Classic99
TI 99 Emulator

Review by
Ron Reuter, October 31, 2004


I recently ran across a TI emulator called Classic99. It is written by Mike Brent. I was very impressed with the simplicity of setting this software up. It may not have all the bells and whistles of some of the emulators, but it contains 99% of what most of us "common" folk are looking for in an emulator. One very cool feature that I like is the ability to record to video emulator sessions.



Again this program is so easy to set up. Just download, unzip into a folder and click on the the classic99 program icon. It also comes with ROM's already added, so again choose your game or app and GO!!!.

For the most part everything worked perfectly. I ran it on a an XP system, and it never locked up. The sound worked great, though there appears to be no support for speech (yet). I could not get the TI-99/4 to load, but the 4A and 4A v2.2 loaded fine.



The program supports a disk drive, sound, and you can even load your own roms, and disk. Included is instructions on how to do this.

Though I am a hardware person, and prefer my hands on an actual TI, there are times where playing with an emulator is the most convienent, and Classic99 takes care of that need for me.

This software is a free download, and the auther only asks for a donation if you desire. I will be making a donation myself.



The following programs are embedded within Classic99, and included along with the source code, and is distributed under license from Texas Instruments.

System ROMs and GROMs: TI-99/4
System ROMs and GROMs: TI-99/4A
System ROMs and GROMs: TI-99/4A v2.2
P-Code ROMs and GROMs (does not work yet)
Demonstration
Diagnostics
Editor/Assembler (With Editor and Assembler disk files)
Extended BASIC
Home Finance
Mini Memory
Terminal Emulator 2
TI Logo ][
Alpiner
A-Maze-Ing
BlackJack & Poker
Car Wars
Chisholm Trail
Football
Hustle
Hunt the Wumpus
Mind Challengers
Munch Man
Parsec
TI Invaders
Tombstone City
Tunnels of Doom (with Pennies, Penny and Quest disk files)
Video Chess

The following programs are embedded within Classic99 or distributed along with it, and are owned by Mike Brent. No warranty or liability is offered with these programs.

Super Space Acer
CarDemo
Julius Demo
Space Fighter
Stranger
XB Demo

The following program is included with Classic99, and is owned by Barry Boone. It is believed to be freely distributable, and no warranty or liability is offered with this program.

Archiver 3.03



As I mentioned above Classic99 gives you the ability to record sessions. Below are a couple that I recorded myself. These are saved as AVI's. They look GREAT!

Parsec (1.6 meg)

Super Spacer Acer (2.6 meg)





Keys

Many programs refer to 'REDO', 'BACK', etc, keys that are not immediately obvious. The TI used FCTN and the number keys for these special terms, so on Classic99 it's Alt and the number key. They are laid out as follows:

 1 - DELETE
 2 - INSERT
 3 - ERASE
 4 - CLEAR
 5 - BEGIN
 6 - PROCEED
 7 - AID
 8 - REDO
 9 - BACK
 = - QUIT

 Arrow Keys:
 E - Up
 S - Left
 D - Right
 X - Down

 Extra characters:
 ~ - W
 [ - R
 ] - T
 _ - U
 ? - I
 ' - O
 " - P
 | - A
 { - F
 } - G
 \ - Z
 ` - C







To download the Classic99 emulator go here.


http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/showprog.cgi?search=Classic99