Cisco Garcia’s Adventures

First, I am using VMware’s  VMserver for the Virtual Machine environment in this example.  I just picked this one just because its free and it works easy enough.  I am going to use Windows XP as the guest OS, again just for the reason that it has all the things needed right from a basic installation, when it comes to working within a virtual machine. (I love the Nix world, I may come back and write how its done from the context of a solutions guest OS Nix base. its just a little bit more involved unfortunately) 

Second, the emulator of choice for Windows by far, is Win994a.  Again, I picked this emulator because this software works and very well.  There is almost nothing to do for installation but hit the Next button, and enjoy.

Finally, I am adding a couple finishing touches for tailoring the boot screen of XP and setting the wallpaper to just add to the overall visual nostalgic effect.

Hopefully, with a little luck, a good game of Alpiner awaits! (yes it speaks!)

Step1: Create and Host a Virtual Machine and Load the Guest Operating System. First thing is to install the virtual machine Server software from VMware.  http://www.vmware.com/products/server/  You will have to jump through just a couple hoops, register, get serial number, ect but it is not too bad. Once you install the software, locate the VMware Server Console Icon and evoke the application.  At this point I go through a detailed run of creating and setting up your virtual machine.

You should see the login dialog box, double check that local host is selected, and click the OK button.

 When the console shows, create a new Virtual Machine with Sound Card and a CD ROM to boot an ISO image of a Windows XP Installation CD. Here are the steps to do just that:

Select: File > New > Virtual Machine, or Ctrl+N.

Select the Custom radio button, and click the Next button.

Make sure the Microsoft Windows radio button is selected, and the Version is set to Windows XP Professional, and click the Next button.

Enter for a Virtual Machine Name: TI 994a Virtual Museum, or a name of your choice, click the Next button.

Uncheck the make private check-box, and click the Next button.

One processor ought to do it, click the Next button.

For our purposes 256MB works fine for XP, click the Next button.To simulate another computer attached to the same network of the Host, use bridged networking. Click the Next button.To simulate another computer attached to the same network of the Host, use bridged networking. Click the Next button.

Default here is fine, click the Next button.

Make sure Create a new virtual disk is select and click the Next button.

IDE works great make sure its selected and click the Next button.

Select a modest size, 3GB is good, check allocate all disk space now and click the Next button.

Create a name for the virtual disk file, and finally we select Finish button!

After the wizard is complete, EDIT the machine and add the sound card, and mount the ISO of the OS, I just used Windows XP, because the EMU likes it best of all the Windows OSes (from a VM point of view).

From the main menu, select VM > Settings.Add a device to the VM by clicking the Add button.Select the Sound Adapter and click the Next button.Default adapter should work, select the Finish button to complete.You will want to add the Sound Adapter, click the Add button.Select the Next button.

Select the Sound Adapter and click the Next button.

 Perform a standard installation of XP, nothing special to do.  After you bring the system up and its ready to use, Install the VMware Tools in the OS for better performance.

Select from the main menu, VM > Install VMware Tools, this inserts the Tools CD into the drive.At this point the CD will autoplay, and the Installation Wizard runs. Thankfully, all the default options apply, simply click the Next buttons all the way through.

When the system reboots after the installation of the tools the guest OS environment is ready to go.

I like to change the display properties Settings, Appearance and Desktop tabs. I set the Settings of the screen size to 1024×768 with a color depth of 16bit.  I also like to change the Appearance to the Color Scheme ( Silver).  And then finish with the Desktop Wallpaper of a TI-99 4/A. I made a quick wallpaper here:

Wallpaper for the TI virtual machine.

Right click in the center of the Desktop to get a pop-up menu where you select Properties. A dialog appears with various tabs, click Settings and set size to 1024×768 and Color Depth to 16 bit.

Select the Appearance tab, and choose the Silver color scheme.

Select the Desktop tab, browse for the wallpaper, and select the OK button.

A fast way to change the boot screen of the OS is using an application BootSkin for XP, this program sets the bootscreen for us with minimal effort (when you know how to make custom skins). You can download from  http://www.stardock.com/downloads/     After you install the application, you will have to make a custom BootSkin file with the TI welcome splash screen (or just download below).  First thing to note, bootskin is a zip with two files, bootskin.ini and imagefile.bmp (you refer to the imagefile in the ini, the .bmp filename is not important).  The structure of the ini file is as follows:

[BootSkin]
Type=0
Name=TI-99 4/A
Author=Cisco
Description =TI-99 4/A BootSkin
Screen=TIScreen.bmp

Second thing is the image file to use for the boot screen, this image has to be 640×480 AND 4 bit (16 color) BMP. Color scheme can be adaptive.  That is it, just create a new folder named TI-994A BootSkin. Place the text inside the folder with a file name of bootskin.ini.  Make a 640×480 16 color BMP file of the TI’s splash screen and save that with a file name that matches Screen value in the ini, our case TIScreen.BMP. Now you just zip the folder, and change the file extension from .zip to .bootskin and open the file from inside the virtual machines Windows Explorer (double click file).

I have already made the compressed file for you, but you will have to rename the file extension to .bootskin and you will have to get the file into the virtual machine. The file is located here: TIWorld BootSkin After you rename and save the file into the virtual machine open Windows Explorer, locate the file, and activate (double click file). 

Although I could go on forever customizing, I will finish with loosing the system starting sound when XP boots, so that the first sound you hear is the familiar TI ‘beep’. 

Select the Start button, select Control Panel and locate Sound and Audio Devices icon and double click to open.

Select the Sounds tab, find the Program event Start Windows and Select (None) for the Sound and click the OK button.

 

You are ready to restart your system, and enjoy your trip back to the good ole times of TI home computing. 

Suggestions:  Just in case you may be floored at the idea of a 3GB Virtual Machine just to play a TI Game, you are correct, no need for this, the EMU works in Windows easy enough.   The actual purpose for me was organization!!  To place ALL things from  TI-dom in a consolidated LIVE RUNNING DEDICATED place.  This includes all the Magazines of the time and the Viewers required to view them as well as a few of the largest FTP sites and a couple web site/ page captures.   I actually set up IIS for FTP and Web services on the VM so as to recreate the experience as much as possible. Point being, I can share this with my friends, and they have to change nothing and access nothing to have one of the most interactive time travel experiences to the dawn of the Home Computer Age.

To conclude, I truly wish I could just post the VM, but I have no idea about Copyright laws and how it applies to the massive archive of information that it would contain.  But this is the start of how I created the base of the solution, and the files that you need are out there. You also have the option of hacking the resources to change all the Windows logos to TI logos.  Enjoy and as always have fun!

Cisco

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 am and is filed under Computers, Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.