The guys over at The Circuit Surfers have created a cool 'Raspberry PI In A TI99 Case' project complete with LED lighting. Read more about it on the Make Magazine site:

http://makezine.com/2014/08/07/the-ti-pi...d-ti-994a/

A home has been found for my collection!!

Giving away my collection of 99/4A equipment.

Far too heavy and too much to ship.

I will deliver within 400 miles of Dallas. Further is "negotiable."

Collection includes:
1. 4 consoles
2. 3 displays
3. 3 PE boxes
4. Many program modules
5. Cables
6. Disks
7. Documentation

Thanks
Bill

Anyone out there done anything with TI Speech?

Recently I found it's possible to incorporate your own recorded speech in a form that can be used in a rom based cartridge....who knew.

Though , for me I think I need to start with baby steps.

Does anyone have an example of source that will allow access to the internal vocabulary of the speech module and is able to run from the >6000 space.

Fellow Ti ers
I have posted this elsewhere as well.


At the beginning of March I purchased a Expansion box and a TI monitor from a guy in Colorado Springs Co. I paid him $310.

When I received the shipment both things were damaged.

The cabinet and the CRT neck were broken on the monitor.

The cabinet on the expansion box was also damaged.

I reported this to the seller that day. I asked what he wanted to do.

He said hold on it, take pictures of the units and the boxes and he would file a claim.

Since that time I was told on a weekly or bi weekly basis that the claim was still being processed. Finally when I thought it had gone far enough I asked for more action. I was then told he had filed with the wrong company. Instead of fedex directly he had to re file with the store that packed and shipped the item.

The clock was reset and I started waiting again.

I should have disputed this.....but I thought I was dealing with a person I could trust. I was wrong.

As of a few weeks ago I was told there still was no info.

And the owner was back East because his dad had died, so he was not available.


Here is the message:
'Steve,
I apologize but I have not been over to XXX Mail for some time. We only use them for our larger and fragile items. They did say that they would email me with any updates and I have not received any as of today. Bob has stayed in New York to help out family. As far as your dealings with Charlie, I cannot help you there but I will forward this to him.

Sincerely,
Lori '
received June 25, 2014



Some checking turned up that the shipper paid this person $573 for the damaged equipment, MONTHS AGO (4/15/14). This brings the total for the equipment I purchased from him that he has received ALMOST $900


He lied to me for months, while enjoying the claims money and what I paid for the equipment.


All I asked for was the money I paid for the monitor and money to repair the pbox.


He will no longer respond.


These are bad people / person .

Names Used:

Robert (Bob) Ross
Charlie Jackson
Lori


Company name Used - A+ Certified Computer Service.


Beware if dealing with anyone from Colorado Springs Co. offering TI equipment or offering to buy or trade.

I suspect after this posting he will change his name once again.

In the past he has used Cudasales, as well as other names.

Anyone familiar with the inner workings of the TI Speech Synthesizer?
I got one recently that doesn't work correctly. It makes sounds but they are not words. There are a total of 4 chips in it. One I assume is the sound generator, a flip flop, and 2 piggy backed chips that appear to be roms.
My assumption is the roms hold the data for the vocabulary and are another TI proprietary design, like a grom.
I saw rom dumps somewhere, but if the chips are special, how could they be duplicated?

Anyone had any experience restoring one of these?

Steve

First off, I'm brand new here and really don't remember much about TIs, so bear with me.

Today after a long hibernation I pulled a PEB out of storage. The previous owner (purchased used from them in the late 80s) was BIG into TIs and loaded it up with just about everything possible. It has a memory expansion board (384k?.. can't recall), RS232 board (I think... he was running a printer with it) 360k floppy (I believe x2), and an external floppy (I think its a 360k as well). There is also a speech synthesizer that he installed a button on to the side of that I'm pretty sure has something to do with the PEB (print screen?), but I can't remember what. I never got into the TI much beyond the basic console itself and only used the PEB a couple of times. It's been sitting since about 1992 in its original box (I assume.. form fitting packing material).

I'd like to sell it as a complete bundle (box, extra drive, and modified speach box) but I don't even know enough about it to be sure what it is or what its worth or how to test it (I do have 3 TI consoles so I can hook it up and try a few things if you can direct me). I can also take all of the pictures of it you like.

It's located in NE Indiana and I'm open to either local pick-up or shipping if someone is interested in it after I get some direction on how to verify what it really is.

I've been mulling this project over after seeing the detailed surgery required to turn an old TI game cartridge board into a fully-functional Supercart. The current method leaves a lot to be desired--and a lot of room for error. Springing off from that point this weekend, I've done a layout specifically designed to be used as a 32K Supercart (it gives the user 4 banks of 8K each, switch controlled). Both chips can be socketed, as can the coin cell battery to back up the RAM contents. If there is enough interest in them, I may do a small run of the boards for the community, otherwise, I'll just get a couple of them made for my own uses.

Hi,

I got a TI-99/4A a while back from a friend who thought it was working. When I got it hooked up I got a totally black screen - the only sign that I turned it on was an audio 'pop' when I flipped the power on. I took it apart and checked the IC seating, etc. No change. The sound IC was getting extremely hot, so I figured it for shorted. I have that IC ordered, along with the video processor. Yesterday I read the machine would power up without the sound IC (just like the C64), so I popped out the sound IC. No change - but the TIM IC is getting pretty hot pretty fast as well. After reading online articles, it could be video RAM, the larger motorola brand RAM (2 IC's), or anything else, really.
What I need is info on what IC's typically run really hot really fast.
I know the video processor and the TIM are connected to heat-sink like blocks of metal, so I understand that they generate heat. The question is, which ones get hot fast in a normal working machine, and which ones take a while?

This info will help me decide if the TIM heating up to REALLY hot in about 15 seconds is normal, or if it's another BAD IC. Usually I leave a dead machine on for about 15-20 minutes, then check the RAM, etc. for super hot temps. Those are usually the bad ones. This being my very first TI experience, I don't know the norms.

A lot of the advice I saw online was just to pick up another TI and forget about trying to fix one unless you have access to all of the available IC's inside (most seem to be housed in Korea). I just got one that was listed as 'working', and of course, it's not. Grrrrrrr.

My second TI (the strike 2 in the title) pops up a screen that is grey and rolls like the horizontal needs adjusting on the monitor. I can make out the TI welcome screen, but that's about it. Any ideas? I'm pretty good at fixing most vintage computers, but this is my first run with the TI and I'm completely lost on the in's and out's of their repair. ANY help or answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

I have been contacted by an individual who is selling a PEB that belonged to her friend's late husband. Here's what's in the box:

Myarc double and single density floppy disc controller card
Myarc RS 232 Interface
TI 32K X 8 memory expansion
TI Flex cable Interface
2 - 5 1/4 floppy drives

Misc. instructional books.

Asking price is $100. They are located in Hunterdon County NJ, and are assuming that it will be picked up, although I imagine that they would be willing to ship (but we all know how expensive that would be since these things weigh a ton!).

You can contact the seller at *SOLD*
-Rich

Hi everybody. I picked up a TI-99/4A at a garage sale and was looking forward to playing around with it. Unfortunately, it looks as though it has a few problems. the TI splash screen comes up but the text is garbled.

Ive attached a photo of the screen. Any ideas? not afraid to break out the soldering iron.