• An 80 Column Display Card for the 99/4A is released by Mechatronics GmbH.

• The Printer's Apprentice v2.0 is released by McCann Software of Omaha, Nebraska.

• Mark Beck of Jacksonville, Arkansas releases Creative Filing System v5.0.

• Cheryl Whitelaw, aka Regena, joins the staff of MICROpendium as the regular BASIC columnist.

• James Schroeder releases Rediskit disk copier.

• Walt Howe, the New England area 99er who met and married a gal he met "on-line" as a sysop for the Delphi network, releases Chainlink Solitaire.

• Rumors of a TI-99 version of Turbo Pascal surface on the editorial page of MICROpendium.

• Gene Harter of Not-Polyoptics announces that his firm will be releasing a flight simulator on February 1st.

• Myarc announces that the 9640 GENEVE will be "available on your dealer's shelf in February". The computer was demonstrated at the January 18th Atlanta 99ers User Group meeting by Jack Riley.

• The first TI-TAX templates for 99/4A Multiplan are released by William Chavanne of Ft. Meade, Maryland.

• XB II v2.12 is released by Myarc Inc.

• DISkAssembler by Tom Freeman is released by MG.

• CorComp Inc and Will and Tony McGovern are given Outstanding Support Awards by the Front Range 99ers computer group.

• Tunnels of Doom Editor  v3.0 is released by Asgard Software.

• MG releases a message to the TI world of an upcoming product that will put IBM compatibility at the finger tips of 99/4A owners. The product turns out to be a bridge-box that allows the 99/4A keyboard to be used with a PC Clone. No real "compatibility" exists.

• TEXNET is discontinued on The Source telecommunications network effective January 30th.

• Quality 99 Software releases Screen Dump II.

• Commodore Microcomputers magazine and Commodore Power/Play magazine are merged into a single publication by their owner, Contemporary Marketing Inc. of West Chester, PA.

• Fairware author and freeware champion John E. Taylor (aka JET) announces that he has sold his TI-99/4A system and will be moving on to IBM PC clones because of his job. Taylor is best know for his popular Checkbook and Budget Manager program, but was also the author of several other offerings via the fairware/freeware distribution network.

WINTER CES 1987

HARDWARE ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Atari announces an ST with 2Mb or RAM and another with 4Mb of RAM.
• Atari announces a new laser printer for the ST line.
• Atari announces a new IBM PC compatible computer.
• Atari displays a prototype of the 65XE Video Game System.
• Commodore previews the Amiga 500, a under $650 computer and a new Amiga 2000, both compatible with the existing Amiga 1000.
• Commodore introduces a new A2002 composite/RGB color monitor.
• Commodore announces a new IBM PC compatible computer; the PC10-1 and the PC10-2.
• Commodore shows a new 256K RAM expander for the C64.
• Commodore introduces the C128D.

