If you use the MESS TI99/4A emulation, here in one handy dandy zip file (a mere 340k or so) are all the disks listed below, but transferred to the format that MESS wants to use.
A Windows program called TiDir is available which can read both PC99 and Mess TI emulated DSK formats, show TI Artist pictures, list basic programs and read DV80 text files, convert between the formats and allow file transfers between TI emulated disks. It will run in Linux using Wine.
Programs to download for use with the PC99 program for the PC which emulates the TI99/4A Home Computer.
Please note: PC99 is a COMMERCIAL program, NOT shareware and absolutely NOT freeware. If you use it, ensure you have paid Mike. He is a nice person and should not be robbed.
With four years of no feedback from visitors to these pages, they are no longer updated. I will however keep them on the web a little longer in case somebody may find them useful.
Several thousand programs for PC99 can be found on the inexpensive CD from CaDD Electronics, The Cyc, just $25 for programs plus huge amounts of documentation. Includes legal copies of all TI modules in PC99 format, including the much sought Tunnels of Doom module. Available to PC99 owners, and the cost of the CD plus PC99 itself is a great deal less than the bare TI99/4 sold for originally. And it is legally licensed by TI.
A huge resource of file to download can be found at Western Horizon Technology ftp site- lots of programs (eg for pc99) and documents.
General comments
In general when running programs in Basic / Extended Basic you will need to amend the system variables for speed, keyboard, and sprite
speed.
The TI99/4A had two independant clocks, one for the CPU and one for the VDP which controlled sprite speed. As these were not tied to each
other in any way, normal variation meant that you could not assume a sprite would move a constant distance whilst a program command was executed
on two different consoles. There was a significant variation between US and UK consoles. Thankfully PC99 allows you to fine tune sprite speed to
perfection.
To change system variables whilst PC99 is running, press ESC and a question mark will appear on the bottom of the screen. Now you can amend the variables.
Entering spp 100 will make PC99 run as fast as it can (NOTE:- latest version uses two nested variables, sd1 and sd2 so you can better slow down faster modern computers).
Amending the value of z will slow/speed up the sprite a little. If the sprite seems to be travelling too far, increase the value to slow it down.
You can vary the keyboard sensitivity by entering say k 1500. For most Basic programs a value around the range 1500 to 3000 works best for me, with the
lower value best if the program is not rechecking the TI keyboard very quickly, and a higher value for a machine code program checking the keyboard every other
instruction.
After adjusting the values return to your program by entering c.
And reajdust anytime if necessary.
Latest new program for the TI99/4A is an assembly code version of Conway's Game of Life, code written by Mark Wills in December 2005. Presented here as a small (19k)
zip file, TI Life will run in PC99 using the Editor Assembler module - the object code is in the display fixed 80 format. Source code is
included together with a small howto text file. Nice, fun programme.
Due to an item of feedback a new PC99 disk to download- added April 2000!
This April 2000 dsk contains Basic game programs
whose names begin with a H: Hamurabi, Hang Glider Pilot, Helpman, Hotrod, Hot Welly, Hunch Back Havoc, Hungaruan Hex, Hungarian Square, Hunted, Hurdles. Quite a variety.
And in case games are not your thing, here is a sample of what the TI was really good at- small
programs for specific purposes - a collection of Calculators and Converters - (large file: 135k)
The May 99 disk is quite full (44k zip) and
includes a short text file in the zip. There are two versions of
Backgammon, two versions of Blackjack, Blackhole solitaire, TX Software's
Battle Tank, Miller Graphic's Blackbeards Treasure; and Roland Truemans
Billy Ball games- Billy Ball Plays Catch and Billy Ball to the Rescue.
Four programs on the
April 1999 disk -
Trapped is a simple game of
strategy where the computer gets better as it goes along
Turtle Hop is a really simple hopping game.
Par Fore by S David Yarborough is a golf game
Poker by Ron Johnson- good old card game with betting
There is a small text file in the zip.
A full disk for
March 99 (44k zip) with ABM Control by Fantasia99; Accordion from
Regena (Cheryl Whitelaw); Air Traffic Control by J J Volk; Airline by
B J Brun (from HCM); Alien Buster; Archeodroid; and Atomic Wylli.
New for February 99: A small (24k) zipped
PC99 disk with four programs -
three for Extended Basic and a Tunnels of Doom database.
TI 1979 ANNUAL RESULTS : possibly
the oldest TI99/4A program around- Honest. A first demo program?
CHARGE - a small program
where an electron is aimed at a point past a charged particle in order
to hit a target.
PAINT by A O'Donnell. Paint the floor and don't fall
off or get hit by a paint roller.
A database for the Tunnels of Doom module, which you
will need in PC99 format. This is GARFIELD, inspired by the cartoon
strip cat. (NB: this is another cat called Garfield, but go get
the excellent comic books by Jim Davis anyway!).
Jan 1999: ExBas 2 two programs for TI
Extended Basic and a joystick using PC99. Unzip and tell PC99 the
resulting file is a disk. The zip is under 18k. The .dsk file
contains two TI programs which require both Extended Basic and a
joystick.
OCTAL by Mark Sumner, a very good American programmer (of PS Software)
who was not too well known. The central gun is rotated by moving the
joystick left or right and press fire to fire the bidirectional laser
and destroy the enemy- and most important, destroy the enemy mines!
You may need to run this at a slower speed than most Basic programs.
Sir Prance-a-lot (TI filename=Sirprance) is by Neil Lawson, well known to
UK TI owners. Neil moved from Leeds to Devon to work for Parco and wrote
in their magazine. Move from the opening screen by holding a key, and then
start the game by holding a key down.
Avoid the obstacles. (Make it harder or easier by adjusting z).
Woodstock a zipped PC99 .dsk file of Ray Kazmer's
famous 1987 program in Extended Basic. Unzip and it becomes KAZMER.DSK
ready to use in PC99. The zip file is under 12k.
On my 266Mhz PC I found best results by setting PC99 to run at 80% of speed
and slightly increase the default sprite delay - like this:
Press ESC and then type:
spp 80 [enter] [enter]
z 2800 [enter]
c [enter]
Now that you are used to downloading programs for PC99 here is a
full disk of programs for you Extended Basic programs to run on PC99- file is 115k in size and is in ZIP format.
The programs are:
Ant Wars from Not Polyoptics- the original documentation
is included as a separate (dos) text file.
Blackbox- the first Waddingtons game to be officially licensed.
Bowls by A McMath.
Bullrun. This is a strategic war campaign. Place your forces then watch as the computer places his, and battle commences. You may need to
amend the keyboard reaction time for this one.
Challenge Poker from Pewterware. Original docs in a separate text file.
Diablo - not the recent PC game but an older TI game from
Australia.
Dominoes
Golfp by A McMath, a very popular commercial TI Basic program which
sold well in its day. Amended to run in Extended Basic.
Penpig
Pokersol
Quintus
Reaction by
Malcolm Adams. Excellent
strategy game for one player.
Sheepdog
Testcard- this was comissioned by an engineer then working
for Yorkshire Television in Leeds.
TXB by Tony McGovern - you will need to adjust the sprite
speed in PC99. The exact value will depend on your system but
on my 266Mhz PC I need to increase the value from 2200 to 3000 - use
the debug command z 3000
Walls - Walls and Bridges from TIMagination with original docs
Wargame- from TX Software- original docs in a separate text file
Yahtzee (or Roll 5) by Tom Krohn, Pewterware. Original docs as a
separate text file supplied.