• Barry Traver begins writing for Super 99 Monthly.

• Danny Michael releases his freeware Screen Dump program.

• Dr. Guy Stafan-Romano begins advertising the Amnion Helpline service out of San Francisco, California.

• Ridge Services introduces Lotto Picker.

• Foundation Computing announces the impending release of a Z80A based computer on a card that will allow the 99/4A to run CP/M software, and the impending release of an 80-column display card.

• Chris Bobbitt, future owner of Asgard Software, appears on the pages of MICROpendium for the first time, when his reviews of Super Sketch and TI-Runner are published.

• Infosoft releases The Quest Beyond adventure, written by Joe Macchiarulo, who also wrote Astro-Mania, Cavern Quest, Garbage Belly and Zero Zone for Moonbeam Software.

• Joe Nuvolini, dba RMJ Home Computer Sales, releases RMJ Mailing List.

• VMC Software introduces Pagewriter 99 v2.0.

• As a result of having lost a lawsuit to Charles LaFara and the International 99/4 Users Group (IUG), the IUG of Torrance, CA changes its name to the International Software Club.

• Craig and Susan Miller, dba Millers Graphics 1475 W. Cypress Ave. Dept. F1, San Dimas, CA 91773 run an ad in Family Computing on page 130 offering TI-99/4A Memory Maps, Newsletter, Books and Software, plus a free catalog.

• MWS Computers of Tunkhannock, PA., a former TI-99/4A products retailer, and primary distributor of James Behlen's Par-Fore golf programs, advertises in Family Computing magazine offering IBM PCjr and Sanyo 550 products only.

• A 1/4 page Unisource Electronics ad for TI-99/4A products appears in the January 1985 issue of Family Computing magazine on page 119.

• From Family Computing magazine, January 1985 issue, on page 102, in a regular column entitled 'Logon Letters'. Kelby Thayer writes, "I recently took my Atari 800XL computer into a service center to get it repaired. The person at the center said he couldn't get parts for it because Atari is selling out. Is this true or is it another thing like TI did?" The editors respond..."Atari recently was bought by Jack Tramiel, the founder and former chief executive officer of Commodore, so a lot of changes are going on in the company. But Atari tells us it'll continue to support its computers with software, as will a lot of other software makers out there. You shouldn't have trouble (like TI people do) finding parts or software for your computer. Maybe you should try another dealer."

• APPLE -- Rails West is announced by Strategic Simulations. MSRP $49.95.

• ATARI --
• Atari introduces the 520ST, with 512Kb RAM, 192Kb ROM, color and MIDI. It will become a favorite with musicians.
• Rails West is announced by Strategic Simulations. MSRP $39.95.

• COLECO -- Coleco (Connecticut Leather Company) ceases production of the ADAM home computer.

• COMMODORE -- Rails West is announced by Strategic Simulations. MSRP $39.95.

• PC/MS-DOS -- IBM announces that its 1984 profits increased 20% over 1983.

FEB 1985:

• In an article about sprites and graphic chips, TJ Beyers uses the same picture of layered graphics displays for TI's TMS9918 video chip as appeared in 99er Magazine almost two years earlier. The article appears in Computers and Electronics magazine.

• Retail computer giant ELEK-TEK, based in Chicago, announces that they will not handle TI-99/4A products after February 2, 1985.

• MICROpendium celebrates its first birthday.

• Navarone's Console Writer word processor is released.

• TexComp releases Adventure Editor for the Scott Adams adventure series module, thereby allowing 99ers to create their own adventures. The program is written by a German.

• Thomas Kirk, dba Dragonslayer American Software, releases 99/4A Auto Spell-Check v1.1.

• Foundation Computing raises the price of its 80 COLUMN DISPLAY CARD from $159.95 to $309.95.

• Craig Miller of San Dimas, California reports that a new Ram Disk for the 99/4A is in the offing after he is approached by a firm named Sci Tech to produce the operating system for the hardware.

• The LA 99ers release a VHS tape of an interview with Craig Miller of Millers Graphics.

• The TI West Bulletin Board System is advertised commercially in MICROpendium for $110.00 complete.

