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TI-88 Programmable Calculator and CC-40 Data Wafertape Drive

B

Ben Arnold

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Jul 25, 2011
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I am not necessarily a big computer guy, and not that I am selling these, but what might be the potential market if I had a TI-88 Programmable Calculator and two (yes two!) CC-40 Data Wafertape Drives (one with a clear engineering casing)? I understand that these are quite rare - maybe less than 10 each.
 
Since the TI-88 and the Wafertape were never released, the market could be a bit tricky. However, just speculating, you would probably do quite well with any of these.

As far as the wafertape in the clear engineering case, that would be considered extremely rare. Not sure how many were made, but I've never heard of a wafertape in a clear case. AND, if you do decide to sell, I would REALLY, REALLY, REALLY be interested.

The regular Wafertape, while rare, would probably not be a huge draw. At least nothing near the clear case or the TI-88.

The TI-88 also would be a huge draw. I've only heard of a couple of dozen being in existance, at most.

By the way, did I mention, I would be extremely interested in that clear case wafertape?

Curtis
 
You'll um, have to excuse Curtis. He's one of our active TI collectors with an impressive set of gear already ;-) Actually he's a good guy for it to go to. As he said (not much help but reiterating) it's hard market wise unless you get vintage folks who know what it is to be aware of the auction/sale. Posting it here would be good or posting a link to an auction with it here would also get a good start for it. I don't have one obviously and being uncommon it's hard to put a price on it but I don't think you would have trouble in an auction style setting with the right audience.

Nice job saving them :)
 
Hey, c'mon. I didn't drool TOO much on my keyboard!

Still, wouldn't a clear case Wafertape look cool at the VCF-Texas show next week?
 
Hi Curits,

Thanks for the information. When and where is your show? My dad is from Arlington, and I might be able to convince him to drop by.
 
Ooohhh! A Wafertape drive. I'm one of the other really active TI freaks. . .and I am looking for a working Wafertape drive (and some tapes too, as I have an apparently defective drive but no tapes for it to test with). The Wafertape drives usually end up in the $200 range, though they have gone for more at times. The clear case sounds way interesting, and would definitely get a lot of interest. . .
 
Ksarul, if you're finding wafertape drives for $200, please point me in that direction! I'd say the usual price is closer to $500, although with the economy the way it is right now, you may be right for the moment.

AND, I don't know of a Wafertape that wasn't somewhat defective. As a general rule, they're definitely not what I'd call reliable.

Still, that engineering sample in the clear case...
 
I got the one I have earlier this year off of Fleabay for that price, Curtis, which was why I mentioned it as a floor price. You're right that they can go for much higher prices--but the recent sales haven't been as good as they used to be. It is one of the reasons the guy I got the Wafertape from stopped selling for a while. He has a lot of odd stuff that he's had since he worked at TI--and has been dropping it into the market slowly. He apparently still has a 99/2 and a 99/8, but those haven't been put up for sale yet. BTW, I also got a Mechatronics Quick Disk for Hex-Bus a while back. I still have to replace the belt to test it out (a normal failure for QD drives). Luckily, I also have about 50 of the disks for it, as 2.8 disks are not all that common. . .
 
You're talking about Blaine Crandall, aren't you?

Yeah, he's got some goodies that he's holding onto until the market improves. I've talked to him off and on the past year.

If I remember correctly, the one he had was pretty much T/U wasn't it?

Where did you find the QD? I had one of those W - A - Y back when and regretted selling it. Major problem with the QD is finding the 3" disks. Sucker did work like a charm tho.

BTW, have you seen the fellow who has the TI promotional posters he's been trying to sell for $2500? Tried talking some sense into him, but the brick wall was paying more attention than he was. Oh well, to each his own.

Curtis

Ksarul said:
I got the one I have earlier this year off of Fleabay for that price, Curtis, which was why I mentioned it as a floor price. You're right that they can go for much higher prices--but the recent sales haven't been as good as they used to be. It is one of the reasons the guy I got the Wafertape from stopped selling for a while. He has a lot of odd stuff that he's had since he worked at TI--and has been dropping it into the market slowly. He apparently still has a 99/2 and a 99/8, but those haven't been put up for sale yet. BTW, I also got a Mechatronics Quick Disk for Hex-Bus a while back. I still have to replace the belt to test it out (a normal failure for QD drives). Luckily, I also have about 50 of the disks for it, as 2.8 disks are not all that common. . .
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