TI-99 Photos Thread! Post your systems here!

[Omega-TI]

My TI 99/4a console (w/Speech Synthesizer) and PEB. Anyone willing to sell a 32k memory expansion card and/or disk drive and controller card for the PEB?

 

Sorry, my Atari 130XE and 1050 floppy drive photobomb end the pic.

 

Nothing that a little "Quick & Dirty" editing cannot take care of...

 

[+Schmitzi]

yes, nice done. and very TI-friendly

 

[Omega-TI]

MilipedeMan,

After eyeballing your keyboard strip in the photo, I figure you might want to << CLICK HERE >>

 

BTW - Your TI & P-Box look BRAND NEW!

[LynxHandyCaster]

MilipedeMan,

After eyeballing your keyboard strip in the photo, I figure you might want to << CLICK HERE >>

 

BTW - Your TI & P-Box look BRAND NEW!

 

Hi,

 

Thanks so much for your kind words about the condition of my console and PEB. The console I got from feeBay about three years ago for around $45. It came with no games (or, obviously, the menu strip), but it was in an original box. I got a few CIB games (Parsec, Blasto, and Munchman) as well as the Speech Synthesizer a little while later.

 

I just got the PEB from a seller on feeBay for $80 plus $30 s/h. It's empty, but what sold me on it was its immaculate condition and the fact that at least the flex "fire hose" cable was included. The seller did an excellent job of packing it into an old Dell box (I know, the irony, right?)...lots of bubblewrap. I won the auction on Sunday night (1/31) and it was on my front porch yesterday afternoon (2/5). A great sale all around, and kudos to the seller. And I have to thank David Greelish (of "The History of Personal Computing" podcast) for directing me to the feeBay auction listing via his podcast's Facebook page.

 

Also, thanks for directing me to the PDFs of the menu strips!

 

Talk to you soon.

 

MillipedeMan

[+Schmitzi]

welcome

 

[ralphb]

"Magic" and "More Magic"? (link)

[+Schmitzi]

.

Yes, somehow magic & strange. But I forgot to tell you:

 

If you press them, I do not forgive. And I do not forget. But about this 2 switches

 

 

[ElectricLab]

What do the switches do?

[+Schmitzi]

They switch

 

(sorry, but I don´t know about, so I have to find out)

 

Maybe Reset, and hmmm loadus interruptus ???

[mizapf]

You know that one? Sold by a guy just living two streets away from me ...

 

I'll be bringing that one to our Birkenau Treff.

[+Schmitzi]

hmm, DOS 2.11 or 3.0, maybe 3.20 ?

[mizapf]

Looking inside ... (scaled down for displaying here)

 

(yes, DOS 2.11)

[mizapf]

In the package I got with the TI Professional Computer I found this nice, well preserved brochure, so I scanned it for a PDF. I've got 600dpi scans and scaled them down for this PDF - guess this is sufficient, but if desired I can created a PDF with higher resolution.

 

ti_professional.pdf

[Omega-TI]

I remember reading a rant from a guy a long time ago about how Texas Instruments sent letters out to some user groups offering them a 'special deal' on a TI Professional computer. The guy basically said, "Screw 'em". He also said something to the effect, "...after they abandoned the /4A and their loyal user's, they have the balls to try and screw us all over again one more time with another soon to be abandoned box? Shame on them."

[mizapf]

It's somewhat painful to read this brochure, not because the TI Professional Computer was such a great thing but how the, well, modest capabilities are praised. The brochure is from 1983, and the IBM PC was released just two years before. So what does it offer?

 

- Intel 8088 16 bit CPU (with 8 bit data bus, rings a bell?), presumably 4.77 MHz clock (not specified in the brochure)

- 64 KiB RAM, expandable to 256 KiB

- "High resolution display": 720 x 300 pixel, sounds like MDA (Monochrome Display Adapter), but supports color graphics obviously ("8 shades or 8 colors")

- Monochrome/color CRT controller with 4 KiB display memory

- FD1793 floppy controller on the mainboard (double density)

- Hard disk controller (MFM HD, "Winchester") with up to 10 MiB storage

 

From the tone of the brochure I would have expected something like "And we added a sophisticated green switch to the right side of the case, easily accessible also in bad light conditions, which allows you to turn your TI Professional Computer on and off at any point of time that you desire so that your system is only running at times that you actually need it."

 

I mean, the TI-99/8 would have almost reached up to those capabilities, and I would not be surprised if there were some considerations in the marketing division to keep some space between the TI-99* family and the Professional Computer. As I earlier said, offering the 99/8 with a VDP of the same capabilities as the one in the 99/4A was ridiculous. On the other hand, 80 column support could have become too attractive. Who knows.

 

Here are some more photographs.

Edited February 28, 2016 by mizapf

[+Schmitzi]

.

hmmm, a FD1793-DD-Chip ?

[mizapf]

Here's an interesting article that I found when searching the net for the TI Professional Computer: https://books.google.de/books?id=wy4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA63#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

The TI PC was obviously priced at $2000 - $3000 in 1984, less than what I expected. An ad from March 1984 says

 

List price: $2,195 for basic unit with 64K RAM, keyboard, monochrome monitor, CRT controller, and single 320K disk drive. Extra disk drive $475, Winchester 10 megabyte hard disk $2295.

(For 1984 there was an exchange rate of $1 = DM 2.85 = (theoretically) €1.46; so this configuration that I have here could have easily cost DM 13000.- or (theor.) € 6700)

[+Schmitzi]

.

The seller told something about 100.000 DM full price IIRC (for the fully and new system, with software and some more, BITD)

[mizapf]

The seller told something about 100.000 DM full price IIRC (for the fully and new system, with software and some more, BITD)

 

I guess this mainly refers to the accompanying specific software (CAD/CAM) which may, of course, add a considerable amount to the total price.

[+Schmitzi]

ah yes, there was something with CAD

[mizapf]

By the way, I took the photographs with the objects on a white cardboard on the floor, daylight through the window, and the camera on a tripod above all that. Now to improve the camera shots I just ordered my first "Softbox" (didn't know it was called like this until just an hour ago...). I hope that it will have some positive effect.

[MurdockScott]

Just a "Product Photography" shot I did of one of my nicer units back in 2004 for fun.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2016 by MurdockScott

[MurdockScott]

I will have to admit that I don't have a permanent place to leave a TI99/4a system hooked up, but often when I am showing my 7yr old son some basic (and letting him play a few classic games) this is how we roll.

The rest of the time my two TI99's live on a shelf with my working Mac Plus, Lisa, Message Pad 100, Radius 81/110, Original iPod and various other Apple boxes. I am sure that if they could talk they would all have very long and interesting conversations.

Edited March 5, 2016 by MurdockScott

[Omega-TI]

 

Just a "Product Photography" shot I did of one of my nicer units back in 2004 for fun.

 

That might look good on a TI-Shirt!

 

[MurdockScott]

 

That might look good on a TI-Shirt!

 

Hmmm, yes but it would require some pithy slogan to go along with it... Perhaps "Still Sexy" or "Aluminum BEFORE it was cool..." : )