• InfoCom Inc. 55 Wheeler St Cambridge, MA 02138 releases Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Suspect (Compute Feb85, p.153)

• Bernie Eisner and Phil West of Perth, Western Australia, publish the first widely circulated set of instructions on how to add 32K Ram inside the 99/4A console.

• APPLE -- Milliken Publishing 1100 Research Blvd St. Louis, MO 63132 releases the MILLIKEN WORD PROCESSOR for the Apple // line of computers. The $69.95 package is designed to teach children the fundamentals of writing on a computer. (Compute! Feb85, p.153)

• PC/MS-DOS -- Digital Equipment Corporation ceases production of the DEC rainbow personal computer. (Byte, Apr85, p.10)

MAR 1985:

• Peter M.L. Lottrup book on Mini-Memory assembly language entitled COMPUTE!'S BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE ON THE TI-99/4A is released by Compute! Books.

• Chicago TI-User Group members Roger and Orlan Degris, Box 481 Lake Zurich, Illinois release the 49-99 Keyboard, a standard 99/4A keyboard with an added Fctn key.

• Rumors of a new TI-99/4A compatible computer surface in a MICROpendium editorial.

• TexComp of Granada Hills, California becomes an authorized dealer for Quality 99 Software products.

• Basic-Calc 99 v2.0 spreadsheet is released by VMC Software.

• Symbiotech of Roscoe, Illinois releases the World of Doom dungeon fantasy game, with Staff of Power as scenario #1.

• CSI Design Group of St. Louis, Missouri (Mark Sumner and Ken Dibble) releases 9900BASIC.

• The rumored TI-99/4A compatible computer is now rumored to be ready for unveiling at the June Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.

• Techni-Graphics (Jim Krych) of Elk Grove Village, Illinois releases PCKEYS.

• Exceltec of Lubbock, Texas releases Love Tennis in cartridge format.

• Design Strategies of Jackson, New Jersey releases Visi-Checkbook, Checkbook Balancer, Personal Tax Organizer, and Income/Expense Accountant.

• Ramon Martinez, doing business as Ramsoft Enterprises of Fullerton, California, releases the TC-Mail program by Thi Chau. It is one of the first known commercial applications written in the TI Forth language.

• M and T Utilityware (Donald Thompson) of Muskegeon, MI release their new assembly language coded Disk+Aid sector editing utility, and the XB coded Credit Card Database.

• DFX Software of Marion, Indiana releases Sketch-Filer for use with Sketch-Mate.

• Oak Tree Systems releases the Acorn 99 data base manager that was announced in 1984.

• PC/MS-DOS -- IBM ceases production of the PCjr.

APR 1985:

• On April 24, 1985 International 99/4 User Group President Charles LaFara posts the following message on CompuServe's TI Forum:

"The IUG has filed for protection under Chapter 7 of the Federal Bankruptcy Acy. All software orders received on or before April 30, 1985 will be shipped prior to May 30, 1985. We highly regret this action but have no other alternative at this point.

The current library as well as some 400 new programs have been kept in tact (sic) and will be marketed by a newly formed company which will be announced on 6/1. This new company will use the current IUG catalogs and program numbers so there will be no confusion to new members. I personnally (sic) feel deeply saddened that the quality of service that we strived for over the past 5 years has suffered so in our last 6 months of operation and hope that our thousands of members and friends can understand that we did everything in our power to continue to support our members to the bitter end. For those hostile emembers who seem to think that I have amassed a personal fortune from the IUG please rest assured that this is not the case. The fact is that we currently stand to lose 'everything' that Virginia and I have worked for over the past 20 years to assure that are members and creditors are satisfied."

• Intelpro releases a French version of their Companion word processor.

• Nation-wide 99ers convention takes place on Sunday April 28th at the Dome Corn Exchange in Brighton, England.

• USA TODAY newspaper features an article on orphan computers, including an interview with Terrie Masters of the LA 99ers.

• Rumors of the impending release of TI-Artist and Graphx surface in a MICROpendium editorial.

• John Hamilton of the Central Iowa 99ers releases 99/4A TIPS.

