Axiom Parallax Printer interface versions?

[ckoba]

Could those who have Axiom Parallax parallel printer interfaces please let me know if the Axiom logo and product name is molded into the plastic case, or if there's merely an "Axiom" sticker on the top.

 

I have two units, one molded, one with a sticker. The former has a PROM, the latter an EPROM. The code is significantly different between the two, and I'm wondering if I have a prototype/early model on my hands.

 

Thanks ...

[+Ksarul]

Both of mine are the molded type. . .

[ckoba]

Huh. I might have an escaped prototype. Too bad that it was damaged (ripped-out parallel cable) and I therefore decided to modify it to use console power and a DB25 connector. Should have taken pictures before I started ripping it apart.

 

Would you happen to know which firmware was the latest? The possible-proto EPROM is marked "1140.40 A TI Parallax" on the sticker, and the molded unit's ROM says "CN49034N AXIOM-2120 Skx8428-t". Their guts are pretty much the same, except the possible-proto's 7805 wasn't on etched traces, but rather wired into the circuit with hookup wire.

(I am now starting to wonder about where this gear came from. This Axiom came with a PEB, the PEB contained a low-serial-number HRD+, and according to the calendar taped to the front, it hadn't been used since 1989)

 

Pictures of "after":

 

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by ckoba

[+Ksarul]

A lot of odd hardware shows up on the market now and again. A huge number of prototype/pre-production prototype cartridges have showed up for sale within the last two years--more than showed up in the previous ten. I now have three different iterations of the Navarone Cartridge Expander in my possession--and I'd never seen (or heard of) the third variant until this year. What's interesting there is that there was a guy scarfing up every TI collection he could up in the Pacific Northwest a few years ago who basically vacuumed up everything available for low prices (or free for pickup) to build his own collection, which he then got bored with and sold back into the community at relatively high prices (market or slightly above). This seems to be his personal collecting pattern (he'd done this with several different systems now, from what I've been able to gather). It does performa service to the community though, as his sweep netted a lot of hard-to-find items--like both of the variant Navarone Cartridge Expander types. That actually makes sense, as I seem to remember that the Expander was designed/tested in somewhere in Washington. He found a number of the early variant Scott Foresman modules/manuals too--the type that were only sold to schools--enough to pretty much double my collection of these early variants. Between what he had and what I already had I now have about a dozen of the large manuals and I even have five of them in their original color bookshelf boxes now.

 

All that just points to one useful fact: there is a LOT of interesting material showing up lately, some of which was completely unknown--or when known, not know to have survived before it popped onto the market out of whatever attic it had been occupying for the last 20+ years.

 

Thanks for the pix of the inside of the odd Axiom Interface. I've never opened mine to check the software revision on the chips. I do know that Atrax has an Axiom ROM in his collection of ROM files. I might be one of the two you have--or it might be a third variant.

[ckoba]

A lot of odd hardware shows up on the market now and again. A huge number of prototype/pre-production prototype cartridges have showed up for sale within the last two years--more than showed up in the previous ten. I now have three different iterations of the Navarone Cartridge Expander in my possession--and I'd never seen (or heard of) the third variant until this year. What's interesting there is that there was a guy scarfing up every TI collection he could up in the Pacific Northwest a few years ago who basically vacuumed up everything available for low prices (or free for pickup) to build his own collection, which he then got bored with and sold back into the community at relatively high prices (market or slightly above). This seems to be his personal collecting pattern (he'd done this with several different systems now, from what I've been able to gather). It does performa service to the community though, as his sweep netted a lot of hard-to-find items--like both of the variant Navarone Cartridge Expander types. That actually makes sense, as I seem to remember that the Expander was designed/tested in somewhere in Washington. He found a number of the early variant Scott Foresman modules/manuals too--the type that were only sold to schools--enough to pretty much double my collection of these early variants. Between what he had and what I already had I now have about a dozen of the large manuals and I even have five of them in their original color bookshelf boxes now.

 

All that just points to one useful fact: there is a LOT of interesting material showing up lately, some of which was completely unknown--or when known, not know to have survived before it popped onto the market out of whatever attic it had been occupying for the last 20+ years.

 

Thanks for the pix of the inside of the odd Axiom Interface. I've never opened mine to check the software revision on the chips. I do know that Atrax has an Axiom ROM in his collection of ROM files. I might be one of the two you have--or it might be a third variant.

 

I got this PEB (with Axiom) from a fellow in North Carolina; I got the impression that the seller was a son getting rid of his (hopefully deceased) father's gear. I'm guessing it wasn't part of the PNW hoarder's collection, as he had no other TI gear for sale.

 

I've put the ROM images up at https://www.disavowed.jp/ti/roms/

 

(I'm going to start a TI archive site, I think. I was going through the GameBase today trying to make order out of chaos, and the amount of bad/corrupt (extended or non) BASIC files in the disk images was nearly 10%. There's an obligatory xkcd for this idea: think https://xkcd.com/927/ , but replace "standards" with "TI software site"

[+Ksarul]

Ah yes, XKCD, one of my favorite places to find real humor!

[palmheads]

So only using the basic console, what do you reckon was the most popular way to print stuff back in the day. Using the Axiom parallel interface, or the JoyPrint quasi RS-232 interface?

 

Love reading the ads in the MP mags about early '85 advertising the basic console, mini-memory module, mini-writer word processor on cassette tape, axiom interface and a GP-100TI printer

[+Ksarul]

There were about a dozen sidecar expansions out there with a printer interface, the Axiom plug in, and a number of cartridge options (Paraprint and a whole bunch of utilities cartridges from DataBioTics). As you can see, there were a lot of different ways to get there.

[RickyDean]

There were about a dozen sidecar expansions out there with a printer interface, the Axiom plug in, and a number of cartridge options (Paraprint and a whole bunch of utilities cartridges from DataBioTics). As you can see, there were a lot of different ways to get there.

Yes I have about 7 or 8 side car types (if you include CF7+) , but don't think I have a cartridge version(but maybe tucked away somewhere undiscovered) and of course Corcomp and TI cards,for the expanded system.