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DEC98.TXT
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1999-07-04
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Microreview for December 1998 Micropendium
by Charles Good
TI SPLASH SCREENS and THEME by Addatex software
As you are working on your Windows 95 or 98 computer do you miss your good old
TI99/4A? Do you mess the good old TI title screen, those familiar beep and uhoh warning
sounds, and that good old cursor always flashing on the lower left of your monitor? Well I
have just the cure for what ails you, and you can download it for free from the internet or
have me mail it to you.
Addatex software has created two software packages they refer to as ôfunwareö (translate
as ôfreewareö or ôfreeö) which give the look and feel of a 99/4A to Windows 95 and 95.
The first of these is called Splash Screens. When installed, this software will replace all
the normal Microsoft Windows ôwhite cloudö pictures with a graphic of the 99/4A color
bar title screen. When you turn on your PC you will briefly see the 99/4A title screen until
your desktop appears. When your desktop appears, you will have the good old 99/4A title
screen as wallpaper with all your normal Windows icons easily visible. When you shut
down your computer (ôStartö, then ôShut Downö) you will first see the 99/4A title screen
with the words ôWait for shutdownö just above the lower colorbar. Then, after your
computer closes all of its files, if your computer is not one of those that automatically shuts
itself off you will see the 99/4A title screen with the words ôPlease shut down the
computerö.
The Splash Screens software creates a program window (click on ôStartö, then
ôProgramsö, then ôTI99ö) and one of the options in this window is to turn on and off all
these TI title screen graphics. If you turn them off you revert back to the Windows cloud
pictures, but the TI graphics are still on your hard drive and you can turn them on again by
clicking the appropriate icon in the TI99 program window.
Another thing you can do from the TI99 program window is open an MSDOS window and
have it look just like a session of TI BASIC in your choice of either 40 or 80 column
display. The effect is very realistic! You see * TI READY * and a flashing rectangular
cursor below in the lower left side of the screen with black TI letters on a light blue
background. The 40 column display looks just like a real 99/4A in TI BASIC command
mode. The 80 column display resembles a Geneve running MDOS or a 99/4A with an 80
column display. When you type, the font you see is identical to the 99/4AÆs with lower
case letters that look like small upper case letters. From this simulated TI Basic MSDOS
window you can execute any DOS commands such as cd, dir, and copy. When you are
finished just enter ôexitö to return to Windows.
The second Addatex software product adds 99/4A sounds and icons to Windows. This is
a 99/4A THEME and requires Microsoft PLUS in order to run. PLUS is an extra cost
addition to Windows 95 or 98 that adds a bunch of cosmetic features, has a great pinball
game, and for Windows 95 users includes a greatly enhanced disk compression utility.
Once you purchase and load PLUS then you can load up your free Addatex 99/4A theme.
The theme adds 14 different 99/4A sounds that sound off during various windows
operations. There is the famous Parsec ôalertö, an ôuhohö if something goes wrong, the TI
ôbeepö, and other familiar and not so familiar sounds. Most of these sounds are from TI
game cartridges but not necessarily from well known cartridges. I think one sound is from
the Manacala cartridge which very few folks have.
The 99/4A theme also gives you lots of icons. For mouse pointers you get an animated
(yes moving) TI title screen for the ôworking in backgroundö symbol and an animated
Parsec fighter ship for the ôbusyö indicator. You also get the Donkey Kong monkey for the
recycle bin icon. He has a smile on his face and a fat stomach if there is something in the
recycle bin and is thin with a frown if there is nothing in the recycle bin. Network
neighborhood also has a new graphic. The ôMy computerö icon is a very cute green ball
with a face that comes from the Jaw Breaker cartridge game. Within My computer you get
your choice of any of three types of hard drive icons. The default is Munchman, with jaws
about to close on a graphic of a hard drive. You can also switch to Robopod drive icons,
which are based on an Addatex game that is free for the downloading from the Addatex
web site. You can also chose ôLetteredö icons in which each hard drive is indicated with
a letter that comes from the 99/4A character set. Using the TI99 program window or using
PLUS, the various icons and sounds can be switched in or out at will, alternating with the
default windows equivalents or with others available from the PLUS software.
In addition to sounds and icons, the TI99/4A Theme changes the overall appearance of
your desktop. Theme gives you a 99/4A wallpaper on your desktop. The default
background color is light blue, just like TI Basic command mode, and this background
color caries over into many windows applications. The top command bar and the up/down
left/right cursor arrow bars are usually green as in TI Basic run mode. A lot of command
bar text is either white on green or green on white and some of the text is rather blocky and
resembles TI Basic ascii characters. The effect of all this, the icons the sounds and the
windows bar displays, is that no matter which windows applications you run you can
almost always hear and see on screen aspects of the 99/4A. You will never forget your
99/4A computing roots when you run this addatex software on a modern windows capable
computer.
Both Splash Screens and 99/4A Theme require Windows 95 or higher. They wonÆt run on
Windows 3.11. I havenÆt tested them on Windows NT, but they will probably work on that
platform. Splash Screens does not require additional software, so all 99/4A enthusiasts
should set this software up on your windows PC. Theme requires PLUS, which can be
purchased at most stores where Windows 98 and other Microsoft software is sold. I
recommend PLUS users download and install both Splash Screens and Theme. The only
overlap in the two products is that they both give you a 99/4A title screen desktop
wallpaper.
Both TI Splash Screens and Theme can be downloaded for free from the Addatex web site
located at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/addatex/. Click on ôdownload
freebiesö and then download the second and third freebie listed. If you donÆt have access
to the web then send me $1 and I will mail both the software packages to you on a single
3.5 inch IBM formatted floppy disk. Whether you download or get the software from me
by mail you will get zip files which have to be unzipped. A good windows product that
does this is Winzip, which is shareware. I will put a trial version of Winzip on the 3.5ö
disks I mail. Internet users can download Winzip from http://www.winzip.com.
To install the addatex software properly: First install Winzip on your hard drive. Second,
click one or both of the addatex zip files which will start the process of Winzip unpacking
the files to a subdirectory under c:\unpacked and will open window to this subdirectory on
your monitor. Third, leaving the c:\unpacked\... subdirectory window open go to ômy
computerö and click on the c drive icon to open the root directory window of the c drive.
Fourth, find the ô9-t-9ö file folder in the open c:\unpacked\... window and drag this file
folder to the root directory of the c drive. If you have downloaded and unpacked both
Splash Screens and Theme then there will be two 9-t-9 folders in different subdirectories
of c:\unzipped. Drag them both to the c root directory window and put one 9-t-9 folder on
top of the other, having the second 9-t-9 directory overwrite the first as needed. These 9-t-
9 folders with all the addatex software will only work properly if placed in the root
directory of drive c and named 9-t-9. You are now ready to go! Click on ôstartö then
ôprogramsö then ôti99ö and begin to enjoy your new modern pentium powered super fast
PC-TI hybrid.
Access:
Addatex software
On the web at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/addatex
Charles Good
P.O. Box 647
Venedocia OH 45894
Phone 419-667-3131
email good.6@osu.edu