[Maxwelhse]

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.

[ksarul]

Hi, thanks for popping into the forum. Several of us here can help you identify the components you have in your PEB. I take it you know how to remove the top cover by popping the two spring tabs at the back of the box. From your description, you probably have a 32K memory card, and RS-232 card, and a Disk Controller card in the box. It will also have a Flex Cable Interface card (with the long flat cable that connects to the side of the console). All of your cards may be original TI--or some of them may be from other vendors. That's the first thing to know for sure, as some of the third-party hardware is more valuable. A normal TI PEB with TI cards will usually sell for between $100 and $200, shipped. You will see somewhat higher prices for some of the TI stuff quite often on eBay but they usually don't sell unless someone is really in immediate need of what's on sale.

Once we're sure what you have, I can cross-post your notice to a couple of additional TI Fora. . .

[Maxwelhse]

Ok.. I just threw my back out lugging it downstairs and took it out of the box. First I was wrong on a few details. The box is from it being air transported at some point in its life. It still has the airline ticket attached, but no date. Also, its a single floppy in the unit itself. I'm pretty sure its an upgraded drive as memory serves but I can't tell by looking at it.

I took the top off of it (didn't know about the spring clips, thanks for the tip) and it has a TI brand RS-232 board, TI brand flex cable adapter, multicom 32k card, and a TI brand peripheral transmission module. It's also remarkably clean inside. The cooling fan doesn't even have any dust.

Any clue about what the button the PO added on the side of the speech synthesizer might be used for?

Are there any simple steps I can take to test the thing out? I have essentially no TI knowledge any longer and no disks. I'd like to do more than power the thing up before someone else ends up with a problem.

Or... I'm open to offers on it right now!

[ksarul]

I've actually been looking for a Multicom 32K card (I collect the third party peripherals to use as potential inspiration on projects of my own, as they sometimes come to a different answer when designing stuff), so I'm interested in that (it is worth $40 or so to me). The rest is pretty much vanilla TI stuff that I already have.

The pushbutton on the side of the Speech Synthesizer is one of two possibilities: a single-step button for Assembly program testing also known as a Load-Interrrupt switch, or it is a reset button.

You can't do too much testing beyond a smoke test without a console and an Extended BASIC cartridge. Type SIZE in Extended BASIC and it will show you about 24K of memory and 12K of stack space available--that tells you it sees the 32K card. If you type OLD DSK1.TEST and the Disk Controller card lights up and the drive attempts to dind something (and it will give an error when no disk is found), that tells you it sees the disk system--and that it responds. You could type a small program to output some text through the RS-232 port (or the PIO port on the card) by trying to LIST PIO after typing the short program in. I don't remember right now if the PIO part has to have quotes around it (LIST "PIO").

There isn't too much else you can do without some disks/programs to test.

[Maxwelhse]

I have PLENTY of programs (all cartridges) including assembly and extended basic carts. Many of them have the original boxes too. I could pretty easily test the system. I just don't have any floppy disks to actually check the functionality of the drives themselves.

I'll get the thing setup in the next few days and see if it makes smoke or not and try out what you've suggested. I appreciate the offer on the memory card and will keep it in mind if I can't sell it as a whole. I'd really hate to just toss the thing in the trash if I can't sell it so I hope that doesn't happen. Someone spent a lot of time and money on this setup back in the day and there are only so many of them out there. I play with other ancient toys and get angry when I see people do stuff like that so I'm trying to avoid it.

Thanks for all of the info! Can you point me to some other TI forums that may have a larger marketplace? This is the first place I found and it had an active membership so I went for it.

[ksarul]

I understand the desire to preserve--I have a lot of TI equipment for just that reason. There are a couple of places where TI users congregate: there is a TI Programming subforum on AtariAge, a TI subforum on the VintageComputerForum, both of which get some reasonable traffic. There are also several TI related lists on Yahoo! Groups.

Please don't end up trashing things--I'll try and arrange a reasonable rescue if it ever comes to that.

[Maxwelhse]

I understand the desire to preserve--I have a lot of TI equipment for just that reason. There are a couple of places where TI users congregate: there is a TI Programming subforum on AtariAge, a TI subforum on the VintageComputerForum, both of which get some reasonable traffic. There are also several TI related lists on Yahoo! Groups.

Please don't end up trashing things--I'll try and arrange a reasonable rescue if it ever comes to that.

I'll check those places out when I get it sorted. If it comes down to "pay the shipping and take it" I'll let you know. I have 2 extra consoles too and a couple of tape recorders and stuff that I'd like to unload (one of the consoles is in its original box, the other is the newer beige model). I'm going to save the "original" TI my parents bought in the early 80s out of nostalgia. Gotta have my TI Invaders and Parsec!

[sjt99]

I understand the desire to preserve--I have a lot of TI equipment for just that reason. There are a couple of places where TI users congregate: there is a TI Programming subforum on AtariAge, a TI subforum on the VintageComputerForum, both of which get some reasonable traffic. There are also several TI related lists on Yahoo! Groups.

Please don't end up trashing things--I'll try and arrange a reasonable rescue if it ever comes to that.

I'll check those places out when I get it sorted. If it comes down to "pay the shipping and take it" I'll let you know. I have 2 extra consoles too and a couple of tape recorders and stuff that I'd like to unload (one of the consoles is in its original box, the other is the newer beige model). I'm going to save the "original" TI my parents bought in the early 80s out of nostalgia. Gotta have my TI Invaders and Parsec!

I believe the button on the speech syn. is in fact a load interrupt button.
I forgot about that.
If I remember correctly it was used most often to dump graphic screens.
Exactly what software was used in conjunction with it I don't recall.
I will have to look into that.
Thanks for mentioning it.

Steve

[Morebits]

I am interested and could pick up locally. If it's still for sale please PM or email me.

[Maxwelhse]

PM sent!

For the record, I'm asking $275 for the PEB, extra floppy, modified speech synthesizer, tape recorder w/harness, extended basic and assembly carts.

I'll discount that price by $50 to either ksarul or sjt99 for being so helpful in determining the value and functions of these items. That should pretty well cover shipping.

I still have not tested the equipment at this point but if serious interest is out there, at my asking price for the package based on feedback received here, I'll do so.

At this point I have no interest in breaking that basic package up outside of maybe the carts. I see it as a TI "developers" pack and would like to maintain that integrity until I'm forced otherwise.

It's first come, first serve, so at this point it's Morebits' to lose. Since I haven't really advertised it yet I'm pretty firm on the price.