TI-GAMER Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) I was at a fellow TI hobbyist's home today and noticed that he had 2 different types of Expansion cards in his PEB. Some were the common beige cards that I am familiar with but he also had some that were metal with a Silver Color just like the metal on the actual TI itself. They were all TI brand and labeled just like the beige ones. Is there any difference other than the physical exterior case itself and is one preferred over the other? He also had some gray ones which made sense as they were a different brand. I think Comcor or Compcor or something like that if I remember correctly. Edited May 2, 2015 by TI-GAMER 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 i don't recall any differences as far as the hardware. I think the metal shell was just changed. The grey ones were most likely made by CorComp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) The difference is only in the case--the card inside is the same. There is a third variety of TI card shell: dark gray plastic with a metal coating inside. Again, only a different case. CorComp cards came with two types of case: the gray ones with a slightly pebbled surface and smooth black ones. Later CorComp cards had no case at all. The Gray ones came first. Myarc used TI metal cases on some of their early cards, and the gray ones later (often spray-painted tan). Atronic (German) used silver aluminum cases, as did Foundation (US). Pretty much everyone else just made cards without cases. One note: there are several iterations of some of the CorComp cards--with those, you will find a lot of differences between generations of assembled cards (sometimes major). Edited May 2, 2015 by Ksarul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TI-GAMER Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 He offerred to sell a spare Corcomp Disk Controller to me that I was very interested in as I would like to do a Dual Disk Drive setup. It is in the solid gray case and said 9900 Disk Controller on a sticker. What is a fair value to pay for one of these cards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 You can do a dual disk drive setup with a TI controller. The Corcomp will give you DSDD capabilities, where the TI only goes as far as DSSD, IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TI-GAMER Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hey Opry99er I noticed your in Denver I am down the road in Manitou Springs at the foot of Pikes Peak if you are familiar with that area. The floppy drives I was looking at are DSDD and that is what interested me in that card. Do the Corcomp cards sell for around the same price as a regular TI Disk COntroller card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Actually I recently moved back to Tennessee.... I'm saddened by it, as Colorado is my childhood home. Manitou Springs is very beautiful, and you are lucky to live there. Some good fishing out that way. Price is determined by the market, to be honest. If no CorComp controller cards pop up for a year, the price will be high. If 3 a month come up, the price will be low, due to the supply versus demand. I've seen them go cheap, I've also seen them go for a couple hundred bucks... I'd say keep your eyes open and see what you can see. I think I sold mine for $75 to a fellow 99er a couple years back... I had two (one gray, one black) and I kept one, sold one. Good luck. Honestly, if you're concerned primarily with having two disk drives, the TI controller is fine, but (as you know) it does not handle DSDD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TI-GAMER Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) I just opened up my PEB and I am completely baffled by one of the cards in there. It is in a Black Plastic Case and on the top of the sticker it says in White "Texas Instruments" and directly below that in Purple it says "32K x 8 MEMORY EXPANSION" but here is the kicker... The large Flat Black Data Cable that connects the PEB to your TI is connected to the back of this card. Physically on the card engraved or molded in the plasic is the Texas Instruments info with a serial number and the TI Logo. Also on the label it says PHP1260 First I have never seen an actual TI card that is black. Second I have never seen any TI Cards with Purple writing and it looks to be a factory TI label. Third why does a Memory Expansion Card have the connector for the Big Black Data Cable??? LOL Edited May 2, 2015 by TI-GAMER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Likely the flex cable interface card (the one with the firehose) had a broken or damaged case. Someone may have replaced the case with one from a 32k mem card. That said, I don't have any black TI card cases. Ksarul might be able to speak to this more authoritatively than I. (or maybe ANYONE.... for that matter) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Yes, I have one PEB-Card with that purple imprints, too. Old clamshells where sometimes used as housing for other cards, I think because of cooling or isolation-considerations maybe. (what led further to some shortcurcuit-issues sometimes because of wrong mounting, so be & look careful if opening clamshells You can also mod/update your TI-FloppyController with 80track-abilities. see arcadeshopper.com here http://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/?page_id=11#!/Hummingbird-Eeprom/p/33994194/category=12497083 Ralf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkdrummer Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Yeah, I've got a couple black flex cable cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I said dark gray earlier--but it is more properly black for the plastic TI cases. Oddly enough, I don't have a single TI card in that case variant. . .out of the 50 or so TI manufactured cards of various types in my systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TI-GAMER Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 So I now understand the differences between the Corcomp and the TI Disk Controller. Is there any difference between the Corcomp and TI RS232 cards? Is one preferred over the other as I have access to both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 There are a few compatibility issues with the CorComp RS-232 and the TI one. Of the two, the TI is the better choice--but that said, the CorComp works perfectly for about 98% of all of the things you would want to use a serial card for, so the difference is very small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 So I now understand the differences between the Corcomp and the TI Disk Controller. Is there any difference between the Corcomp and TI RS232 cards? Is one preferred over the other as I have access to both. I preferred the corcomp in the past, but that changed when the HDX mod became available for the TI card.. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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