PC99 runs under Windows NT 4.0. However, direct access to the hardware by an appliation is prevented by NT. As a result sound using a sound card and access to the TI RS232 ports (PC COM ports) will not work. For sound, PC99 directly accesses the AdLib I/O addresses 0x388 and 0x389, which Creative Labs and most other sound card manufacturers incorporate on their sound cards (to make them AdLib compatible). NT prevents this, and thus three-voice sound using the sound card does not work. However, one-channel sound using the PC speaker will work. This is satisfactory for beeps and honks, and any one-voice sound, but three-voice music will sound distinctly odd.
One solution for sound that CaDD has tested is SoundFX by Software Systems Consultants. Their URL is http://www.softsystem.co.uk/page3.htm. Version 1.08 has been tested with NT Workstation 4.0 SP 4 and works. (The current verion is 2.02 [as of 27-Aug-2002].) A trial version can be downloaded from their web site.
Another solution reported by a CaDD customer is the VDMSound Project. Their URL is https://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound/. VDMSound is a modular, extendable soundcard (and other "legacy" hardware) emulator for MS Windows NT/2000 DOS boxes. It is reported to work under Windows XP. VDMSound is open source, and is released under the GNU general public license, so it's free for non-commercial use.
PC99 runs under Windows ME (Millenium Edition). Although Microsoft claims that ME is part of the "9x" family, they have removed DOS from ME and, like NT, ME prevents DOS applications from directly accessing the hardware. The net result is the same as NT.
ME has one further disadvantage. The SoundFX solution that works under NT, is not designed to work in ME.
PC99 runs under Win 2000. Win 2000 is essentially Win NT 5.0. Please see the comments under NT [above].
PC99 runs under Windows XP. All of the comments under Win NT 4.0 [above] apply, with one extra exception.
Microsoft has removed the capability for a DOS application, such as PC99, to run on the Windows desktop. If you open a command prompt, and start PC99, XP will switch to full-screen mode. All features of PC99 will work -- except those that directly access the hardware, such as sound, and RS232. If you press ALT-ENTER to put the application on the desktop, XP will simply iconize PC99 to the taskbar. If you try to double-click or Open the icon, XP will return PC99 to full-screen. As a result, it is no longer possible to do screen snaps, or use features in the CaDD Win 32 application PC99W Disk Utilities to do useful things like Send to PC99.
We have many comments about this restrictive approach by MS. Here's a sample, since we don't wish to waste your bandwidth. Since applications like SoundFX can legally by-pass Windows' new restrictions by attaching themselves to the kernel, and many games cannot tolertate the inherent delayed responses in the Windows architecture (hence DirectX), it would have seemed much more friendly if MS had included a Control Panel applet to allow you to configure your Windows system to your needs. It would have been okay for MS to issue dire warnings for allowing direct access to hardware and even a "don't call us if you do this." But clearly, such an approach is not in keeping with MS's philosophy. Never forget, Microsoft always knows better than you what you want to do with your system.
PC has been run under Linux using dosemu. View the how to instructions in pdf format by Dan Eicher.
CaDD has a machine running Fedora 7 and has successfully run PC99 under dosbox. This is the only Linux variant that we are able to test on. If you have a problem running under any version of Linux, first test PC99 under its supported configurations on a DOS or Windows machine. If it works, then we are unable to support the Linux configuration. You should file a Bugzilla report with the maintainer of your Linux distribution.
Most Linux distributions are open source, and may be freely disseminated. PC99 is a proprietary product and may not be given away for free in any format. This includes bundling it with a Linux image. This approach is similar to products like Return to Castle Wolfenstein from Activision. RtCW is sold to run under Windows. It can also be run under Linux, but you have to own the original Activision RtCW CD to do so. You must copy proprietary files from the Activision CD to make RtCW run under Linux. The same concept applies to PC99. If you make a Linux distribution that will run PC99, it is your right to distribute this freely, minus the PC99 files that CaDD delivers. If the target user is a registered PC99 owner, then your distribution can be used by that user, once the requred proprietary files are copied from the PC99 delivery media. If you create such a distribution, you should supply clear documentation and/or a Linux shell script or program to retrieve the PC99 files and place them in your tree.
If you have a website where such a distribution can be downloaded, please let CaDD know, and we will add a link to it if you desire. You should also offer an email address for support questions.
The TI Speech Synthesizer is partially emulated. The emulation allows you to run programs that require the Speech Synthesizer, e.g. Lasso; XB routines such as CALL SPGET work; and you can access the TI speech ROM directly with Assembly Language. The PC99 package also includes two utilities that allow you to examine the speech ROM, which is included with PC99. However, no audible speech is produced.
There are two requirements for audible speech to work:
Until we can solve these problems there can be no audible speech. We are investigating this when time permits.
CaDD has an open offer to any programmer: Write us a callable routine that will allow speech generation and we will attempt to include it in PC99.
Our understanding is that we will not be able to do this reliably. The best we would be able to offer is a utility that will read a TI disk in a PC 5.25" drive and convert it to PC99 format.
The following points are offered to support this argument:
For these reasons no development is being done in this area. The PC99 product includes utilites that let you move your disk library to the PC. The easiest way to do this is to have a TI and PC connected together through their serial ports. The same utlities can also be used to create disk dumps which can be transferred to a stand-alone PC using PC-Transfer. PC-Transfer is a third-party product and is not included with PC99. This method requires having a 5.25" drive on the PC -- preferably 360K and not 1.2 Mb.
