TI-99/4A eBay Archive Project

[Toucan]

Just thought I would drop in a let people know that soon (very soon) the TI-99/4A eBay Archives will be going on-line. Right now they are in the test phase, just making sure everything is working etc. These archives will contain EVERYTHING that was for auction in the way for TI-99/4A when they go on-line.

In addition, there are over 1000 old (1998-2003) cartridge entries in this database prior to the decision to put this on-line for the public. Just as a note, only a fraction of all the 1998-2003 TI cartridge auctions have been archived. This is due to the fact that Bill Gaskill who started this project archived the cartridges from 2001 for only 3 months then gave up. The other ones from 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2002 were recieved when I e-mailed many people asking for them to forward me their "aw-confirm" messages eBay sends out once auctions end. So those "aw-confirms" gave me a small, but interesting, number of cartridges from pre-2003.

To avoid confusion, the archives once put on-line will have descriptions and all the good info from the auctions (Hardware/Software). But previous auctions will only be cartridges (most important anyway) with a caption saying what they had (manual, box, etc) and the other good info (Item Number, end date, start price, end price, seller, winner, etc). Just letting you guys know that the older auctions we archived will only be cartridge-based without the descriptions. Hope people can use this and have fun with it! I know I had fun making it, however hard it was at times! @_@

[Jorpho]

Well, this is good news... Maybe I'll finally be able to identify that TI-99/4a game whose name has eluded me for so long.

( It was a rather abstract game that basically involved moving a stick figure from the left side of the screen to the right, at which point you would be moved "down" to the next level. The various levels had different themes; some involved trapdoors, jumping through hoops, jumping over the moon, and one particularly difficult level had a moving arrow at the top of the screen that would kill you if you walked under it.)
________
Starcraft Replys (http://screplays.com)

[Toucan]

Ah! That was a GREAT game. I forget the name though. Maybe your memory is better than mine. There are two games that come to mind..."Cavern Quest" ( I have this one boxed) and "Rock Hopper". Any ring a bell?

Toucan

[Toucan]

Speaking of which, I should have these games put on-line for download. Michael Fox's ROM Hut didn't have it? I know he is missing a number of them but I guess this one too if you've been there. In another Topic I'll post a message about a TI Cartridge Page Fabrice Montupet and I put together on-line. It's a real nice one.

Toucan

[digitalpress]

Welcome to the forums Toucan!

This may not be "TI Central", but there are plenty of fans here. Count me in as one of them :)

If you have a moment, please introduce yourself at this thread:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11

Enjoy your stay!

[Jorpho]

Hmm... Cavern Quest or Rock Hopper, you say?

Now, that is odd. There is a large database of games known as TOSEC (http://tosec.org) that some ROM sites use to organize their collections. Neither of these games can be found in this database. Perhaps they were not even dumped?
________
Box vaporizers (http://boxvaporizers.com)

[Toucan]

Possibly not dumped. They should be and could be easily. I'll have to look into doing it. I just played them a few nights ago!

Toucan

[Night Driver]

This is very cool news!

[Toucan]

Glad to hear your enthusiasm! Development is a little slower right now, but I sure hope it picks up soon. I have many TI projects on the ball right now...this eBay one and the cartridge pages, trying to help Fabrice get the images and everything we both need to make the pages better. Also, I am trying to get this Atarisoft Tennis cartridge from a guy in Germany. Not sure what to make of this one yet, but its a new one for me and Atarisoft.

Toucan

[Flack]

Oh, sure. The minute I put mine up for sale in the Buying and Selling, this comes out. ;)

Flack

[Night Driver]

Also, I am trying to get this Atarisoft Tennis cartridge from a guy in Germany. Not sure what to make of this one yet, but its a new one for me and Atarisoft.

Wow! X_x An Atarisoft Tennis game for the TI? Can you provide any more info about this?

Thanks

[Toucan]

The Atarisoft Tennis game came about in one of my eBay mailings. What I was doing was e-mailing all the people who had/were bidding on TI items in the last 90-Days and trying to get info on what they bought, some forwarded their EndofAuction e-mails to me, so that was good. Anyway, there was a guy from Germany that I contacted on this and he gave me a listing of all the TI-99 cartridges he had (not what I asked for, but turned out to be better) and he listed under Atarisoft a game called "Tennis". I thought it could not be true, probably just MicroTennis by DataBioTics. But after we talked he described the label, and sure enough it was described to the key as an Atarisoft cartridge, he even said it looked like the other Atarisoft carts he had. Anyway, right now I am in the process of trying to get some pictures of this game for Fabrice/my website. I wish I had more info, but I don't. He said when he bought it, back ni the early 1980s, it came in a yellow box. So his story seems to be straight which is a good thing.

