Secret Santa -- Giving TI's?

[Omega-TI]

Would it be mean to give a kid a TI as a "Secret Santa Gift"? Do you think kids these day's would just turn their nose up at a TI and never use it? Many of us have spare units in great shape, and Gazoo makes some neat cartridges".

 

There is not time for this Christmas season, since it would require someone to design and build a SMALL 32K memory expansion that could plug into the side of the TI, but not stick out very far, and be enclosed in a child-proof black 3D printed enclosure.

 

But I was thinking a TI could be paired with a couple of Gazoo's games and an educational cart. Some little kid might like it, and maybe, just maybe, we could get a very few of the next generation to love the TI too and carry on the legacy after we are gone.

 

What do you think? Is this a good group project for 2015?

[+Ksarul]

It would be better to put the 32K inside the console for this kind of thing, with an external switch to turn it off if you eventually want to expand the system using conventional means. . .

[Omega-TI]

It would be better to put the 32K inside the console for this kind of thing, with an external switch to turn it off if you eventually want to expand the system using conventional means. . .

 

I totally agree, that would be the best solution for the very young user 4-6 year group. I doubt many of us would go through all that soldering though, just to give it away. Honestly, I'm fair with a soldering iron, but this mod makes me apprehensive. I'd rather just buy a plug in module as it would be easy and no major modifications would be necessary.

 

If the kid really liked it and wanted to expand later, they could just unplug the module and go from there. Besides, I was thinking of targeting the 6-11 year old group. I figure if they can be trusted to remove an re-insert a game cartridge, a little box sticking out the side of the console about an inch should not be an issue. Besides, a little curiosity and experimenting with removing the memory card might be a good thing.

[Gazoo]

How about revisiting my idea of the 32k in the speech synthesizer? The games that need speech will have it and if the console develops a problem, the speech synthesizer/32k could be easily swapped to a new console.

 

Gazoo

[Omega-TI]

How about revisiting my idea of the 32k in the speech synthesizer? The games that need speech will have it and if the console develops a problem, the speech synthesizer/32k could be easily swapped to a new console.

 

Gazoo

 

That's a great idea too. If you do that, I'll buy one, but I'll have give it to one of my relatives instead, because the speech along with the 32K and the carts, exceeds the price range allowed.

[am1933]

Both my kids have enjoyed using the 4a, especially the educational modules, how much longer the novelty will last-I don't know.

 

On a plus note, my kids both have Nintendo DS handhelds with a plethora of games, it has been funny to watch my daughter get hooked on the Atari classics cartridge, you expect to hear the latest Mario soundtrack and instead get Haunted house, Battlezone and Centipede sound effects blaring through from the next room.

 

So-there is hope for the younger generation after all.