• Foundation Computing reports a massive backlog of orders for its Z80A and 80-column display cards.

• Rumors of the existence of an internal modem for the Peripheral Expansion Box make their way to the United States from Australia, but it never appears.

• A disk manager out of Australia is also rumored to be in the works from a company named QixSoft. It too never surfaces in the United States.

• Chris Bobbitt releases Music Synthesizer, the first product to be offered by Asgard Software.

• CompuServe member Scott Darling posts a list of all known XB CALL LOADS on the on-line information service.
  

• Availability of THE LAST WHOLE TI-99/4A BOOK by Paul Garrison is listed in Byte magazine on page 418. Price is $12.95.

• Laura Burns, partner in what would later become Burns-Koloen Communications, becomes the full-time editor of MICROpendium, the partnership's flagship product.

• Triton Products Company, Foster City, CA., begins offering TI's Speak & Math, Speak & Read and Speak & Spell products in their TI-99/4A catalog.

• COMMODORE -- Thomas J. Rattigan is hired by Commodore. Eleven months later he will become CEO, replacing Marshall F. Smith. This despite the fact that he admits he has no computer experience.

MAY 1985:

• Advanced Diagnostics,written by Steve Mildon, is released by Millers Graphics.

• Disk Manager 1000, better known as DM1000, written by Bruce Caron, is released by the Ottawa TI-99/4 Users' Group.

• Cargo Run is released for the TI-99/4A by Redwick and Co. a Somerville, MA software house.

• Navarone Industries releases Paint 'N Print for the Axiom GP700-TI printer.

• Character Sets and Graphics Designs (CSGD) is released by David Rose.

• The TI-99/4A compatible computer rumor begins to look more and more like a rumor or hoax, as the latest information now says that beta testing on the machine has not even started, despite the fact that beta testing was reported as being in progress back in February.

• Foundation Computing begins delivering from its backlog of Z80A and 80-column display card orders.

• Asgard releases Schedule Manager, one of the few commercial applications written to take advantage of J and KH Software's SXB assembly language utilities for Extended Basic, plus Stamp Manager and Balloon Wars.

• Jerald Greenberg of MICROcomputers Corporation in Armonk, NewYork runs the first and only advertisement for MicroComputers Corporation ever to appear in MICROpendium. It is found on page 19.

• Bulldog Hinge Company releases The IQ Card, a template designed to allow 99ers to use the flip side of a floppy disk by punching the correct holes where the template says to punch them. The card retails for $9.50!

• TexComp's Jerry Price announces the release of TEIV+, a new terminal emulation program written for TexComp by Starsoft's Tarik Isani, and an enhancement to TI-Writer named 99-Writer II that loads from disk without the TI-Writer module requirement.

• Glen Groves, owner of Software Specialties, announces that the firm is closing out its TI-99 operations due to declining sales. Software Specialties offers Burger Builder, Midnight Mason, Micro Pinball and TI Toad, all 100% assembly language coded games.

• Myarc's Lou Phillips announces that his firm will sell the Personality Card that interfaces a hard disk to the TI Peripheral Expansion Box as a separately sold item if anyone would like to order one for a do-it-yourself hard disk kit.

• Navarone Industries releases an upgraded instruction manual for their DBMS program.

• Steve Davis Publishing of Dallas, Texas releases the GUIDE TO COMPUTER MAGAZINES book written by Francis Amato.

• Julian Achim of Datax announces the release of TI 1-2-3, an "integrated" word processing, spreadsheet and graphics package for the 99/4A.

• Donna Bearden of Grapevine, Texas releases A BIT OF LOGO MAGIC book.

• In an editorial by magazine Editor-in-Chief Claudia Cohl, Family Computing Magazine announces they will no longer publish programs for the TI-99/4A due to a lack of advertising revenue from the TI Community.

