in the middle of a sentence Perhaps you decide you want to erase a letter or an entire word You can add and erase letters and words with your computer But to do so you must first be at the place in the sentence where you want to add or remove characters Let s find out how to do this Type the sentence 76 ...

Page 78: ...he end of your sentence SCREEN 2 Hold the FUNCTION key and press the D key six times Your cursor is now positioned on top of the letter E SCREEN 3 Byusing the S key as a left arrow key and using the D key as a right arrow key you can move the cursor to any spot within a line of typing You can think of using the left and right arrow keys to move the cursor as being similar to lifting a pencil from ...

Page 79: ...SCREEN 2 Using the FUNCTION key with the S key moves the cursor to the left 78 ...

Page 80: ...WV CtiHPUTi SCREEN 3 Using the FUNCTION key with the D key moves the cursor to the right 79 ...

Page 81: ...THE CONTROL KEY AND NUMBER KEYS CONTROL key NUMBER keys 80 ...

Page 82: ...R KEYS Thenumber keysinthe top row operate a little differentlyfrom the letter keys There are no up percase numbers Instead each numberkey contains two characters One in the lowercase position isa number and the other in the up percaseposition isa symbol ofsomesort You type the number keyalone to produce the num ber on the screen To produce the symbol that is above the number you hold the SHIFT ke...

Page 83: ...SCREEN 1 Pressing the SHIFTkeywith a number key creates a symbol on the screen 82 ...

Page 84: ...simply press the key a numeral J appears on the screen Now hold the SHIFTkey and press the 1 key The exclamation mark appears next to the numeral SCREEN 1 The special function of the I key is indicated on the labeljust above the key The letters DEL stand for DELETE By holding down the FUNC 83 ...

Page 85: ...ears SCREEN 2 Now use the leftarrow keyto move the cursor to cover the letter O in the word OLD SCREEN 3 Now hold the FUNCTION keydown and press the I I key four times What does our sentence say now SCREEN 4 Byusing the DELETE key you ve deleted the word OLD Each time you press DELETE the character orspace on whichthe cursorrestsis erased and allof the letters to the right of the cursor move to th...

Page 86: ... V V32 V7j SCREEN 1 Press the 1 1 key twice once by itself and once with the SHIFT key v 3 jr 1 X THIS IS MY PL COMPUTER SCREEN 2 To delete the word OLD first move the cursor to the left 85 ...

Page 87: ...SCREEN 3 so that it is on top of the O in OLD Press the FUNCTION and 1 1 keys four times SCREEN 4 This iswhat the sentence looks like when you have removed the word OLD 86 ...

Page 88: ...he top row of keys just to the right of the 1 key Ifyou simply press the key a numeral 2 appears on the screen Now hold the SHIFT key and press the 2 key That strange looking symbol thatjust appeared on your screen isan abbreviation for the word AT SCREEN 1 87 ...

Page 89: ...ile depressingthe 2 keyturns the 2 key into an INSERT key You ll use the FUNCTION key and the 2 key to insert charactersinto a line that you have already typed Let s give this a try Type THIS IS MY COMPUTER Yoursentence appears on the screen SCREEN 2 Now use the leftarrow key to move the cursor to cover the C in the word COMPUTER SCREEN 3 88 ...

Page 90: ...SCREEN 1 Press the 2 key twice once by itself and once with the SHIFT key J5 fSg T T i L 2 THIS t MY COMPUTER SCREEN 2 To Insert a word between MY and COM PUTER move the cursor left 89 ...

Page 91: ...SCREEN 3 so that it covers the C in COMPUTER 90 ...

Page 92: ...he FUNCTION key down and press the 2 key You won t see any difference on the screen but your computer is now in the in sert mode Type the word NEW and press the spacebar once What does the sentence say now SCREEN 1 91 ...

Page 93: ...the cursor is over the letter N in the word NEW SCREEN 2 Now type the word OLD Notice what happened Sinceyou are not in the insert mode any longer the word OLDwas not inserted between words Instead itsimply re placed the word NEWasyou typed SCREEN 3 Remember once you are in the insert mode the characters that you type areaddedto your orig inal text when you are not in the insert mode any character...

Page 94: ... sskrf SCREEN 1 The FUIMCTION and 2 keys combined allow you to insert words i v ii Tl L 2 THIS M Y SCREEN 2 Moving the cursor turns off the Insert mode V c f4 K ew coHf uref 93 ...

Page 95: ...94 m 2 g THIS IS MY OiPlCOW FUTgft SCREEN 3 With the insert mode off any new characters you type replace whatever was there before j ...

Page 96: ...e 3 key is located in the top row of keys just to the right of the 2 key Ifyou simply press the key a numeral 3 appears on the screen Now hold the SHIFTkey and press the 3 key Your screen shows the symbol which means number SCREEN 1 95 ...

Page 97: ...lso be likened to an eraser it sjust a much bigger eraser Want to see what we mean Try it on for size Again type in the sentence THIS IS MY COMPUTER SCREEN 2 Hold the FUNCTION key down and press the 3 key How much text was erased SCREEN 3 Imagine that The entire sentence vanished and the cursor issitting next to the prompt The ERASE function will always erase anycharacters that you ve typed on a l...

Page 98: ...SCREEN 1 Press the 3 key twice once by Itself and once with the SHIFT key SCREEN 2 When you press the FUIMCTIOIM key with the 3 key 97 ...

Page 99: ...SCREEN 3 the whole line disappears 98 ...

Page 100: ...to the right of the 3 key Ifyou simply press the key a numeral 4 appears on the screen Now hold the SHIFT key and press the 4 S key Yourscreen shows the symbol which means dollars SCREEN 1 The special function of the 4 S key is indicated on the label just above the 4 S key By holding 99 ...

Page 101: ... canstart your program on a new line Don t worry ifa BAD NAME message appears when you press ENTER Now type this sentence just as it isshown 10 PRINT 1234567890 Ifyou make any mistakes you should now know how to correct them Just move the cur sor back to the incorrect character and retype the correct character When you ve finished typing the line press the ENTER key SCREEN 2 Next type the followin...

Page 102: ...Press the 4 key twice once by itself and once with the SHIFT key SCREEN 2 This is the first line in your very first computer program 101 ...

