Cool find

[PeBo]

I went down to the local electronics surplus store (there should be one on every corner!) to try to find a few DSSD or SSSD floppies (after seeing ebay prices (St Ciboire de Tabarnak!!!)) and what should I find but a TI-99/4A!

 

Well had to ask him how much he wanted, and he said I could have it for $5 if I didn't make him look for the power supply. After 2 weeks of watching ebay prices, wasn't much of a tough decision.

 

It's not in great shape (I wish people would learn how to put the aluminum cover back on before taking it off...geeez, it's not rocket science), but it gives me a great test bed system if I decide to play with an f18A (a bit of a sacrilege, I know) or some homebrew modding fun...or heck, just to use for parts. (sure wish it had the "Solid State Software" badge though.)

 

As you can see (sortof) by the photo, it even had « TI Video Games1 » in the module port (slightly less than common if you buy into the whole (and wholly subjective) "ratings scale" schtick!).

 

All in all the "garage find" of the year for me!

 

Now where else could I post about this where anyone would "get it"!?!?!

[+Ksarul]

Excellent find! The cartridge rarity lists for the TI are seriously off, for the most part. There are more of most of them out there than the market would buy--that said there are quite a few truly rare titles--many of which get no collector respect. Any of the Scott Foresman School Management carts are rarer than most prototypes--but rarely sell when they are available. No more than half a six to ten of each title survive, based on what I've seen show up over the last 20 years. . .and a few are even rarer than that.

[PeBo]

It does seem that only the games and expansion cards are the major players in the "TI rarety" game. What also doesn't jive is that I've never seen any difference in value between black and beige carts...There were likely more black cartridges produced, but they would also have had an earlier production date...

 

I just wish there were more options to buy software and peripheral's (thank gawd for the marketplace in these forums!) without all the "collectors" artificially raising values.

 

After all, let's be honest, in 10-20 years time, when those of us who owned TI's back in the day are all senile or dead, you won't be able to give this stuff away!

[Omega-TI]

 

After all, let's be honest, in 10-20 years time, when those of us who owned TI's back in the day are all senile or dead, you won't be able to give this stuff away!

 

I agree 100%! Some of the hoarders, or greedy collectors hoping to "cash-in" are going to be "holding the bag" on a lot of stuff they will not be able to get rid of. Better to let some of this stuff go at a decent price now and make a few bucks and keep the community (and market) active, than to hold out past the day where people no longer care.

[+hloberg]

 

 

After all, let's be honest, in 10-20 years time, when those of us who owned TI's back in the day are all senile or dead, you won't be able to give this stuff away!

Well, I don't plan to be senile or dead in 20 years but I might still have my TI though.

[PeBo]

Well, I don't plan to be senile or dead in 20 years but I might still have my TI though.

 

But are you sure you're not saying that just because you are already senile? Perhaps you are not actually sitting at your computer, but are in reality sitting by the window, being fed your evening pudding.

[+OLD CS1]

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? Je suis Napoleon, and everyone's always after me Lucky Charms, but I've hid them at the base of the volcano where I play seven card draw with Xenu.

[PeBo]

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? Je suis Napoleon, and everyone's always after me Lucky Charms, but I've hid them at the base of the volcano where I play seven card draw with Xenu.

 

 

Now you've done it...and I'm out of Depends!

[+hloberg]

 

But are you sure you're not saying that just because you are already senile? Perhaps you are not actually sitting at your computer, but are in reality sitting by the window, being fed your evening pudding.

Might explain the birds that keep flying around in my monitor.

[+acadiel]

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? Je suis Napoleon, and everyone's always after me Lucky Charms, but I've hid them at the base of the volcano where I play seven card draw with Xenu.

 

Be careful. I, Cthulhu, will use my tentacles to not only dig up those Lucky Charms, but will also vanquish Xenu!

 

[+OLD CS1]

 

Be careful. I, Cthulhu, will use my tentacles to not only dig up those Lucky Charms, but will also vanquish Xenu!

 

 

[+Ksarul]

That one goes with a couple of my favorite bumper stickers: "Campus Crusade for Cthulhu: IT Found ME" or "Cthulhu for President: Why choose the Lesser Evil."

[am1933]

The power of Cthulu is insignificant compared to the unfathomable powers of Professor Euphemia.T.Kittenbender. He has the power to bend kittens using only his mind.

He is also in possession of the power to influence crustacean breeding patterns using his inane ability to be enigmatic whilst chewing on the very fabric of time, space and small minty treats that were originally designed for dogs.

 

So let it be written, so let it be a small field of electric mushrooms that remind the unambiguous of times long gone and fun with a marble walrus.

[+OLD CS1]

The power of Cthulu is insignificant compared to the unfathomable powers of Professor Euphemia.T.Kittenbender. He has the power to bend kittens using only his mind.

He is also in possession of the power to influence crustacean breeding patterns using his inane ability to be enigmatic whilst chewing on the very fabric of time, space and small minty treats that were originally designed for dogs.

 

So let it be written, so let it be a small field of electric mushrooms that remind the unambiguous of times long gone and fun with a marble walrus.

 

Zoidberg??

[am1933]

Yes, Zoideberg has been known to fall under the Kittenbender spell on occassions, mainly when old women eat their own faces as a bizzare yet highly erotic ritual to appease "Phartass" the great god of quality foundation garments.

[+Vorticon]

Excellent find! The cartridge rarity lists for the TI are seriously off, for the most part. There are more of most of them out there than the market would buy--that said there are quite a few truly rare titles--many of which get no collector respect. Any of the Scott Foresman School Management carts are rarer than most prototypes--but rarely sell when they are available. No more than half a six to ten of each title survive, based on what I've seen show up over the last 20 years. . .and a few are even rarer than that.

