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CC-40 and other Hexbus computers

curtis

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2003
Messages
1,176
Location
Amarillo, TX
How many TI CC-40 users/collectors are there out there?

I'll count myself as the first here.

To show off my little bit, check this out: http://webpages.charter.net/curtismc/cc40.htm

Also recently acquired a hexbus floppy drive prototype. Will TRY to post a link to that soon.

Thanks Erik for setting up the TI section!

Curtis
 
I used to have a CC-40, with RS232 interface. I had the Memo Processor, Games I, and it had 18k RAM installed.
I also had a TI-74 with PCIF interface cable, cassette adapter.

I sold it all over a year ago.

I came across a TI-74 not too long ago - not sure it works. I thought I sold all of them. I scored about 30 on eBay for near nothing a few years back, and did pretty good selling them...
 
That same seller has been on an insane tear lately. He's selling a huge variety of vintage computer gear -- some extremely common, some mildly rare -- but he lists ALL items as "RARE!!!!!" with prices that are beyond crazy. I emailed him politely to seek an explanation and all he said was "prices in the hobby have changed, check out the recent sales". But that's bogus -- his scam is to buy things (or have his colleagues buy things) at higher-than-normal prices, then turn around and sell them at even higher prices, using the "recent sales" as a reference. This was recently discussed on cctalk as well.
 
Hey Terry - ain't this cat above you the one that skipped over everyone, and jipped us on the Xerox machines up in the NorthEast?


Tony
 
I've got a CC-40 and you can see it here. This was brought from Germany by the former owner who didn't even know where to torun it on :)

Well, I don't know much about it yet, but I do remember some BASIC commands & stuff and it seems to work very well. I only have those 2 cartdiges, but they're some kind of industrial software but I don't know any kinds of German, so I'm not sure.

Paid about $12 for it, so I guess it's a good find, since it works so well :D
 
That guy definitely overprices things by at least 50%, though some of the stuff is 100 - 200% over typical value. As for the CC-40, it's on my list of systems to still get, but not particularly high or pressing (I'll hold out for the most favorable deal). I'm more intrigued by it for the fact that it runs a fairly compatible version of the BASIC first found in the TI-99/4 systems than anything else about it. The fact that it can't be hooked up to any storage device is a real downer, though I suppose that's mitigated a bit by serial transfer.
 
I used to have a CC-40, with RS232 interface. I had the Memo Processor, Games I, and it had 18k RAM installed.
I also had a TI-74 with PCIF interface cable, cassette adapter.

I sold it all over a year ago.

I came across a TI-74 not too long ago - not sure it works. I thought I sold all of them. I scored about 30 on eBay for near nothing a few years back, and did pretty good selling them...

You can adapt the PCIF to the CC-40. All it takes is a little time and patience.

The normal way I've heard to do it is to take a hexbus cable and cut it in half and solder on the dockbus jack on the other end. Most of the signals are exactly the same.

There are 2 caveats,
1. There is a power signal on the dockbus that's not on the hexbus. Be careful on that one. It's used to drive the dockbus accessories that may or may not have their own power.
2. Hexbus cables are a bit rare themselves and not many people are willing to hack one in half just to connect to the dockbus printer!

I took a little time and actually devised an adapter circuit board with a built-in 4AAA battery power pack so when I need to drive a dockbus peripheral I can, but when I don't, I just switch the battery off. It's great in that it can go both ways (no crude remarks here! :D) from dockbus to hexbus or vice versa.

Curtis
 
I've got a CC-40 and you can see it here. This was brought from Germany by the former owner who didn't even know where to torun it on :)

Well, I don't know much about it yet, but I do remember some BASIC commands & stuff and it seems to work very well. I only have those 2 cartdiges, but they're some kind of industrial software but I don't know any kinds of German, so I'm not sure.

Paid about $12 for it, so I guess it's a good find, since it works so well :D

$12 is a nice price!

If you'd like some of the peripherals for it, there are a couple of sources on the web.

