OT: Ongoing holiday specials. (Was Cyber Monday)

[Omega-TI]

Okay guys, I found a great deal for those that want a laser printer for Christmas.  << THIS PRINTER >> is the best printer I've ever owned, in fact a few of us here in the TI section have the nearly identical M477.  Now you can get one for hundreds less than what we paid.

 

[digdugnate]

i have the M475 at the house that I use in my home office- it's served us well (with a few minor hiccups) for at least 8 years.

[Omega-TI]

3 hours ago, digdugnate said:

i have the M475 at the house that I use in my home office- it's served us well (with a few minor hiccups) for at least 8 years.

 

I looked up the number and your printer seems pretty nice.  The one selling at Amazon for only $350.00 looks exactly like my M477 with an apparent change in software (on the screen) and the use of a different toner cartridge (the 414 instead of the 410).  I love mine, for a laser it's compact and loaded with features, even if it's built like a tank and heavy as hell... kind of like a modern version of a P-Box!

[wierd_w]

I have a large format printer. (Designjet 1055CM)  I can print up to 36" wide, and as long as the roll will go.

 

For day to day things, I am content with my black and white only laserjet 4Vi. It's old, but still works.

[Omega-TI]

6 minutes ago, wierd_w said:

I have a large format printer. (Designjet 1055CM)  I can print up to 36" wide, and as long as the roll will go.

I have a friend who HAD one of those that he got for "free" from his workplace.  He said every time he printed a poster for his daughter he would use up a couple of it's ink cartridges.  Is it really that bad on ink?

[wierd_w]

no... Not really.  I think his ink system may have a bad air pressurization unit.  The 1055CM uses a pressurized ink system that is basically an integrated "Bulk ink".  The tanks hold about half a liter each!!  If he used half a liter of ink on a poster, it would be sopping and dripping!

 

(besides, they are not that expensive if you buy on ebay.  Alternatively, you can switch to generic bulk ink if you buy the right stuff at alibaba.

Edited December 3, 2019 by wierd_w

[Omega-TI]

I don't have room for one myself, but for the gamer who has almost everything, why not his own << brand new Pac Man arcade machine >>?

 

[digdugnate]

i see those 1UP machines every time I go to Wal-Mart- I would really like to have one (or two) at the house.  The price point is good for us, but we just have no room in the house.

 

I get the side-eye every time I mention that I want to get one for the house, lol

[wierd_w]

Maybe I can sweeten the deal...

 

There are HDMI driver boards for RPis (Or anything else with HDMI output...) that will work with the displays in those 1UP arcades.  They are a damn-near ready conversion for MAME-ARCADE uprights.

 

If you combine that with something like a PiCade-X you can wire up the controls and everything.

 

(And MAME does TI-99A ;))

Edited December 3, 2019 by wierd_w

[+mizapf]

When I was young, I would have loved to spend my time in arcade halls. However, this was impossible here in Germany. We only had a chance to see some during holidays in other countries.

 

Soon after the first ones showed up, they were collectively banned; to be precise, the shop/pub/gaming hall was forced to check the minimum age of 18, so they wandered off into the XXX areas, and then completely away. We all grew up with none of these machines and only had our home computers. Maybe this was the reason for the popularity of home computers in Germany.

 

The reason for the ban sounds unexpected: Because these machines took money and were based on skills. That is, if they were open to youngsters, they could feel urged to invest a lot of money for improving their skills, and even worse, most machines offered a "Insert coin to continue", which provided another reason for spending money. All this was considered hazardous for the development of children and youngsters.

 

(You can build machines based on chance and open to children, as long as they do not provide a particular incentive to continue playing, e.g. for a win of money.)

 

@wierd_wMAME does TI-99, MAME runs Arcade on Raspi, but MAME does not run TI-99 on Raspi. It is still light years away from the minimum system performance. With the new Raspi 4, this may be reduced to only dozens of Astronomical Units.

[wierd_w]

Since that HDMI driver supports anything with HDMI, you could also use a minnowboard.

 

They cost a boatload more than a Pi, but are equivalent to a low end PC. (Since they run Atom processors.)  I have an older minnowboard floating around.  I intend to give it to my sister as a minecraft server.

[+FarmerPotato]

1 hour ago, mizapf said:

When I was young, I would have loved to spend my time in arcade halls. However, this was impossible here in Germany. We only had a chance to see some during holidays in other countries.

 

Soon after the first ones showed up, they were collectively banned; to be precise, the shop/pub/gaming hall was forced to check the minimum age of 18, so they wandered off into the XXX areas, and then completely away. We all grew up with none of these machines and only had our home computers. Maybe this was the reason for the popularity of home computers in Germany.

 

The reason for the ban sounds unexpected: Because these machines took money and were based on skills. That is, if they were open to youngsters, they could feel urged to invest a lot of money for improving their skills, and even worse, most machines offered a "Insert coin to continue", which provided another reason for spending money. All this was considered hazardous for the development of children and youngsters.

 

(You can build machines based on chance and open to children, as long as they do not provide a particular incentive to continue playing, e.g. for a win of money.)

 

@wierd_wMAME does TI-99, MAME runs Arcade on Raspi, but MAME does not run TI-99 on Raspi. It is still light years away from the minimum system performance. With the new Raspi 4, this may be reduced to only dozens of Astronomical Units.

 

It's funny that the opposite happened in the US.

 

Pinball machines were considered games of chance, and restricted like gambling machines. Until New York city council ruled that pinball was a game of skill, not gambling, after Roger Sharpe made a famous center ramp shot. This opened the way for games everywhere.

 

https://gizmodo.com/how-one-perfect-shot-saved-pinball-from-being-illegal-1154267979

 

[Omega-TI]

<< HERE >> is something really cool for your Tetris players...