REPORT FROM THE 14TH ANNUAL CHICAGO TI FAIRE.
     held November 9, 1997
     by Charles Good
 
     I just returned home from the Faire and thought I would put some of
     the show's highlights down on paper while they are still fresh in my
     mind.  I think all of the following should be of interest to the
     TI99/4A and Geneve community.
 
     Beery Miller of 9640 news was there.  I havn't seen him at a TI show
     in several years.  He was selling an IBM compatible CD ROM with lots
     of archived TI and Geneve software and text files.  You can use this
     as the basis for a BBS download system or send the files over to your
     TI via a serial cable.  Price is $50.  This is NOT the same product
     currently being sold by Kyle Crichton of Competition computer.
     Beery's and Kyle's CDs have different mixtures of software.  Beery
     assures me that all the material on his CD is already in the public
     domain or that he has specific permission from the software authors to
     distribute the non public domain stuff on the CD.  P.O. Box 752465,
     Memphis TN 38175.  Phone 901-368-1169
 
     Gerd Weissmann showed some PE Box cards for sale by Michael Becker and
     others in Germany.  The card that interested me the most was the 80
     column card.  It produces, I think, 32K colors.  You need a
     Geneve/Amega compatible monitor such as the no longer produced
     Magnavox 8CM515 to see all the colors.  Gerd showed some highly
     detailed GIF pictures of earth globes and a picture of a hamster with
     each hair showing.  Using the same picture he switched back and forth
     between 256 colors (the resolution of all other 80 column cards for
     the TI and the Geneve's resolution) and the card's maximum resulution.
     The difference was dramatic.  This card works with a regular 99/4A
     system or with the fast cpu/gram system that was also demonstrated.
 
     The fast cpu/gram system consist of two cards that put the entire
     99/4A inside the pbox.  Gerd used a 99/4A keyboard (only) cabled to
     the fast cpu card and says that within a couple of weeks the eprom
     that allows one to use an AT keyboard with the fast cpu card will be
     ready.  There is already a jack on the fast cpu card for an AT
     keyboard.  The gram card, which must be used with the fast cpu card,
     has lots and lots of gram memory.  There are, I think, 16 banks of
     gram and most of these banks are in flash eproms so they are very
     stable yet can be reprogramed.  Some of the gram memory is in ram so
     that you can make alterations to your gram modul.es before loading the
     module into a flash eprom.
 
     These are expensive cards with unique features.  As I recollect the
     price of the 80 column card is 380DM ($1US=1.5DM).  Don Walden of
     Cecure electronics grabbed Gerd at the Chicago airport the day beofre
     the Faire and whisked him to Wisconsin to look over Gerd's hardware
     and probably to try and arrange to manufacture and sell the cards on
     this side of the Atlantic.  Nothing at all definate had been worked
     out between these two when Gerd arrived at the Faire the next day.
     Gerd's address is Koenigstrasse 17-19, D-67655 Kaiserlautern,
     Germany.
 
     Bud Mills was there.  As some of you know Bud has done very little for
     the TI community in recent months and is way behind with repair and
     service work on products his company has sold in the past.  The
     problem, as I understand it, is that Bud was making long daily drives
     to help his brother take care of their dying mother.  This included
     construction of a new downstairs bathroom.  Bud buried his mother last
     week and now promises to get caught up with everything.  He told me
     that his back log of repairs will hopefully be cleared up by the end
     of November 1996.  I hope so.  Bud has the seed money for another
     production run of Horizon Ramdisk series 4000 boards.  New Horizon
     Ramdisks will soon be available.  Pgram cards and memex (for the
     Geneve) cards are now available.  Bud said in his seminar, "I'm not
     running out on you guys.  I am here for the duration.  As long as
     there is interest in the 99/A and in my products I will be here." That
     is very good news.
 
