acadiel

BITD many of us were bidding because we wanted it for a couple of reasons: 1) Buyer: Functionality purposes (i.e. we really didn't want something that was lesser functionality - we wanted something that worked, or offered something "value added" - like a new peripheral, a new game to play, an add-in card, better graphics, etc.) We usually didn't bid on lesser functionality (i.e. the older game, the older graphics card, etc.) 2) Buyer: We didn't have it and wanted to play or experience it for fun, or help someone fix it. 3) Seller: I want someone who will honestly give this a good home and will respect and love it.* 4) Preservationist/Repair: I want to preserve/dump/document/repair/understand it to make sure that other people can understand it and/or fix theirs should they need. Now, it seems to be more of: 1) Buyer: Pokemon - gotta have it all, no matter what it is. I don't care if it works or not or how crappy it is. The older model? Yep, gotta have it, I don't care that it doesn't support bitmap mode. I'm never gonna play it, but I've got this one of a kind prototype! 2) Buyer: Bragging rights, collections, stuff that will never again see the lights of day. People that want unopened copies of every piece of software/hardware ever to sit in a basement and never be used and/or played with. Accumulator. 3) Seller motivated: Make $$$ by offering it for a huge price, including rusted out pieces of crap that I see quite frequently (like that Triton system)* 4) Preservationist/Repair: I want to preserve/dump/document/repair/understand it to make sure that other people can understand it and/or fix theirs should they need. Granted, this is a generalization, and not applicable to all. There are all sorts of buyers and sellers out there; and I'm sure there are many buyers who are still looking for functionality purposes and want to fix stuff, or want to find homes for stuff, but it has very much drifted toward what I wrote at the bottom. The preservationist/repair category has persisted throughout, though. (I've been one of those for a long time, call me an odd duck....) I'll document, fix, and preserve whatever we need to as I get time. (that's the limiting factor)

Those people count! They are the ones I mentioned that are the ones that I've met "virtually".

I don’t remember if it was Gemco (South Texas chain) or Toys R Us that my father bought our /4A from, but it was my 2nd grade year, likely late Summer 1982 or Fall 1982 when some sort of price cut took place. I also remember seeing the games in our stand alone Sears that was downtown. Hooked up with metal cables to the kiosk. We had a console and a handful of carts to start, not even a cassette cable. And Dad was the only one that could touch that system, learning how to program it in BASIC. He has purchased some small paperback book about BASIC programming from my school book faire with green and white stripes on the front and was determined to get some working on the TI. He had notes written in the book, and being 7, I was not allowed anywhere near the console. We did have MunchMan and A-maze-ing with joysticks to start. I could only play supervised. Well, he eventually after a month or two didn’t get into it as much - or something seemed to happen. I know Dad bought a cassette cable and tried to save programs. At some point, I just started playing with the system and turning it on myself and playing the games and programming it and think I might have passed him up in skill level and he stopped experimenting with it, and he also stopped telling me I had to use it under his supervision. 😆 We bought games like Blasto and Early Learning Fun and eventually Parsec and got a free speech synth. (Early 1983? Buy so many modules and get a free speech synth.). We owned probably a dozen cartridges at most, the joysticks, speech, console, and a cassette cable. Anyway, we kept the TI around, but it got moved around a bit, first in December 1983 to Louisiana from Texas (self packed move that was probably rather rough) and then again to another Louisiana home later in 1983. It worked for a bit in 1984 and 1985; then it just stopped working - black screen. Years go by, and around 1988 or 1989, my father brings home the console one day, and says “Here you go, it’s fixed.” It was supposedly a wire in the power cord. So, I take the console and set it up and make it mine. Then, I start talking to my cousins at school about my fixed console and they said that they knew someone with an “expansion system” that had upgraded to an Amiga. I got this gentleman’s name and number, and talked to him about purchasing his TI equipment - he and my parents worked out a deal to pay him in installments, and I got probably the most complete setup ever. PEB, cartridges in including E/A, mini memory, IUG cassettes and newsletters, old catalogs, countless disks, etc. This guy, Alvin, taught me some great things through the years, and I can blame him for getting me into modems and BBSing too. John Phillips, a TI author, wrote me back one day a year or two later (1991?) and sent tons of source code that was preserved. (I’ve been able to share and upload everything with the community, too - it’s all on Whtech!). It was a treasure trove that I was able to learn from. There are lots of great people that I have met along the way - Mattie (the President) and Louis Guion (who ran the BBS) from the Dallas TI group. (I rescued a lot of equipment from Mattie and Louis years later.) All these people probably wondered what this (back then not diagnosed yet) autistic teen was doing racking up his parents long distance bill calling them in Texas to ask all those questions about this computer that was discontinued many years ago. But, they listened and helped me, and Mattie made friends with my parents and I, and I’m still friends with her today. During college, the TI remained in storage until I got married, and started my first permanent full time job, and then took it back out - I got back into the community starting with the Joy Electronics inventory around 2001 in Yahoo Groups. Worked with all you fine folks on many things including countless archival projects, Chicago TI Faires, Vintage Computer Festival SE, the original 16K Guidry cart board, the 64K cart board, a Pitfall! Cart board partnership, an UberGROM partnership, the TI Books archive, and lastly, the CB Wilson treasure trove of schematics and paperwork. It’s been quite a ride, but I’ve met some amazing people along the way. And you know, as neat as this computer is, the people I’ve met along the way have been the best benefit of working with it. There are some amazing folks out there. For all of you that I’ve met in real life or that I only know well virtually, thank you.

