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This was my very first computer, at age 13. I learned hexadecimal by drawing pictures of spaceships on graph paper, coloring in the squares that had lines throu
by paulmooreparks 2y ago
This was my very first computer, at age 13. I learned hexadecimal by drawing pictures of spaceships on graph paper, coloring in the squares that had lines through them, splitting the grid into 8x8 sections with a ruler, converting each row of 8 pixels into a hexadecimal number, and then typing them all into DATA statements, just to see the picture take shape on my screen when I ran the program. For some reason, I thought that was just the coolest. About a year later I upgraded to the Commodore 64, but I'll always have a spot in my heart for my TI.
- neomantra 2y agoThis was my first computer as well! (age 8?) And I too spent time in class drawing spaceships on graph paper, rather than listening to the teacher. I was certainly obsessed with BASIC programming. I didn't start assembly language until the Apple IIe a few years later. I'm surprised now to see it was a 16-bit CPU -- I had no idea. I assumed 8-bit as most home computers were (6502, Z80, etc). Two things I remember: Saving and loading programs on cassette tapes (where are they? I'm jealous of another poster who still has their TI99/4a). It was insanely easy to reboot it accidentally -- I had to look it up again but apparently it was by pressing Shift-Q [1]. I lost some work several times, until I got the muscle anti-memory. [1] https://www.99er.net/994.html https://www.99er.net/994.html
- paulmooreparks 2y agoYeah, the cassette tape was an awesome bit of technology. Once I got one, I didn't have to type in the USS Enterprise program every time I wanted to see it. It also made for nice lo-fi background music. :) https://parkscomputing.com/page/compute-magazine-archives https://parkscomputing.com/page/compute-magazine-archives