Hello!<br>I am very happy to join this Users Group!<br><br>Fabrice<br><br>TI-99
Forever!: <a href=http://www.ti99.com
target=new>http://www.ti99.com</a><br>email : webmaster@... or
binaryside@...

Hi,<br>I think having chats is a fun idea.
Unfortunately I work from 8 PM to 5 AM EST, so the only time I
could join in would be on Friday or Saturday night. But
I'll try to come in as much as I can.<br><br>Davey B.

Richard is the webmaster of the best TI-99 4/A
page on the web. <a href=http://www.99er.net/ti.shtml
target=new>http://www.99er.net/ti.shtml</a><br>As
probably everyone here knows, the Tomy Tutor is a close
cousin of the TI-99 4/A. Welcome Richard!<br><br>Michael
Anderson/Founder<br><br>P.S. I have added Richards site to the links area, be
sure to check it out!

I think we should create a "Chat Time" for the
club. I think that we should make this 8:00 to 11:00 pm
Central Standard Time (USA).. What I am going to do is
try and activate the chat room for around this time.
I think we should make this a daily chat time. If
everyone would prefer a different time, or has a better
idea let me know. Just log on to the Tomy Tutor Club
page and active the chat feature.<br><br> I guess I
will start this tonight... Thanks

I recently recieved a boxed Tomy Tutor Joystick.
Unforunately, the picture on the top of the box was torn. So I
have posted a scan of the side of the box.. This may
be found in the Photo Gallery, under joysticks..
Thanks everyone. I am still planning on building an
Online Tomy Tutor Club website soon.
<br><br>Swap_and_Shop<br>Founder

It never really boots (in booting, I would expect
it to do a lot of writes to the VDP registers). Hey!
Maybe the VDP registers are in the $40xx range. LOL.
I'm flummoxed. Need more info on the Tomy system, and
I need to know 9995 assembly language, and have a
disassembly of the ROM in my left hand.<br><br>Looks like I'm
not going to the west coast VCF this year
:(<br><br>Can you make heads or tails of this??? Am I doing the
word-access correctly?<br><br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$401c<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address $401d<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $401d<br>Attempt to write $00 to
Address $401e<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$401e<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address $401f<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $401f<br>Attempt to write $00 to
Address $4020<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$4020<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address $4021<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $4021<br>Attempt to write $00 to
Address $4022<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$4014<br>Attempt to write $18 to Address $4015<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $4015<br>Attempt to write $03 to
Address $4016<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$401e<br>Attempt to write $f0 to Address $401f<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $401f<br>Attempt to write $c2 to
Address $4020<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$4002<br>Attempt to write $86 to Address $4003<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $4003<br>Attempt to write $d2 to
Address $4004<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$4004<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address $4005<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $4005<br>Attempt to write $f0 to
Address $4006<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$40f0<br>Attempt to write $45 to Address $40f1<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $40f1<br>Attempt to write $50 to
Address $40f2<br>Attempt to read ff from Address
$8a4f<br>Attempt to read ff from Address $8a4e<br>Attempt to read
ff from Address $8a50<br>Attempt to read ff from
Address $8a4f<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$1410<br>Attempt to write $0c to Address $1411<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $1411<br>Attempt to write $40 to
Address $1412<br>Attempt to read ff from Address
$c33d<br>Attempt to read ff from Address $c33c<br>Attempt to read
ff from Address $c33e<br>Attempt to read ff from
Address $c33d<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$4014<br>Attempt to write $18 to Address $4015<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $401c<br>Attempt to write $00 to
Address $401d<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$401d<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address $401e<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $401e<br>Attempt to write $00 to
Address $401f<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$401f<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address $4020<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $4020<br>Attempt to write $00 to
Address $4021<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$4021<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address $4022<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $4014<br>Attempt to write $18 to
Address $4015<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$4015<br>Attempt to write $03 to Address $4016<br>Attempt to write
$00 to Address $401e<br>Attempt to write $f0 to
Address $401f<br>Attempt to write $00 to Address
$401f<br><br>(and more like this)

> I think you might be someone I met about a
year ago<br><br>If you're talking about a C64
simulation of the Tutor I wrote, you're right
;-)<br><br>&gt; The system starts writing to addresses in the
$40xx range before it crashes and burns<br><br>I agree,
these are undoubtedly mapped to the mysterious logic
array on the board. One consideration is keeping all of
the ROMs in memory and see when it starts to bug out.
There can't be too much ROM swapping going on to free
up RAM (unlike a more complicated banking system
like the C64 or C128) since all the RAM is tied up in
the VDP, so maybe just outright ignoring all those
writes should at least allow it to boot from the
internal ROMs.<br><br>Cartridge ROMs will be another story
...<br><br>Yes, I'm still at the same address.

