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Hand made tape interface cable, for nothing

K

kiyotewolf

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2009
Messages
135
Location
Urbana, IL
Just got done wiring up a tape interface cable from scratch, just to find out my TI 994/A is having some sort of keyboard decoding circuit issue.

I can press 1, 5, and space, and M or something like that, but the rest of the keys don't do anything.

Cause I'm able to press the 1, I can get to TI Basic, but..

Yeah.

Went out and got parts from Radio Shack, and soldered it all together, then FAIL.. computer won't work.

Oh well.. there's ebay,.. going to look for a new TI.



~Paul
 
kiyotewolf said:
That keyboard is built like a tank, I think it's in the logic somewhere.
~Paul
Click to expand...
Perhaps. But I'd see if I could get a new keyboard first. They're built like tanks but the two that I have here both need keyboards. There was a place called Tex*In Treasures, the site is down at the moment, but he's still out there and he was selling the beige keyboards for $5 each at one time. I'll try later today and see if I can get any kind of contact info-- have a store contact info is out there somewhere. I'll see what I can dig up.
 
I'm trying to get these old TI Extended Basic arcade games running again.

I really liked the Frogger and Lunar Lander games on this tape.

Going to try to convert the recordings to *.WAV's, then use this utility I found to test them on an emulator.



~Paul

After I get the recordings made, as *.WAV's, if they are good, I will host them somewhere for other ppls to enjoy.
 
afaik the contact sheets inside get dirty and stop making contact. They can be taken apart and cleaned up possibly to work again but if they can be gotten easily I say replace it.
 
You might try taking the keyboard out and giving it a good warm rinse under a faucet and ofcourse letting it dry for a few days or more. I recall that I did that 20 years ago or more on the TI my family had in the early 80s. Someone must have spilled koolaid on it at some point and only certain keys would work. I may have read about cleaning a keyboard that way on a BBS :)
At that point there was certainly nothing to lose, and even less these days since TI-99/4A's seem to crawl out of the woodwork everywhere.
 
Thanks for the replies, it is necessary to clean the membranes of the amstrad cpc and spectrum keyboards as well, I suppose if you can buy a cheap replacement it is easier than repairing one.

I had expected that a keyboard "built like a tank" to have used real mechanical key-switches.

PS, They are not so common in the UK, there is a keyboard on ebay now, dispatched from the US with a BIN price of £19.72 plus P+P of £7.38. it is a black keyboard so it may be a faulty unit that someone else replaced with a beige one:(
 
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