Reference Section: D
DATA BASE MANAGERS: Following is
a list of some of the more visible data base managers written for the TI-99/4A.
DATA WEST SALES: 3916 Swallow Salt Lake City, UT 84107 (801) 261-4744 company who placed an ad in Compute! Dec83, p.391 offering a floppy disk drive upgrade kit for only $39.00, plus $9 extra to access a 3rd drive. The kit included a new power supply cable, a DSK2 ribbon cable, easy instructions to install disk drives, and a template to show how to modify the Peripheral Expansion Box to accept the upgrades. DaTaBioTics PRODUCT NUMBERS:
DATAMOST: 8943 Fullbright Ave. Chatsworth, CA 91311 (213) 709-1202. DEALER PRICING: Although I've yet to discover a document telling me what the margin was in previous years, in 1983 retail outlets for TI-99/4A Home Computer software (not hardware, just software) were given a 34.9% profit margin on cartridge software sold at manufacturer's suggested retail price. Cassette tape software was not a big mover apparently, as margins varied by title.For example:
DEATH OF A COMPUTER: A 13-page article published in the April 1984 issue of Texas Monthly magazine, written by Joseph Nocera. It has evolved into the single-best historical look at the conception, birth, life and death of the TI-99 Home Computer. Apparently because of the article, the April 1984 issue of Texas Monthly was sold out in less than a month. Nocera covers alot of territory in the article including an explanation of the the TI corporate culture, the four critical mistakes TI made which ultimately led to the death of the 99/4A, TI's failure to understand the market they expected to sell the computer in, the great price war follies they engaged in with Commodore Electronics, the tremendous financial losses incurred and the decision to bailout of the Home Computer market. DEATHRACE 2000: A game produced for the Exidy Sorcerer that was so violent for the time that it was forced of the video game market. The object of the game was for the player, driving around in a car, to run people down and kill them. Victims were replaced by a cross on the screen. DECIMAL DELI 2: The screen title to Scott, Foresman and Company's Decimals 2 education cartridge programmed by Thomas Hartsig. It contained practice and training on Place Value, Comparing and Ordering, Counting Places, Multiplying Decimals, Zeros In The Product and Applying Decimals. The code for the cartridge exists as a Gram file and can be obtained from the Lima, OH 99ers. DeMARS, BOB: Owner of Specialist In, a former Minnetonka, MN. DEMOLITION DIVISION (PHM 3116): An educational cartridge created by Developmental Learning Materials Inc. for the TI-99/4A. It was introduced during the 1Q/1983 at a retail price of $39.95. The program helps children increase speed and accuracy in division problems with answers 0-9. The format for the program involves green tanks with problems on their sides advancing towards a battery of four blue guns that are the defenders. A correct answer to a problem allows the guns to be fired. See also DLM. DENALI DATA: Oklahoma City, OK firm owned by Peter Cookman that provided extensive support for TI-99/4 owners in 1980, 1981, and 1982 with such products as the Denali Backer-Bus, Arti-Stic joystick adapter, and numerous software packages. Also provided support for 99/4A owners, but to a lesser degree, since the introduction of the Peripheral Expansion Box by Texas Instruments in 1982 eliminated the need for one of Denali Data's major offerings. DEVELOPMENTAL LEARNING MATERIALS: Developmental Learning Materials is/was a Dallas, Texas based business that was founded by Jerry Chaffin and Bill Maxwell of the University of Kansas. Besides the Arcademic software it produced (listed below), DLM was also involved in the production of Walt Disney titles for the 99/4A in 1984. For a short time after the demise of the TI-99/4A Home Computer, former TI programmers John Phillips and Michael Archuleta worked at DLM. Arcademic Skill Builders: This approach to learning uses an arcade game format, colorful graphics, and lively action to create an exciting atmosphere for practicing important learning skills. The approach is based upon the principles of: - Persistence and Involvement - Success in Learning - High Rate of Learning - Evidence of Improvement - Individual Needs TI-99/4A Cartridge titles produced by DLM:
DLM also produced Arcademic Skill Builder games for the Apple II+, the Apple IIe, the Atari 800, the IBM PC and the Commodore 64. In addition to all of the titles for the TI-99/4A that are listed above, the "other" computers had; Spelling Wiz, Word Man, and Word Master available for them. (Compute! 09/83/261). DIAGNOSTIC (PHM 3000): The first cartridge released for the TI-99/4. Officially announced in June 1979 at a retail price of $29.95. Very few were ever sold apparently since Texas Instruments did not really push the product. No similar module ever appeared for the 99/4A. DICKS, PAUL MICHAEL: Founding member of the British TI User Group and editor if the TI Home TIdings newsletter in 1981. (99/4 Home Computer Users-Group Newsletter, Aug 1981, p.4) DIGIBYTE: A 31 East 31st Street New York, NY 10016 vendor who advertised the TI-99/4 Home Computer in December 1979. Their price for the complete system, which consisted of the console and 13" color monitor was $1049.00. DISABLING QUIT KEY: To disable Fctn Quit in Extended BASIC, enter CALL INIT :: CALL LOAD(-31806,16) either from the *READY* prompt, or from within a program, to disable Fctn = (aka the Quit Key). DISABLING SPRITES: In Extended Basic, may be done by CALL LOAD(-31878,0) statement or command to speed up program. See also: BURT, JON or 99er Magazine 01/83 p.7. DISK CONTROLLER CARD (PHP 1240): A card designed to be used in the Peripheral Expansion Box which, like it's predecessor PHP 1800 Disk Drive Controller, was capable of controlling up to three floppy disk drives. Released in January 1982 as part of the Peripheral Expansion System, but offered separately. Retailed for $249.95, which included Disk Manager I command module. DISK DRIVE CONTROLLER (PHP 1800): A standalone disk drive controller, released in April 1980, that was designed to control up to three Disk Memory Drives (PHP 1850). Came with the PHM 3019 Disk Manager command module (not available separately) and a 9" X 6" sized black, red and white colored manual that was 53 pages long. Retailed for $299.95. DISK DUPLICATOR: One of the never released command modules for the TI for which code actually exists. DISK MANAGER (PHM 3019): The original Disk Manager cartridge released by Texas Instruments for use with the PHP 1800 stand alone Disk Controller and PHP 1850 stand alone disk drive. DISK MANAGER 2 (PHM 3089): A disk manager program that was capable of handling 40-track disks as opposed to the original Disk Manager command module program, which was written for 35 track disks, a totally non-standard format. Originally released by Model Masters of Diamond Bar, California in December 1982 on disk. Made available by Texas Instruments as a cartridge in March 1983. Offered as a $9.95 upgrade to the Disk Manager I module. TI began shipping it with all disk drive controllers in May 1983. DISK MANAGER 3: One of the never released command modules for the TI for which code actually exists. DM3 supported four disk drives instead of only three as previous versions did. It also sported the ability to initialize DS/DD floppies, but in a non-standard 1280 sectors per disk instead of the more common 1440 sectors per disk. DISK MEMORY DRIVE (Model PHP1850) BOOKLET: A 10-page, 8.5" X 11" publication with a typed and photocopied look to it that was packed with the first disk drives sold for use with the 99/4 Home Computer. The publication is dated 4/80 and contains Set Up, General Notes, Connecting the Disk Drives Service and Warranty and Troubleshooting sections. The more professionally printed manual that followed later in 1980 was 9" X 6" with a glossy white cover and 53 pages of information for the user's benefit. DISK OF THE ANCIENT ONES: A set of four SS/SD disks, by Ken Gilliland of Tujunga, California, that contain TI-Artist graphics images of ancient Egypt and the Middle East. Included are several articles that give an historical overview of that time period, Scenes from the ages, The Labyrinth of Minos game, and the