Page 103: ...SCREEN 3 With this second line you have completed your program To see what It does 102 ...

Page 104: ...rypressing the space bar Try typing STOPor ENOUGH or any word you like What happens Absolutely nothing Your computer is ignoring you as it busily prints rows of numbers on the screen How can you get the computer to stop this operation You could pull the plug out of the wall outlet but it s not necessary to take such drastic action It s times like these when the CLEAR key comes in handy Hold the FU...

Page 105: ...BHE lg print 20 3D TO ftUNg i 34367890 SCREEN 1 type the command RUfM SCREEN 2 and press ENTER The screen will be mov ing very quickly 104 i 8 2 8 67890 Sggf0 Z SQ 90 90 67890 67890 7990 7890 7890 7890 _7890 67890 ...

Page 106: ... forces the com puter to come to a screeching halt Before starting the next exercise type CALL CLEAR and press ENTERto clear the screen 1234567890 134567890 34567890 1234567890 1234567890 4567890 4567890 4567890 567890 4567890 7890 7890 __ 7890 4367890 7890 7890 4S67890 C ins s Vv fc r za rlsf 4 7i90 90 BREAKPOINT RT 20 _____ MWIMi SCREEN 3 By pressing the FUNCTION key and the 4 key at the same ti...

Page 107: ... The 5 key is located in the top row of keys just to the right of the 4 S key Ifyou simply press the 5 key a numeral 5 appears on the screen Now hold the SHIFT key and press the 5 key The screen displays the percent symbol SCREEN 1 106 ...

Page 108: ...ith certain software packages or in BASIC programming if you press the BEGIN key now the computer will not respond at all Before starting the next exercise press ENTER type the words CALL CLEAR and press ENTER again to clear the screen SCREEN 1 Press the 5 key twice once by itself and once with the SHIFT key 107 ...

Page 109: ...t have special meaning when used in certain ways during BASIC programming These four keys are the 6 a key for the exponent sign a the 8 key for the asterisk the 9 key for the left parenthesis and the 0 key for the right parenthesis Let s discover what is meant by these symbols 108 ...

Page 110: ...her number This is easier to demonstrate than it is to explain so let s try it You may already know that 62 36 The num ber 2 indicates that the number 6 is raised to the power of 2 The exponent symbol on your com puter can be used to perform the same kind of calculation First press the ENTER key to begin a new line Now type PRINT 6 a 2 and your problem appears on the screen SCREEN 2 Next press the...

Page 111: ...SCREEN 1 Press the 6 A twice once by itselfand once with the SHIFT key 2 J SCREEN 2 The caret Indicates that an exponent follows it 110 ...

Page 112: ...SCREEN 3 PRINTtells the computer to perform the equation and display the answer 111 ...

Page 113: ...6 A key The exponent symbol can be used to calculate numbers raised to various powers Type PRINT 14a6 and the problem appears on the screen SCREEN 1 112 ...

Page 114: ...sage WARNING NUMBER TOO BIG shows that even computers have limits SCREEN 4 The special function of the 6 a key is indicated on the labeljust above the 6 a key The PRO CEED command abbreviated PROC D is used only with certain software packages or in BASIC programming ifyou press the PROCEED key now the computer will not respond at all Before starting the next exercise type CALL CLEAR and press ENTE...

Page 115: ...SCREEN 1 This PRINT command tells the computer to raise 14 to the 6th power and display the answer SCREEN 2 The answer is displayed slightly Indented underneath the command 114 ...

Page 116: ...SCREEN 3 The computer can work with even very large numbers print 14A6 7529536 rint 9999 9999 NUflBER TDD BIS 9 99999E SCREEN 4 but not too largeI 115 ...

Page 117: ...THE 7 KEY AID FUNCTION 7 key The 7 key produces the numeral 7 when pressed by itself it produces the ampersand symbol when the SHIFT key is held down SCREEN 1 116 ...

Page 118: ...n the labeljust above the 7 key TheAID command is used only with certain software packages ifyou pressthe AID keynow the computer will not respond at all Beforestarting the next exercise press ENTER type the words CALL CLEAR and press ENTER again to clear the screen SCREEN 1 Press the 7 key twice once by itself and once with the SHIFT key 117 ...

Page 119: ...THE 8 KEY REDO FUNCTION 8 key The 8 key produces the numeral 8 when pressed by itself it produces the asterisk symbol when the SHIFTkey is held down SCREEN 1 118 ...

Page 120: ...e asteriskfor multiplication instead Press ENTER to start on a new line Then type PRINT 4 2 and your problem appears on the screen SCREEN 2 Then press the ENTER key The answer 8 appears on your screen as the computer calcu lates the product of 4 x 2 SCREEN 3 The special function of the 8 key is indicated on the labeljust above the 8 key The REDO command is used only with certain software packages ...

Page 121: ...SCREEN 1 Pressthe 81 key twice once by Itselfand once with the SHIFTkey SCREEN 2 The asterisk acts as a multiplication sign 120 ...

Page 122: ...SCREEN 3 PRINT tells the computer to multiplythe num bers and display the answer 121 ...

Page 123: ...t the numeral 9 Hold the SHIFT key and press the 9 key to see the symbol for the left parenthesis appear on your screen Press the 0 key alone to get the numeral 0 Hold the SHIFT key and press the 0 keyand the rightparenthesissymbol will appear SCREEN 1 122 ...

Page 124: ... include the parentheses SCREEN 3 Now press ENTER What happens Strange you say This time the computer printed a different answer 16 SCREEN 4 Actually the computer is correct in both cases The first time it multiplied 2 by 4 to produce 8 then added 2 to get the sum of 10 In the second problem the computer performed the calcula tion that was inside the parentheses first it added 2 and 2 to get the s...

Page 125: ...SCREEN 1 The 9 key and the 0 key produce numerals and the parentheses symbols 9 0 PRINT 2 2 4 10 SCREEN i PRINT tells the computer to perform the equation and display the answer 124 iV S S ...

Page 126: ...SCREEN 3 Add parentheses to the same equation 9 0 p xnt 2 2 4 10 prjwt 2 2 4 SCREEN 4 andyou get a different answerl 125 ...

Page 127: ... exam ine the final key on the top row the key It is used for calculations Pressing this key alone creates the symbol Holding the SHIFTkey while pressing this key produces a You ll use the in addition problems and there is no limit to the number of times it can be used Type 126 ...