SOFTWARE ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Accolade's Comics is introduced by year-old Accolade for the C64. It is a graphical adventure centered around Steve Keene as the central character who must thwart evil plots for the Chief of Spystuff Inc. $39.95.
• Aliens: The Computer Game is introduced by Activision, based upon the summer 1986 hit movie. For the C64. $39.95.
• The Bard's Tale is released by Electronic Arts for the Commodore Amiga. $49.95.
• The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight is released by Electronic Arts for the C64. $39.95. An Apple version is promised.
• BI Calc, File, Spell and Write are announced by Batteries Included for the IBM PC and compatibes. $39.95 each.
• Bop 'N Wrestle, Infiltrator, and Trailblazer are announced for Atari 8-bit computers by Mindscape at $29.95 each.
• Bureaucracy is released by Infocom/Activision for MS-DOS, Apple //, MAC, Amiga and Atari ST machines. $39.95
• Championship Golf: The Great Courses of the World-Volume One: Pebble Beach is announced for the Amiga by Gamestar/Activision for $54.95.
• Create A Calendar is released by Epyx for the C64, Apple // and MS-DOS machines. No price given.
• Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future is released by Electronic Arts for the C64. $19.95.
• Data Manager PC is released by Timeworks for MS-DOS machines. $59.95
• Deluxe Creativity Series is introduced for the Amiga and Apple //gs. The five programs are all compatible with each other and can turn the two computers into a home sound/video production studio. The programs include Deluxe Paint II, Deluxe Music Construction Set, Instant Music, Deluxe Print and Deluxe Video. Each programs sells for $99.95.
• Earl Weaver Baseball is released by Electronic Arts for the Commodore Amiga. $49.95.
• GBA Championship Basketball: Two-On-Two is released by Gamestar/Activision for the Commodore Amiga. $44.95.
• GFL Championship Football is released by Gamestar/Activision for the Commodore Amiga. $44.95.
• GeoFile, GeoCalc and GeoDex are released by Berkeley Softworks for the C64 and C128. $49.95, $9.95 and $39.95 respectively. An 80-column version of GEOS for the C128 is also announced with a release date of the second quarter 1987. Price is set at $69.00.
• GraphicsWorks Version 1.1 is released by Mindscape for the MAC. $99.95.
• Guild of Thieves, a followup to The Pawn is previewed by Firebird Licensees.
• Hollywood Hijinx is released by Infocom/Activision for the C64, Atari XE/XL line, MS-DOS machines, Apple //, MAC, Amiga and Atari ST computers. $39.95.
• Laser Author one of the first offerings from Firebird Licensees new business division is announced for the MAC. Price is under $200. It is a document publishing application.
• Masterpiece, a professional MIDI application, is released by Sonus for the MAC and Atari ST. $475.
• Super Sequencer, a professional MIDI application, is released by Sonus for the MAC and Atari St. $195.
• Superscore, a professional MIDI application, is released by Sonus for the MAC and Atari ST. $425.
• Music Construction Set is announced by Electronic Arts for the Apple //gs. $49.95.
• The Music Studio is announced by Activision for the Apple //gs. $79.95.
• PHM Pegasus is released by Electronic Arts for the C64 and Apple //. $39.95.
• Partner PC is released by Timeworks for MS-DOS machines. $59.95.
• Partner 64 cartridge is released by Timeworks for the C64. $59.95.
• PC Voyager, a business application, is released by Firebird Licensees for MS-DOS machines for under $100.
• Portal, an adventure, is released by Activision for MS-DOS and Apple // machines $44.95, MAC, Amiga and Atari ST machines for $49.95 and C64 for $39.95.
• PrintMaster Plus is released by Unison World for MS-DOS machines for $59.95, and Amiga, C64 and Atari ST machines for $39.95. An Apple // version is said to be coming soon.
• Red Storm Rising, based on the Tom Clancy novel, is announced by Microprose for late 1987 release.
• Return to Atlantis is announced by Electronic Arts for the Amiga. $49.95.
• Sinbad is announced as forthcoming by Cinemaware/Mindscape available only for the MAC, Amiga and ST machines.
• Springboard Publisher is announced by Springboard Software for the MAC and Apple // line. No price given.
• Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy is announced by Simon & Schuster for MS-DOS and Apple //, $39.95 and the C64, $32.95.
• SwiftCalc PC, and Word Writer PC are eleased by Timeworks for MS-DOS machines. $59.95 each.
• Word Writer 3 is released by Timeworks forthe C64. $49.95.
• Tracker is released by Firebird Licensees for the C64, $39.95, and the MAC and Atari ST for $44.95.
• TRIO, a word prcessor, database and spreadsheet, is announced by Softsync for the C128 for $69.95.
• Writer's Choice Elite is released by Activision for the Apple //gs. $99.95.

Accolade introduced the Accolade Advantage Line which is a collection of old titles including: Spy vs. Spy I and II, Deceptor and Desert Fox. Electronic Arts introduced its Software Classics line, with titles including Archon II: Adept, Skyfox, Movie Maker, Financial Cookbook, and Mind Mirror. Activision announced it Solid Gold Software line which includes Pitfall and Demon Attack. Infocom has also bundled the three popular Zork adventures into the Zork Trilogy.

FEB 1987:  The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• MICROpendium changes banner to include Myarc 9640 in advertised coverage.

• Warnings are issued within the TI-99 Community about Supertrack, a Trojan Horse program mascarading as a track copier that deliberately destroys the contents of any disk it works on. It appears on Bulletin Boards around the country, but is effectively corraled by most sysops.

