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Found in my Grandparents basement.

Steviejay

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Jul 26, 2021
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I found a TI Professional Computer with the monitor, keyboard and I believe a printer that is with it. There really no yellowing on the machine and everything is working. What the hell do I do with it? My family wanted to throw it out and I stopped that. I know it's hard because they are so rare, but anyone know what it would be worth and the best place to sell it.
 
I never thought of the TI Professional as being particularly rare; just another non-IBM PC early 8088 box. The portable version might be worth something, but the lack of PC compatibility limits the general appeal.
 
First thing, welcome to VCFED (as this is your first post).

Well done for saving it from the skip though.

First thing - please put your location in your profile so we know which part of the world you are in.

You may find a member of VCFED local to you?

Second, resist the temptation to power it on first. It may not survive the power-on process :-(!

I don't know of a "TI Professional" specific user group. This may give you the 'best course of action' if you can find a User Group.

Failing that - I would suggest you have a go yourself and try and get the machine working. You never know - you might get the Vintage Computer bug! Even if it does go 'bang' when you power it up - it hasn't really cost you any money has it?

I would suggest a little bit of analysis before you power it up though.

Can you identify what the main computer is exactly. For example, the machine came with a small amount of RAM (64K I think) but was expandable via a RAM card. There were hard disk options etc. etc. etc. Knowing exactly what you have got means that you can put that information into the 'advert' if you did decide to sell it. Some people who own one of these machines may be looking for specific add-on cards for theirs. In this case, you would be better parting it out - although some one may like to buy the complete system?

Do you have any manuals and/or software for it. It is likely that any software disks will be unreadable now - but you never know...

There is a load of documentation (including the maintenance manual) over here http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ti/professional/.

I haven't found any software images yet.

If you fancy getting it going - I will be quite happy to help out.

A working machine will command more money than an untested or non-working machine - but getting it going yourself does have risks.

If you can't find a specific user group, we have a marketplace on VCFED and (of course) there is always a few other well-known sites...

Let me know what you would like to do.

Dave
 
I think it's fantastic that these old machines are starting to acquire monetary value due to their rarity. Means that the ones which have survived until now will be far less likely to be thrown out in the bin, ergo more likely that they'll manage to be preserved. Who cares what someone's motive is for preserving this stuff.

Maybe the OP can find some of the original disks/software that go with the machine? That'd surely increase its value. :)
 
I still haven't located any software for the beast. I see (many years ag) someone did image quite a few disks - so they are available somewhere I would guess.

There is currently a machine on xBay for the best part of USD 500. It looks to be more than a basic machine (I see 2 floppy drives and what appears to be a number of additional cards). It is beaten up a bit though. The seller does say it worked for a while - and then some power supply capacitor(s) failed. This is what I am talking about when you power-up vintage computer equipment.

I don't see a keyboard or monitor being sold with this machine - so I wonder how the seller tested it?

I wouldn't pay the asking price.

You may have more - and it may be in better condition. Yours may even work? But software?

Dave
 
That was my families first computer. Had it at a past VCF. http://www.pdp8online.com/shows/vcfe16/vcfe16.shtml. The RIFA caps in the power supply have a good chance of failing if you power it on releasing much smoke. Likely will also have some bad memory chips. Looks like I don't have OS disk images online. I have disk images. I can find the OS images and put them online.

There was a past sale of a TIPC with monitor and keyboard though missing keys for $199. I think there was a more recent sale of a better machine that went for some more but I didn't save the sale price.
 
There are MS-DOS 2.11 disks for the TI Professional Computer and a few applications such as lotus 1-2-3 for the TI Professional Computer on Winworld. Be aware that the TIPC will not boot any other vendors DOS or run most common DOS software.

Actually, I'd encourage the original poster to go back and look for any software that may have been with this machine. Software can be worth something sometimes. (But leave reading any floppies to a professional, as they can be damaged very easily).

I'd also encourage him to find a local vintage computing enthusiast to sell to.

But going the eBeh rout, I think these machines get just enough attention that taking some good pictures and plopping it on eBay for bid starting at $0.99 would let you end up with a fair value of whatever it is "worth".

