So far I have been lucky with my TI-99/4A purchases, but my Apple IIe might explode.

[Boschloo]

I just bought an Apple IIe out of curiosity and dagnabbit that thing smells like cigarette smoke. 

I doubt there will ever be any research done on whether Apple II users smoked more than TI-9/4A users.

 

But, apparently there's this thing in the Apple IIe power supply called a RIFA. I haven't turned on the Apple IIe yet, because I heard the RIFA on those can cause the computer to literally explode.

Once again proving the superiority of the TI-99/4A.

[+Vorticon]

Only the RIFA will pop, not the whole computer 😁. Mine has not yet done so but it does not get much use sadly.

For a beginner, the TI is much more approachable in my view, particularly its Basic. 

[+FarmerPotato]

I just replaced two RIFA caps in a 1980s terminal.  The thing worked just fine, but when I asked "How do you know when to replace a RIFA cap?" the answer was "Yes". 

 

They are Safety capacitors, designed to burn up safely if there is a short (or lightning strike?).   But after 40 years they are brittle.

 

Any technician could replace them.  Ask your neighborhood phone repair shop.

 

 

[+OLD CS1]

53 minutes ago, FarmerPotato said:

 Ask your neighborhood phone repair shop.

What year is this??

[JB]

4 hours ago, Boschloo said:

I just bought an Apple IIe out of curiosity and dagnabbit that thing smells like cigarette smoke. 

I doubt there will ever be any research done on whether Apple II users smoked more than TI-9/4A users.

 

But, apparently there's this thing in the Apple IIe power supply called a RIFA. I haven't turned on the Apple IIe yet, because I heard the RIFA on those can cause the computer to literally explode.

Once again proving the superiority of the TI-99/4A.

TI did build a very robust system. 

 

 

The problem, as I understand it, with the RIFA capacitors is they were manufactured with a plastic shell. Over time that plastic has gotten brittle and developed microfractures, and there's no way to tell if those fractures have exposed the interior of the capacitor to the exterior environment yet.

If they have, humidity from the air can short out the capacitor and the capacitor goes bang and catches fire.

[InfiniteTape]

8 hours ago, JB said:

If they have, humidity from the air can short out the capacitor and the capacitor goes bang and catches fire.

I thankfully haven't experienced it, but my understanding is that there's also a foul smell that hangs around for an extended time.

[+FarmerPotato]

14 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

What year is this??

We live in the future! My neighborhood has two of them: iPhone Repair Gods, StarTech Electronics. Also that chain WeFix or whatever but they know nothing. The other two have all the tools and will quote on just about any task except CRTs. The neighborhood CRT TV repairs closed up 10 years ago, except for Mr Cassette, who doesn't do cassettes anymore. 

[GDMike]

7 hours ago, InfiniteTape said:

I thankfully haven't experienced it, but my understanding is that there's also a foul smell that hangs around for an extended time.

Yes one blew in my house and it stunk pretty bad...open windows, cough cough

[+hloberg]

Ha, ha! Before we were concerned about cell phones catching fire a Teslas catching fire we had to worry about our Apple IIs catching fire. Out techs out to get us.

[+OLD CS1]

1 hour ago, hloberg said:

Ha, ha! Before we were concerned about cell phones catching fire a Teslas catching fire we had to worry about our Apple IIs catching fire. Out techs out to get us.

This is how "Maximum Overdrive" started.

[Boschloo]

On 11/14/2023 at 8:43 PM, Vorticon said:

Only the RIFA will pop, not the whole computer 😁. Mine has not yet done so but it does not get much use sadly.

For a beginner, the TI is much more approachable in my view, particularly its Basic. 

I've been wondering why TI Basic doesn't use PEEK or POKE.

[+Ksarul]

55 minutes ago, Boschloo said:

I've been wondering why TI Basic doesn't use PEEK or POKE.

Extended BASIC has equivalent commands (CALL PEEK and CALL LOAD). Bog standard TI BASIC didn't need them, as there was no CPU memory to use them on (with the exception of the 256 bytes of scratchpad RAM), and it couldn't see any additional CPU memory if you did add some. For all of that, you needed Extended BASIC, which was why the appropriate commands were present there.

[+Lee Stewart]

6 hours ago, Boschloo said:

I've been wondering why TI Basic doesn't use PEEK or POKE.

 

5 hours ago, Ksarul said:

Extended BASIC has equivalent commands (CALL PEEK and CALL LOAD). Bog standard TI BASIC didn't need them, as there was no CPU memory to use them on (with the exception of the 256 bytes of scratchpad RAM), and it couldn't see any additional CPU memory if you did add some. For all of that, you needed Extended BASIC, which was why the appropriate commands were present there.

 

Actually, the Editor/Assembler cartridge adds these CALLs to TI Basic:

• PEEK and LOAD for CPU RAM
• PEEKV and POKEV for VDP RAM

...lee

[+Ksarul]

46 minutes ago, Lee Stewart said:

 

 

Actually, the Editor/Assembler cartridge adds these CALLs to TI Basic:

• PEEK and LOAD for CPU RAM
• PEEKV and POKEV for VDP RAM

...lee

Also true--but like Extended BASIC, the E/A (and for that matter, the Minimemory) adds support for the rest of the TI memory space, which then moves these commands into the realm of useful.