• Excellent Extended BASIC tutorials from the McGoverns of FunnelWeb Farm begin to show up in User Group newsletters across the United States.

• SPAD XIII, the first realistic flight simulator for the 99/4A is released by Not Polyoptics, written by David Harter 416 High St. Chestertown, Maryland 21620, who is a partner in the Not Polyoptics firm. The program took about eight months to write.

• A 99AT EXPANSION CHASSIS is announced by Ryte Data of Haliburton, Ontario. The box is said to be able to accept the 9640 computer on a card, 99/4A PEB cards and up to four disk drives.

• The HFDC (Hard and Floppy Disk Controller Card) is released by Myarc Inc.

• PC-Keys v2.0 is released by Jim Kryzak, owner of Techni-Graphics.

• The Writerease  word processor, written by former Silver Wolf Software partner Galen Read, is formally announced by CorComp Inc. (Author's Note: the other partner in Silver Wolf Software was Chuck Burley).

• CSGD User Disk #4 (Character Sets and Graphic Designs) from David Rose is released by Texaments.

• AVPC 80-COLUMN DISPLAY CARD is released by DIJIT Systems of San Diego, California.

MAR 1987: The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• Access Engineering, a consortium made up of Jim Horn, Richard Roseen and Chris Bobbitt, announce ADOS, AMOS, AC-BASIC and AC-PASCAL for the Myarc 9640 computer.

• Jeff Guide's Disk Only Software out of Lorton, Virginia releases XB:Bug and EPROM for the Horizon Ram Disk, both products created by J. Peter Hoddie.

• EPYX 500XJ joystick is introduced by TexComp as Super Joystick III.

• Font Writer II  by J. Peter Hoddie is released by Asgard Software.

• DataBioTics releases the Junkman Jr. and Star Runner game cartridges.

• Wycove Forth v3.0 is released by Tim MacEachern, but with no documentation.

• File Master and Home Banking  programs are released by E & M Software of Napa, California.

• Ray Kazmer of Kazco International, closes the doors on his business.

• The Bible Trivia game is released by Trinity Systems of Pittsburgh, PA.

• Myarc's Advanced BASIC is announced and previewed by Walt Howe in CompuServe's TI Forum.

• Triton Products Inc., the company chosen by TI in 1984 to handle the remaining stock of 99/4A hardware and software, announces a PC Clone to the TI Community complete with an MG designed bridge box so that you can use your 99/4A keyboard with the IBM clone. Both the Turbo XT clone and the bridge box idea are universally spurned in the TI Community.

• MICROpendium receives a beta version of Myarc 9640, which is now a computer on a card for the Peripheral Expansion Box rather than a full-fledged computer as originally planned.

• Funnelweb  v3.4 is updated with the March 30, 1987 release.

APR 1987:  The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• Command DOS for SuperCart is released by Monty Schmidt.

• The Central Pensylvania Users Group (Harrisburg, PA) elects the following officers for the May 1987 to April 1988 term:

• President - Martin Gutekunst
• Vice-President - Nick Varnalis
• Sec/Treasurer - Barry L. Long Sr.
• Executive Board - Dot Schwartz and Nick Varnalis
• Education Chairman - Dave Ratcliffe
• Software Librarian - Barry L. Long Sr.
• Events Co-Chairs - Robert Miller, Dot Schwartz, Henry Schwartz

• The AMNION HELPLINE, run by former IUG librarian Dr. Guy Steffen-Romano, gets an award from the Front Range 99ers of Colorado Springs, Colorado for continued support of the TI Community.

• Diversions Inc. of Sunnyvale, California announces the release of a ribbon and pen set for most popular printers that allows text and graphics images to be printed in an ink that may be transferred to T-Shirts.

• Sort Experiment  is released by J. Peter Hoddie April 26th.

• The Super Extended BASIC cartridge created by Craig Miller, with programming contributions by Danny Michael and Mark Schillingburg, is released by Triton Products Co.

• TigerCub Software (Jim Peterson) releases Nuts and Bolts #3.

• TI-NET BBS is released as Freeware by Gadego Software.

• Paul Coleman of Nameloc Software releases CSGD Support and TI-Artist Support disks.