We have a new member! pager88  Thanks for joining.  We look forward to hearing
from you!<br><br>swap_and_shop<br>founder

Hello! In the founders gallery, and in the
Japanese cartridge gallery you will find a screen-shot of
the cartrdige labels of my 12 new Japanese Tomy Tutor
cartridges. I like the fact that each cartridge has a label
that is numbered. I also recieved my boxed Tomy Tutor
Joystick today. Look for screen shots of each side of the
box within the next couple of days...<br><br>Thanks
all!

Today I got a wonderful surprise in the mail. 12
rare Japanese Tomy Tutor Carts.. OH BOY!! :) I am
going to do a scan of the labels and post them soon. I
also will be creating some screen shots for Cameron's
Tomy Toots page..... I will post a complete list of my
Japanese Tomy Tutor cartridges real soon.<br><br>Wow..
These are totally awesome!

Hello Spectrevishnu. I think you might be someone
I met about a year ago.<br><br>If you are, then I
want to tell you that I've tried working on a Tomy
Tutor emulator about four times in the past
year-and-a-half. Each time, I've failed because I'm not familiar
enough with the system.<br><br>This last time (last
night actually), I got a little farther. The system
starts writing to addresses in the $40xx range before it
crashes and burns. These are probably memory banking
shadow registers. Well, I'm going to go look for more TI
docs.<br><br>Are you going to be at the same place this year? I
think I'm not going (last year, the company I work for
footed the bill for sending me; this year, no dice).

&gt; No VPEEK or VPOKE in BASIC<br><br>I agree,
and no method of calling ML
subroutines,<br>either.<br><br>I put up a little of my ruminations on this
at<br><br><a href=http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/tomy/me.html
target=new>http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/tomy/me.html</a><br><br>but it's
not linked to the main site yet.<br><br>I
just wish we could do something useful with all the
power locked up in the 9995. It's really quite a
stellar CPU.

Among the stregnths, list the fact that the
computer was lightweight and compact. The documentation,
while incomplete, was child-friendly.<br><br>Among the
weaknesses, list:<br>Cassette loading was s-l-o-w.<br>No
VPEEK or VPOKE in BASIC (a crime it copied from the
sucky TI BASIC). This gets my vote as the biggest flaw
in TT BASIC.<br><br>===<br><br>There is a way to
attach a printer. Probably in Japan, there was a
dedicated printer; a member of the Tomy Tutor User Club
came up with a way to attach any old "parallel
centronics" printer.<br><br>By the way, you CAN access the
sprites from BASIC using SCELL. You can also customize
characters not customizable with MCELL, and change octet
colors, and crash your computer with a variety of
colorful results.

Hi all,<br>At the CCAG Show in Lorain OH I
displayed several of my computers, including my Tomy Tutor.
For each computer I picked out what I considered to
be the features and weaknesses. This is what I came
up with for the Tomy Tutor:<br>Features:<br>-Fast
TMS9995 16-bit CPU<br>-16K RAM memory for
programs<br>-256 by 192 graphics in 16 colors<br>-Cassette
interface to save programs<br>-Cartridge port for
solid-state software<br>-Easy to learn Tomy BASIC in
ROM<br>-Graphics BASIC for color graphics<br>-Built-in graphic and
sprite editor<br><br>Weaknesses:<br>-Rubber button
keyboard<br>-Poor software selection; mostly games<br>-No file
saving and loading in BASIC<br>-Sprites not accessible
from BASIC<br>-Flimsy power supply
construction<br>-Promised expansions never released<br>-No way to attach a
printer<br>-No way to program in assembly<br><br>Well what do
you think? Agree or disagree? Anything to
add?<br><br>My own personal peeve is the very poor power supply;
I had a power supply short out on my first Tutor
and it ruined it before it blew the fuse...<br><br>I
think the biggest flaw was the short-sightedness of not
including file saving and loading in BASIC. It's difficult
to write a serious program when you can't save a
file.<br><br>Davey B. ;&lt;))

Glad you found us Cameron!! What took you so
long?? :) For those of you that don't know, Cameron is
the creator of the best Tomy Tutor site. The little
Orphan Tomy Tutor site. Just access our links area to
get the URL. Just as a reminder, be sure to log on
before accessing the links, sometimes they don't display
properly.<br><br>Once again Cameron.. WELCOME!<br><br><br>swap_and_shop

Since we're talking about duplicate
cartridges,<br>I'm still looking to trade off a boxed extra<br>of
Cave Crawlers. Would love to get
Hyperspace,<br>Jungler or Torpedo Terror (preferably boxed
as<br>well).<br><br>Cameron Kaiser

Another big welcome to a new member:   ianoid!!   Thanks for
joining!<br><br><br>swap_and_shop

Well, I had a duplicate HYPERSPACE, but I took it apart and don't remember where
I put all the pieces.