Unless one runs a museum, why collect? What purpose does it serve other than deprive others of the use of the items being hoarded? If it is for the preservation of specific items for posterity, well chances are that when a collector passes away, his collection is either sold off to other other collectors, or even sometimes dumped by a careless spouse or relative for lack of familiarity, and either way the collection still remains out of the general circulation and of no use to anyone.

If you acquire an item, please use it (or study it if it's a book or painting), even if only once in a great while. Otherwise, I think it would be best to leave it alone. Let others have a chance at experiencing the use of such items.

[+OLD CS1]

 

Unless one runs a museum, why collect? What purpose does it serve other than deprive others of the use of the items being hoarded? If it is for the preservation of specific items for posterity, well chances are that when a collector passes away, his collection is either sold off to other other collectors, or even sometimes dumped by a careless spouse or relative for lack of familiarity, and either way the collection still remains out of the general circulation and of no use to anyone.

If you acquire an item, please use it (or study it if it's a book or painting), even if only once in a great while. Otherwise, I think it would be best to leave it alone. Let others have a chance at experiencing the use of such items.

 

 

I think we all in any community agree with that last bit. Notwithstanding, it is important for all of us who have relatively large collection of, or legitimately rare, TI items -- or, for that matter, any other system -- to write up or into their will what they wish done with the items. Even if we have someone in the family who is keen to receive them, that does not always happen (I was supposed to get my grandfather's PS/2 and 520ST, but they are both gone and never touched my hands.) Sadly, this brings to mind our recent losses, in particular the current difficulty in working with Jacques' family.

 

As I have no one else in my family who is as interested in classic systems as I am, I have instructed that all of my Amiga, TI, Commodore, and game systems (after personal data have been scrubbed) are to be put up for sale on eBay, on Craigslist, or yard sale so that others may benefit from my collection, and at no time are my executor nor survivors to throw anything away (with minor stipulations.) I did also make an allowance for any family members who come forward who would like the items with the stipulation they can show honest evidence that they will make use of the items and not turn around and sell them or give them away.

[+Ksarul]

In my case, I study every item I have--and one of the results of that study is the steady stream of new hardware coming out of my basement. I collect--but I use what I learn from that reference collection to further our hobby. In the case of documentation, I scan it as time allows and put it online--as much of what I've found from a documentation standpoint is uncommon to unbelievably rare. I spent a lot of time (and a lot of money too) finding all of the docs for the 99/8, which were some of the first things I scanned and set free. . .and the original typed in version of the GPL handbook came from me back in the mid-eighties, although I know that at least one other person went to the trouble to type the whole document in, so there are two versions out there in TI Writer format. Mine had a few extra pages in the form of an additional appendix. . .and the fifth or sixth generation photocopy I used to type it in from was horrible to read.

[+Vorticon]

In my case, I study every item I have--and one of the results of that study is the steady stream of new hardware coming out of my basement. I collect--but I use what I learn from that reference collection to further our hobby. In the case of documentation, I scan it as time allows and put it online--as much of what I've found from a documentation standpoint is uncommon to unbelievably rare. I spent a lot of time (and a lot of money too) finding all of the docs for the 99/8, which were some of the first things I scanned and set free. . .and the original typed in version of the GPL handbook came from me back in the mid-eighties, although I know that at least one other person went to the trouble to type the whole document in, so there are two versions out there in TI Writer format. Mine had a few extra pages in the form of an additional appendix. . .and the fifth or sixth generation photocopy I used to type it in from was horrible to read.

 

Thank you Not all collectors are like you unfortunately.

[+OLD CS1]

 

Thank you Not all collectors are like you unfortunately.

 

Traditionally, that is where I draw a line. While many of us have "collections," I would not classify myself and most of us here, and especially Jim (John, Tony, Mark, et al,) as "collectors." I strain to come up with appropriate words, though. "Archivists" does not entirely fit; in Jim's case maybe "archeologist," maybe "re-creationists," certainly "hobbyists" and "enthusiasts." We are blessed to have a good number of people here who not only posses specialized skills and talents but are also willing and enthusiastic about sharing the fruits of their labors and loves.

[+Ksarul]

Digital Archaeology is the term I use for what I do for my systems.

 

I seem to have started somewhat of a message storm over on the Tomy Tutor group this week when I outlined what I was doing with Tomy cartridge boards there. The end result may end up being a multicart with every single Tomy Tutor and Pyuuta cartridge on it. My preliminary opinion (after sussing out exactly what they did on three of the four different types of cartridge boards I've discovered in their cases so far) is that I'll be able to make a 1048K cart board that can replicate the behavior of any of them. Then I just need to take the loader software we use in our TI multicarts and modify the bank-select writes to the >8000 range, with each write stepping into a new 32K bank and executing the game--once I figure out where to hide that snippet of code so that it survives the context switch long enough to start the cartridge.

 

If the multicart doesn't work (and that is possible), I'll still be able to experiment with the different cartridge boards to see if I can do something else that is interesting--maybe even trying some 99 software on one, once I move it to the right memory area and make sure it isn't using any external calls. . .

[+retroclouds]

I have been thinking about porting pitfall to the tutor, as I am not using any OS calls and run from scratchpad memory it should not be that hard. Things to replace would be keyboard and joystick stuff, other than that it should be fairly simple.

[+Ksarul]

I like that idea a lot, Retroclouds. Right now the maximum amount of space available in there without bank switching is 24K (and I'm still sussing out how to properly use the upper 8K of that).