• Robert Neal begins The FairWare Exchange in Romeoville, Ilinois.

• Asgard Software releases Legends by Donn Granros, with some assembly language programming help from Ed Johnson.

• Steven J. McWatty's Graphic Labeler program appears as Fairware.

• Reader's Digest sells The Source to a group of venture capitalists. (Compute! Jul87, p.55)

• COMMODORE: On April 22, 1987 Commodore CEO Thomas J. Rattigan is replaced by Chairman Irving Gould. It is unclear why Rattigan was replaced after turning the company around and posting $28 million in profits over the four quarters ending in March 1987. Rattigan himself claimed that he was forced out by Gould due to personality conflicts and that Gould was upset about Rattigan getting credit for the company's turnaround. Gould argued that the comeback in the U.S. was insufficient compared to its rebound in overseas markets, which accounted for 70% of its sales. In fact, despite its profitability, Commodore's U.S. revenues had declined by 54% in the same four quarters. According to Gould's ideology, the North American operation was to be a sales and marketing extension of the company, rather than the unwieldy, semi-independent entity it had become. For the third time in Commodore's history, a new leader began his term at the helm by drastically downsizing. Under Gould's reign, the payroll was cut from 4,700 to 3,100, including half of the North American headquarters' corporate staff, and five plants were closed. (http://php.indiana.edu/~rmelick/1.htm) Writing in the August 1987 issue of compute! magazine on page 62, columnist Sheldon Leemon opines that Rattigan was, at least in part, ousted because of his reluctance to push the new Commodore Amiga 500 into mass-market distribution channels, which was what Irving Gould wanted to do.

MAY 1987:  The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• Console Calc, the first (and only) spreadsheet for the 99/4A totally in a cartridge, gets a devastating review in the May issue of MICROpendium.

• MICROpendium begins first listing of TI-99/4A User Groups.

• Texaments announces the release of Turbo-Pasc 99.

• Ray Kazmer reveals the secret behind his RLE Digitizer in a tell-all expose published in several California User Group newsletters (waxpaper).

• Funnelweb v3.4 is updated with the May 14, 1987 release.

• Disk Utilities author John Birdwell moves to Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

• Schedule Manager v1.2 is released by Asgard Software.

• Doug Warren's Explorer program, formerly marketed by Millers Graphics in copy protected form, is released under the Bytemaster Computer Services (Richard Mitchell) banner in unprotected format. A bug would later be found in the unprotected version resulting from a byte offset that was used in the copy-protection scheme.

• DaTaBioTics debuts Super Forth at the Fest-West '87 show in Los Angeles.

• The LA 99ers introduce "Kracker Facts", a book of tips for GRAM Kracker owners. The material is a compilation of articles and other information by Mike Dodd, Tom Freeman, Craig Miller, Walt Howe and others.

• GEnie on-line information service becomes available in Canada.

• Fest-West '87 takes place in Los Angeles, CA on May 16-17, 1987 at the Shrine Auditorium.

• COMMODORE: Closeout prices on the Commodore Plus/4 are listed at $79.90 by wholesale houses. Similar closeout pricing can also be found for the Commodore 64 software games such as Frogger, Q*Bert, Popeye, Battlezone and Robotron, all listed at $7.77. (RUN May87, p.61)

• COMMODORE: Street prices for the Commodore 64 are at $98, the Commodore 64C sells for $159, and the C-128 sells for $199. (RUN May87, p.66)

• COMMODORE: A 3-year old lawsuit between Atari and Commodore over the Amiga ends in undisclosed terms.

JUN 1987:  The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• Danny Michael announces his departure from the TI Community in the Shoals 99er newsletter. He has sold his TI-99/4A system and purchased an IBM PC.

• John Willforth of the Pennsylvania Users Group (PUG) author's an article about how to put Extended BASIC inside the TI-99 console.

• Myarc receives an award from the Front Range 99er Computer Club of Colorado in appreciation for its support of the TI-99/4A computer community.

• Word reaches the TI Community that Bruce Ryan of Ryte Data in Haliburton, ONT Canada is going to release a set of EPROMS for the TI Disk Controller which will provide support for up to quad density floppy disks. The EPROMS are said to be priced at $45.00.