• APPLE -- Broderbund Software releases Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego for the Apple // line of computers (39.95). (Compute! May85, p.120)

• COMMODORE -- Broderbund Software releases The Music Shop for the Commodore 64 ($44.95 disk). (Compute! May85, p.120)

• PC/MS-DOS -- Broderbund Software releases The Ancient Art of War for the IBM PC and PCjr ($44.95). (Compute! May85, p.120)

JUN 1985:

• Great Lakes Software (Ernest Chandler and Frank Paquette) of Howell, Michigan announce the release of Joypaint 99.

• Rocky Mountain 99ers Mike Holmes and Thomas Frerichs, employees at Denver's Regis University, demonstrate their new 4A/Talk terminal emulator program to the Front Range 99ers computer club in Colorado Springs.
• Jim Peterson, dba Tigercub Software offers 100 TI BASIC programs for $3.00 that  cover education, displays, games, music, puzzles and utilities.
  

• The Nutmeg 99ers User Group is formed in Waterbury, Connecticut with David Gallegher as the person to contact for membership.

• Harold Simmons, 9818-49th Avenue, College Park, Maryland 20740-1432, announces the creation of a TI-99/4A Home Computer Museum.

• Millers Graphics releases The Explorer written by Doug Warren.

• CSI Design Group (Mark Sumner and Ken Dibble) releases Windows for the TI-99/4A Home Computer. Sumner will later become the first sysop for GEnie's TI Roundtable.

• MICROpendium reports that "a number of railroad cars" were seen leaving Lubbock, Texas bound for Providence, Rhode Island with the remains of tens of thousands of smashed cartridges originally manufactured for the TI-99/4A. They apparently had to be disposed of at an authorized hazardous waste site because they contained lead.

• A support Bulletin Board System is discussed with readers by MICROpendium publisher John Koloen, but it never becomes a reality.

• MICROpendium publishes its first 48-page issue.

• TexComp announces the TC-99/9 40/80 column computer system, but never produces it. The basic product is the TC-1, which consists of the computer enclosure, equipped with a heavy duty regulated fan-cooled power supply, two double-side, double-density half-height floppy disk drives, and a rear power panel with six surge and spike protected electrical outlets, each controlled by a switch on the front. The TC-1 is designed to complement the CorComp 9900 system which houses a 32K memory expansion unit and an RS232 serial interface. The TC-2 is the same configuration as the TC-1, but includes the CorComp 9900 system and the TI Speech Synthesizer. The TC-3 is an upgraded TC-2 with 128K RAM buffer board added tot he TC-2. Prices are:

• TC-1 $450.00
• TC-2 $750.00
• TC-3 $875.00
• TC-99/9 $1300.00 - $1500.00

The TC-99/9 is basically the TC-3 128K model with a modified 40/80 column TI processor board added and designed to accept the new WICO smart keyboard, which has a new 10-keypad and a built-in trackball. (South, Mobile and Alabama Users Group Newsletter, Jul85, p.1)

• KIDware of Moscow, Idaho releases 33 new educational/learning programs for children.

• The first commercially published "how-to's" for building a SuperCart module appear in MICROPendium, authored by John Clulow.

• Datax announces that it is leaving the TI market and that all of its software has been placed in the public domain.

• Graphx, the R.L. Davis and C.P. Davis written drawing package from Sydney, Australia, appears in the United States.

• Pike Creek Computer Company, producers of TI-COUNT accounting software, release Auto-Count for the TI-99/4A and IBM PC.

• Quality 99 Software releases QS-Xref, QS-Assembler and Logo Lister.

• Shepherd Software of Menomonee, Wisconsin, releases S-Files and S-Reports data base management software.

JUL 1985:

• Tony and Will McGovern's Funlwriter 2.1 arrives in the United States, introducing the Australian programmers to the American TI-99/4A Community.

• Dick Altman releases TI-Rewrite, a TI Writer tips disk.

• Rumors of a TI-99 version of Turbo Pascal surface. The arrival of Turbo Pasc 99 from Germany will be the outcome of the rumor.

• Myarc announces XB II for use with its new Ram Disk.