Hey,<br>Email me about your duplicates...I need
two of yours, and want to deal. I probably have
nothing you don't already have, but we can work something
out I'm sure. dsbrain@...<br><br>Davey B.
;&lt;))

I would like to welcome two new members to the
club, slapdash26 and slydc. Welcome
aboard!<br><br><br>I have also added a Spanish Tomy Tutor site to the
links area.. One thing I noticed is that for some
reason you have to be logged into the club for the links
page to display properly. If you do not log in, the
links are display in one long stream of text,---not
formatted properly. I do not know why this is happening but
it is.--SO LOG IN TO VIEW LINKS...
hehe..<br><br><br>OTHER NEWS:<br><br>Lets have each member post a
cartridge list! I don't know about the rest of the members,
but I personally have a few duplicate carts. Perhaps
you do as well? Perhaps you have one somebody else
wants? Lets get some trading started! I personally have
duplicates for Hyperspace, Scramble, Jungler, Deep Six and
Torpedo Terror.<br><br><br>More good stuff to come.. I am
considering lots of other ways to expand Tomy Tutor
awarness....<br><br><br>:)

I have added 4 web pages to the links area.   Two of them are by one of our
members.... dsbrain...  :)    One is in french!  Enjoy.. They are interesting to
look at!

In order to attract new members I will be doing
an extensive advertising blitz within the next week
or so.. I will be selling a duplicate cartridge that
I have on ebay, and I will mention us there.. Also
I will be posting info on the club through Google's
Usenet, as well as asking other site operators to mention
us. btw.. the email notification for the message
board maybe malfunctioning. But I have added new photos
to the image gallery. I will be constructing a
website on the Tomy Tutor very soon.. <br><br>Plans in
the Que:<br><br>1) Tomy Tutor Users Group webpage
(end of august)<br>2) Mattel Aquarius Page (end of
september)<br>3) Commodore SX-64 site (mostly completed could be
up at anytime.)<br>4) General Commodore website..
Look for these soon..<br><br>thanks

Hello my loyal club members!<br><br>ADDED:
SCRAMBLE Cartridge photos to the American release photo
gallery.<br><br>ADDED: SCRAMBLE instructions to the instructions
gallery.<br><br>More to come....<br><br>REMEMBER: You can put photos
of your system on here too...

I noticed that our founder said he didn't have a
cassette cable for his Tomy yet. I wanted to let you know
that you can use a TRS-80 cassette cable for the Tomy
Tutor, they have the same pinout. If you go to Radio
Shack, they may still be able to special order a cable
for you.<br><br>If you can't find a cable, then I
have the pinouts at my website so you can make your
own. The cable schematic is also available at Cameron
Kaiser's Little Orphan site.<br><br>Good
luck!<br><br>Davey B.

The following galleries were
update:<br><br>Founders system, Joysticks and Controllers gallery, screen
shot gallery, tape drive gallery.<br><br>Added:
Pictures of Founders personal system.<br>Added: Hyperspace
Cartridge Screen Shot<br>Added: Tomy Tutor Start up screen
shot<br>Added: Added Tomy Tutor Tape Drive picture<br>Added:
Tomy Tutor Joystick pictures<br>Added: Tomy Tutor Disc
controller pictures<br><br><br>More to come.....

Thanks for the great info emucompboy. You are a
living encyclopedia of old 8 bit knowledge, in this case
16 bit knowledge! I am looking forward to hearing
from you in the future, and what other insights you
can provide. As for myself, I am totally new to the
Tomy Tutor computer. So any info you can provide will
be most appreciated. I am planning on developing a
Tomy Tutor Users Group webpage soon as well. But this
club is a good place to start.. Glad to have you with
us!<br><br>swap_and_shop