• On June 10th the MBP Clock/Calendar - ADC Kit price is reduced to $31.50. The company producing the hardware peripheral, MBP of 2 Cypress Drive Wichita, KS 67206, says that more than 200 of the devices have been shipped to TI owners world wide.

• Pioneer member of the TI Community, Doyle Bynum, co-founder of Softmail and Texas Peripherals, dies on June 25th in Lancaster, Texas at age 63.

• Stu Olsen releases Mass Transfer v4.2 (ymodem capablities added) and v4.3 (same as v4.2 but with support for multilple ram disks).

• Ryte Data's R/D Computing publishes a 64K memory map modification project.

• Ryte Data announces that it has a poor subscriber base for the R/D Newsletter, and that operations will cease if more interest is not generated.

• Monty Schmidt releases GPL Assembler / Linker for the 99/4A.

• CorComp releases a TI to PC text transfer utility.

• MICROpendium puts out feelers for a c99 columnist and a Geneve columnist.

• Genisis Systems Software announces a freeware offering on how to create TI-Artist fonts. Company owner Lyle Thorogood, a previously unknown entity in the TI Community, continues in that capacity as neither Genisis nor Thorogood are ever heard from again.

• Wayne Stith releases the Kwik Font assembly language program and tutorial.

• Travis Watford releases the Omega terminal emulator.

• The beginning of the end for Commodore...Chairman of the Board Irving Gould, the same person who Commodore founder Jack Tramiel had a dispute with before resigning, ousts 5 senior corporation executives, including Thomas Rattigan and Nigel Shepherd. (RUN July87, p.8)

JUL 1987:  The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• MICROpendium publishes the history of Disk Manager 1000.

• Rave 99 (John McDevitt) introduces Speech Adapter Card, an adapter that allows the printed circuit board from an existing Speech Synthesizer (PHP 1500) peripheral to be mounted on the adapter, and then inserted into a card slot in the Peripheral Expansion Box (PHP 1200). The Speech Adapter Card is 100% compatible with all software and hardware. It carries a MSRP of $49.95 (Mid-South 99ers TIDBITS Aug87, p.12)

• ML Systems of Valley Falls, Rhode Island releases an $80.00 interface that allows any PC keyboard to be used on the TI-99/4A.

• Mack McCormick resigns as Technical Editor for MICROpendium because of job duties in the military.

• Myarc Geneve advertisement in MICROpendium shows up without the picture of the computer.

• Innovative Programming, a new firm started by Galen Read, appears in a full-page ad in MICROpendium. The firm offers support through its new 4A/TALK BBS.

• TexComp releases a ribbon and pen set for Epson, Okidata and Star printers that allows text and graphics to be printed in an ink that can be transferred to T-Shirts. The product was previously announced by Sunnyvale, California based Diversions Inc. in April 1987.

• Franz Wagenbach of T.A.P.E. (Technical Application Product Engineering) in Ontario, California announces the release of both TI-Writer and Multiplan for the 80-column display card by Mechatronics GmbH.

• Recipe Writer v2.0 is released by Asgard Software.

• FCC plan to tax on-line communications services is announced. Hobbyists fear the tax may add as much as $5 per hour to the cost of using CompuServe, GEnie, Delphi etc.

• Ralph Fowler announces that his TIBBS, the first (or second) bulletin board system for the 99/4A, will shut down for lack of use. The Chicago TI Users Group also calims to have had the first TI-99/4A BBS in operation.

• Lois Brock, member of the Texas Instruments Consumer Relations department, sends a letter to various user groups reconfirming TI's departure from the Home computer Market on April 1, 1984, with referrals to Triton Products and Tenex Computer Express.

• Edgar Dohmann announces his intention to release the Electro Help cartridge for the TI-99/4A. It will have 64K of programming that will include an editor, assembler, disassembler, debugger, disk mangaer, sector editor, and program loader/saver. The caryridge will be built on a 27512 EPROM and be based upon the Super Space II cartridge.

AUG 1987: The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• DataBiotics announces Grand RAM and Desktop Publisher. Although the Desktop Publisher program does not give credit to its author, it has the look and feel of a Galen Read creation. The actual authors turn out to be Ed Johnson, author of Page Pro 99 and Chris Faherty, author of TI-Artist.

