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JAN 2011:
FEB 2011:
MAR 2011:
APR 2011: From
Hal Shanafield of the Chicago TI User Group, "I received a call a short
time ago to let me know that long-time CTIUG member, and all around
good guy, Tony Zlotorzynski passed away this morning (April 14th). Tony
Z, as he was known to everyone, was a former newsletter editor for the
group, as well as the programming contest chairman for a number of
years. Tony died of
congestive heart failure, which is sort of ironic, since those who knew
him, knew what a big heart he had. Tony used to call himself a "dumb
Pollock," but although he was Polish, he certainly wasn't dumb. He was
already ready to help anyone, from the kid in China to whom he sent TI
gear and programs at a time when that country was still more or less
closed to the West, to many TI'ers who relied on Tony for advice,
programs, and even equipment. Just a couple of weeks ago he was still
sending us disks to be demo'ed on the CTIUG show. Before he was
tethered to an oxygen tank, he would regularly visit a recycling plant
and bring computer equipment to our meetings and give it away. Once,
when a fellow came to the meeting to sell his TI system because he had
fallen on hard times, Tony stood up, took off his hat, threw in a
twenty-dollar bill, and walked around collecting money. The fellow went
home with his system, and a couple of hundred bucks to see him through.
When, as president of the group, I asked for
a volunteer to assume the duties as editor of our newsletter, only one
person came forward: Tony. He was just that kind of guy, the kind you
can always count on. We will miss him greatly. --Hal
- Turbo Forth by Mark Wills is announced on April 15,
2011. Bob Carmany of Hummingbird EPROMS posts the following
announcement on the On-Line User Groups for the TI-99. "The Beast is
loose! Through
the efforts of Mark Wills, a new programming language has arrived.
TurboForth
is faster than any of the previous Forth dialects in all of the
benchmarks we
have tested and is much simpler to use than anything previously
introduced.
Better yet, it runs entirely from a cartridge leaving all of low memory
and
almost all of high memory available for programming. Beginning Monday
April 18th,
I will begin accepting US and Canadian orders for TurboForth Vn
1.0. For
those of you who already have one of the Jon Guidry cartridges, the
EPROMs are
$7 each which also includes shipping. If you need a board and cartridge
shell,
we can supply a limited number of them on a first-come-first served
basis. The Cartridge Board and Cartridge Shells are an additional $20
for both.
Neither Mark Wills nor I are in this venture for profit and these
prices
reflect our actual costs. However, we don't want to lose money either!
The
total for a completed cartridge is $27. You may also buy Cartridge
Boards
and/or Cartridge Shells from Matthew Haggerty at: http://codehackcreate.com/
should you wish to do so.All orders must
be pre-paid
either by Money Order or PayPal (preferred).Orders will be
handled in the
following manner:
- EPROM-only
orders will be processed and shipped immediately upon
receipt of payment.
- Orders
requiring a Cartridge Board and/or Cartridge Shell will be
placed on a list and processed in order they were received as I receive
the
Boards and Shells (they are in transit). No immediate payment is
required. Remember, though, when I run out, they are gone. If someone
wants to
make another run of Cartridge Boards or a run of Cartridge Shells feel
free to
do so! You will be notified by email when your cartridge has been
completed. At
that time, payment should be made and your completed cartridge will be
shipped
upon receipt of payment.
- Purchasers
will receive two emails, one
confirming your order to make
sure of exactly what you want and a second one with payment
instructions.
- WhileMark
and I are producing TurboForth Vn 1.0, I will
also provide any updates/bug-fixes as they occur. The programming
service is
free. All that I ask is that you either return the original EPROM or
provide a
programmable replacement 27128 EPROM for me to use. Updates will be
provided
for postage costs only. - - Bob Carmany
MAY 2011: Michael Zapf
releases v0.7 of the TIImageTool. According to Mr. Zapf, “Its
most
important new feature is XModem support. To use XModem you need to
install the
RXTX library, which is fairly easy (just copy two files into your Java
directory; for details see the help file and the instructions on the
RXTX
homepage). If RXTX is not available the XModem functions are disabled,
but the
rest works like before.”