     Bruce Harrison demonstrated an AMS version of his TI Artist slide show
     program at his table.  The software poped a TI Artist picture up on
     the screen, displayed it for 0.1 sec, then put another up.  With this
     kind of speed you can produce animation.  At his seminar Bruce showed
     off the NEW Loadmaster.  This is greatly enhanced compared to the
     version of Loadmaster I reviewed in Micropendium just a month ago.  I
     was very impressed! It is now FAST, with assembly language support. It
     identifies just about every kind of file there is in the 99/4A world
     (telling you that the file is an EA3 program, a TI Base data file, a
     Page pro font, etc. etc.).  From a Loadmaster disk directory you can
     directly run Extended Basic, EA5, and EA3 software and you can view
     text files. Running EA3 software from the LoadMaster menu is
     particularly user friendly, more so than any other way of running EA3
     software including Funnelweb and the EA module.  AMS Artist slideshow
     is commercial.  Bruce sells it for $7.  The new Loadmaster is
     shareware, with all donations shared equally between Bruce and Mickey
     Cendrowski, the two authors.  Send me $1 (P.O. Box 647, Venedocia OH
     45894) and I will mail you the new Loadmaster.  If you like it the
     title screen shows where to send your shareware donation.  Bruce
     Harrison, 5705 40th Place, Hyattsville MD 20781.  Phone 301-277-3467
 
     Mike Wright (dba CaDD Electronics) demonstrated PC99.  In my opinion
     this is the best, most flexible of the IBM emulators that mimic a
     99/4A.  It should be the best because the others are free and PC99
     costs $50.  But, you get support! For example, Mike offers to convert
     your TI disks (SSSD or DSSD) to PC99 format on an IBM disk for only
     $0.25 per disk.  You can of course cable your IBM and TI together to
     do this, but Mike's service is so convenient why bother.  The most
     interesting thing to me about Mike's demo was the availability of
     original 99/4A manuals on disk.  Almost all the command module
     manuals, including the EA manual are available.  What you get is an
     executable file on an IBM disk.  No additional cost software is
     needed.  The file opens up to produce a facsimile of the original,
     complete with all original graphics.  A table of contents has been
     added and any typos or known errors in the original manuals have been
     corrected.  You can search for text strings and you can print the
     manual on your printer.  These are legal copies of copyrighted TI
     products and part of the reason for the relatively high cost is that
     TI gets a cut.  Most manuals cost $2 (some $3) if you supply the disk
     and return postage.  If Mike supplies the disk and postage the cost is
     $4 (some $5) per manual.  A list of what is available and exact costs
     is available from CaDD Electronics, 45 Centerville Dr., Salem NH
     03079.  Phone 603-895-0119.
 
     Ken Gilliland was there with his bride.  Ken talked about his plans
     for additional TI Casino games, including a version of poker in which
     one human player plays against three computer players.  This isn't
     done yet but is will along.  He also showed a new solitaire game that
     is available as a stand alone product or as an addition to TI Casino.
     I have a review of this game coming out in the next Micropendium.
 
     Ramcharged Computers was there with lots of software from the old
     Asgard and Texaments companies.  I purchased some oldies that I didn't
     have and thought I would be able to use.  There has been some
     discussion recently on the internet newsgroup comp.sys.ti concerning
     the status of the old Asgard Software company and how this relates to
     Ramcharged Computers.  As I understand it, this is how it works.
     Ramcharged, as a dealer, purchased from Harry Brashear all remaining
     Asgard software inventory.  Harry still has the Asgard name with its
     rights and obligations.  Ramcharged did not purchase any of the rights
     or obligations of Asgard, only a bunch of software packages with
     documentation.  Ramcharged cannot manufacture additional copies of its
     Asgard products, but can sell what it has until its stock runs out.
     That is what Ron Markus of Ramcharged told me some time ago.  So,
     Ramcharged is NOT Asgard, but they have a lot of Asgard stuff.  If you
     want Spell It or other Asgard titles contact Ramcharged and see if
     what you want is in stock.  Phone Ramcharged Computers at
     216-243-1244.  You will be talking to Ron or Ada Markus.

---