TI-99 Photos Thread! Post your systems here!

[Opry99er]

Welcome to the group. Love the pics, and love the story.

 

Please let us know if we can help to enrich your experience in any way.

[+Ksarul]

I suspect that a keycap was lost at some point and the black one replaced it (it was (and is) realtively easy to find a replacement keycap). It probably got pulled from the keyboard of a dead machine to make yours whole. There are very subtle differences in the shape/printing on the six or seven keytop variants that used the square posts--but nothing that would detract from the overall appearance.

[twoodland]

Welcome ChiefOddBall. I enjoyed reading your story and look forward to more posts!

[jwild]

 

Same TI-99/4A I had as a kid.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[+jmazzy]

Not a system photo, I know, but couldn't resist sharing this photo of my front door:

 

 

(Funny thing, I never made the connection until Tursi pointed it out recently while we were exchanging msgs about my shipping address.)

[+Schmitzi]

Bazingaaaa

[pixelpedant]

Here's a different kind of system setup pic. It's a flowchart representation of my TI 99/4A setup (and the a/v signal processing paths relevant to it) from within my larger (wildly superfluous - I love old a/v processing tech) signal processing and display setup. Signal paths do not in any way reflect physical location. The TI 99/4A is right under my Panasonic PVM, in the middle of my desk.

 

[+arcadeshopper]

Got in my new BX-70 joysticks today from https://www.bxfoundry.com/ work great with my Atari joystick adapter

 

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

[+Vorticon]

$80 for a joystick??? And that's the cheapest model! At first I thought the case was metal, which would have been cool and possibly justify the price, but for a plastic case, that's far too much.

[Omega-TI]

Got in my new BX-70 joysticks today from https://www.bxfoundry.com/ work great with my Atari joystick adapter

 

 

Ahhh, right handed sticks! The way a joystick truly ought to be! (It's my OPINION and I'm sticking with it!)

[+arcadeshopper]

$80 for a joystick??? And that's the cheapest model! At first I thought the case was metal, which would have been cool and possibly justify the price, but for a plastic case, that's far too much.

They are supernice but yes i got them on a sale

 

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

[Shift838]

$80 for a joystick??? And that's the cheapest model! At first I thought the case was metal, which would have been cool and possibly justify the price, but for a plastic case, that's far too much.

 

I built mine myself for less than $30 and it works great with my Atari Joystick adapter. Very easy build. The most time was to paint my enclosure and cut the decals out.

[+mizapf]

I've been working on photo shots for my new website; this is a picture I took from my Geneve, already isolated. There's some fake stuff in it, though.

• I cleaned the keyboard from the worst stains (this is when you work on the picture, noticing that you forgot to clean the keyboard before)
• I added artificial shadows below the box, keyboard, and the mouse that I cut away before.

The most fun was that I later found that I should have taken a picture of the running system. The picture was taken when then system was powered down.

• I added a MAME screenshot and painted the box slot 1 as active. I think it still looks fairly natural, but it is really difficult to add a screenshot to a real photograph (had to distort, desaturate, add graining, blurring etc.). But it is somewhat fun trying to fake a picture.

 

 

 

[Derrick Wildstar]

(I could've sworn I created an account when I first bought a Coleco SD cart sometime in 2015 but I guess I didn't.) So this is my first post. Thanks for reading!

Brief backstory: I am a gamer since electo-mechanical handhelds, Electronic Quarterback, Pong (whichever knock-off), etc. One of the best memories of my life was buying Colecovision with my own money in 1983. I have never actually owned a TI-99 and would not even consider myself a novice. I don't even know any run commands or anything. However, I was born in late 1970 and do vividly remember the TI display Kmart had with multiple cartridges on retractable cables. Sometimes one of the games would even be playing, I recall a Space Invaders knock-off I liked.

Earlier this month I noticed a Craigslist ad for a free Texas Instruments computer-that's all it said. For sometime I have wanted a TI-99 just to mess around with some games, especially after seeing an SD cart available. I noticed the ad at 1 a.m. and it had been posted about an hour. If not for being so late I don't think I would have stood much of a chance of getting it. After a few days the guy did call me back. He told me I was the first person in line and the following morning/day he got several more calls. This computer was his wife's, with her father as the original purchaser that used it in some sort of business application. On the phone I told him basically what I just mentioned above about Kmart and mainly wanting to play some games. He said it was all in a big box and not sure of what was included. I said I would be grateful for anything they wanted to give me.

