Airshack Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 As per usual Sparkdrummer is late for yet another Valley of the Sun TI Users Group Meetup. Your comments are encouraged. Was going to ask him if he knew the whereabouts of Dr Ron Albright, of Orphan Chronicles? Were the Collins Game Programmers starter packs ever shipped? I guess Ill just play attack of the creepers until the old creeper himself arrives. Join us next time youre in Phoenix! Airshack VAST Vice President 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkdrummer Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 As usual, Shack said he was going to do one thing and did the other. He was supposed to text me and did not. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Fight, Fight, Duck your heads.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted October 29, 2018 Author Share Posted October 29, 2018 Thanks to blackbox for this post: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted October 29, 2018 Author Share Posted October 29, 2018 First order of business at this month's VAST Meetup was examining the club's latest addition from www.shopgoodwill.com: Sidecar Memory Expansion test -- CHECK! Sidecar Disk Controller test -- CHECK! Sidecar RS-232 test -- CHECK! TI's External Disk Drive test -- CHECK! Quite amazing to see all this equipment working like-new after all these years. Survived a Goodwill donation (God only knows what they did with them) and cross-country shipping. The biggest surprise was opening the box with the three auctioned sidecars only to discover Goodwill added three items not listed: Speech Synth, Xbox360 Hard Drive, and TI External Disk Drive. Feeling Lucky! Next Step: Locate documentation for the sidecars. Question: Anyone know if hooking all this up with a modded Speech module **with 5V power pass-thru** will have a negative impact on the performance/health of the sidecars? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 I still get a laugh when I see all those daisy chained components! Stuff sure as bigger back in the early 80's! I bet some people would want to knock me upside the head for the following comment, but I'd gut those old side-car boxes and re-task them with more modern components. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted October 29, 2018 Author Share Posted October 29, 2018 Zero mention of the XboxHD, Speech Synth, or TI External Disk Drive Unit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted October 29, 2018 Author Share Posted October 29, 2018 I still get a laugh when I see all those daisy chained components! Stuff sure as bigger back in the early 80's! I bet some people would want to knock me upside the head for the following comment, but I'd gut those old side-car boxes and re-task them with more modern components. Omega is obviously jealous because my 99/4 is longer than his! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Omega is obviously jealous because my 99/4 is longer than his! Bet mine lasts longer... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 No difference than plugging it into the console Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 No difference than plugging it into the console Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk Greg, Thanks! I was wondering because it does in fact deliver power to a single contact. That power comes from the console so...I am concerned about that pin being active supplying unexpected power to the sidecar chain. It’s true the power on that pin provides power to the new sidecar 32k card, and it plays well with the PEB. Just want to be sure before I use a modded speech module with these less-understood components. What do you know to put me at ease here? -James Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Greg, Thanks! I was wondering because it does in fact deliver power to a single contact. That power comes from the console so...I am concerned about that pin being active supplying unexpected power to the sidecar chain. It’s true the power on that pin provides power to the new sidecar 32k card, and it plays well with the PEB. Just want to be sure before I use a modded speech module with these less-understood components. What do you know to put me at ease here? -James Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro So if you plug in those sidecar devices directly into the console it would be exactly the same power on exactly the same pin so they must be designed just to ignore that power and use the power from their internal power supplies otherwise if you plugged it into your console without a speech synthesizer kablammo Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 (edited) So if you plug in those sidecar devices directly into the console it would be exactly the same power on exactly the same pin so they must be designed just to ignore that power and use the power from their internal power supplies otherwise if you plugged it into your console without a speech synthesizer kablammo Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk That's right and kind of obvious now. Thanks Greg. Clear. No Kablammo is good. Edited October 30, 2018 by Airshack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Also, one additional note on the four Collins books/cassettes: they were released in English, German, and French. I have all three variants. . .and in answer to the US company that was selling them, it was Tex-Comp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted December 8, 2020 Author Share Posted December 8, 2020 VAST Meetup in Dec 2020 was a success with 100% member participation. Looks like @sparkdrummer had to trim that damn beard for a tighter Covid mask fit. Makes one wonder just how Lee gets away with it? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 55 minutes ago, Airshack said: Looks like @sparkdrummer had to trim that damn beard for a tighter Covid mask fit. Makes one wonder just how Lee gets away with it? My beard is a lot thinner than it looks, but it is a bit of a challenge. ...lee 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 Hey, thats a nice looking portable TIPI setup! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 Ya know, after looking at this thread, I'm beginning to think a Portable TI Systems thread might be interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 3 hours ago, Airshack said: VAST Meetup in Dec 2020 was a success with 100% member participation. ...Only 2 members, total? Almost didn't recognize you with your Jolly Rodgers on. Is that Bill or Luke, looming behind you? If that's @sparkdrummer, I'll have to try and find him in one of the many TIer's vids. that are lingering around ...in order to make the name/face connection! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkdrummer Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 It was a good meeting. We met at a different DD that had the dining room open and we liked it better than the old location! I got to watch a complete play thru of the Captain’s soon to be released game and we were able to escape, took a few plays though... Anyway, we have a new place to meet and the coffee was good( and free for me, thanks Cap!) and the VAST club rides again. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 1 hour ago, HOME AUTOMATION said: Only 2 members, total? Four years ago the membership was down to one guy - @sparkdrummer. VAST is twice that size now. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 1 hour ago, sparkdrummer said: I got to watch a complete play thru of the Captain’s soon to be released game and we were able to escape, took a few plays though.. What he’s trying to say is it took about eight tries for me to beat my own game. 4 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 @Airshack Rub it in buddy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 4 hours ago, Airshack said: Four years ago the membership was down to one guy - @sparkdrummer. VAST is twice that size now. Other groups WISH they could report a doubling of membership in four years. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted December 31, 2020 Author Share Posted December 31, 2020 We just wrapped-up the last VAST meetup of 2020. Looking forward to seeing 100% membership participation in 2021. Here’s a nice shot of @sparkdrummer getting his a$$ handed to him in a round of 2000-era PC (Sierra) pinball. Seriously an epic trouncing. Duncan Donuts on Bell is now considered a crime scene. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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