Omega-TI Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 With all these fantastic new cartridges coming out, a lot of old 'single program' cartridges are first to be sacrificed for their valuable shells.... but I wonder what do people actually do with the 'old guts'? Do you just unceremoniously throw them in the garbage? Do you save them, or parts of them, for any reason at all? Are there EEPROMS that could be used with these boards? Even if the answer is yes, what would you put on one? I suppose if you had enough of them you could make a 'work of art' like an airplane model or something, but I gotta know... what do you do with obsolete cartridge guts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 (edited) i am creating on my Website in DataBase a section dedicated to the PCB of the cards ... all the ones without a case, i have in a shoes Box Edited October 17, 2015 by ti99iuc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I have mine sitting in a small box. I have send a couple out to other people that needed one a time a two. But most are just sitting here, gathering dust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I can't quite bring myself to throwing them out, so they are currently accumulating in an antistatic bag. ...lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 In the least, get rid of them with other "electronics recycling". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Ill take any unwanted cart boards to put on my walls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 One use for them is to use them to make a list of all of the GROM and ROM part numbers used by TI in their cartridges. I have several hundred that I've put aside for that purpose now. . .and it might make sense to keep them off to the side for repair of damaged cartridges in the future, as the GROMs (as original TI product) are no longer available from any other source. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 One use for them is to use them to make a list of all of the GROM and ROM part numbers used by TI in their cartridges. I have several hundred that I've put aside for that purpose now. . That must be some list/database! "Shall we play a game?" Can anyone name this cartridge from the information provided? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I don't know what it is; but, it must have been produced immediately before/after “Household Budget Management”, which has chips with “CD2015ANL” and “CD2016ANL”. Because it has a “PHM” just before HBM and a similar subject, I will guess “Home Financial Decisions”. ...lee 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 ... I will guess “Home Financial Decisions”. ...lee Damn, you're good! Spot on! I'm impressed. Sadly, I have go to now... but I'll be back in just over 8 hours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Wow... That was impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Box of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jedimatt42 Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 That is crazy impressive recognition! I thought those chips looked familiar myself. I've only only stolen shells from 2 carts, and didn't remember what they were. Plugged it in, and sure enough that was it. Looking at grom only boards, TI impresses me. Those groms seemed like such a strange thing to do. But the proprietary chip simplifies the boards so much. I have one other board bare... 4 groms: CD2020ANL, CD2021ANL, CD2022NL, CD2023NL, with rom CN19310N Anyone recognize that? -M@ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I had that one apart, so I know what it is—but, I'll let someone else get in on the fun! ...lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jedimatt42 Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Oh, and I wouldn't recycle them just yet. I was out at PRGE today, and something was very clear. Cartridges survive. Someday after the internet apocalypse, these systems that use solid state software, will still have software being traded. I saw about 1 shoebox of Atari 8 bit cartridges, enough 2600 cartridges to drown in. And of course tons of various generations of nintendo and sega cartridge wars. CD's were still being traded, although consumers were taking the precautions of checking for scratches. But magnetic media didn't last. Oh, I saw one 4A black and silver for sale, and one 4A beige for sale. Very little in the way of classic computing, even though those systems sank or swam by their game titles (that last part is just my uneducated opinion) Anyway, it doesn't seem right to recycle our cartridge innards for scrap metal just yet. I remember as a kid, I found a bare 2600 cartridge board in the street. It had been run over, and was muddy. I cleaned it up, and plugged it in, and was shocked then, that it worked. I don't think I ever knew what that game was called, as it didn't have a title screen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Did you stop by my Booth? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jedimatt42 Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Did you stop by my Booth? Greg I looked for ya, but didn't spot you...maybe I left too early... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 What ever happened to the Bank Switch Mini? Was it ahead of it's time? Why did it disappear? Might this be a good time to return? One question... was this just for boards with edge connectors on both sides a 256K, or did it work with single sided boards as a 128K? This might be a viable solution for all those wasted cartridge guts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 This one needed the ROM socket, so a lot of the GROM only boards were useless here. I don't think Matthew ever did more than his original test run of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Okay, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I was in Afghanistan when this came out, apparently from the date on the chip. Is there still some information about it somewhere. I may have a few rom boards around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I usually just bin 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krslam Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Put handwritten labels on them with ambiguous notations and sell them on eBay as "possible prototype! RARE!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 What ever happened to the Bank Switch Mini? Was it ahead of it's time? Why did it disappear? Might this be a good time to return? I built a few prototypes and they work great. The main problems with them are: 1. They still require an EEPROM programmer device, which are expensive and inconvenient for the masses in the face of flash-memory these days. 2. The are a pain in the ass to build (the biggest problem with them.) They have to be low-profile to fit on an original cartridge board an into the case. 3. Since the cartridge boards did not connect all the address pins, it requires the extra wires as shown in the image you posted (which contributes to #2.) 4. They don't have very much memory compared to what they could have if they were based on modern and *cheaper* flash memories. 5. You need a cartridge PCB to start with. While I have a huge pile of these that came out of TI-Invaders carts (they were sacrificed just for the shells), once they are gone the Mini-Board is useless. One question... was this just for boards with edge connectors on both sides a 256K, or did it work with single sided boards as a 128K? This might be a viable solution for all those wasted cartridge guts. As Ksarul mentioned, they require that the donor PCB have the ROM footprint/socket, which not all cartridge boards have. It also requires all the address lines. The cart boards I had were coming out of TI-Invaders carts. Interestingly, the TI-Invaders boards have footprints for up to five GROMs, and you can take the system GROMs out of the console and put them into the spare GROMs sockets in a cartridge. It does not matter where the GROMs are physically located. This makes it possible to distribute a new "OS" for the 99/4A on a cartridge (at least the parts that are in the system GROMs.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I used to visualize using a TI99 to control the fuel injection on a car. And was wondering how the system could be locked so as to prevent theft of the car. Now I know of another way, remove the cart, remove the OS, simple. BTY I will take a picture of a cartridge shell that was created in the 90's for a super cart type deal. It had a BCD switch and light. It was part of a shipped kit, but I can't find the innards, that would house about any height rom or grom stack in a cart(to a limit,. and upload it tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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