• Asgard Software announces the release of EZ-Keys by Harry Wilhelm and Missile Wars by John Behnke, author of Tunnels of Doom Editor, The Volcano Fortress and The Haunted Mine.

• John Johnson's MENU v6.3 for the Horizon Ram Disk appears.

• Myarc considers producing the 9640 in a Macintosh-like case with monitor and 3 1/2 inch disk all in one unit. The plan is abandoned however. No formal announcement of the idea is ever made, but Myarc's Jack Riley will appear at the November Chicago TI Faire with a Sony monitor that has a 3 1/2 inch disk drive built into it, raising the question of just how close Myarc came to actually following through with the idea.

• Charles Kirkwood Jr. is chosen to become the c99 columnist for MICROpendium.

• Mike Dodd of the K-Town 99ers is chosen to become the Geneve columnist for MICROpendium.

• Bowling League Secretary I program released by Pilgrim's Pride of Hatboro, Pennsylvania.

• GRAPHX Slideshow by Paul Charlton and Ken Gilliland is released by Asgard Software.

• Asgard Software releases a statement to clarify that his firm has no connection with Asgard Industries of Minnesota, a firm that specializes in Adam Computer products.

SEP 1987:  The Southwestern 99ers newsletter.

• Jack Riley joins Myarc as a partner, with the oficial title of Marketing Manager.

• John Birdwell releases Disk Utilities v3.2.1, which includes a version of the program designed especially for use on the Super Cart.

• A new prototyping board for the Peripheral Expansion Box is announced by Scott Coleman and John Willforth.

• SPAD XIII is upgraded to SPAD XIII Mk. 2 by Not-Polyoptics.

• Legends adventure gets a large print manual for persons with poor sight.

• Alpha Scientific Box 626 Chesterfield, Missouri 63006 314-878-7117, advertises a 3.5 inch Toshiba disk drive kit for the TI-99/4A in Computer Shopper.

• Harry Brashear a Newfane, New York 99er, writes a critical letter to all 99ers who are moving away from the 99/4A. The letter is posted on the major TI-SIGS for all to read. It draws scathing criticism in return for its fanaticism and insults to Craig Miller and other former 99/4A supporters.

• Marty Kroll Jr. releases CATLIB v1.5.3 (CATALOGING LIBRARY) on August 10, 1987.

• A Myarc Geneve 9640 column debuts in MICROpendium.

• Jumpboot operating system utility, written by Jerry Coffey, is released by Jeff Guide's Disk Only Software company as the first third-party product for the Myarc Geneve 9640. The program is designed to allow Geneve owners to boot their system from a floppy disk as fast as they could from a hard disk drive.

• TPA Toolbox, a utility designed to expand the versatility of The Printer's Apprentice, is released by McCann Software.

• Tony Wagner of Minot, North Dakota circulates information on his intention to create a nation-wide hardware projects group in the TI-99 Community.

• Home Accounting Control System (HACS) version 2.0 is released.

• MEMOcal notes/calendar printing program is released by Unique Software.

• Walt Howe, part time Sysop on the TI Special Interest Group of The Source, reports that the TISIG is in 'trouble' because subscriber numbers are so low that it is not paying for itself. Sysop Blaine Crandall asks owners of The Source for a month to survey TI owners for their reactions.

• Bruce Forbes founds the TId Bits bi-monthly magazine for the TI Community. It is made available in both disk and hardcopy versions, $8 for six disk issues or $12 for six hardcopy issues.

• The Computer Exposition of the Central Pennsylvania Users Group takes place in Harrisburg, PA on September 12th.

• APPLE: The Apple IIGS (Graphics and Sound) is introduced. It would be the 2nd-to-last of the Apple II series introduced, the last one being the IIc+ a year later in Sep 1988. It had enhanced graphics and sound capabilities, as well as the open architecture that the Apple II series was famous for. The machine had a number of expansion slots under it's cover, no internal floppy drive, depending on an 800k external floppy drive, as well as having a seperate keyboard. The IIGS would have it's own GUI based operating system, as well as being able to run ProDOS. It was discontinued in December 1992 as the last of the Apple II line. The line would be officially discontinued as of November 1993, after a total of approximately 5 million machines of all models are sold. (Jeff's Computer Haven Home Page)

OCT 1987:  The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• Second ever checksum program for proofing TI BASIC/XB programs appears in MICROpendium. Written by Los Angeles 99er Tom Freeman.