1. Navarone Industries begins the ill-fated HYWAY (Have it Your Way) program with TI-99/4A User Groups. Navarone Director of Marketing, William "Will" Hadley mails out letters to the known TI User Groups explaining the program.
2. 1 - An officer in the User Group completes the HYWAY Participation form.
3. 2 - An officer in the User Group is assigned to become the 'contact person' for communications with Navarone.
4. 3 - Products from Navarone are shipped to the User Group 3-4 weeks prior to the next scheduled meeting of the group and the contact person assigns someone within the group to conduct a demonstration at the next User Group meeting.
5. 4 - Two types of products will be offered for demonstration and evaluation:
1. 1 - Finished products already in production.
2. 2 - New, unreleased versions of products under development.
6. 5 - Products evaluated under this program become the property of the User Group.

In the same letter, Hadley also announces a just-reached agreement with DaTaBioTics to manufacture and publish new software products for the TI-99/4A. (South, Mobile and Alabama User Group Newsletter, Jul85, p.4)

• The TI-99/4A Users Association of Canada is formed with Jane LaFlamme as contact person for membership interest.

• Steve Lawless, author of Masscopy, releases 128-Writer, a program which stores the TI Writer editor and formatter in bank 3 of the Foundation 128K card.

• MICROpendium announces its first and only Graphics Contest.

• Banners 99 is released by Great Lakes Software.

• The Scott Adams Airline adventure game is released by TexComp.

• CorComp releases the Triple Tech Card for the Peripheral Expansion Box.

• Morning Star Software of Beaverton, Oregon releases a 128K RAM EXPANSION card.

• M and T Utilityware changes the company name to Thomson Software when co-owner Donald Thomson buys the company.

• Symbiotech, of Roscoe, Illinois releases Scenario #2, Ring of the Dark Lord and Doom Characters for the World of Doom adventure series. Doom Characters is a fantasy character generator utility for the World of Doom series.

• The 99/4A National Assistance Group surfaces in Fort Lauderdale, FL advertising a TI-99/8 upgrade computer that will be available in August.

• Intelpro releases UPWARDS!, a program to allow communications between the 99/4A and an IBM type computer.

• MISC -- Virginia Londoner files a $5 million dollar suit against former husband Wayne Green over who actually founded BYTE Magazine, she or Green?

AUG 1985:

• Monty Schmidt releases the Techie BBS.

• Darren Davis, president of D2 Programs in Cedar Park, Texas, announces the release of D2 DOS, a combination disk manager and sector editor for the 99/4A. It never appears however.

• Jim Hollendar of J and KH Software, goes public with the assembly language source code for his Super Extended BASIC program.

• BEYOND, of Tucson, Arizona introduces Fontmaster.

• CSI Design Group releases Aaedit, an Advanced Assembly Language Editor program.

• Datax owner Julian Achim retracts a statement made in June by Mike Bergen that Datax was leaving the TI market and that all Datax software was in the public domain.

• Jeff Meyer and SVC Computer Company of Round Rock, TX release a newsbyte in MICROpendium asking for input from 99ers on the kinds of products desired. Neither Jeff nor his company are ever heard from again.

• CorComp begins shipping Triple Tech Cards.

• Personal Auditor v1.0 is released by Bill Gaskill doing business as PRK DataBasics of Grand Junction, Colorado.

• The Asgard Light Pen by Bob Emmel is released.

• Barry Traver's Genial Traveler magazine on a disk debuts.

• Arcade Action Software (Gene Hitz) releases Stock Analyst.

• Although the manufacturer has still not been identified, MICROpendium reports that progress on the "new" computer for 99/4A owners is going along steadily.

• MICROpendium drops the FREEWARE listings from each iisue and instead offers the list for $1.00 to those who request it.

• PC PURSUIT is born when GTE announces the service to computer owners.

• Creative Computing magazine lists M.S. Morley's FUNDAMENTALS OF TI-99/4A ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE book in their 'Book Briefs' page, with the comment that "This book is for hardcore TI 99/4a users who want to learn assembly." (Creative Computing Aug85, p.22)

• VMC Software releases Home Information Management System.

• T and C Actionware (Ted Peterson and Chris Bader) of Seattle, Washington announce the release of their Minefield and Kangaroy action games.