Page 128: ...e computer to quit Tryit and see what happens It may have come as a surprise your screen turned solid blue ifyou re using a color set the computer beeped and the Tl Color Pattern reap peared on the screen SCREEN 2 Now press any letter on the keyboard You ll see the message PRESS 1 FOR Tl BASIC appear on the screen SCREEN 3 Type the number 1 Now the message Tl BASIC READY will appear and you are ba...

Page 129: ...The computer can add many numbers and dls play the answer Instantly SCREEN 2 You command the computer to QUITby pressing the SHIFT and keys at the same time 128 ...

Page 130: ...KeeWT TEXAS INSTRUMENTS HDI1E COMPUTER PRESS l FDR Tl BflSIC Press the 1 key to get back to Tl BASIC Tl BRSIC READY SCREEN 3 The prompt and the cursor reappear and you re readjy to get back to work 129 ...

Page 131: ... subtraction and division Locatethe SLASH HYPHEN key directly above the ENTERkey Bypressing the SLASH HYPHEN key alone you will create the slash symbol In normal text you can use this symbol to separate words just as we did in describing the name of this key But you can also use the slash symbol to tell the 130 ...

Page 132: ...e other hand we can hold the SHIFT key and type the SLASH HYPHEN key to create the hyphen symbol Ifyou re typing normal text you can use the hyphen between words In math calculations the hyphen symbol becomes the computer s subtraction minus symbol Trythis PRINT 800 250 The subtraction problem now appears SCREEN 3 Press ENTER and the answer of 550 will be dis played on your screen SCREEN 4 This ke...

Page 133: ...SCREEN 1 The slash acts as a division symbol SCREEN 2 PRINT tells the computer to divide the numbers and display the answer 132 fov V ...

Page 134: ...SCREEN 3 The hyphen acts as a minus sign SCREEN 4 PRINT tells the computer to subtract the num bers and display the answer 133 ...

Page 135: ...key The key the key and the key all oper ate in a fairly standard way Ifyou hold the SHIFT key down while typing any of these keys the symbol on the upper half of the key is pro duced Ifyou type the key without holding the SHIFTkey the symbol on the lower half of the key is produced 134 ...

Page 136: ...period appear on your screen SCREEN 1 Now try pressing the key first with the SHIFTkey and then without SCREEN 2 Now press the key first with SHIFT then with out SHIFT SCREEN 3 The symbols produced by the and keys when the SHIFTkey is held are called the greater than and less than symbols You ll use the greater than and less than symbols often if you write your own BASIC programs 135 ...

Page 137: ...SCREEN 1 Press the key twice first with the SHIFT key and then without it SCREEN 2 Press the key twice first with the SHIFT key and then without ft 136 ...

Page 138: ...SCREEN 3 Press the key twice first with the SHIFT key and then without it 137 ...

Page 139: ...he computer to perform a certain task Think of your computer as an electronic calcula tor A calculator doesn t possess any intelligence when you first turn it on Instead it stares blank ly back at you and waits for you to tell it what to do It s the same with your computer Whenever you type a command that tells your computer to do a certain task you are programming it just as you are programming a...

Page 140: ...you can give your computer the power of total re call Allyou need to do is use what is known as a line number which is simply a number at the beginning of a line of information The computer uses line numbers as a means of remembering what it should do next When a collection of line numbers and lines are typed into the computer that collection of information is called a program A program is simply ...

Page 141: ...s to do the same thing as the CLEAR key but the CLEAR key only clears the screen not the memory Now type the following and don t forget to press ENTER at the end of each line Don t be concerned ifa program line runs over onto the next line Just press ENTERwhen you re done typing each numbered program line 10 CALL CLEAR 20 PRINT THIS PROGRAM WILL 30 PRINT MULTIPLY TWO NUMBERS 40 PRINT WHAT IS THE F...

Page 142: ... SCREEN 1 Now type the word RUN SCREEN 2 Then press the ENTER key The RUN command tells the computer to read the program What do you see SCREEN 3 The computer wants you to give it a number so press a number key and then press ENTER SCREEN 4 141 ...

Page 143: ...SCREEN 1 This is how the whole program should look on your screen SCREEN 2 RUN is the command that will start the pro gram 142 ...

Page 144: ...SCREEN 3 Pressing the ENTER key starts the program SCREEN 4 We chose the number 3 as our first number 143 ...

Page 145: ...Now it wants another number so press another number key SCREEN 1 Press ENTER again Presto The computer multi plied the numbers and is showing you the answer just like a calculator SCREEN 2 144 ...

Page 146: ...mber 9 as our second number E k Wlf PRDSftftM WILL liUTT IPLY TWO NUMBERS ftT IS THE FIRST NUMB M T IS THE SECOND NUM 9 THE RNSWER IS BONE SCREEN 2 As soon as you entered the second number the computer displayed the answer 145 ...

Page 147: ...orm a BASIC command To run the program the computer begins with the smallest line number and performs thejob that it is told to do by that particular line Then it proceeds to the next line and follows the instructions given it by that line The computer continues to perform the steps outlined in each line of the program Once the computer runs short of work to do in this case after line 100 it assum...

Page 148: ...SCREEN 3 LISTtells the computer to display the com mands In the program SCREEN 4 Examine the program listing carefully 147 ...

Page 149: ...uotation marks the computer will assume that you are using the word or letter following the PRINT command to represent a number and the com puter will print that number You also used a command called INPUT in this program The INPUT command causes the com puter to print a question mark and the com puter then waits for you to provide some type of information Line 50 and line 70 of the program use IN...

Page 150: ...d you want to examine the program to see ifyou have made any typing errors Ifyou enter a very long program you will dis cover that when you use LIST parts of the pro gram race past the top of the screen so quickly that you cannot see those parts of the program There is a solution to this problem You can LIST parts of a program by entering specific line numbers Type LIST 10 50 149 ...

Page 151: ...the screen SCREEN 1 Now press ENTER Your computer now listslines 10through 50 SCREEN 2 Now type LIST 60 80 The new command appears SCREEN 3 Then press the ENTER key Thistime your computer listslines60 through 80 SCREEN 4 150 ...

