Cheshire Noir

Yeah there's space in there for a pair of 110v PSU. (Found the cavity while cleaning it up). The Aussie PSU seems to be about 75% bigger than the US one so mine was plugged into the expansion, but wasn't in the expansion. There's definitely room enough I can hide something in there. I was looking at toroidals from Altronics. Not sure the minimum voltage the units will run from, but if they will support ~14V on the DC line, I can power both units from the one toroidal and hide the gubbins in the Expansion Interface. That way I could run both systems from the one wall connection. I'd want to build something with some safety features not found in the stock PSU, such as a fuse, and an on / off switch. I don't really want to case hack it, but it's already in rough shape. I will need to make a decision on that. Chesh

Hey Folks, Just got a TRS-80 Model 1, and Expansion Interface to match. (This was when I got it. It's much cleaner now) Both parts were dirty, but mostly cleaned up OK. The Model 1 has two dead keys, and one dodgy key, but otherwise seems to boot fine. Unfortunately I have no way (yet) to test the Expansion Interface, as I only got one PSU with the two units. I'll desolder the malfunctioning keys and see if I can resurrect them shortly. I may need to replace that evil keyboard ribbon cable while I'm at it. We shall see. Open to suggestions on a solution for the second PSU. The first one seems remarkably simple. A 16v transformer and a pair of diodes... Can't wait to get the expander working. Cheers! Chesh

Sorry, late to the thread, but my Retro Christmas present arrived 2 days after Christmas 🙂 I got a TRS-80 Model 1, complete with Expansion Adapter. Hoping to get it working so I can play 13 Ghosts. Don't worry, I spent yesterday evening cleaning off all that dirt. Chesh

Last two things I got were a Harmony Cart for my 2600 and a Concerto cart for my 7800. (I'll be giving the Harmony cart to my Dad who got the 2600 for his birthday and will be getting the Harmony cart for Christmas) Chesh

How about Forbidden Forest? Scared the carp out me as a kid! (I played it on the C64 but I do know it was ported to the A8. Now I'm gonna have to fire it up and try it) Chesh

I have an AVGCart and I'm a very happy customer. The newer versions are even available with a RAM expansion. Not sure compatibility with the XEGS, so worth checking with @tmp Chesh

I want to get a RAM expansion, and some PEB or PEB replacement. $$$ is the big limit at the moment 🙂 Chesh

How about some more "room by room" collectors like Manic Miner, Blagger, Jet Set Willy or countless other games. Chesh

Of course you have to luck in and get a system that handles the surprisingly funky video signal that the PAL TI puts out over component ;o) I went through three different systems before I found one that worked. Since then I've switched to using a GBS Control. I never expected it to work with the TI but it actually puts out an awesome image. Incredible bang for buck. Chesh

Heh. The good news is they arrived in the afternoon's mailrun. Loading games onto it now...

I ordered a FinalGROM99, which has now spent a week and a half stuck in Customs 😕 Chesh

Heh. Thanks! The plan for today is to see if I can get colour out of it. It's only got the one video out port, but I'm going to see if component out works initially, and if that doesn't work, I'll look at converting YUV to RGB somehow. (I have a whole bunch of links to read through already) @Duewester I'd never even heard of a QI version 99 before you mentioned it, so I went and looked it up and I don't think mine is. It has 3 voltage levels on the PSU, brass coloured ground fingers and a copyright date of 1981. I'll have a closer look if I have to dissect the machine any further. @mizapf right! I was wondering what I was doing wrong 🙂 The keyboard is subtly "wrong" to me, but TBH, it's not even remotely the worst keyboard I've had to deal with. (Looking at you, CreatiVision. Also the Commodore PET doesn't have number across the top row of keys, only on the numeric keypad. Why???) Once I have video sorted and the power supply less "janky" I guess it'll be time to start thinking about expanding it. As I got several other systems when I picked up this one, it could end up being an expensive year Cheers! Chesh

Well, whattaya know? it works! Now I can justify putting some actual $$$ into a solution. (I'll probably keep my "rig" I built together so I can test it with the other TI, but for now, I'm pretty chuffed with the results) Chesh