Everything was very dusty when I unloaded the box at home. I deoxit'd the power and video connectors was the only thing I did besides a basic cleaning. The computer itself did fire right up I was pleased to see. Keys 6-0 don't seem to work but hopefully I can get those working. Not sure if they use a driver chip like Coleco does for its controllers. Again I barely know anything about TI computers. The only cart I have is the TI extended basic in the pics so I couldn't really try it very much.

I am way out of my league with this unit. The expansion module has a couple interfaces that I'd love to know what they are. I think the one might be for a printer cable? The tape recorder that was included does still play audio cassettes pretty well. I remember the hand me down tape recorder I had back then, Panasonic I think. That G.E. looks like it was quite a premium device in comparison. There was also some random cords thrown in the box. (Gotta love extra cords.) There is a pic of one in my hand I have no idea what it is either.

Where I live the scrappers are like vultures and I am afraid that had I not been lucky the expansion module is pretty heavy and likely might've been scrapped. Not sure what I will do with it (expansion module) yet, I do love to trade though and maybe there will be a swap meet or something near me. I did notice a couple days later the guy updated the ad instead of just deleting it. It said "Thanks to everyone that responded, the TI is gone. I think it went to a good home too." This was nice to read I thought.

[+OLD CS1]

Please do not power up with that ColecoVision cartridge in the port.

[+Vorticon]

Nice catch. The peripheral expansion box is the best part and you've got an RS232 card in there as well.

[Omega-TI]

Keys 6-0 don't seem to work but hopefully I can get those working.

 

Could be a broken wire on the TI's keyboard ribbon cable. If it's too gone to fix, contact ArcadeShopper and can set you up with a new cable.

[Tursi]

That is a nice haul! You'll want to keep the PEB, probably, there are still a few cards worth it if you get serious.

 

 

 

Not sure if they use a driver chip like Coleco does for its controllers. Again I barely know anything about TI computers.

 

No, nothing so serious. the I/O chip in the TI is pretty reliable. Most likely if some of the keys are working and not others, the keys are just dirty. Usually just repeated hits are enough to get them going.

 

(edit) Omega has a good point about the broken wire though.. the keyboard map does line up with your failed keys, and some of the keyboards have notoriously bad ribbon cables.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Tursi

[+Ksarul]

Nice catch! Looking at the PEB, you have the 32K expansion (really useful for Extended BASIC use, necessary for a lot of the newer homebrew cartridges, and necessary for several other original TI cartridges as well). Another of the cards (with the edge connector poking out the back) is your disk controller. The drive in the box is single-sided, single density (when used with this controller, it is actually a double-density drive hardware-wise), so it stores 90K, but the controller is capable of using double-sided drives, so you can double the capacity of each drive that way (you can connect up to three of them to your controller). The RS-232 is the card with the blue connector on it. That connector is for a Centronics parallel printer, the black connector above it is for up to two RS-232 devices. Note that the pin-out is a bit non-standard to force signals for two devices into a single connector (there are splitters to break them out and move the pins to standard positions). The ports are also wired as DCE (as opposed to the more common DTE), so no crossover is required on pins 2 and 3. The last card in the box (with the huge cable) is the Flex Cable. It connects the PEB to the right side of the console (there is a little door that slides up where it goes in). All of the cards in your box are very useful, so you have a great start towards a fantastic system. One other note: the lid of the PEB is removable by pressing two spring tabs (one on the left and the other on the right) that fit into the underside of the lid. Replacement is the reverse of the removal, except you don't need to touch the tabs when putting the lid back as they slide into place on their own.

 

I hope this helps advance your understanding of the nice new system you have.

[Derrick Wildstar]

Thanks for all the info and the brief TI 101 amigos! Thanks Omega for the schematic as well. Since I already own a few dozen tube TVs and the RS232 is less than half the size of the average CRT I gotta keep it. It only makes sense to, only to be kicking myself later if not. In the not too far future I will open the TI99 and go through it. I'll give you folks a full report of what I find with that ribbon, hopefully nothing though. Thanks again I am excited.

[jrhodes]

Before TIPI:

After TIPI:

[+Schmitzi]

The "oldest" one, possibly with the hardest journey, got the best place with the best view and most sun

 

 

[+Schmitzi]

 

[+Ksarul]

Remember, Scmitzi is NOT a hoarder--he just loves the TI decorative style. . . Of course, I also have at least that many consoles lurking about, although Turtles has confiscated a few of them for his own use lately.

[+Vorticon]

I guess Schmitzi is all set in case the machines take down Skynet and we have to revert to obsolete technology...

I now definitely know who to go to in case my console goes bust!