04-20-14 13:19 Roy Witt wrote to Ed Vance about XP Slow at Hibernating   
      
    RW> @MSGID: <535445BB.12844.windowsa@capcity2.synchro.net>   
    RW> Greetings Ed!   
      
    EV>> If I was typing in a PRG from a Magazine I periodically Saved what   
    EV>> I was doing in case my A.C. Power was interupted.   
      
    RW>> Heh! Been there, done that, only it was on my TI994a...   
      
    EV> Before I bought the C=64, I would play with the different PC's in the   
    EV> stores, One thing I remember is for a minute or two I couldn't get a   
    EV> TI99/4a to even print my name until I tried first pressing the   
    EV> Function Key and pressing the P key and lo and behold I saw the word   
    EV> PRINT appear on the screen.      
      
    RW> Getting the TI to do anything required more than pressing a   
    RW> key. It either needed a program cartridge inserted and waiting   
    RW> for it to load, then doing something to make it respond to your   
    RW> input. It was something like the MACs of the day, requiring   
    RW> more money than brains to use.   
      
   Hi Roy!   
      
   I didn't know if the store had a cartridge in the (only) TI99/4 I ever   
   tested, I just fiddled with it to see if IT could print something on   
   the screen that I typed on the keyboard, the Function Key on the bottom   
   row of the keyboard worked that day and I just thought it had ROM BASIC   
   as the Commodore64 did.   
      
   It was maybe 6 months or over a year before I learned the ATARI 400 and   
   ATARI 800 needed a BASIC cartridge plugged in the slot on top, but I   
   had already written it off as the computer I wanted to get because of   
   that.   
      
   Same with the MacIntosh the Apple Dealer had for people to play with.   
   When the salesman said BASIC wasn't built in and I could buy it for   
   $200.00!   
   He must had never heard about Cheap LIDS like me.   
   I could see buying WP or Spreadsheet software, but not BASIC, which   
   (almost?) all the computer magazines had pages of programs to type in.   
      
   I'm sure glad I didn't desire to get a AMSAI(sp?) PC for my first PC.   
      
   But a friend did let me use his ELF for a week or two long before I got   
   interested in getting any PC.   
      
   I already had a 12" B&W monitor for my Netronics ASCII Keyboard + Video   
   Board that I used for RTTY and Packet Radio, that I used to connect to   
   his ELF to see how it worked.   
      
   I found out real soon entering Code from a Hexadecimal Keyboard wasn't   
   any fun at all. It was better than flipping switches and pushing a   
   button to enter Code on a AMSAI though.   
      
   I can't remember if my friend was still using a TRS-80 II(?) or already   
   had his C=64 when he loaned the ELF to me.   
   It was nice of him to let me use the ELF at my house for a while.   
   I don't think his ELF had any way to save programs to tape, turn it off   
   and the work is GONE!   
   The program I entered was a drawing of the Star Trek Enterprise space   
   ship.   
      
   ... Die: To stop sinning suddenly.   
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