Did read through the FAQ, but found it a little ambiguous in places around my PAL setup. Thus my checking 🙂 (For instance, I'm still not entirely confident about how to wire up an AC power supply to the system. The picture of the power pack says "18vAC / 8.5vAC" whereas the illustration of the input connector says 8vAC, 16vAC and 5vAC. I'm assuming it's actually something around 16v with a center tap at around 8v. https://www.unige.ch/medecine/nouspikel/ti99/pinouts.htm#Power suggests the white wire is the center tap...) I do happen to have an ATX PSU with the -5V rail intact (An older model) so I'll try initial power up of the systems from that. I'll worry about something more reliable if they work. Chesh

Thanks @Hans23 and @ti99iuc! OK the transformer looks like a cheap way to test the system powers up and is relatively cheap and available locally. I can also get the parts for the simple mono video out as my first step 🙂 Once I know one of them is working, I can start looking at better solutions. Unfortunately both came with nothing. I pulled them out of a "junk pile" of old electronics. So far, of the machines I salvaged, 2 work, 1 partially works and 1 is dead. The TIs are next on my test list 🙂 Chesh

Hey Folks, New here, so I apologise if I'm off base at all. I have some hardware questions, but first a little background 🙂 I'm a "general" collector of 8 and 16 bit retro systems, triggered by a friend of mine giving me an Amiga CD32 about 8 years back. (Up until then, I'd been a fan of retro emulation). I'd been slowly growing my collection of "core" systems to cover the majority of 8 and 16 bit systems to the point where I was really only missing two main systems, that being the TRS-80 Model 1 and the TI-99/4A. Then the past weekend, while going through, cleaning up a "trashpile" of old systems, I managed to find a Dick Smith System 80, which is a clone of the TRS-80 Model 1, as well as a pair of TI-99/4As! (One beige and one silver) Back to the TI-99/4A, neither system came with modulator or power supply. I've been looking into my options for getting power in and picture out, but until I know the units are actually working, I don't want to put too much money into them. I'm also in Australia (PAL region) so ordering stuff from Ebay tends to mean I pay twice what the goods are worth in shipping, so DIY is my preferred option. On the power front, I was thinking of getting a suitable MeanWell and use it to bypass the internal regulator entirely... It'll work in my initial testing. The other alternative I have is I can get a transformer locally that's rated for 2A that has a 18V outer and 9V center tap I could possibly use? Is the extra 0.5v on the smaller winding going to be an issue? On the video front, well, that's more of an issue. I know PAL units do a "component" out. What are the chances I can feed that (Possibly with suitable resistors) into a Component capable monitor? (I have an old LCD TV I use for a lot of my systems) Anyway, great to enter the TI club, even if my systems don't yet work 🙂 Cheers! Chesh

Pharaoh's Curse, Boulderdash and Yoomp. I appreciate this list as it gives me games to look out for... ? Chesh

Played it. Got stuck on a stupid error of my own making. Read the walkthrough and realised my mistake and after that it was plain sailing. Oddly you can kill the hydra from in front of the dragon!

Mine is in the mail. Sigh. I'm worried Australia Post may have lost it. Chesh

I didn't get a chance. A family function came up so my window for games shrunk down. Might try it this weekend.

Thanks so much for that! I'll give it a go this weekend. Chesh

If it's not too much work, I'd love to see an English translation. I do love beetling around on text adventures. Chesh

I use a bit of everything. Wire wrapping "Kynar" for small bodges. I got a whole bunch of solid core copper wire from a Kickstarter I backed ages ago. (It's good, solid copper but the insulation is very low melting point.). Solid core CAT5. Some silicon wrapped stranded for general work. Rainbow cable for whenever I need to keep track of multiple wires. I scrounge most of my cable. Just keep my eyes peeled for stuff going through at work mostly. Lots of AV and IT stuff gets chucked. Chesh

Have a look at the XGecu T56 plus. It's the latest model from the people who did the TL866 and derivatives. It supports programming voltages up to 25v so is compatible with a lot of the older chips. The truly monstrous list of compatible chips can be found here: http://www.xgecu.com/MiniPro/T56_List.txt (Hint - it's a 1MB text file. That's a LOT of chips!) It's what I would have bought if I'd known it was coming. I got a TL866II+ about a week before it got released. I can still programme the more exotic chips, I just need to make a charging rig. Chesh

MAME has been doing a LOT of work with printers recently. 8bit Apples - Apple I, II, /// and the 16 bit GS - Forums (bannister.org) I wonder if any of it can be leveraged out for this task...