Toucan

[Night Driver]

If you are able to get some pictures, please post them here. It would be very interesting to see them. Good luck.

[slapdash]

Any news on this yet?

[Night Driver]

Hmmm...looks like a portion of this thread was lost when DP went down last week.

[slapdash]

Hmmm...looks like a portion of this thread was lost when DP went down last week.

Oh, bummer. And I wasn't around to read it... :-(

[digitalpress]

Hmmm...looks like a portion of this thread was lost when DP went down last week.

Huh?

No threads or posts were lost when we went off-line. It was a planned move (just that it wasn't planned to be down for so long), the forum posts were frozen and restored after the move.

[Night Driver]

Huh?

No threads or posts were lost when we went off-line. It was a planned move (just that it wasn't planned to be down for so long), the forum posts were frozen and restored after the move.

Well, IIRC, after my post asking Toucan if he would post photos of the Tennis game, Toucan replied that he would. He also mentioned that he was working with the original programmer of TI Robotron to get this unreleased game burned on an EPROM. I subsequently replied, conveying my astonishment and excitment about Robotron being found, and asking for more information about it.

However, when I returned to the thread after slapdash's last post, these last two posts from Toucan and I were missing. Their disappearance being related to DP being off-line was just speculation on my part, but it seemed like a possible explanation.

[digitalpress]

If that's true then someone isn't doing their job very well around here, and I apologize if posts were lost in the process. I was assured that this would not happen.

[Toucan]

Well, I finally got back on. I actually stopped getting messages in the e-mail about responses to this thread for some reason. Anyway, as to the eBay Project, the guy who was to host it is not very responsive any more. So what I do plan on doing in the meantime to avoid this thing from totally falling off the map is to put just the cartridge database on-line without all the fancy features. That way people can at least see what I was doing. As to "Robotron", he needs to find a way to burn a copy of the eprom, something which I don't know how to do and he is looking for the equipment. He says he needs a device to burn 2764 ROM chips. I guess is the type of chip? Anyway, if ANYONE can loan him an Eprom burner that can burn these kinds of chips, it would be greatful. His e-mail is
bill-parod@northwestern.edu .

As to the pictures, that's something I am waiting on. I'm trying to get this guy from Germany to send these "Tennis" pictures. I really want to see them too, but it is up to him to take them and mail them to me since he does not have a scanner. Apparently he took a picture with his cell phone but it was not good enough quality, I probably should just try and get him to take one with the cell phone regardless of quality.

In other news, I just found out that Spectravideo was going to do "Vortex" for the TI-99/4A in addition to the 2600, VIC-20, and Atari 8-Bit computers. Neat info! Also, the web page I am trying to get all this info I find out on TI cartridges is going to happen soon. A guy in France who runs the Toucan Cartridge site is away in another town. When he gets back he plans on helping me update it. I have the files on my computer, just they are not on-line :)

Toucan

[Night Driver]

Interesting and exciting stuff Toucan! I look forward to browsing the eBay database and the cartridge info page when they're ready. Keep us posted. :)


If that's true then someone isn't doing their job very well around here, and I apologize if posts were lost in the process. I was assured that this would not happen.
No problems. :) Toucan has kindly reiterated what was lost. Hopefully, post losses were localized to this thread.

[TNTPLUST]

Speaking of which, I should have these games put on-line for download. Michael Fox's ROM Hut didn't have it? I know he is missing a number of them but I guess this one too if you've been there. In another Topic I'll post a message about a TI Cartridge Page Fabrice Montupet and I put together on-line. It's a real nice one.

Toucan

This site has been down awhile...hopefully it will return!

http://www.uwm.edu/~foxmj/

[Toucan]

Yes, that site might be down for good. I have a plethra of ROMs on my computer for the TI which I was thinking of uploading to my website at www.videogamehouse.net. I haven't done anything with my site for a while, and need to start updating some more. If you have any requests, just send me an e-mail at toucan1@home.se.