• Auto-Type III is released by Technologies Support Group Inc. of Spencer, MA. The program is a 32-column word processor with a typewriter emulator mode. Company president is Joseph G. Puchalski.

• Bill Moseid, doing business as Model Masters of Diamond Bar, California, announces that his firm is offering 5 and 10 megabyte hard drive setups for the TI-99/4A.

• Model Masters changes its name to DaTaBioTics of Southern California.

• DataBiotics releases the 4A/Talk terminal emulator by Mike Holmes and Thomas Freirichs of the Rocky Mountain 99ers in Denver, Colorado.

• The Lima, Ohio User Group forms and releases issue Volume 1, Number 1 of their BITS, BYTES & PIXELS newsletter.

• CorComp celebrates it first birthday.
  

SEP 1985:

• Thomas Weithofer releases PILOT 99.

• The SVC Computer Company of Round Rock, Texas turns out to be a hoax as MICROpendium publishes a newsbyte claiming the company does not exist.

• John Taylor releases Checkbook/Budget Manager program and at the same time pulls his Sprite Builder freeware program from MICROpendium's Freeware listing.

• Barry Traver joins CompuServe as Sysop on the TI Forum.

• David Vaughn of Vaughn Software claims that DaTaBioTics has violated the sales and distribution agreement on his BitMac drawing program.

• TexComp begins offering OSCAR Bar Code Reader and the associated library of TI Basic programs.

• Gembar Graphics of Satellite Beach, Florida releases a program that will allow Gemini and Epson printer owners to gain access to the bitmap graphics mode of their printers. The program is un-named.

• The 99/4A National Assistance Group advertises a "third generation" disk repair program for $19.95 that is later claimed to be a public domain program that they made only cosmetic changes to in order to market it at commercial prices.

• TEXNET on The Source receives Special Interest Group status thereby allowing users to access it at lower rates.

• Mini-Writer II and Mini-Writer III are released by DaTaBioTics, as well as Disk Master I. DaTaBioTics also announces PILOT for the TI-99/4A, but a release date of October or November is anticipated.

• Software Specialties of Evergreen, CO announces that it will be liquidating its inventory and leaving the TI-99/4A market.

• Navarone Industries cuts the price of their Data Base Management System to $49.95 on September 15th.

• APPLE -- Steve Jobs leaves Apple Computer after losing a power struggle with his hand-picked president, John Sculley.

• ATARI -- Top Atari executives Sig Schreyer and James Copeland leave the company after a dispute with chairman Jack Tramiel.

• COMMODORE -- Commodore begins volume shipments of Amiga computers to more than 400 retail outlets throughout the U.S.

• MISC -- Chalkboard, makers of the Powerpad digitizing tablet, files for bankruptcy in Atlanta, GA.

OCT 1985:

• Myarc's Lou Phillips announces that the 256K, TI-99/4A compatible computer will be demonstrated at the Chicago TI Faire.

• The LA 99ers hold a TI Fest on October 19-20 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

• Gary Cox of Memphis, TN releases Weather Forecaster fairware program.

• CAN INC. of Longueuil, Canada announce the release of Maximem.

• Myarc announces the shipping of XBII beginning the week of October 7th. (MICROpendium Oct85, p.14).

• CRACKING THE 99/4A book, written by Brian Prothro, is released by Midnight Express Publishers.

• Crow Software releases Tribe scanner for dialing into "other" computers.

• Easyware of Ottawa, Canada releases Turbo Dataman, an upgrade to their Dataman data base manager.

• Old Dark Caves adventure is released by Donn Granros of Minneapolis, MN.

• Mechatronic GmbH of Sindelfingen and Stuttgart, Germany releases Extended BASIC II+, an enhanced Extended BASIC in a module. Included in the Mechatronic version are a resident screen dump routine and built in graphics support for circles and the like provided by Apesoft. A total of 44K of preprogrammed memory exist in the cartridge according to the module's label.

• Great Lakes Software releases Extended Business Graphs.

• Enterprise Software of Mineola, NY announces the release of Alpp, Dragons, Fasssst Loader, Invoicer, Squeeze and Starr Trekk.

