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32k case, how important is it?


jrhodes

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How essential is a case/housing for the 32k?
Have one on the way, but due to tight money i opted not to get the case or power cord (i actually got one laying around i can steal for that purpose)
Is the TI and/or 32k in any real danger (besides dust) if i go ahead and use it caseless?
If it matters any to the question at hand, i do to plan use it through the speech synth, not straight off the TI.

 

Also, the "burn in" test program... Is there any thing like that i can load off of tape/wav from XB to test out the unit when i get it? (I do not have a final grom to load it from)

Edited by jrhodes
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Using a case is up to the preference of the user, so I can only give you my OPINION on them, with that disclaimer out of the way...

 

I am 100% in the, "HELL YES YOU NEED A CASE" column. Why? In the real world anything can happen, you could spill your coffee, beer or soda by accident. The electronics could come into contact with something and zap a chip. But basically for the things you don't expect or plan for that can happen.

 

A secondary reason, simply aesthetics. Some people don't mind the look of bare wires and electronics exposed, but it you don't like the look and you want to protect your stuff from damage, CASE IT!

 

Here is a video of the latest case to come out for the 32K sidecar.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSdp8-6P1I

I have one that I only used for one day!

 

For any newbies just coming in, below is the Awesome 32K he's talking about...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5DELwC-6I

 

And if you have the 32K + TIPI & RPi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36qLdGn9Lxc

Edited by --- Ω ---
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If you can do something to reduce the consequences of an accident, then that is a good idea. But functionally, cases don't matter. I think I saw someone adapt a audio cassette case to the job... The case prevents that big-gulp from dousing your memory. If that happened, odds are you can just wash it off with water and isopropyl alcolhol and be good as new.

 

If you short something on it, it shouldn't cause any lasting damage to the memory or the TI. Every pin on there should be able to handle 5v... There are a few pins with 12v or -12v just passing through on the connector... Shorting those through the 5v circuitry could cause damage.

 

I know Arcadeshopper used to show up at TI shows with a Nanopeb or similar with just a bit of bubble wrap taped over it, just to keep hands off and accidents at bay.

 

-M@

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As for the burn-in test... The code I wrote is designed to run outside the 32k space, which is why it runs from a cartridge. ti99-geek.nl also has some memory tests that run from supercart, or minimem I think...

 

Hopefully the builder ran the burn-in for you before shipping it. That was the purpose of the tool.

 

You can use call load in XB to write to memory, and call peek to read it back... and a big for loop... you'd need to stay out of the memory locations XB treats as meaningful... This is just theory... What cartridges do you have?

Or you could play with arrays in XB to just stress it out of VDP space and fill up memory as much as possible, then read and write to them... Writing a sufficient, purely XB memory test could be a fun adventure.

 

-M@

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As for the burn-in test... The code I wrote is designed to run outside the 32k space, which is why it runs from a cartridge. ti99-geek.nl also has some memory tests that run from supercart, or minimem I think...

 

Hopefully the builder ran the burn-in for you before shipping it. That was the purpose of the tool.

 

You can use call load in XB to write to memory, and call peek to read it back... and a big for loop... you'd need to stay out of the memory locations XB treats as meaningful... This is just theory... What cartridges do you have?

Or you could play with arrays in XB to just stress it out of VDP space and fill up memory as much as possible, then read and write to them... Writing a sufficient, purely XB memory test could be a fun adventure.

 

-M@

For carts, just XB, parsec, alpiner

 

 

 

Yep quite a while back that's what I did!

 

sml_gallery_35324_1027_33310.jpgsml_gallery_35324_1027_3270.jpg

med_gallery_35324_1027_89371.jpg

Omega, that is pretty neat!

You just snapped the tape pins, and chopped a hole for the edge connector to go through, or is there more to it then that?

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For carts, just XB, parsec, alpiner

 

 

Omega, that is pretty neat!

You just snapped the tape pins, and chopped a hole for the edge connector to go through, or is there more to it then that?

 

Pretty much, I just used a Dremel to to cut off the pins and to make the hole for the connector.

 

Tell you what, if you don't mind waiting a couple of days, until I go down to the post office, I'll pick up a Bubbelope and toss the item (pictured below) in it and send it to you. Just send me your address in a PM.

post-35324-0-62422700-1530727300_thumb.jpg

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I used a plastic namecard box to cover the 32k and taped it to the Speech Synth. To avoid external 5V supply. Adapt the speech to pull the 5v from internal in the console?

 

Sent from my VIE-L29 using Tapatalk

 

I considered doing the speech synth power mod, but i like to keep hardware original.

Even my mod chip / import solutions for game systems are either:

1. software based (wii twilight princess loader style or otherwise easy to remove leaving little to no trace of use)

2. plug-in hardware based (for the original psx, i used a plug-in called the "mini golden finger". combo cheat codes + import chip bypass. attached to thport on the back right of the systems backside)

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