TI99ers Hall of Fame - Richard Bell

Richard Bell has given the TI99 community nearly two decades of dedicated, quality hardware repair and upgrade service for the TI-99/4A and Myarc "Geneve" 9640 computers. The TI99 community is very fortunate to have a board and wire guy like Richard to service and develop our equipment. People who do quality work like Richard are few and far between. Richard Bell has been not only one of the best TI-99/4A and Geneve repair service providers, but also a great friend of the TI99 community.

Richard took over distribution of SNUG cards from Dan Eicher. The cards he has distributed included many, if not all of the following. The ASCS12, BwG, EVPC, HRD16, HSGPL, SGCPU and / or the SPVM card. In addition to the SNUG cards, he has made firmware and software updates available for these cards. Through Richard's efforts with providing SNUG cards, he enabled North American TI99ers to establish a valuable and ongoing link with the SNUG group as well as much of the European TI99 community. Richard also provided debugging and repair services for these cards as well as other hardware for the TI-99/4A and Geneve systems.

Here are some examples of Richard's valuable services:

Upgraded SCSI revision E-cards 'free of charge' or mostly at his expense.
SCSI and IDE card repairs
Horizon RAM disk repairs
Geneve repairs and upgrades
Myarc repairs and upgrades
TI-99/4A repair and replacement offer. (e.g., offering a popular 32K on 16 bit bus upgrade.)
Purchased much of the inventory of TI-99/4A and Geneve equipment from Don Walden, allowing repairs on TI-99/4A and Geneve systems to continue.
Made Load Interrupt boards available to the TI99 community.
Operates the last BBS that can be accessed from a TI-99/4A or Geneve.

Richard Bell's work goes well and far beyond any professional standard. When a PEB card is return from Richard Bell, it can be recognized as a piece of art. Vendors, when providing high quality PEB cards, have stated that the card was worked on by Richard Bell with his signature and date of service placed on the card. Richard's expert servicing of SCSI and IDE cards, repairs and upgrades is the hardware "glue" which holds the Tl99 community together by keeping our TI-99/4A and Geneve systems running.

Richard always has something useful to offer and share with the Tl99 community. Richard's knowledgeable advice or a recommended upgrade (e.g., The MYARC Floppy Disk Control Card.) is often offered either via an OLUG list server or on a TI99 community web site, or by private E-mail to a fellow TI99er with a specific hardware problem or question.

In recognition of his achievements, service and contributions to the TI99 community, Richard received the Jim Peterson Achievement Award for his outstanding hardware repair services in both the TI-99/4A and the Geneve categories in 2002, the TI-99/4A category again in 2003, the John Birdwell Award in 2007 and the Jim Peterson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.