Just be sure to have it professionally packed and shipped, as CRTs and plastic bezels/face plates are very, very fragile.

(Protip: The purpose of a box is not to make your package look brown)
 
In the real world, rare != valuable when it comes to PCs. There are some extremely rare systems out there (e.g. The "People's Computer" out of Berkeley) that would hardly get a notice from most collectors. Like pianos, in the early days there were lots of manufacturers, many not lasting more than a year or two.
 
I wouldn’t mind having something like a TIPC or DEC Rainbow or some other MS-DOS but not IBM PC compatible.

My personal opinion is that rare doesn’t always increase demand. And demand is going to generate the price. An IBM PC isn’t rare, but there is demand and the prices for a nice one can be pretty high. They are also very well documented and can usually be repaired without too much hassle because of the few custom parts. I think that also helps increase the demand.

A TIPC might be rare, but fewer people want a computer that so little software runs on, so the demand is a bit lower. If you find someone that has a certain attachment to it, they might pay more, but that can take time.

And then there are things that are kind of rare and have pretty decent demand, like an MCA sound blaster for a PS/2. Most users of a PS/2 probably wish they had sound, especially if playing games. Prices can get outrageous when you check both boxes, rare and demand.
 
I found a TI Professional Computer with the monitor, keyboard and I believe a printer that is with it. There really no yellowing on the machine and everything is working. What the hell do I do with it? My family wanted to throw it out and I stopped that. I know it's hard because they are so rare, but anyone know what it would be worth and the best place to sell it.

Steve,
OK so I have no idea on "value". Realistically old computers have no "value" as such, they are worth what someone is willing to pay. Even if I have the only one, but no one wants it you won't get much. If you can find two people who are prepared to fight then you will often get a better price. Is it actually worth what you receive, well it is to the person who buys it!. So if we want a big market then E-Bay is the biggest, but it has a lot of risks as a vendor. E-bay almost always sides with buyer in disputes. Other than that Facebook Market Place, Etsy, here.

If you want to support a charity you could try donating a thrift store...

Dave
 
I remember looking at advertisements for the TIPC and loving the look of the keyboard. A complete system would be nice to tinker with if you liked to program the advanced resolution graphics, but if you are missing the monitor or keyboard you are left with useless junk.
 
I never thought of the TI Professional as being particularly rare; just another non-IBM PC early 8088 box. The portable version might be worth something, but the lack of PC compatibility limits the general appeal.

I believe the portable version is actually PC-compatible.

There were a number of TIPC's sold on Ebay last year. 1 from one of the automation houses that occasionally comes off the commercial pricing on certain items, several from what I conclude were CR flippers that included hard disk(s) and harder to find boards like the speech recognition, 10X coprocessor, and PC compatibility+software on floppies. Complete systems, in other words, with monitors and keyboards Those went for a few $100 each, I think. Then there was the Pro Lite from the guy flipping the TI engineer's estate computers. Very complete; istr it went for more, but don't recall exactly.

Be helpful if OP would post photos, including board shots and any software.

jbdgiriz
 
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I found a TI Professional Computer with the monitor, keyboard and I believe a printer that is with it. There really no yellowing on the machine and everything is working. What the hell do I do with it?
Grow a thick skin and don't let the 'welcome wagon' scare you off. Keep it yourself, download the documents from bitsavers and learn to use it; maybe find a few games or other diversions that you enjoy on it and it could become a gateway to other old computers that you find interesting.

or...

I know it's hard because they are so rare, but anyone know what it would be worth and the best place to sell it.
There looks to be one without a monitor, keyboard or anything else on ebay for approx 470ish USD. You could place yours for for sale there for a couple hundred, (undercutting the one that is there) but word to the wise - you will need to pack it very well if you are expecting to get that kind of money.
 
Let’s try to assume the best of anyone who takes the time to come here, folks.

We want to welcome folks to the community, and not to put them off with our assumptions, no matter how many times we may have seen things happen, in the past.

Thanks!
- Alex
 
I agree with Alex; we should try to encourage people instead of assuming the worst.
 
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