• CSGD User Disks #5 and #6, along with CSGD Cataloger are released by Texaments.

• Artist Fonts Volume 1 is released by Asgard Software.

• Designer Labels by Paul Coleman is released by Nameloc Software.

• After Hours BBS v1.4 is released by Ed Schaum of Bronx, NewYork.

• Funnelweb v4.0 is released on October 20, 1987.

• Ryte Data South, run by Houston, Texas resident Henry Schlereth, closes its doors.

• Wizard’s Lair and Wizard’s Revenge adventure games are released by Rainbow Software of Brooklyn, New York.

• QDE, the Quick and Dirty Editor by Clint Pulley, is released in an 80-column version for the Geneve.

• Video Digitizer and Titling software is rumored to be in the works, the creation of Seattle, Washington 99er Tom Wynne. It is designed to work on a Peripheral Expansion Box card that will be marketed by Barb Weiderhold of Queene Anne Computer Shoppe in Seattle.

• Sysop Blaine Crandell reports that TI-SIG, formerly TexNet, on The Source, gets a reprieve from extinction when most 99ers report that they will drop The Source entirely if TI-SIG is abandoned. As part of the efforts to increase interest and participation, the Terminal Emulator 2 download protocol is dropped in favor of the more popular xmodem protocol. This eliminates a major commercial resource and reason for owning and using the TEII cartridge.

• Boston Computer Society member Walt Howe previews MyArt for the Geneve 9640 in the October BCS Newsletter. Howe is the author of the documentation for the program.

• Ernest Chandler and Frank Paquette of Great Lakes Software release Certificate 99 v1.0.

• Myarc releases MDOS 0.99 for the Geneve 9640 computer when O/S author Paul Charlton uploads the code to CompuServe and Delphi on October 14th for free download by Geneve owners.

• The most comprehensive comparison of database managers for the TI-99/4A ever published appears in MICROpendium.

• Datax announces move to Florida.

• The DC area 99ers hold a TI Fair on October 24-25, 1987.

• COMMODORE: Commodore finally starts delivering the 1581 disk drive after announcing it's availability almost a year earlier (RUN Oct87, p.8)

• COMMODORE: The Commodore 128D is officially released in the U.S. It first appeared on the scene two years earlier but could not pass the FCC's regulations for radio signal emitting devices, so it was pulled from the North American market and sold outside the U.S. until it could be redesigned. (RUN Oct87, p.8)

NOV 1987:  The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• The 5th Annual Chicago TI Faire takes place on November 7th.

• Mark Van Coppenole demos the GRAMulator prototype at the Chicago TI Faire.

• Family and Home Office Computing Magazine ceases publication of type-in programs. The magazine, which started out life as Family Computing, is switching focus to Home Office Computing in an effort ot stay afloat in a very competitive market. All TI-99/4A and other home computer programs are no longer found on their pages.

• Hulk, Claymorgue Castle, Buckaroo Banzai and Spider-Man adventures by Scott Adams are released by TexComp.

• Myarc Mouse and MyArt are offered as separate purchases from the Myarc Geneve computer by Innovative Programming (Galen Read) of Rohnert Park, CA.

• Funnelweb v4.0 is updated with the November 11, 1987 release.

• Graphics Expander and Font Pack I and II are released by Genial Computerware. Graphics Expander allows a TI-Artist or CSGD (Dave Rose's Character Sets and Graphic Designs) font to be stretched either horizontally.

• String Master  is released by Richard Mitchell, dba Bytemaster Computer Services of Sulphur, Louisiana. A Press Release is posted on the major TI-99 online SIGs.
  

• TIBM PC to 4A or Geneve file transfer utility is announced by program authors Daniele Morini and Luigi Grilli of Italy.

• PC-Transfer by Mike Dodd is released by Genial Computerware.