Jim Lesher is a great source here in the DFW area. He's got TONS of computers, modems, and some software.
His site is at http://www.99er.net/lesher.html

There's also Richard Bell with Swimforhome. He'll even upgrade a 6K machine to 18K. His URL is http://hometown.aol.com/swim4home/cc40.html

I've dealt with both and have absolutely no complaints.

Also, Charles Good wrote in BASIC a word processor that is available at no charge on whTech's ftp site. The bad news is it's in pgm format, so you'll have to adapt or build a PCIF to access it. It requires a bit of memory, so you'll need an 18K unit with the 16K cartridge installed to really utilize it. The good news is that it's free.

There's also a schematic of the PCIF on whTech, so anyone who's handy with a soldering iron can build their own. The parts are all generic, so the cost isn't that much.

There's also an improved software program which allows for faster computers to run the interface reliably. It can be downloaded here: http://acg-bonn.de/download/tiif112.zip
 
That guy definitely overprices things by at least 50%, though some of the stuff is 100 - 200% over typical value. As for the CC-40, it's on my list of systems to still get, but not particularly high or pressing (I'll hold out for the most favorable deal). I'm more intrigued by it for the fact that it runs a fairly compatible version of the BASIC first found in the TI-99/4 systems than anything else about it. The fact that it can't be hooked up to any storage device is a real downer, though I suppose that's mitigated a bit by serial transfer.

Bill,

See my post about the PCIF. I've tried it and it's pretty solid. The improved TIFF program takes a bit of fine tuning, but it's nice. I still keep an old TI laptop around strictly for data storage for the CC-40!

Curtis
 
yeah - kinda' stretching the definition of "more", huh?

I think the story was that she worked for TI back when, and when TI dropped out of the home computer market, the employees were allowed to purchase the remaining inventory.


Tony
 
I sold my set for about what he is asking for just the one, IIRC. It came in a nice tote bag.

As for the PCIF, yes I had the notes from a TI Calc group on how to take a hex-bus cable and modify it. I only had one, very short, hex-bus cable for the RS232, and just didn't look for another.

The TI-74 was really nice hooked up to a PC, and access files directly! That was neat that it not only could save/load its own stuff, but actually pull across PC files as well!

And the ability to utilize the PC screen for output was fantastic.

There was a guy on comp.sys.ti that wrote a new version of the PCIF software, to support newer computers and more features.

I was saddened by the bug in CC-40's Memo Processor. It would save the contents of your text in memory when powered off. The bug was the detection routine would fail if the amount of text was within a certain range (like within 4k boundaries or something) so many times you'd find yourself without a text file!

But it was nice being able to keep a BASIC program in memory (for months!)

I messed with the software-switch settings for the RS232 early on when using the Memo Processor, and after the first few transfers never could get anything reliable after that. And not every RS232 has the printer (PIO) option (mind didn't).
 
Bill,

See my post about the PCIF. I've tried it and it's pretty solid. The improved TIFF program takes a bit of fine tuning, but it's nice. I still keep an old TI laptop around strictly for data storage for the CC-40!

Curtis

That seems a bit much for me to handle. I wonder if somehow the modem could be used as an interface?
 
That seems a bit much for me to handle. I wonder if somehow the modem could be used as an interface?

Probably.

Not sure what format things would transfer in best. The pgm format for the pcif is tight and transfers well with a small file size, but not sure how it would transfer to and from over a generic RS-232 line.

If the CC-40 will let you transfer a program to and from in plain text, that could be a viable alternative. However, sometimes a program transferred over like that doesn't play well.

Honestly, the pcif unit is probably the easiest. All you need is a slower laptop and the interface. If you're reasonably handy with a soldering iron, there's not a whole lot to building one. whTech even has the schematic. Using the newest version of the TIFF program isn't a requirement. The original PCIF software works well, it's just kinda restricted as to how fast a computer it'll run on. If you wanted, I could email you a copy.

Also, if anyone else wants a copy of the original PCIF program, give me a shout and I'll shoot you a copy.

Curtis
 
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