+OLD CS1 Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 I have an O2 sitting in storage. Picked it up years ago but moved before I could add it to my (then) expansive classic console setup. I guess I need to find it a good home, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshack Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 Do you have the one with detachable joysticks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 On 4/26/2020 at 5:05 PM, Airshack said: Do you have the one with detachable joysticks? Raises hand... I do, I do! Perfect opportunity to hack a busted Genesis controller or db9 extension controller cable and play with a CX-40 instead of the O2's stock (no)joy-sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 14, 2020 Author Share Posted May 14, 2020 One "AS-IS" Speech Synthesizer, I originally thought someone might want for the new sidecar TIPI/32K, but then I noticed the shipping. Still, if money is no object to you, << CLICK HERE >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 The fairly stable prices of $25 and up on Speech Synthesizers surprises me considering how prolific they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelpedant Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 The way I see it, there's no real supply or demand pressure, or time-pressure associated with the sale of the item, when it comes to an item like this, so there's no real rationale to the price. Almost nobody needs to sell speech synth modules, in the year 2020, and almost nobody needs to buy speech synth modules, in the year 2020. And those who are selling them mostly don't care much whether they sell in the short term. So prices fluctuate pretty freely and meaninglessly within the range delimited by the highest price any significant number of purchasers would be willing to pay and the lowest price which would still justify the effort of listing, boxing and shipping it. But within that very large range, prices don't really signify anything. It's just pricing by recursion. It's just "what was this listed for before" all the way down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 I've sold a bunch on arcadeshopper. Almost out again in fact.. Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelpedant Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 I'm not saying nobody's buying or selling, because clearly that's happening, but rather that there's no meaningful supply or demand pressure, time pressure, or even competitive bidding process which is dictating pricing on the auction market when it comes to non-scarce legacy consumer leisure goods being put up for auction by individual owners. So the pricing's pretty much arbitrary. Whether it be some given NES cart which I'm sure sell thousands of copies a year in North America (but originally sold 1000 times that), or a popular legacy computer add-on whose current market is likewise arbitrarily small with respect to its original production quantity. Pricing is really just consensus-building, in those cases. And it's funny to me how it doesn't seem like we've really moved forward much in the last 20 years, when it comes to exchange and sale of legacy consumer goods. Ebay's still king, and doing pretty much *exactly the same thing it was doing two decades ago*. That seems nuts. You'd think someone would have been able to make buck on being clever about it in some new and interesting way that stick, by now, and at least taken a big chunk of the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 15, 2020 Author Share Posted May 15, 2020 On the subject of the speech synthesizer, they do not seem to currently be an item that is used much, but for the prices people some people are selling them for, I'm willing to bet someone could make an "updated" version that could have one hell of a downloadable library on an SD card for less than what some of those legacy ones sell for. Heck, with the people here, we could have an ever expanding library of speech and sound, even foreign languages. If I'm remembering correctly, didn't someone make a program for the PC that records sound and saves it in the appropriate format? I can imagine some of the newer generation of programs, possibly even a future ray tracer program having some "killer sounds". With more utility comes expanded use. Possibly a future project for someone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelpedant Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 There's a Black Hole + Instructions and Warranty Card up for auction starting at $25USD+shipping if anybody's interested in that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 MiniWriter III (not plus) https://ebay.com/224017329419 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 25 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said: MiniWriter III (not plus) https://ebay.com/224017329419 is there a pinout for that cable? I have the cart without one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+acadiel Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 20 minutes ago, arcadeshopper said: is there a pinout for that cable? I have the cart without one See here, post 36 onward: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelpedant Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 An NIB MBX showed up today. There's a Best Offer option. So no harm in offering something reasonable, I figure, if anyone's so inclined. Doesn't hurt to try, I suppose? Almost certainly too rich for my blood though, at any reasonably probable sale price. https://www.ebay.com/itm/MBX-Expansion-System-for-Texas-Instruments-TI-99-4a-Home-Computer-New-NOS/184305685224 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 That may be high-grade condition, mint or pristine, whatever. But, considering it is obvious that is NOT its new-in-box packaged condition, I refuse to accept that as new-old-stock. You cannot convince me that was never used even once. Even if it was just removed from the box and packaged it has been defiled. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 It is "yellow", isn´t it ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 I was just thinking the cables probably didn't ship like that 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 7 hours ago, Schmitzi said: It is "yellow", isn´t it ? It sure does NOT match the joystick (like the picture on the box). I cannot imagine that, “New in box, never used! See pictures, comes exactly as shown.” would accumulate so much UV damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Note that the bag the MBX is in is pink poly--that will distort the beige color to make it appear to be yellow. The cabling is the tell on this one though: the microphone cabling is mostly in the original looped shape that it would have been shipped in, but it is missing the tie and the bag is otherwise jumbled out of the original shape. The power supply cable is even further from the state it would have been shipped in. That said, there is no serious damage to the microphone foam, so it definitely never saw much in the way of use. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 25 minutes ago, Ksarul said: Note that the bag the MBX is in is pink poly--that will distort the beige color to make it appear to be yellow. Good to know, thanks for that info Ksarul. This is one of two TI items that has never appealed to me. For such a limited selection of games, it takes up way too much real estate on the desk and is way over valued to anyone but a collector with money to burn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Aside from the pink poly bag, some of those old brominated plastics will yellow with age with no exposure to UV light. Heat is one enemy and box acidity is another. I have unfortunate experience with these other factors. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelpedant Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 8 hours ago, INVISIBLE said: Good to know, thanks for that info Ksarul. This is one of two TI items that has never appealed to me. For such a limited selection of games, it takes up way too much real estate on the desk and is way over valued to anyone but a collector with money to burn. Yeah, Championship Baseball is really the only game anyone wants to play that fundamentally requires the system, so it's hard to see the price matching the payoff. Another thing that makes the MBX less desirable than it might otherwise be to me is just that it seems to be poorly understood, poorly documented, and utterly unsupported by any TI-99 libraries or development tools. It'd be one thing if I could "play" with its sound or speech synth or voice recognition. But if it's just a mysterious box that let's me play Championship Baseball? Kind of boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 I believe there is a development kit out there that allows folks to write their own code to use it (I'm not sure who wrote the tools, Rob Patton?). So it is some hardware that can use some more love. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed in SoDak Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 For a paltry $400 more, this one looks a bit more unmolested NIB. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MBX-Expansion-System-for-Texas-Instruments-TI-99-4a-Home-Computer-Very-Rare/143495070223?hash=item2168f9020f:g:kyQAAOSw-89eFTUQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 1 hour ago, Ed in SoDak said: For a paltry $400 more, this one looks a bit more unmolested NIB. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MBX-Expansion-System-for-Texas-Instruments-TI-99-4a-Home-Computer-Very-Rare/143495070223?hash=item2168f9020f:g:kyQAAOSw-89eFTUQ Now, THIS one I believe. But, not that rich. Meh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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