Page 152: ...SCREEN 1 UST followed by line numbers tells the com puter to list only those programs lines SCREEN 2 as soon as you press ENTER 151 ...

Page 153: ...Sf gcJJfHBgg i y m 55NF IttPUT 2 r pW PRINT WHflT IS THE SdtMfi M M3L PS INI the answer is 3 IKHfePM fl x jo o SCREEN 3 With this command the computer will list only the program lines you specify SCREEN 4 but not until you press ENTER 152 10 50 LEftR THI rtHUt T this FRa R l1 V l 1 T HULTIPLV TWCl mi M IS THE F ...

Page 154: ...ds available by trying this simple program First type NEW and press the ENTER key to clear the program that wejust used from the computer s memory Now type the following program and don t forget to press ENTER after you finishtyping each line 10FORX 1 TO 16 20 CALL CLEAR 30 PRINT THE NUMBER IS 40 PRINT X 50CALLSCREEN X 60FORY 1 TO 100 70 NEXT Y 80 NEXT X Check your work to be sure there are no err...

Page 155: ...ALL SOUND 100 110 X 2 Then press ENTER SCREEN 4 Now type RUN and press the ENTER key This time you heard sixteen different tones from your TV set speaker as it displayed the colors There are many other BASIC commands that you can use with the TI 99 4A This introduction was designed to provide an idea of how simple BASIC programming can be Ifyou decide to learn more about BASIC a beginner s BASIC m...

Page 156: ...OR X l TD 16 Cftt t Ct EftR PRINT THE NUMBER PRINT X Cfll t screen x FJ3R Y l TO 100 4 XT Y SCREEN 1 The whole program will look like this on your RUN commands the computer to display 16 colors This is number 7 155 ...

Page 157: ...SCREEN 3 This Is number 14 SCREEN 4 Type this additional line Into your program and you will be ready for sound and color 156 ...

Page 158: ...able for your TI 99 4A range from relatively inexpensive cassette recorders andjoysticks for games to expansion systems with additional memory and multiple disk drives It s helpful to know why peripherals are needed and what they can do for you Which peripherals should I buy is a question many new computer owners ask There is no standard answer to this question just as there is no standard answer ...

Page 159: ...peripherals and software for the Tl computer systems When buying from an independent company the company s assurances are often the only guarantee offered that the product is truly com patible with your system This can be a problem On the other hand the primary advantage of dealing with independent companies is price You can often find significant savings on accessories from independent companies ...

Page 160: ...uter Ifyou plan to use your computer only for entertainment and education you may not need a cassette recorder The TI 99 4A can use the plug in car tridges containing software programs and pro grams available in that format may meet your needs particularly for games and for learning exercises in many educational subjects Ifyou want to learn to program your computer you will probably also want to u...

Page 161: ...fferent method of switching the cassette motor on and off than is used by the Tl 99 4A You can fix this with a low cost adapter that allows many cassette recorders to operate with the TI 99 4A s method of recorder control Rather than using an adapter however you could disconnect the plug that is inserted into thejack of your tape recorder Ifyou do this the recorder will not be under control of the...

Page 162: ...are features of this record er And the proper settings of the volume and tone controls necessary for saving programs on tape are clearly marked which helps eliminate the trial and error procedure often required when you are using a cassette recorder with your computer for the first time One good alternate choice of recorder is the General Electric Computer Program Data Recorder for about 50 Design...

Page 163: ...e that you will notice when us ing a disk drive will be speed a cassette recorder takes from one to five minutes to load software and a disk drive can do it in seconds A disk drive operates efficiently to find infomation too It stores information using a technique known as random access rapidly scanning the surface of the magnetic floppy disk and quickly locat ing the required information A casset...

Page 164: ...n extension of the computer s memory Disk drives are also a more economical means of storage after the initial purchase A single floppy disk will store the equivalent of six cassette tapes and isjust slightly more expensive than a quality cassette tape Each single sided 5 Winch floppy disk will store approximately 90 000 characters of information or roughlyJOO BASIC programs that are fifty lines i...

Page 165: ...ter and the disk drive A single disk controller card can control up to three disk drives The disk command cartridge also referred to as the Disk Manager is used to perform house keeping functions for the information that you will store on a floppy disk These functions will include naming disks copying disks and delet ing files or programs The use of a software car tridge containing the disk manage...

Page 166: ...monly known asjoysticks Many games can be oper ated from the keyboard of your computer but the use ofjoysticks allows greater control of the games with less effort Tl BASIC also possesses commands for tracking the action of thejoy sticks this feature allows you to use thejoysticks with programs that you may create 165 ...

Page 167: ...r cus tomjoysticks an alternate choice is the WICO Joystick which requires a Tl adapter sold sepa rately for about 13 The WICO Joystick features an oversized bat handle a palm sized controller base and two weapons firing buttons one is mounted at the top of the bat handle WICO Joysticks are not inexpensive about S30 each however ifyou are an avid game enthusiast you may prefer their design 166 ...

Page 168: ...ting a TVset will not pro duce images and characters that are as sharp and clear as those produced by a monitor Whether you decide to use a TVset or a monitor the display should be color ifpossible One of the primary strengths of the TI 99 4A is its ability to display multiple foreground and background colors These colors are used extensively with programs written for the TI 99 4A and the re sulta...

Page 169: ...d panel hides additional monitor controls for contrast and brightness The CBM 1701 Color Monitor from Commodore Business Machines about 300 is a good alter nate choice Designed for use with home com puters the Commodore Color Monitor accepts a standard composite video signal and audio in put which makes it compatible with your TI 99 4A The screen size is 13 inches diagonally and special circuitry ...

Page 170: ...tiresome quickly The effi cient method is to use a printer Printers can easily be worth the expense ifyou have sufficient uses for a printer Ifyou use your computer in home financial management the printer can provide storage copies of all transac tions Most business uses of a personal computer require the use of a printer Mailing lists and the typing of forms letters and invoices can be greatly s...

Page 171: ...ese spokes are moved by a small hammer and strike the paper through an inked ribbon producing the character on the paper Daisy wheel printers are often used for word processing to print impor tant letters and reports Thermal printers are least expensive costing from 100 to 400 Dot matrix printers fall into the intermediate price range with prices from 250 to 1 000 depend ing on the quality and fea...