Here's a BASIC token list. Unfortunately, the
message board has removed all column formatting, darn
it.<br><br><br><br><br>(Tomy Tutor, circa early summer 1984)<br><br><br>00
line terminator<br>01-7F character set<br><br>80
unused A0 CLS C0 &gt; E0 unused<br>81 ELSE A1 COLOR C1 +
E1 unused<br>82 :: A2 SCREEN C2 - E2 unused<br>83 !
A3 MCELL C3 * E3 unused<br>84 IF A4 SCELL C4 / E4
unused<br>85 unused A5 GCELL C5 ^ E5 unused<br>86 GOTO A6 KEY
C6 unused E6 unused<br>87 GOSUB A7 JKEY1 C7 (note 1)
E7 (unknown)<br>88 RETURN A8 JKEY2 C8 (note 2) E8
unused<br>89 DEF A9 RUN C9 (note 3) E9 unused<br>8A DIM AA
SOUND CA unused EA unused<br>8B END AB unused CB ABS EB
unused<br>8C FOR AC unused CC ATN EC unused<br>8D LET AD
(unknown) CD COS ED unused<br>8E STOP AE unused CE EXP EE
unused<br>8F CLRSTP AF unused CF INT EF unused<br>90 TRACE B0
THEN D0 LOG F0 unused<br>91 UNTRACE B1 TO D1 SGN F1
unused<br>92 INPUT B2 STEP D2 SIN F2 unused<br>93 DATA B3 , D3
SQR F3 unused<br>94 RESTORE B4 ; D4 unused F4
unused<br>95 RANDOMIZE B5 : D5 LEN F5 unused<br>96 NEXT B6 )
D6 CHR$ F6 unused<br>97 READ B7 ( D7 RND F7
unused<br>98 unused B8 & D8 SEG$ F8 unused<br>99 (unknown) B9
(unknown) D9 unused F9 unused<br>9A REM BA OR DA VAL FA
unused<br>9B ON BB AND DB STR$ FB unused<br>9C PRINT BC XOR DC
ASC FC TAB <br>9D LPRINT BD NOT DD unused FD # <br>9E
unused BE = DE unused FE unused<br>9F (unknown) BF &lt;
DF unused FF unused<br><br>NOTE 1: flag literal
string in quotes to follow; byte following token C7
gives the length, and following that is the
string.<br>NOTE 2: flag literal string without quotes to follow;
byte following token C8 gives the length, and
following that is the string.<br>NOTE 3: flag crunched
integer to follow; two bytes following token C9 form the
integer in high-byte, low-byte format.<br>UKNOWNS: don't
list, and cause the computer to lock up when list is
attempted.<br>COMMANDS with no tokens: these include AUTO, RENUM, NEW,
SAVE, LIST, LLIST, MENU, VERIFY, CONT, LOAD. There may
be others -- who knows?

I have an enormous stack of old newsletters from
the original Tomy Tutor User Club.<br><br>Have you
thought about getting in touch with the original club? It
was run by a guy named Eugene C. Dinovo. He lived in
Southern California; might still be there.<br><br>A long
time ago, I made all sorts of lists of stuff for the
Tomy Tutor, including a list of the BASIC tokens. It's
a pretty good BASIC. Cameron has a similar token
list on his website.<br><br>The SCELL command can be
used to overwrite parts of VRAM. A long time ago, I
wrote programs which would show all the colors, and
sprites.<br><br>The chardef base is the same as the base of the
screen (which is the same as the base of VRAM). From TT
BASIC, that means that in a limited fashion, characters
160-255 can be customized. I remember writing a program
which would plot lines, circles, and regular
polygons.<br><br>Bug me about those. I might be able to find my
cassette, and digitize the best programs from it.<br><br>Oh
the fun I had. I played with the Tomy Tutor for,
like, months in summer 1984. My Tomy Tutor's box was
destroyed in a flood a couple of years ago, but the
computer itself was still working okay last time I tried
it.<br><br>It seems that more info on the system is finding its
way onto the Internet. I'm hoping that there'll some
day be enough so I can write an emulator. While the
Tomy Tutor was not the computer of my childhood
(that'd be more the VIC-20), I was very fond of the
system -- AND, I WAS THE BEST AT HYPERSPACE THERE EVER
WAS, SO THERE.

I'm glad someone started a group for the Tomy
Tutor. I already founded two clubs and so I left this
job for someone else. I hope we can get this club to
grow.<br><br>I'm in the process of discovering all I can about the
Tutor and Tomy BASIC. I'll let you all in on any
discoveries I make.<br><br>Davey B.

This club is brand new, and as such, it will take
time to build up a membership. Very few people
actually own this great machine. But this is a great way
to build contacts and network information. I invite
you to join my club and to introduce yourself.
Welcome to the club!<br><br>swap_and_shop