• John Meshna of Lynn, MA announces that he will be offering 5 and 10 megabyte hard disk drives for the TI-99/4A.

• An Australian postal strike delays shipments of the Graphx program to the United States.

• A controversy over rights to DM1000 program surface in a letter from Bob Boone of the Ottawa TI-99/4 Users Group and TexComp of Granada Hills, CA.

• The Night Mission helicopter game by Mike McCue is released by Millers Graphics. It is a TI-99/4A version of the never released CHOPLIFTER game promised by Broderbund Software in September 1983. Although it is written in Extended BASIC, it wins rave reviews from all who play it. The documentation for the program also wins critical acclaim for its excellent tutorial value on the power of AND used in programming.

• RamSoft Enterprises, 1501 East Chapman Avenue, #338, Fullerton, CA 92631, telephone 714-738-5665, announces that it has become an authorized dealer for Millers Graphics products.

• RamSoft Enterprises releases Ramlabel , a label printing program designed for the Star Micronics line of printers.

• Charles C. Hurst of the Central Oklahoma 99ers purchases the entire IUG library of programs when Charles LaFara is forced to close down the Iternational TI-99/4 Users Group.

• ATARI -- A reported 50,000 Atari STs have been sold to date.

• COMMODORE -- Amigas get a $40 million advertising campaign.

• MISC --
• CW Communications, the Massachusetts-based publisher of COMPUTERWORLD, INFOWORLD, and numerous other computer magazines, announces that they'll be merging two magazines that they acquired from (former BYTE publisher) Wayne Green two years ago. HOT COCO magazine for users of the Radio Shack Color Computers will be merged into the larger 80 MICRO (also for Radio Shack users) by the end of the year. HOT COCO, which has a circulation of 51,000, spun off from 80 MICRO in June of 1983. 80 MICRO started publishing in January of 1980 and currently has a circulation of 93,000.
• Ziff-Davis announces that the December issue of Creative Computing will be the last. The magazine is one of the industry's oldest, founded by PC pioneer David H. Ahl.
• Texas Instruments announces lay offs of 2,200 employees as a result of a reported $82.2 million loss in its last quarter.
• Microsoft ships the first Excel spreadsheet.
• Borland International buys Analytica for its Reflex database.

NOV 1985:

• Millers Graphics begins taking orders for the first Gram Krackers. Their announcement tells prospective buyers that the new product will be delivered on a first come, first served basis.

• Ron Albright introduces THE ORPHAN CHRONICLES book at the Chicago TI Faire.

• Myarc announces plans to produce an upgrade computer for the 99/4A. A box that did not work is shown at the Chicago TI-Faire. It includes a keyboard built into the console like the 4/A, a cartridge slot on the top of the console, 10 function keys across the top of the keyboard, a ten-keypad and it is announced to be 256K minimum Ram configuration.

• The Peripheral Diagnostic Module is released by CorComp Inc.

• Fennell Software of Cocoa, Florida releases Joy-Print program for the Gemini printer.

• News of a new data base manager named D-Vector surfaces in the C.O.N.N.I. User Group newsletter. The program is supposed to be far superior to the Acorn 99 data base that has been adopted by most 99ers as the standard in the community. The newsbyte relates that the program comes on four disks and sells for less than $50, but it does not mention the author's name nor any address where the program may be obtained. If D-Vector did become an actual product, it remained well hidden from the rest of the TI Community.

• Corcomp Inc. releases the first and only commercially made load interrupt switch for screen dumping modules to a printer.

• Tunnels of Doom Editor by John Behnke is released by Asgard Software.

• Following a dispute with DaTaBioTics of Southern California, David Vaughn of Vaughn Software in Denver, Colorado announces that he is leaving the TI-99/4A market to program for the Commodore Amiga.

• Datasystems of Oxnard, California re-releases ChemTutor as an 8-program set, expanding upon the original ChemTutor I and ChemTutor II programs released in 1982.

• Nebula Technologies of Niles, IL releases the Citadel adventure game.

• Texas Instruments withdraws their mailing list of known TI-99/4A owners. Most view this move with a yawn as the list had become outdated anyway.

