TI without the SOLID STATE SOFTWARE

[TI-GAMER]

I picked up a TI-99/4A today and it does not have the SOLID STATE SOFTWARE label on the bottom of the Cartridge Slot area. It looks as if this model never even had one. Is there a particular reason why some came with them and some did not?

 

Thanks

[Shift838]

Just a design change. Just like when the 99/4a came out it had a slot to actually slide the overlay strip into and then they removed it a couple of years later. I personally think that was a mistake in design. I liked having the slot!

 

I have both with and without the software badge.

[+OLD CS1]

From other conversations around here, I believe the "Solid State Software" badge was made to cover the volume control slider of the 99/4 when the 4A was built in the same cases.

[+Ksarul]

And that volume control was only installed in the very early 99/4s shipped to Europe (at the end of 1979/early 1980). The circuit card for the volume slide took up a lot of the space normally occupied by the internal power supply, so these consoles didn't have one. The external power supply output the necessary DC voltages for the console (unlike US and later European machines that used external power supplies with an AC output).

[+OLD CS1]

FWIW, I have notice a couple of non-badged 4As up on eBay this week.