Page 172: ...and these printers can often be pur chased at a lower cost Youcan find many of these printers at computer stores You can go as faras to purchase one cart it home and connect it to your computer expecting that the printer will operate with no problems Ifit does consider yourself fortunate you have achieved a perfect match due to sheer luck Ifyou choose to use a printer made by an inde pendent compa...

Page 173: ...ufacturers provide switches on the printer so that you can set the printer at a certain baud rate Once you have done this you have completedjust half of the job The RS 232 Peripheral Interface Card or Pe ripheral Interface Adapter for the TI 99 4A must also be set at a speed that will match that of the printer Ifyou re unsure about selecting the proper printer get help either from the per sonnel a...

Page 174: ...uter Before purchasing additional memory however you should con sider your needs to determine ifthe memory is actually needed Unlike many other computers in its price class the TI 99 4A comes equipped with 16Kof memory The 16K about 16 000 characters of available memory is enough for most home and educational uses 173 ...

Page 175: ... BASIC program this memory is used by the car tridge software to perform various functions Much of the available software for the TI 99 4A does not require the use of any additional mem ory So for most applications you should not need additional memory in your computer Some business applications and advanced programming languages do require additional memory For those applications you need a memor...

Page 176: ...akes a speech synthesizer for the TI 99 4A to be used with Mil ton Bradley software only The Tl Speech Syn thesizer contains an electronic vocabulary of over 300 words you must buy the Speech Edi tor software cartridge to be able to use the 300 word memory The Texas Instruments Speech Synthesizer can audibly reproduce any requested letter or word The Speech Synthesizer does not require the use oft...

Page 177: ...The Source CompuServe Dow Jones and TEXNET To use the Tl Telephone Coupler you must have an RS 232 Interface Card or Adapter on your computer One of the better alternate values for your mod em dollar can be found in the Signalman Mark III modem about 140 from Anchor Automation The battery powered Signalman Mark III is a direct connect modem that can be used with your TI 99 4A It connects to the te...

Page 178: ... you to give these in structions to your TI 99 4A you can buy soft ware packages or you can write your own programs in Tl BASIC thus creating your own software Pre packaged software that you can buy contains all of the steps your computer must follow to perform a task whether the task is the planning of your family budget or communi cating with another computer hundreds of miles away The cost of s...

Page 179: ...nate ly this situation has changed and a wide array of software is available for your computer You can still write your own software ifyou want to but you don t have to The TI 99 4A can use cassette cartridge or disk software All three of these software formats have advantages and disadvantages What for mat s you decide to use will depend on what you want to use the computer for and how much money...

Page 180: ...oftware The reason for the fast graphics and sound isthat cartridge software uses the computer s native programming lan guage known as machine language Game programmers use machine language to create fast action arcade games In contrast many cas sette and disk programs use Tl BASIC or Tl Logo programming languages that are considerably easier to use but not as fast in operation The primary disadva...

Page 181: ... unlike a cartridge you have the option of writing your own programs and saving them Creating software in this manner is inexpensive and fun Cassettes do not however provide the flexibility in programming offered by the use of a disk drive The primary disadvantage of cassette software is the time required to load programs into your computer The exact length of time required will vary from one to f...

Page 182: ... seconds when using a disk drive In addition to the advantage of speed disk drives also provide flexibifity in the way that the computer uses information be cause the disk drive uses a recording method known as random access it is possible for the disk drive to locate a given bit of information data in a short time Bycomparison ifthat same bit of information is recorded at the end of a cassette yo...

Page 183: ...IC FIELDS Strong sources of magnet ism can erase your cassettes or floppy disks Keep your software away from electric motors magnetized paper clip hangers and the like including your TV SHOCK AND VIBRATION Ifyou re using cas sette software shock or vibration can cause the cassette spools inside the container to shift and jamming of the tape may occur Rewinding the tape will usually solve the probl...

Page 184: ... that s attached to thejacket of a floppy disk In stead use a felt tipped marker and press lightly A ball point pen can leave a permanent bend in the surface of the disk and the computer will not be able to read the information on the disk s surface LOSS Ifyou obtain a large quantity of software you may find your software collection becoming disorganized To prevent this you can buy a holder for yo...

Page 185: ...n a regular basis to share ideas solve problems and offer suggestions Users groups also often exchange software written by members of the group For more information concerning users groups see Chapter 6 Your Computer s Net work Ifyou prefer to create your own programs books are available with sample programs for the TI 99 4A These programs may be typed into the computerand saved on cassette tape o...

Page 186: ...ssette or disk Most pre packaged software iscopyrighted When you buy programs of this type you can not legally copy them and give or sell them to anyone else Programs which are published in books and magazines however are publicdo main software Software written by your friends may also be in the publicdomain that is it is not copyrighted and isavailable for use by the general public usuallywithout...

Page 187: ...e and the Tl Extended BASIC cartridge both cost about 100 Software that is contained on floppy disk will cost from 20 to over 200 de pending on the complexity of the program COMPATIBILITY Compatibility in the personal computer world refers to the ability or inability to use one type of product on a particular computer system Be fore purchasing software for your computer make sure that the software...

Page 188: ...IES to load the pro gram into the computer and then follow the directions as they appear on your screen To use a disk follow STEPS 1 4 under the section MAKING DISK BACKUP COPIES to load the program and then follow the directions as they appear on your screen Pre packaged software always comes with printed instructions for its users These instruc tions are called documentation Always read the docu...

Page 189: ...the backup copy whenever you run a program That way in case anything happens likean electrical surge or lapse your original program is safe Some software manufacturers have written pro grams which are difficult or impossible to copy Before you buy a program ask your dealer ifit can be copied Ifyou have another option don t buy this kind of software Ifyou already own some or ifyou really need that ...

Page 190: ...er STEP1 Turn on the computer console and the TVset Plugthe cassette recorder into both the wall and the computer see the instructions for setting up a cassette recorder in Chapter 2 STEP 2 Insert the cassette tape containing the program you want to use into the recorder face up Close the cover over the tape STEP 3 Type OLDCS1 and press the ENTER key STEP 4 On the screen you will see the following...

Page 191: ...will be the following PRESS CASSETTE PLAY CS1 THEN PRESS ENTER Push the PLAY button on your cassette recorder Then press the ENTERkey on your computer console STEP 6 Now relax The screen message will say READING This message may stay on the screen for as long as five minutes depending on the size of the program you are loading When the message changes to DATAOK it s finished loading 190 ...

