Unknown TI-99/4A Command Module

MikeG · January 11, 2023

I found this home computer command module in with a box of other modules. There is no label and has an attached metal loop.

It has this stamped number on back - 6100092

Any help identifying it would be greatly appreciated.

+acadiel · January 12, 2023

What are the GROM numbers on the inside PCB?

NISMOPC · January 12, 2023

I have one just like it. Pretty sure these were all educational carts used in schools and they would wire them up so they weren't stolen. That, or they were used in store demo displays and wired for same reason. Anti theft.

+Ksarul · January 12, 2023

Basically, there are two ways to find out what it is: open it up to read the part numbers on the GROM chips and compare them to the master GROM list (attached), or plug the cartridge into a console and see what it displays.

On the metal loop, cartridges with these on them were part of store displays BITD. TI provided the displays and the display hardware to assist the stores' efforts to showcase/sell TI stuff. There are a lot of these out there (I think I have about 30-40 of them in my collection). Most of them were common titles, but a few were also somewhat HTF titles, so you may get lucky.

GROM List V7.odt

+OLD CS1 · January 12, 2023

I saw a lot of these at K-Mart as part of the 99/4A display, with a PEB, too. Parsec, TI Invaders, Munch Man, Hunt the Wumpus,and Car Wars were among the titles I remember (or at least played.)

pixelpedant · January 12, 2023

Yeah, my family picked up various Toys R Us TI stuff when they were clearing out their inventory on an "everything must go" basis, and that even included a Munch Man display cart with one of these tethers, which I still have somewhere.

+OLD CS1 · January 12, 2023

1 hour ago, pixelpedant said:

Yeah, my family picked up various Toys R Us TI stuff when they were clearing out their inventory on an "everything must go" basis, and that even included a Munch Man display cart with one of these tethers, which I still have somewhere.

If I can get a good enough cable attachment, I will be using such a set up for my Dragon's Lair VCF-SE exhibit.

+Ksarul · January 13, 2023

15 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

If I can get a good enough cable attachment, I will be using such a set up for my Dragon's Lair VCF-SE exhibit.

Of course, a significant portion of the thieves of this world would take that as a challenge. . .many of the displays I saw BITD had a loose wire or two from cartridges that had been snipped from their cables by enterprising twerps (and they probably used a set of cutters that they snagged from the tools section of the store).