Hieroglyph game. Released in 1992. DISkASSEMBLER: A program that allowed the user to disassemble assembly language object code files and view or print them in their source code format. Files to be disassembled could be loaded into memory or could be disassembled directly from disk. Written by California Pediatrician and long-time 99/4A supporter Tom Freeman. The program was released through Millers Graphics in 1986 on a copy protected floppy disk. DISNEY, WALT SOFTWARE: Although it never came to be, Walt Disney Productions actually advertised their support for the TI-99/4A, claiming that as many as 50 programs were forthcoming for Ataris, Radio Shack, NEC and TI computers? We know that some titles such as Von Drake's Molecular Mission, Peter Pan's Oddyssey and others were actually, written, but they never made it to market after TI announced the bailout on October 28, 1983. DLM: See Developmental Learning Materials and Arcademic Skill Builders. DOVE, GRANT A.: A Senior Vice-President at Texas Instruments in June 1981 when he was appointed as TI's top marketing official by J. Fred Bucy. The move was in response to TI's lackluster home computer sales. Dove spread the gospel of "marketing" among the troops and immediately decided to increase radio and TV advertising for the home computer $10 million. DOW-JONES INFORMATION SERVICES: PO Box 300 Princeton, NJ 08540 (609) 452-1511 firm that was an early player in the on-line computer services market. Never popular with the TI-99/4A Community, it was nonetheless featured in a 99er Magazine article in V1N2 (Jun/July 1981) page 16. DRAGONMAW (The Volcano of Death): See PROTECTOR II. DRAGON MIX (PHM 3117): An educational cartridge created by Developmental Learning Materials Inc. for the TI-99/4A. It was introduced during the 1Q/1983 at a retail price of $39.95. The program helps children increase speed and accuracy in multiplication of numbers from 0 to 9, and with division problems with answers from 0-9. The format for the program involves space ships that have multiplication or division problems on their sides who are attacking a dragon. The dragon defends itself against the space ships by firing off correct answers. See also DLM. DRAGONSLAYER AMERICAN SOFTWARE CO.: 2606 Ponderosa Dr Omaha, NE 68123 firm that produced the first TI-Writer spelling checker ever produced for the TI-99/4A. It retailed for $49.95 and required 32K RAM, disk and either the TI-Writer or Editor/Assembler cartridges. (Home Computer Magazine V4N5, p.38) DRAMIS, JAMES E.: Former Texas Instruments programmer who authored Car Wars, Munch Man and Parsec, as well as founding Sofmachine with Paul Urbanus, the third-party software firm which produced Barrage and Spot-Shot as disk -based games for the 99/4A in 1983, and later Barrage, Dragonflyer, Jumpy, Qmaze and Spot-Shot game cartridges for the 99/4A. Mr. Dramis now lives in Raleigh, NC. (Bill Gaskill research, Bryan Roppolo interview with Jim Dramis) DRAMITES: Alien craft that are one of eight hazards in the Parsec game, obviously named for Parsec author James E. Dramis. See also URBITES. DRIVING DEMON: One of nine titles announced by Funware president Michael Brouthers at the June 1983 Consumer Electronics Show as forthcoming for the 99/4A by September 1, 1983. The nine titles included: Ambulance, Ant Colony, Astroblitz, Cave Creatures, Crisis Mountain, Driving Demon, Pipes, Saint Nick and Trashman. Only three of the titles announced actually made it into production (Ambulance, Driving Demon and St. Nick). DROP DEAD TWICE: The subtitle of a July 1983 BYTE magazine article by Jerry Pournelle in which he figuratively scratches his head in wonder at TI's summer CES warning to cartridge software manufacturers about the legal hazards of producing modules for the 99/4A without licensing them through Texas Instruments. DUMBUGS: The characters in Milton Bradley's I'm Hiding cartridge. See also I'M HIDING. DUPLICATOR: From Quality 99 Software. Released 2Q/1985. MSRP $19.95. Allows a user to backup program disks. DYTEK: P.O. Box 241 Pinellas Park, FL 33565 firm that offered custom programming for VIC-20 and TI-99/4A owners. See Compute! magazine May83, p.190. |