Page 192: ...ead of the DATAOK message you got a message which said ERROR NO DATA FOUND PRESS R TO READ PRESS E TO EXIT or l 0 ERROR 56 something is amiss Ifno data was found you may have put the tape in upsidedown or you may have used a blank tape by mistake Examine the tape Then replace it correctly into the recorder close the lid push the PLAY button on the cassette recorder and press the R key on the compu...

Page 193: ...your cassette recorder into your computer whetheryou are making a copy of the program or running it To complete the making of the backup copy follow these eleven steps to SAVE unload your program onto a cassette tape STEP1 Remove the tape which you havejust loaded into the computer from the cassette recorder STEP 2 Insert a new blank tape into the recorder and close the cover over the tape STEP 3 ...

Page 194: ... onto the screen STEP 5 The new command will be the following PRESS CASSETTE RECORD CS1 THEN PRESS ENTER Push the RECORD button on your cassette recorder Then press the ENTER key on your computer console STEP 6 Now relax againi The screen message will say RECORDING This message may stay on the screen for as long as five minutes When the program has been SAVED another message will appear on the scr...

Page 195: ...the computer would erase its memory and return you to Tl BASIC on the screen Always check to be sure that the tape has recorded the program correctly from the computer memory STEP 8 More instructions appear on the screen REWINDCASSETTE TAPE CS1 THEN PRESS ENTER Push the REWIND button on your cassette recorder When the tape stops rewinding press the ENTER key on your computer console This brings a ...

Page 196: ... console 10 Relax one more time The screen message will say CHECKING This message may stay on the screen for as long as five minutes When the message changes to DATAOK it s finished checking STEP 11 The message PRESS CASSETTE STOP CS1 THEN PRESS ENTER appears on the screen So push the STOP button on your cassette recorder and then the ENTER key on the computer console 195 ...

Page 197: ...OUND PRESS R TO RECORD PRESS C TO CHECK PRESS E TO EXIT or ERROR IN DATA DETECTED PRESS R TO RECORD PRESS C TO CHECK PRESS E TO EXIT or l 0 ERROR 66 something is amiss Ifthe l 0 ERROR66 message appeared check the cable connecting the cassette recorder to the computer console 196 ...

Page 198: ...again Then follow the eleven steps for saving a pro gram onto a cassette tape or Press the E key to exit the recording process Then follow the instructions which appear on your screen With some cartridge software you can SAVE onto the cassette data which you have gener ated using the cartridge ToSAVE material from a cartridge onto a cassette tape follow steps 1 11 exactly as if you were saving mat...

Page 199: ...ize the blank disk STEP1 Turn on the disk drive system the TVset and the computer console STEP 2 Open the little door on the disk drive Pick up a blank disk and hold it with the label facing up and the part with the uncovered section of the disk facing away from you Insert the disk into the disk drive and close the little door STEP 3 Plug the Disk Manager Command Module the cartridge that came wit...

Page 200: ...ge on the screen the cursor will flash alternating with the character I Press the 2 key and then press the ENTER key STEP 7 The following message will appear on your screen DISK COMMANDS 1 CATALOG DISK 2 BACKUP DISK 3 MODIFY DISK NAME 4 INITIALIZE NEW DISK YOUR CHOICE Again after the YOURCHOICE message the cursor will flash alternating with the character I Press the 4 key and then the ENTERkey 199...

Page 201: ...he computer will ask you to name the disk NEWDISKNAME So nowyou want to name the new disk Any name up to ten characters with no periods or spaces in it will work Youwill want to develop your own system for naming disks and copies The first copy of your word processing program disk for example might be named WPC1 for Word Processing Copy 1 Type your disk name choice now and press the ENTERkey 200 ...

Page 202: ...u are using has 40 tracks on it press the Ykey and then the ENTER key Ifthe disk you are using has 35 tracks on it press the N key and then the ENTER key and the disk will be initialized for 35 tracks STEP 11 The message SCREEN IS COMPLETE PRESS PROC D REDO BEGIN OR BACK will appear on your screen Press the FUNCTION 6 key combination for the PROC D function and you have finished ini tializing your...

Page 203: ...nk but that it has been initialized and named STEP 12 Open the disk drive door and remove the initialized disk To actually make the backup copy follow these steps STEP1 Turn the computer off and then back on This is called rebootingthe system Turning it on inthe firstplace iscalledbootingthe system STEP 2 Press any key on the keyboard STEP 3 Pressthe 3 key to select the Disk Manager Command Module...

Page 204: ...sage on the screen the cursor will flash alternating with the character I Press the 2 key and then the ENTER key STEPS The following message will appear on your screen DISK COMMANDS 1 CATALOG DISK 2 BACKUP DISK 3 MODIFY DISK NAME 4 INITIALIZE NEW DISK YOUR CHOICE Again after the YOUR CHOICE message the cursor will flash alternating with the character 1 Press the 2 key and then the ENTER key 203 ...

Page 205: ...l disk press the N key and then the ENTER key STEP 7 A new message will ask you which drive you have the master disk in MASTER DISK 1 3 Sinceyou are using one disk drive press the I key and then the ENTER key STEP 8 The message DISKNAME will appear on the screen Type the name of the original master disk and then press ENTER 204 ...

Page 206: ...mmand by putting the original disk into the drive Then press the FUNCTION 6 key combination to tell the computer to PROCEED 11 You will hearsome whirring of the disk drive and the red light on the drive will be lit Then the lightwill go out and the message LOAD COPY DISK will appear on your screen Take the master disk out of the drive and insert the copy disk the one youjust initialized Then press...

Page 207: ...o it until the red light on the drive goes out STEP 12 When you finish the message COMMAND COMPLETE PRESS PROC D REDO OR QUIT appears on the screen Ifyou want to work on the program press the FUNCTION 6 key combination to PROCEED Ifyou want to try copying it again press the FUNCTION 8 key combination to REDO Ifyou want to stop press the FUNCTION and key combination to QUIT 206 ...

Page 208: ...nt isalso a popular application and isavailable in various forms Business applications are possible using your TI 99 4A limitedword processing financial accounting investment tracking and financial projections can be performed with appropriate software which isavailable primari ly on disk RECOMMENDED GAMES ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE PROGRAMS TheAttack is an arcade style game with fast color graphics T...

