ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 1990 A DEFINITION OF "OFFICIAL NEVER RELEASED" TI PRODUCT ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^by Charles Good ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Lima Ohio User Group A product is "official TI" if it has the TI name engraved on it (hardware), or has a "copyright TI" statement (software). To find out if the product was ever released call TI's consumer service at 806-747-1882 and ask if the product in question is on any of their lists. This can be important to you if you own TI products, because TI will still repair and honor "original purchaser" warranties on all officially released products. Even today, you can purchase NEW TI99/4a products, including the 99/4A computer, from dealers such as L.L. Conner, TexComp, and Tenex. TI still honors warranties, and still offers for a flat fee product exchange or repair on ALL its products that are out of warranty. You might be surprised what IS on the officially released list. Many of the HexBus peripherals ARE on the official list. I am told that recently someone purchased a HexBus printer plotter for the CC40, never used, from a dealer. The printer was defective. Although it is now 1990 and this product was withdrawn from the market by TI in 1984, the company honored its warranty sent a replacement printer plotter at no charge. On the other hand, products that were developed by TI but never officially marketed will not be repaired or supported by the company, even if the product has "Texas Instruments" written all over the thing. If you have one of these products and call TI about the thing, they will tell you that what you have does not exist!^^Here is a partial lost of "official never released" TI hardware that relates to home computers. These products officially do not exist. 99/2 computer. 99/8 computer. Hexbus disk drive for 99/8 and CC40 Hexbus interface (PHP1300) to let 99/4A use HexBus peripherals. Wafertape drive and wafertapes (HX2000) for CC40. IEEE card for the PE box. HexBus 80 column video interface. TI DSDD controller for PE box I checked through back issues of Micropendium and found these products advertised used, as follows: .NF DATE PRODUCT ASKING PRICE January 1987 HexBus interface $ 175 " " 99/8 with HexBus drive $1000 March 1987 99/8 with HexBus drive $ 800 July 1987 IEEE/488 card for PE box $ 250 " " TI DSDD controller $ 175 January 1989 HexBus video interface $ 150 " " Wafertape drive $ 150 .FI The MBX system is a special case. The software, including those modules that only work on the MBX system, were officially released by TI and can still be purchased new. The actual MBX system was marketed by Milton Bradley and not by TI. I don't know if the MBX system is "officially" released or not. Milton Bradley does not offer to fix our of warranty products. It was manufactured for a few weeks in November of 1983 before production was halted due to the TI Black Friday. Asking prices vary considerably. .NF DATE ASKING PRICE SOURCE OF INFO --------------------------------------------------- June 1894 and Unisource has 200 Enthusiast 99 October 1984 units for $100 each and Micropendium March 1986 $40 (Texcomp) Micropendium May 1985 $49 Micropendium August 1986 $40 Chicago UG newsletter October 1987 $200 Micropendium April 1989 $30 Micropendium May 1990 $75 with 4 modules Lima faire .PL 1