sixsevenco

Man do I want one of these. Have you considered sending one to The 8-Bit Guy? He might willing to do a full video on it.

I live in Denver. I check Craigslist daily for TI and vintage Macintosh stuff. I have NEVER seen a single ad/post for TI stuff in Denver, so Craigslist will suggest ads from surrounding areas. I see Chaser2015's ads every day. Before I knew better, I almost bought a system from him. I'm so glad I dodged that bullet.

I'm still pretty new here. Not sure if I'm "trusted" yet, but I'm interested. I'm really only interested in one thing... A "Demonstration" cartridge. I have the image for my FG99, but I'd like the real thing. In another post, I talked about how my Dad was involved in the multi-level marketing sales with Tronics. I remember he had this cartridge to demo the TI's capabilities.

I'm looking to expand my retro computer inventory. As a kid, an Apple IIc replaced my TI-99. Then Mac Classic II in college, followed by a PowerMac 7500. Are there any recommended forums out there as awesome as this one is to for vintage apple II's and Macs? I found a few, but I was hoping to get some recommendations on the your fave apple forums...

Anyone need a case for their TI? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Texas-Instruments-TI-99-4A-Home-Computer-Fully-Enclosed-Case-With-Data-Recorder/183169717138

I figured it out. The black post does come out. I just needed to gently rock it left to right.

SUCCESS with the QD! (Mostly...) I sprayed all of the contacts first. Then I cut a thin strip of cardboard from a Bed Bath & Beyond mailer. Soaked it with QD, and used it to scrub between the contacts. All keys appear to be behaving, with the exception of the space bar. I can't figure out how to get to the contact for the space bar. I've removed the space bar, and there is a piece of black plastic that is seemingly blocking access to the contact. I've searched the forum, youtube, and google for the answer, but I can't seem to find it. I've pulled on the black piece with some needle nose pliers, but it doesn't seem to want to budge, and I don't want to get too rough. Here's a pic: https://imgur.com/a/OFD6Q Any ideas on how to proceed? You guys are the best. Thank you for all of your help!

Thank you. Is there any special trick to pulling the keys, or do I just gently pull straight up?

Thanks. I need to check in with the wife to see if she is willing to do this. She doesn't share my internet in classic computing.

Thank you. I saw that too. It could be wrong, but that keyboard seems to gave more problems than mine...

Do you have a retail location in the Portland area? My wife is there visiting family, and they could potentially come to you to buy some stuff...

So I bought some QD, but I am not seeing any improvement. It's likely that I didn't apply it right. I don't have a key puller, so using the tube that came with it, I sprayed the post of each key and then pressed it repeatedly, hoping that the QD would find its way to the contacts. I am thinking that I should probably pull each key so that I can apply the QD directly to the contact. Is this the right thing to do? Any recommendations on a key puller? Would this one work? I've also done a fair amount of testing each key on the keyboard. Here are the problem keys: https://imgur.com/a/QMgyk Is this helpful with troubleshooting? For example, could there be a bad solder joint with INT6?

Ha! I asked my mom if she remembered the name of the company that my Dad was involved with, and it was Tronics. I think my dad only sold about 3-4 computers. Do you what benefit my dad received? Was he paid a cash commission? Was he given a discount on product? This is so interesting. My dad was always involved with some multilevel marking company. It was kind of his hobby.

Edit: deleting double post

My Dad actually sold a few TI's to some of his friends and family. I don't know the history, but I think one distribution method was multilevel marketing. I remember us having the Demonstration cartridge for this reason. I have the image of Demonstration on my FG99, but it would be nice to have a real one too...