HOLY COW. Thank you for this. I LOVE the Ti99/4a, its one of the first computers I ever used. I've got one up and running at home now currently and can't wait to try this.
Btw, there is a lovely third party replacement for the TI99/4a video chip that lets you output VGA. It’s a major life improvement if you are seriously using it. I Dremeled my case but you can route the ribbon cable to avoid it if you’d prefer not to modify anything. Happy to send you a link if you don’t already know about it.
Thanks! I've got mine running in to a 9" Pelco PVM and it works well but yea, its tiny. I'd love to plumb in VGA and use a 15" flat panel. Would love a link.
There is very little documentation with this device but fortunately several YouTubers have made long videos showing every detail of the replacement. Enjoy!
If you have High Sierra on USB, it installs just fine. You need a High Sierra machine to make the USB stick, but once you have one, its simple to reinstall.
The MacMini will still be running in 5-7 years, reliably, and still have updates from Apple on the macOS side. It will still be running in 10+ years too should you keep it that long.
MinisForum makes disposable hardware. We used to use them for TV computers at work, and while they are cheap, they are fidgity with hardware and drivers, come with hacked-Windows Enterprise installed by default, and generally last for about 2 years before they hit the recycle pile.
Kroger here has done that with their app. The loyalty card/phone number still works for many of the specials, but the "digital deals" thing by using the app and scanning a QR code on the price sticker gives BIGGER discounts. Its not the most convenient way to shop, but I am willing to save 15-20% more usually.
I use LuLu, it works great. Its kept my older versions of Photoshop and Acrobat from complaining and showing me ads for newer versions for the last couple years!
Was this NetZero? I kind of recall their CDs would do something similar, launch an Ad supported version of Netscape--but if you just copied the Dial-Up connection it made, you could recreate it without the need for the Browser.
Eventually NetZero forced you to use their own dialer to ensure you kept the ads running… but you could spy on the ppp connection by just opening the COM port of your modem in terminal and watching. The password was encrypted (xor?) but you could just copy and paste the value into a regular dialer lol
I'll echo this, I've been buying these for my wife since the original Bip, and the battery life alone is more than worth it. She wears hers nearly daily.
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