If you need some help soldering, let me know, I can do it for free if you cover postage both ways and will test it.

How are they handling the alpha lock? Last I heard there were no auto locking Cherry switches left?

These were the switches I believe I got from Louis Guion’s lot of parts. @Ksarul has some but I don’t know if I sent him any - I do think I sent @FALCOR4 some for the switching supply.

Want to part with one? I’d love one to replace a 2364 which I don’t have enough clearance to put a 28 pin 2564. 🙂

Old topic, but tossing this out here. You can program a 28 pin 2564 and just throw the lower 24 pins in a 24 pin socket and it should be happy. I am using one to replace a 2364 Commodore ROM and just going to bend the upper pins in and tape them. 1980_TI_The_MOS_Memory_Data_Book_for_Design_Engineers.pdf

I'll have to find the switches I found - I know I sent one to @FALCOR4 that was rated and spec'd just like the original PSU switch. I don't remember if it has a part number (I think it did.)

I see them here: https://www.itweba.com/en/product/spectra-c-023-jumper-switches-dip-switches.html - though this is an "inquire" site. It'll get you some part numbers. Here too: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/dip-sip-switches/0321105 Here: https://www.newark.com/erg-components/sds-6-014/dip-switch-sds-series-spst-through/dp/08WX5540 And lastly found them here: https://www.radwell.com/Buy/ITW/ERG COMPONENTS/SCS-8-023?redirect=true

Thanks, @OLD CS1!

Paul Urbanus himself wrote this detailed description on Reddit about how he had Parsec accomplish smooth scrolling and simultaneous speech/gameplay back in the early 80s at TI. Amazing stuff, thanks Urb!

I have them and the other one you sent downloaded. I just have to find a good web editor to see if I can stay with the same theme that was within the original web page.

Yep, that sounds awesome. We haven't had a ROM/GROM matching algorithm to go with the "Review Module Library" (for those modules that work at other GROM bases). The HSGPL worked kind of like this; the only caveat was that we found some carts that didn't like being at the non-default GROM base. Ours has always been the "one game, one ROM" mentality in the past, so I'm excited to see your release where you're adding these hooks in GROM to do matching/pairing! (Edit: Sure would make it easier on homebrew too if there were a paired GROM/ROM active at the same time - double the assets available without having to trampoline.)

The ROM part is simply a ROM cart - if you "write to ROM" you can bank switch in 8K increments like normal for all 512/8 banks. Put that in your code in the AVR, and you're good to go. Keep in mind, there's other AVR inputs and such we didn't really touch that are available... serial (which some people have used for HDX and Bluetooth transfers), ADC inputs, and others.... Jim and I tried to make sure we exposed what we could to the front of the board on jumpers to make it hobby friendly. About the overrides... from an old quote from @Tursi: "I disabled the UberGROM overriding the console GROMs because the MPD will use the same tech, and then you'll have two TTL devices (one in the console, one in the cartridge port) both driving the bus at the same time if you try to overload the console GROMs. That /will/ damage one or the other. I tested the UberGROM overriding real GROMs without issue. IMHO notwithstanding, I did that test. I'm still deciding how to deal with that anyway since the same problem would occur with GRAMKrackers, and I don't want to cause issues for those. The MPD will probably just need resistors on the outputs so it can be overridden." So yes, it looks like you can simply just override them w/code (since you probably don't have a MPD LOL), but I'd ask @FALCOR4 or @Tursi if there's any other recommendations for mods to the cart to keep things safe.