• William Warren, a general supervisor with the United States Postal Service in Aurora, Colorado releases PR-Base version 1.0. The program has an E/A 5 program image file loader only, but an Extended Basic loader is said to be in the works.

• APPLE -- Andrew Tobias' Managing Your Money program is released for the Apple IIe/IIc.

• COMMODORE -- For the third consecutive quarter, Commodore International has posted a whopping loss. In the quarter ending September 30, the computer manufacturer lost $39.2 million.

• MISC. -- McGraw-Hill announces the demise of Popular Computing magazine effective with the December issue.

• TANDY --
• Tandy announces the AT-compatible Tandy 3000.
• Tandy introduces the Tandy 600 laptop computer, an upgrade of the Tandy 100/200 that comes with 32K RAM (expandable to 224K), a built-in 3.5" drive, 80 X 16 LCD, an improved keyboard.

DEC 1985:

• Clint Pulley's c99 is announced to the world when Michal Jaegermann discovers the new language and posts notice of it on The Source.

• David Romer, co-creator of the HORIZON RAM DISK, announces its impending release in the December 1985 issue of the Lima 99ers' Bits, Bytes & Pixels.

• Stephen Flanagan, owner of SPC Software Brightwaters, New York, releases Data Base 1, a soon to be popular list manager for the 99/4A. Flanagan would ultimately leave the TI-99/4A community to program for the Commodore Amiga as did David Vaughn.

• Craig Miller announces that Gram Krackers with full documentation will begin shipping December 16th. The new hardware devices appear before Christmas as promised.

• Asgard Software becomes the first TI-99 vendor to offer products through the Electronic Mall on CompuServe.

• Navarone moves to Dallas, TX.

• Daniel Norling, member of the LA 99ers, and author of the first proofreader for TI BASIC and Extended BASIC dies in Los Angeles, CA.

• Paolo Bagnaresi of Milanese, Italy releases BA-Writer, an enhancement to the TI-Writer program that loads out of the Extended Basic module.

• Myarc Inc. finally begins shipping XBII for their 128K card, despite an announcement two months earlier that the product was being delivered.

• First full-page Texaments advertisement appears in MICROpendium as Steve Lamberti moves from a user group type operation named TEXAMINTS to full-scale commercial status.

• First and only advertisement for Count-Sil spreadsheet appears in MICROpendium from Sandy Foote of Systems Interface in Nepean, Ontario Canada.

• Nibbler disk backup utility by Tarik Isani of StarSoft appears.

• West Penn Users Group forms in Jeanette, Pennsylvania with John Willforth named as the contact person.

• Global 99ers User Group forms in Rumford, Maine with Craig Kellogg named as the contact person.

• Don Scofield of Cleland Controls in Irvine, California announces that his firm will perform repairs on Corcomp peripheral cards.

• GEnie advertises for sysops to work the TI RoundTable.

• ATARI -- Bill Carris, employee of Atari from 1979 to 1984, and author of Inside Atari Basic: A Fast, Fun and Friendly Approach (1983 Reston), dies at age 34 in San Francisco, CA.

• COMMODORE --
• Electronic Arts begins shipping its first five products for the Amiga: Deluxe Paint, Archon, Financial Cookbook, Seven Cities of Gold, and Julius Erving & Larry Bird Go One-On- One. The programs range in cost from $40-$80.
• QuantumLink, Commodore's new online information service, hosts an on-line chat between subscribers and the designers of the new C128 computer.

• IBM -- IBM begins encouraging independent software houses to make their software available on 3 1/2" disks by the first quarter of 1986. Big Blue plans to phase out its 5 1/4" drives entirely.

• MISC. --
• Computerland founder William Millard and his daughter Barbara agree to step down from the board of the world's largest retail chain in a complex move designed to free the corporation from a lawsuit which threatened to destroy it.
• CBS restructures, leading to the demise of its home and educational software division.
• The last issue of Popular Computing hits the news stands. McGraw-Hill announced in November that they would be shutting down operations of the magazine effective with the December issue.

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