• AVANTI 99 FORTH CARD for the Peripheral Expansion Box is announced by McCann Software. The beta version is shown at the Chicago Faire.

• Miller Communications of Seattle, Washington develops an IBM-like box to hold the Geneve and TI peripheral cards. The box is said to have a 220 watt power supply and it will have seven card slots. Millers own VideoFlex and Frame Grabber cards will fit in it as well as two RS232 cards.

• SUPER CLOCK SUPPORT is released by Ryte Data of Haliburton, Ontario.

• A newsletter for users of TI's CC-40, and the TI74 and 95 calculators debuts.

• Remind Me! by John Johnson is released by Genial ComputerWare at the Chicago TI Faire.

• Inscebot Inc. announces that TI-Artist will be produced in cartridge format. It never comes to pass.

• Ali Ulgen of Seven Hills, Ohio completes a months-long, nation-wide survey of 99ers equipment and software inventories.

• Bruce Ryan and Ryte Data of Haliburton, ONT Canada show off their new 99AT box at the Chicago TI Faire. The 99AT holds a large power supply, up to four (4) half-height floppy disk drives (including a hard disk drive), and still has five (5) slots for standard TI Peripheral Expansion Box type/size cards like those made by TI, Myarc, CorComp, Horizon, Foundation, Mechatronic GmbH et cetera. The 99AT is priced at $55.00 with a 135 watt power supply and a built in system interface.

• Anders Persson of Lund, Sweden releases a complete mapping of the TI P-Code card.

• Triton Products announces that they will not be carrying the DataBioTics Grand RAM card when it becomes available, despite the appearance of the hardware peripheral in their catalog. Instead, they will substitute a CorComp 512K card. (Pekin, IL User Group Newsletter, Nov87, p.1)

DEC 1987:  The Southwest 99ers newsletter.

• MDOS v1.0 for the Geneve is released.

• Ali Ulgen reports that his survey of TI Users yielded responses from only 73 user groups out of 220 US and 34 foreign groups contacted!

• TI-Count accounting software becomes available as a package, for only $99.95.

• DELPHI on-line information service hosts an archivers conference between Barry Boone, Al Beard and Barry Traver on December 17th, the first ever between the three persons most responsible for providing file packing capabilities for the 99/4A community.

• GIF loader is released by Paul Charlton.

• New Day Computing in England, and the 99/4A National Assistance Group are put on the "hit" list as businesses to look out for, as both have failed to deliver paid for products to customers.

• Galen Read, of Innovative Programming, maker of Writerease and Console Calc, announces that his company is changing the focus of its business and is moving away from the TI market.

• Rave 99 announces that it will produce a Ram Disk for the 99/4A.

• Robert C. Holland, 6188 Caminito Baeze San Diego, California 92122 announces a TI/IBM file transfer program available for the cost of two DS/DD diskettes.

• McWare Products, Box 2784 Fairfax, Virginia 22031, announces Fast and Easy Tutor, a disk and booklet for the Star NX10.

• First commercially published article on how to put Extended BASIC in the TI-99/ 4A console appears in the Dec 1987 issue of MICROpendium.

• BA-Writer v1.4 is released.

• Ray Kazmer makes a gift of his 'Woodstock's Christmas' program to members of the San Fernando Valley 99ers.

• CSI Design Group owners/partners Mark Sumner and Ken Dibble officially close the doors on their 99/4A business.

• Pilgrim's Pride Box 2 Hatboro, PA 19040 announces in its December 1997 catalog that a company Bulletin Board System is 'coming soon...'.

• APPLE --
• Apple claims to have sold a quarter of a million copies of HyperCard since its release this past summer, and developers are working at a frenzied pace to put hundreds of "stacks" on the market. Apple says there are some 300 "stacks" now available.
• Third-party developers will sell add-in cards for the Mac II next spring featuring the 68030 chip from Motorola, a move they say will make the Mac II a competitive engineering workstation for the first time.

• ATARI -- Nintendo asserts that Atari was engaging in false and misleading advertising in a TV ad which claimed the Atari XE video game console was a better buy than the Nintendo home entertainment system.

• COMMODORE -- Rumors surface about Commodore planning a laptop with a 80286-based CPU.

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