JUN 2011: Mark Wills and Bob Carmany of the
TurboForth User Group announce the October-November 2011 release of
TurboForth v1.1. All US
purchasers will be able to simply exchange their current Vn 1.0
EPROM for a Vn 1.1 for postage (about $1). If they wish to retain the
Vn 1.0 EPROM, they can swap out a programmable 27128 blank EPROM. This
will apply to for ANY future upgrades. If you have
your own EPROM burner then you can it yourselfs, or if you have a HSGPL
card you can also do it for free.Both the EPROM image and
HSGPL image will be available from the TF web site, and from the files
section here on the TF mailing list.
JUL 2011: Thierry Nouspikel announces the release of
Virtual Disk Manager 99 (VDM99 1.0) for use on a Windows based PC
application.
VDM99 is a disk manager that can handle TI-99/4A disk-image files on
your PC
and is designed to also handle real disks on a TI-99/4A connected to
your PC
via a serial or parallel cable. The program offers a familiar "Windows
Explorer" interface with optional advanced features like a sector
editor.
Copying disks and files, or transfering them between the TI-99/4A and
the PC,
then becomes a simple matter of drag-and-drop. The program is available
from
the author at http:\\www.nouspikel.com\ti99\vdm99.htm
<>AUG 2011: Michael
Zapf releases a new version of TIImageTool. It contains
the serial bridge support for MESS. However, at this time only the SDL
versions
of MESS support the serial connection (MacOS and Linux); the Windows
version
will adopt this feature in the next version. You need a 1-1 cable as
described
in the RS232 manual if you want to connect a PC with a real TI or
Geneve. This
is also true if you emulate a TI on the PC: The PC interface is always
a PC
interface. Handshaking does not properly work yet, but at least for
small files
you can transfer files back and forth without major problems.
SEP 2011:
OCT 2011:
NOV 2011: Paolo
Barnaresi is selected as the recipient
of the 2011 John Birdwell memorial award for
"Excellence in Computing". The
announcement of the award is made on Nov
5th by Hal Shanafield, coordinator for the annual Chicago TI
International World Faire.
- On
November 7, 2011 Bob Carmany announces the availability of a Turbo
Forth v1.1 upgrade. - "All
of those who have purchased TurboForth Vn 1.0, the upgrade to Vn 1.1 is
ready. YOU WILL NEED TO SWAP THE EPROM IN YOUR CARTRIDGE WHICH MEANS
YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE YOU CARTRIDGE APART. If you wish the receive the
upgrade (at no cost), contact me by private email. If you have an EPROM
burner, I can email you the binary file. New purchasers can also conact
me by email as well. There are a couple of "hacks" that can be made
(these are permanent). 1. Default loading in 80-columns and 2. Default
loading from a drive other than DSK1.".
- On November 28, 2011 Mark Wills posts and
announcement about Classic99 and it's compatibility with Turbo Forth: "Classic99
has been updated with the following (among others) which will directly
affect TurboForth Users:
* TurboForth V1.1 now included with Classic99
* Utilities BLOCKS file now included with Classic99
* 80 column mode implemented - now you can work in 80 columns!
In
80 column mode the block editor window is static (it doesn't 'window')
since all 64 characters in a block line are visible. Much nicer!
Simply visit http://harmlesslion.com to get the latest version of
Classic99.
Thanks
to Tursi for these updates! (there are other updates too in this
release, and the 80 column mode is a temporary solution specifically
for TurboForth - it will be enhanced further later on). regards Mark"
- Talented
TI-99/4A assembly language programmer Travis Watford dies on
November 29, 2011 at 52 years old. Travis contributed his talents
and his support to the TI Community with such programs as
MAX-RLE, said to be one of the greatest contributions to the TI-99/4A
owner ever, the Omega Terminal Emulator, T-Shell 99, Quick-Run,
Ram*Boot and POP, an XB programmer's tool for POPping the XB stack via
an easy to access Assembly Language routine. Travis also provided
Foundation 128K Card owners with detailed instructions on
how to upgrade the Foundation 128K card to 512K so it would work with
the Myarc Ramdisk Eprom. Travis was also a co-author with Mike
Kimble of the Paradigm BBS, which was the flagship communication
vehicle of the Southwest 99ers in Tucson, AZ and no doubt other user
groups.
DEC 2011: Marc
Hull, dba Destroyer and Sons Atomic Powered Software Company (DSAPSC)
releases "Mad Marvin's Great Escape",
on Dec 18, 2011. The Mad Marvin program is a 100% assembly language
coded game where you must help Marvin escape the Martian Bureaucracy
using a 'borrowed' Martian Highway Patrol cruiser, that must move from colony to colony until all 21 screens
have been successfully negotiated.
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