For people who no longer have access to a TI system, CaDD provides a disk conversion service.
CaDD has an open offer to any programmer: Write us a utility that will read a TI 5.25" disk in a PC 5.25" drive and we will include it with PC99. You can do this as shareware and we will include the shareware notice with PC99 if you desire. We can also include your utility in the PC99 Add-Ons sections on this web site.
Note: There is at least one published routine written in C that we have tried that does not work on our test systems. We have also tested a package developed by Gary Bowser that yields very poor results.
Update 20000727: Paolo Bagnaresi of Italy has released TI99-PC. The author claims this program will read TI 5.25" disks in a PC drive. The file can be downloaded from ftp.whtech.com. Log in as anonymous, and give your user id as a password. The file is in the /utils directory. This update is for information only. CaDD Electronics does not endorse or support this program. Any questions about it should be emailed to paolo_bagnaresi@libero.it.
Each TI product was released with a PHx number. We have never found out what the "PH" meant, but in the case of "x" it was A = Accessory, D = Disk, L = Library, M = Module (cartridge), T = Tape (casette), etc.
On the front of every module case on the label, usually in the lower right (or lower left) corner there is a PHM number. For example, TI Extended Basic is PHM 3026, while Tunnels of Doom (TOD) is PHM 3042.
Easy so far. However, TOD was sold with either a cassette tape or a disk containing TOD game files, such as Quest. The cassette or disk contained the same game files. When TOD was sold with a cassette it was listed in TI price lists as PHM3042T, and when sold with a disk it was PHM3042D. A PHM3042T package contained the PHM3042 module with a cassette, while the PHM3042D package contained the PHM3042 module and a diskette. (The "D" or "T" never appeared on the module label. The modules were all simply PHM3042.)
So, from the lists that are published on this web site, if you want the equivalent of TI modules (cartridges), you order from the PHM list. Therefore, if you want Alpiner, you order PHM3056.
If you want the Tunnels of Doom module (cartridge) you order from the same PHM list and order PHM3042. In the case of PC99 the "D" is implied, since PC99 does not emulate the cassette tape. However, the TOD module on its own doesn't really do anything. It needs one or more game files. These can be found on the diskette PHD5073. There are three games on this diskette which were developed by TI. They are: PENNIES, PENNY, and QUEST.
And just in case you think you understand it now, here is one final curve. Some programs were available as a module or a disk. One example is Munch Man. This was PHM3057 (module = cartridge) or PHD5060 (TI 5.25" diskette). They both played the same. However, to run Munch Man from disk, you need the Editor/Assembler cartridge (which is included with PC99).
So if you want a module, order from the PHM list. A few modules require one or more supporting disks. TOD is one, Adventure (PHM3041) is another. For Adventure, there are about 12 disks written by Scott Adams. They start at PHD5046.
For PC99:
If you want to play Alpiner, then you just need to order the Alpiner module.
If you want to play TOD, you need to order the TOD module, plus the TOD
diskette.
Included with PC99 is a TI 5.25" disk. This disk contains the PC99 transfer utilities written in TMS9900 Assembly Language that allow you to transfer binary images of TI disks between a TI-99/4A and a PC that are cabled together through the TI RS322 and PC COM ports. The cable is an off-the-shelf AT modem cable -- not a null modem cable. [See the PC99 documentation for pinouts.]
A binary image of this TI 5.25" disk is stored in the \pc99\dsk directory when you install PC99. It is a DOS file called pc99.dsk.
To transfer disks you run a 9900 Assembly Language program on the TI, which is loaded from the TI 5.25" disk. You run the companion 9900 Assembly Language program on the PC, and it is loaded from pc99.dsk. The program executing on the PC is, of course, emulated by PC99. It is not a PC executable.
If you no longer have a TI, then the supplied 5.25" TI disk serves no purpose. If you do not have a TI, or do not use this disk, PC99 will still operate correctly, and will not be affected in any way.
Final note: If you have a 5.25" drive on your PC and try to
read the TI 5.25" disk in it, DOS will return:
General failure reading drive B
Abort, Retry, Fail?
The reason for this is that the TI 5.25" disk is not a DOS
formatted diskette. It is a TI formatted disk that can only be
read by a TI disk controller (TI, Myarc, CorComp, BwG).
As an alternative, the utilities supplied on the 5.25" TI disk, can be used to create a series of disk dump files. These files can be copied to a PC-formatted 5.25" disk in a TI system using PC-Transfer. This disk can then be read in a PC 5.25" drive. This is much more difficult to do than the direct-connect method, and you must have PC-Transfer, a third-party program which is not included with PC99.
There are three code versions of PC99: PC99.EXE, PC99A.EXE and PC99L.EXE. PC99.EXE is written 100% in C. PC99A.EXE and PC99L.EXE contain some x86 assembly code to improve performance. All of the PC utilities supplied with PC99 are written in C. The Read Sector and Write Sector utilities are TI programs and are written in TMS9900 Assembly Language.
| Compiler | Watcom 11.0a, using DOS/4GW extender. |
| Assembler | WASM 11.0 (Watcom assembler) |
| Graphics Library | FastGraph 5.0 for DOS, from Ted Gruber Software |
| Comm Library | Comm Lib 5.20B, from Greenleaf |
| Sound | Creative Labs Software Development Kit. (The cfg program uses some of these routines to test for a Sound Blaster.) |
| Editor | Brief, from Underware, or vi |
There are three developers: Greg Hill, Mark van Coppenolle, and Mike Wright.