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How about a TI 99-8

V

Vint

Experienced Member
Joined
May 14, 2008
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390
Location
Ohio, USA
I must have been living in a cave, but I hadn't seen a TI 99-8 before. I have a bunch of TI 994/A's and related goods, and I'm aware of the TI 99-4 but seeing a real TI 99-8 'almost' gave me goosebumps!

Here's one up on eBay right now; Item # 320455846441
And it's for sale with (what appears to me as a 99-4 right alongside!)

The 99-4 is listed as a 99-4A but it sure is sporting a 99-4 keyboard!

Hurry on down TI sports fans; that is if you have a spare thousand dollars, or who knows a 'best offer' of less may take it. What I don't understand is a guy in possession of these and listing the 99-4 as a 4A. What's up with that?

I found this info on the 'nifty' 99-8 http://www.99er.net/998.html

Sidenote is that MESS emulator has a 99-8 if you can find the ROMS to run it.
 
The bar above the keys looks like a margin bar off an electric typewriter. I can't imagine the guy has any idea of what he has, probably just shooting for the moon and hoping for the best. Usually when you have something rare and/or valuable (and know it) you put a little more in the description.

-Lance
 
Darshevo said:
The bar above the keys looks like a margin bar off an electric typewriter. I can't imagine the guy has any idea of what he has, probably just shooting for the moon and hoping for the best. Usually when you have something rare and/or valuable (and know it) you put a little more in the description.

-Lance
Click to expand...

It looks to me like a function key cheatsheet similar to what you find on a 99/4A.
 
My wife bought that buy it now for $100 and the guy refunded the money. It has gone from $100 -> $1000 -> $2000 now. She was so happy to find something for me for christmas she knew I would go nuts over. I bet if you offer $1500 he will jump the price again. What a turd.

-Matt
 
hexsane said:
My wife bought that buy it now for $100 and the guy refunded the money. It has gone from $100 -> $1000 -> $2000 now. She was so happy to find something for me for christmas she knew I would go nuts over. I bet if you offer $1500 he will jump the price again. What a turd.

-Matt
Click to expand...

Wow... that is shady.
 
Securix said:
There's also P-System in what looks like a cartridge or some kind of add-on board. That'd be a real nice-to-have if it was complete.
Click to expand...

I'm sure the second card in the pile is a SCSI controller. There is a lot of rare stuff in the listing. But his selling practices are questionable.

-Matt
 
hexsane said:
I'm sure the second card in the pile is a SCSI controller. There is a lot of rare stuff in the listing. But his selling practices are questionable.

-Matt
Click to expand...

Yea, it's a little weird. I mean, he has a couple negative feedbacks but everything else looks legit.

Besides, he's probably reading all our banter about "rare this" and "rare that" and deciding how much more to jack up the price.

Maybe we can fool him by saying the 99/8 was a flop for a reason, it's a piece of junk, no one wants it, etc. Maybe he'll reconsider that $100. :stupid:
 
The top machine is definitely a 99/4, not a 4A. The dual disk drive looks like a standard TI external drive case with a pair of half-height drives in it instead of the regular full-height drive. The P-Code card and the DSSD cards are standard for either the 99/4A or the 99/8 when connected to a PEB. The middle card is a round cable Armadillo Interface, which is required to connect to the PEB (looks just like both of mine). It isn't complete, however, as the cable is not present (or not pictured). Since the SN is 103, it is highly likely that this machine would require the flat cable Armadillo Interface, so the card wouldn't be useful without the adapter board I designed to interface the two types using the original schematics for both cards and some notes I was given several years ago. The bottom drive might be a Hexbus drive--or it might be a regular drive in a Hexbus case. Both are possible. It could be a PC external drive case as well. If it is a Hexbus drive, a lot of those were flaky, especially if they didn't have the mods that the Germans devised for them a few years ago.

It would be interesting to compare it to mine, as mine is #88, which is relatively close to it in the production sequence.
 
geoffm3 said:
It looks to me like a function key cheatsheet similar to what you find on a 99/4A.
Click to expand...

It has the same markings, but the strip is actually different. It is both wider and longer than a 99/4A keyboard strip, and the end is narrower than the body to fit into a socket at the end of the channel it rides in.
 
Looks like it sold for about $2400 once you include the shipping. That's probably about the high end of what it would get in today's market--and it probably would have been a lot less if the other components weren't there.
 
I finally got to take a good look at it. It has the revision one connector on the side (though I haven't looked inside yet to see if it is a modified revision two motherboard), which goes with the Armadillo Interface card that came with it. The round cable to connect them is missing, but I have one I can use to test it. I haven't been able to check on the p-System installation yet either--most 99/8s didn't have that installed, so it may not be there. I'll know when I open it up or get power to it, hopefully sometime this weekend. School is killing my computer time right now.

The 99/4 that was with it was interesting too--it was a very early production model LTA4179--putting it from mid-October. The earliest ones I'd personally seen before this one were from mid-November production. It looks like it is either a damaged internal speaker model (the slide switch for volume control looks to be present, but without the top portion of the switch), or one that never got properly covered over with the Solid State Software strip. I didn't see the internal speaker either--so more research is necessary here too.

The box in the back of the picture was a HexBus disk drive--without any of the cabling. I'll have to look to see if the input is straight AC or if it needs a transformer. (Curtis, don't you have one of these?) I have some HexBus cables already (thanks Mutantcamel), so I only need to verify the power requirements.

The other drive was a standard TI external drive case (with the TI badge)--but with two half-height drives installed instead of the usual full-height drive.
 
Ksarul said:
I

The box in the back of the picture was a HexBus disk drive--without any of the cabling. I'll have to look to see if the input is straight AC or if it needs a transformer. (Curtis, don't you have one of these?) I have some HexBus cables already (thanks Mutantcamel), so I only need to verify the power requirements.
Click to expand...

The hexbus floppy drive uses the same power supply as the 99/4A. You just need to clip off so you only have 2 connectors. I'll have to check mine to see which 2 are left.

Will post after I take the readings.
 
Thanks Curtis. Any additional data is useful, as the manuals on WHTech didn't specify (unless you consider that they did give the part number for it: AC9610, just not the specs).
 
Well, that's odd. I finally got a chance to check the voltage and posted the results and it's not here!

Anyhoo, you need the 18VAC line, pins 1 and 2. I cut 3 and 4 out and left the stuff in the middle so you end u p with a "T" shape for orientation. Not critical with AC, but it does help keep the plug in snugly.
 
Thanks, Curtis! I'll get to making the modification and testing it out this weekend. . .
 
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