Omega-TI Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 WARNING, I got to thinking again.... Some people like emulation, others like the real hardware... there could be a modern compromise... This would not be for everybody, just a few of us hard-core TI'ers, but with modern technology the TI-99/4A could be "re-done". Some of the parts of a "Faux Machine" are already available, so a total re-design would not be necessary... But I was thinking a NEW (and smaller) modern MOTHERBOARD could be designed to fit in the existing case. This new motherboard could have a USB port, RJ-45 jack, VGA (with the F18A onboard), heck possibly even a place to plug in the speech internally . Almost anything one could think of and cram onto a smaller MODERN motherboard,even a... RTC (ducking for cover). Since this thing would go into the original case, we could reuse some of the original items, like the power supply and of course the TMS9900 CPU itself. So, is this a crazy idea or what? A TI-99/Faux would be one item I could 'pass on' after I'm gone as an "ALL IN ONE" that I think would be kept for future generations to have the TI experience. Also, one extra item would be fun to have.. a socketed IC for "family photos" (at F18A resolution). It would make it harder for the ones left behind to trash your baby! I'm thinking the price would be a killer from the get go for most, but man, everything in one clean console ready to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I made a similar post about this very subject on a UK forum years ago and nobody could quite understand what I meant and kept pointing me towards pretty bad homebrew efforts. I would personall love to see a series of old computers re-made by a proffessional manufacturer, I think that an awful lot of the boards and parts could be internally standardised, the MSX computers have already been manufactured on a single chip. I am a lover of the original hardware-but it can't last forever. I would love a TI99/4a that was a one stop shop, eg;-Intergrated F18a, PC compatible etc-and all inside a shiny new TI99/4a replica case. I would buy one!, and no need to stop there-do a full series-replica Atari's,CoCo's etc(C64 has been done already-mixed feelings about that one). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 I would love a TI99/4a that was a one stop shop, eg;-Intergrated F18a, PC compatible etc-and all inside a shiny new TI99/4a replica case. I would buy one!, and no need to stop there-do a full series-replica Atari's,CoCo's etc(C64 has been done already-mixed feelings about that one). I know, I've drooled over the thought of having an all-in-one.. and I do mean ALL as in, 32K,1Meg AMS, VGA, SPEECH, RTC, SSHD, WIFI possibly even HDMI all working with the original CPU. It could be a semi complete board, you just supply the CPU! A few months back someone was talking about how their partner wanted to throw out the TI as junk! I guess all the cords and stuff were intimidating to him. With a setup like this, all you would need is two cords, power and video. When that 512K card gets perfected and all the stuff gets put on that and possibly some other permanent memory inside the console, 20 years from now someone could plug it in, turn it on and EVERYTHING would be ready to go... (even a personalized time capsule message). If something like that were made, I'd get a plaque to affix to the bottom so nobody would mistake it as garbage, but a family heirloom instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I know this is not what you want, but it would be much easier to run an emulator on a RaspberryPi or similar and put that in the box, then find a way to connect the TI keyboard, cartridge slot and joystick connector to the RPi. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+hloberg Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I know this is not what you want, but it would be much easier to run an emulator on a RaspberryPi or similar and put that in the box, then find a way to connect the TI keyboard, cartridge slot and joystick connector to the RPi. Ditto on that idea. keyboard would be attached through the various interfaces that are out there (check out some of the RPi youtube videos). I would just use a standard USB joystick; far, far superior the the TI. Hard part would be attaching the cartridge slot. I would think that would take some real hardware wizardry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 The way to do that would be to have the pi read in the contents of the cart into its memory when the cart is inserted. That method should be very doable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Perhaps the BeagleBone Black would be more appropriate than a RPi since it's produced by TI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Perhaps the BeagleBone Black would be more appropriate than a RPi since it's produced by TI? An interesting one- I was'nt even aware of thr Beagle's existence, It's got me curious enough-TO PURCHASE!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I've got one here, but I still need to fire it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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