HAMSOFT FOR THE TI-99: A 99/4A-specific command module with a cable connecting the module to an interface, which in turn connects to a transceiver for Ham Radio use powered by the TI-99/4A. It was produced by Kantronics Inc. 1202 E. 23rd St. Lawrence, KS 66044 (913) 842-7745 copyright April 1, 1983. The Hamsoft module software features included:

• - Send/Receive Morse Code at a rate of 5-99 words per minute,
• - Send/Receive Radio Teletype at 60, 67, 75 and 100 words per minute,
• - Send/Receive ASCII text at 100 and 300 baud,
• - Optional upshift on space,
• - Optional diddle,
• - Parallel printer compatibility,
• - Keyboard audio feedback,
• - Optional automatic ID,
• - Word wraparound,
• - Optional automatic carriage return,
• - Optional automatic linefeed,
• - Message ports storage,
• - Time transmission, and
• - It was callable from TI BASIC.

HARDIN'S COMPUTER SOLUTIONS: 834 N. Glenville Richardson, TX 75801 (214) 699-8998 firm that offered a two-tier Home Computer Workstation for the TI-99/4 that allowed the home computer to sit on one tier, while the daisy-chained peripherals were housed on the other tier. Three models were offered ranging in price from $265 to $300 depending upon width. See 99er Magazine Nov82, p.20.

HARVEY, JAMES: 159 Dover Road Spartanburg, SC 29301. Founder of TIMOSSA, a catalog company offering programs for the TI-99/4A. Also authored WHIZSPREAD, a spreadsheet like report generator. See MICROpendium 10/84 page 31 and 03/85 page 39 for more details.

HEXBUS INTERFACE: A never offically released peripheral that was designed to link the 99/4A low-cost peripherals that could also be used with the TI-99/2, the Compact Computer 40 and the TI-74 programmable calculator. It appeared in the June 1, 1983 official TI Price List for $59.95, but again was never officially released.

The peripherals that were manufactured for use with the interface were smaller than existing devices, plus they were stackable so they occupied a much smaller footprint on the user's desktop. Photos of various Hexbus peripherals can be seen in the February 1983 and March 1983 issues of 99er Magazine and 99er Home Computer Magazine respectively. See also Part # 1049000-1.

HEXBUS PERIPHERAL PRICING:

• - PHP 1300 Hexbus Interface $ 59.95
• - HX 1000 4 Color Printer/Plotter 199.95
• - HX 1010 Printer 80 249.95
• - HX 2000 Wafertape Drive 139.95
• - HX 3000P RS232 w/Parallel Interface 124.95
• - HX 3100 Hexbus Modem 99.95

With the exception of the Printer 80, which was released in 1984, the Hexbus peripherals were never released by Texas Instruments. Despite the fact that the Hexbus Interface was listed in TI's official price list, it had received FCC certification and it was promoted in a color photo on all of the beige colored 99/4A console packaging, neither the interfac, nor any of the products created to work with it ever made it to the consumer market. Dr. Charles Good of the Lima, Ohio User Group theorizes that the reason for the Hexbus' demise was the failure of the wafertape drive to live up to performance and reliability expectations. According to Good, who owns a wafertape drive, it is not a very reliable storage device, especially when used on battery power.

HFDC: See Myarc Hard and Floppy Disk Controller.

HOFFMAN, CARY: Owner, with father Larry Hoffman, of Tex*Comp LTD, a firm which began life on April 1, 1995 after the Hoffman's purchased the TexComp Users Supply business from founder Jerry Price.

HOME COMPUTER COMPARISON CHART: An internal marketing tool that TI used in its dealer contacts to show the strengths of the TI-99/4A against the competition. Not dated, but based upon other material in the package appears to be something that was used in 1983. Comparisons were made against the Commodore 64, the Vic 20, the Coleco Adam, the Atari 400, 600 and 800 models and the SpectraVideo SV-318 home computers. Categories compared were Console ROM, User Accessible RAM, Microprocessor type, Languages Available, Current Availability, Console Warranty length, Software modules currently available, Free Programming Course availability, Number of Service Centers and amount of rebate.

HOME COMPUTER DIGEST:

V1N1	V1N2	September 1984
November/December 1984	February/March 1985

HOME COMPUTER PRICING:

Prices were taken from Olympic Sales Company ads in major trade publications of the day such as BYTE magazine and Compute! magazine.

HOME FINANCIAL DECISIONS (PHM 3006): A Home Management cartridge that provides home and car buying, personal savings and general loan calculations along with the ability to change variables in order to create various "what if" scenarios. Data cannot be saved to a storage device nor can it be printed. Released during the 2nd Quarter of 1980 at a suggested retail price of $29.95.

HOSHIELD, STEVE: Michigan assembly language programmer who authored CSGD Label Maker in 1990 and released it as Fairware. Last version available, v1.1, was released in May 1991.

HOUSEHOLD BUDGET MANAGEMENT (PHM 3007): A Home Management cartridge that supports cassette or disk storage and any printer. Uses rounded to the dollar expenditure and income amounts. Provides up to 34 active budget categories from a list of 99 unchangeable ones. Supports graphing, matrix analysis by month or account and projections. Released in the 2nd Quarter 1979 at a suggested retail price of $44.95. Price dropped to $39.95 in 1981 and stayed there until TI dropped the home computer product in October 1983.

HUGHES, LARRY:  Owner and founder of Quality 99 Software, and author of the Super Disk Cataloger program that was marketed by J & KH Software?

HUNT THE WUMPUS (PHM 3023): A game cartridge that was among the earliest produced for the original 99/4 Home Computer. It is a maze game where the player must search caverns for the Wumpus using randomly generated mazes offering three levels of difficulty. Because it was written for the 99/4, the program does not offer bit-mapped graphics but is still fairly challenging and mildly entertaining. The game was released during the 2nd quarter of 1981 at a retail price of $24.95. Joysticks are supported.

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