Page 209: ...Youhave a supply of missiles that you must use to defend your base against the attacking forces 77 Invaderscan be played with or with outjoysticks Format Cartridge Options needed None Supplier Texas Instruments Strike Force 99 is a space game in which you must pilot your starship along a narrow channel of the Cyrolian death ship to destroy it before it has the opportunity to destroy your home plan...

Page 210: ...hree dimensional graphics technology behind ZAXXONmake this game a must Format Cassette or disk Options needed Joysticks Cassette recorder or disk drive Supplier Datasoft Inc 9421 Winnetka Ave Chatsworth CA91311 Indoor Soccer is playable with one or two play ers IndoorSoccersimulates a five person soccer game You control the players and you are able to shoot pass intercept save and perform tackles...

Page 211: ...puters are particularly effective in providing remedial help aimed at specific subjects While most software packages on the market offer repetitive drill in a particular subject other types of software can also aid the student who quickly grows bored with subjects that he or she has mastered When this type of student is allowed to experiment with simulations and learning games on the computer adva...

Page 212: ...ration and look for software that appears to teach as opposed tojust presenting drills The software should also provide positive reinforcement if the answers are correct and should never be over bearing on negative reinforcement for wrong answers The software should be user friendly the age group forwhich it istargeted should be able to use the programwithout constant assistance If young children ...

Page 213: ...iplication 1 and Division 1 is a series of educational soft ware developed for Texas Instruments by Scott Foresman and Company a major educational publisher It is a series of quality educational soft ware structured for various levels of learning Each of these software packages provides exer cises to teach the basic concepts followed by practice in the specific area Addition Subtraction 1 and 2 ar...

Page 214: ...e use of sound to maintain the attention span of younger children Format Cartridge Options needed Speech synthesizer Supplier Texas Instruments PLATO Courseware is a comprehensive series of educational software aimed at students in grades 3 through 12 The series covers all basic skills reading grammar and mathematics for grades 3 through 8 and math reading writing grammar social studies and scienc...

Page 215: ...ent of the proper pronunciation of Spanish Format Cartridge with audio cassettes Options needed Cassette recorder Supplier Texas Instruments Speech Editor is a software package that allows you to directly use the speech capabilities of the TIspeech synthesizer This option can be particularly useful for the visually impaired as it lets you send spoken words sentences or phrases to the speech synthe...

Page 216: ...keeping is a data base man agement orelectronicfiling system for the Tl 99 4A It allows you to create a filing system and retrieve and update information within the sys tem at any time You can use it for various home or small business tasks such as inventory rec ords medical or dental records tax or insurance information and address lists Price About 50 Format Cartridge Options needed Cassette rec...

Page 217: ... Information that is entered into the General Ledgerisautomatically updated in the Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable and Payrollfiles Format Disk Options needed Extended BASIC Cartridge Peripheral Expansion System disk drive with disk controller RS 232 interface card and printer 32K memory expansion card and second disk drive are recommended but not required Supplier Texas Instruments COMPUTER ...

Page 218: ...andling Support of the TI Peripheral Expansion Unit Support of sprite graphics moving graphics shapes for detailed animation Of all of the features offered by Extended BASIC the feature you are likelyto find most helpful in programming isthe use of multiple statements on a single program line Most personal com puters use a variation of Microsoft BASIC a lan guage patented by Microsoft Corporation ...

Page 219: ...xas Instruments TI Logo brings simplicity in programming to all ages Logo is more than a language it is also a learning environment based on a philosophy of education Logo s underlying design is to create a computer based environment that allows learning to occur in a natural manner TI Logo is an excellent learning resource for young chil dren it lets children communicate with the computer by usin...

Page 220: ...on System memory expansion card Supplier Texas Instruments UCSD Pascal is an efficient structured pro gramming language Developed at the Univer sity of California at San Diego UCSD Pascal uses English likestatements in commands Unlike BASIC Pascal program routines are written in a specific and orderly manner hence the name structuredprogramming UCSD Pascal is less complex than assembly language pr...

Page 221: ...99 4A UCSD Pascal Development System Software This is a software package available from TIthat requires a disk drive and a memory expansion card The assembly language routines that you can develop with this system can maintain full con trol of hardware interfaces including the video display processor disk drives and RS 232 inter face connections TI Extended BASIC also sup ports the use of assembly...

Page 222: ...computers and many of them have discovered uses for their computers that may surprise you There are also computer magazines that you can read to keep informed and information utilities which you can connect to by using a telephone modem 99ER HOME COMPUTER MAGAZINE In the area of resource magazines you ll find 99er Home ComputerMagazine to be a valu ablejournal Designed for users of Texas Instru me...

Page 223: ...formation services that may havejust what you re looking for Three of the more popular services are The Source CompuServe and Dow Jones News Retrieval Service The Source a Reader sDigestcompany bills itself as America s Information Utility The Source offers an extensively categorized bulletin board where you can read or post your own electronic messages The Source provides ex cerpts from 30 major ...

Page 224: ...that The Source is generally a business oriented service Ifyou preferthe more entertaining side of things you may want to consider The Source s main competitor CompuServe LikeThe Source CompuServe offers financial information includ ing the Commodity News Service and stock quotes it also provides access to the Associated Press news wires Unlike The Source Compu Serve is available in the evenings a...

Page 225: ...e rec reational area the Dow Jones News Retrieval Service has begun carrying movie reviews and sports updates Use of these types of information sources can quickly become habit forming Ifyou take the time to browse through the offerings you ll find something new each time you log on hook up to your information utility You need to subscribe and pay the fee to a net work to be able to use it The Sou...

Page 226: ...rson who runs the bulletin board system is called the System Oper ator or SYSOP The SYSOPwill try to answer questions and keep the bulletin board running smoothly The only cost of calling a bulletin board is the cost of the telephone call Ifyou are interested in electronic bulletin boards we are going to give you a telephone number to get you started When you call this number you will reach People...

Page 227: ...Instruments RS 232 pe ripheral interface adapter or a similar peripheral interface adapter that is compatible with the TJ 99 4A but is made by another company An interface issimply a type of adapter The pe ripheral interface adapter will plug into the con nector located on the right side of your TI 99 4A You will also need a modem the actual de vice that connects to your telephone There are many d...

Page 228: ...e or after turning the computer on The software will then provide instructions on the screen that you should follow USING THE MODEM When you have the peripheral interface adapter modem and software set up you re ready to go Simply dial the number of the other computer that you want to talk to and when that com puter answers you ll hear a high pitched tone from the telephone s earpiece After you he...

Page 229: ...g advice trying to get a program you ve written to operate properly or looking for new and interesting uses for your system Most users groups meet on a regular basis and the meetings are normally open to the public Low cost or free software is often available through the users groups Most groups offer a disk of the month or cassette of the month to members for a minimal cost The disk or cassette u...

Page 230: ...u should definitely considerjoining ALABAMA Central Alabama 99 4A Users Group 551 Larkwood Drive Montgomery AL36109 Jasper 9 4A Users Group 1F Northwood Townhomes Jasper AL 35501 TIBUG 709 Nytol Circle Birmingham AL35210 Wiregrass 99 Users Group 106 Harwood Place Enterprise AL 36330 ARIZONA Arizona 99 Users Group 4328 E La Puenta Ave Phoenix AZ 85044 Tucson 99 4A Users Group 6816 E Luleme Drive Tu...

Page 231: ...puter Group P O Box 3547 Gardena CA 90247 Orange County 99 4A Users Group 1673 Chateau Anaheim CA 92082 San Francisco South Bay 99er Users Group 16380 East LaChiquita Los Gatos CA 95030 San Gabriel Valley99 4 Users Group 108 Dore Street West Covina CA 91712 Southern California Computer Group 1643 Coronado Ave Spring Valley CA92077 230 ...

Page 232: ... DELAWARE Delaware Valley Users Group 25 Quartz Mill Rd Newark DE 19711 FLORIDA Daytona 99ers P O Box 4594 S Daytona FL32021 Manasota 99 Users Group 6625 Roxbury Drive Sarasota FL 33581 Northwest Florida 99er HC Users Group 3256 Las Brisas Court Pensacola FL 32506 Tampa Bay 99er Users Group 13097 Lois Ave Seminole FL 33542 231 ...

Page 233: ...99 4A Computer Users Group P O Box 19841 Atlanta GA 30325 Georgia 99 4A Users Group Ltd P O Box 88464 Dunwoody GA 30356 HAWAII Aloha 99 4A Computer Users Group 92865 Palailai Street Makakilo HI 96706 ILLINOIS Chicago 99 4 Users Group 353 Park Drive Palatine IL 60067 East Central Illinois 99 Users Group 37 1 Tuttle Danville IL 61832 232 ...

Page 234: ...up 163 West Third Peru IN 46970 IOWA Cedar Valley 99er Users Group 2705 16th Ave Marion IA 52302 Des Moines 99 4 Users Group 3013 East 32nd St Des Moines IA 50317 Northeast Iowa HC Users Group 1421 Delta Drive Cedar Falls IA 50613 KANSAS Mid America 99 4 Users Group P O Box 2505 Shawnee Mission KS 66201 233 ...

Page 235: ...imore Users Group 5504 Forge Road White Marsh MD 21162 MASSACHUSETTS M U N C H 1241 Main Street Worcester MA 06103 New England 99ers 99 School Street Weston MA 06103 Personal Computer Users P O Box 782 Westborough MA 01581 Pioneer Valley 99 4 Users Group 3 Market Street Northampton MA 01060 234 ...

Page 236: ...mputer Users 4511N Troost Kansas City MO 64116 99 4 Users Group of St Louis 4127 Quincy St Louis MO 63116 NEW JERSEY Northern New Jersey 99ers Users Group P O Box 515 Bedminster NJ 07921 SK99 Users Group 180HaledonAve Prospect Park NJ 07508 NEW MEXICO Bernalillo 99 4A HC Users Group 2008 Lead Ave SE Albuquerque NM 87106 235 ...

Page 237: ...in Day Users Group P O Box 519 West Chester OH 45059 Cleveland Area 99 4A Computer Group 13771 N Oakbrook Drive 206 North Royalton OH 44133 C O N N I 1456 Grandmin Ave Columbus OH 43212 OREGON Pacific Northwest 99 4 Users Group P O Box 5537 Eugene OR 97405 Portland Users of Ninety Nines 421 Northwest 69th Street Vancouver WA 98665 236 ...

Page 238: ... Pittsburgh Users Group P O Box 18124 Pittsburgh PA15236 RHODE ISLAND Tri State Users Group P O Box 457 Lincoln Rl 02864 SOUTH CAROLINA Carolina Computer Club 225 Wynchwood Drive Irmo SC 29063 TENNESSEE Athens 99 4 Computer Users Group 2215 Congress Parkway Athens TN 37303 Middle Tennessee Users Group P O Box 367 EstillSprings TN 37330 237 ...

Page 239: ...e Computer Group P O Box 672 Wylie TX 75098 Houston Users Group 18103 Bambridge Houston TX 77090 SC Users Group 2321 Coryell Street League City TX77573 Lubbock Computer Club 3211 27th Street Lubbock TX 79410 The Greater Randolph 99ers P O Box 721 Randolph AFB TX 78148 West Texas 99 4 Users Group P O Box 6448 MS 3030 Midland TX 79701 238 ...

Page 240: ...ynwood WA 98036 WASHINGTON D C Washington D C 99 4 Users Group P O Box 267 Leesburg VA 22075 WISCONSIN Milwaukee Area Users Group 2007 North 71st Street Wauwatosa Wl 53213 Sheboygan Area Users Group P O Box 1151 Sheboygan Wl 53081 CANADIAN GROUPS Edmonton Users Group P O Box 11983 Edmonton Alberta T5J 3L1 Canada 239 ...

Page 241: ...o L5A3M4 Canada Victoria 99er Group 402 1471 Fort Street Victoria B C V8S 1Z4 Canada NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL GROUPS International 99 4A Users Group Inc P O Box 67 Bethany OK 73008 99 4 Users of America 5028 Merit Drive Flint Ml 48508 The 99 4 Program Exchange P O Box 3242 Torrance CA 90510 Young People s Logo Association 1208 Hillsdale Drive Richardson TX 75081 240 ...

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