Triton spokesman Terry Miller says that hundreds of thousands of catalogs describing mostly TI-produced software and hardware were mailed in late April to all known users of the TI home computer. March Direct Marketing “did the creative work” on the catalog, Miller said. TI indicated in January that March Direct Marketing was going to use TI’s mailing list of TI owners, numbering more than a million names, to produce a catalog detailing TI products.

Miller says the company plans to mail out three such catalogs this year, as well as flyers, apparently using TI’s list of home computer owners. The list includes those who sent in warranty cards. Miller says that users who have not received a catalog by mid-May may send their name and address to the company to be added to the mailing list. The company’s mailing address is P.O. Box 8123, San Francisco, CA 94128.

Miller says the company wants to include third-party products in subsequent catalogs and suggests that vendors write to the above address for more information. Although Miller nor Campbell have figures on the volume of TI products Triton will have available, Miller said, “anything that TI had we have. There’s still some question as to exactly what’s in the inventory.” Miller says this is the first time Triton has attempted to market products for TI users. He said the company markets business products and software.

Campbell indicated that Triton received rights to all of TI’s existing inventory and piece parts as of March 31. The actual value of the items, he said, would depend on how much of inventory is actually sold. Payment to TI, he said, would occur as the products are sold. Campbell noted that Texas Instruments kept some items for use in repairs and the company’s exchange centers. Triton, he said, will handle all subsequent sales to retailers from now on.

MYARC OFFERS EXPANSION SYSTEM

Myarc Inc. of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, is now producing an expansion system for the TI home computer that provides purchasers with the capability of utilizing the double-density feature of the TI Disk Manager II cartridge. Myarc, which also produces a Winchester hard disk for the T199/4A, is the second company in recent weeks to announce an expansion system for the TI. Cor-Comp began marketing its expansion system in April. Other companies have also indicated plans to produce expansion systems for the TI home computer.

Lou Phillips of Myarc says the system his company is marketing comes with 32 kilobytes of random access memory, an RS232 interface with one parallel and one serial ports, a disk drive controller capable of handling two double-density, double-sided disk drives and a single-sided, double- density disk drive. The system is priced at $595. For an additional $50, the company will replace the single-sided drive with a double-sided, double-density drive. Phillips says the system is completely compatible with all TI software. Each system is supplied with one of TI’s Disk Manager II cartridges. The DM11 includes a feature for formatting double-density disks that is activated with the controller that comes with the Myarc system.

Myarc calls its system the MPES-50 (Mini-Peripheral Expansion System). The unit plugs into the side of the T199/4A and is black and silver in color. The unit measures about 7 ~/2 inches high, 6 ~/2 inches wide and 12 inches deep. The system comes with a 90-day limited warranty against faulty workmanship and materials. There is also a version of the system available without a disk drive. Included are an R5232 interface with serial and parallell ports and the 32K memory expansion. It is priced at $299. It can be upgraded with a disk controller and disk drive, the company says. The system also comes with an option for a date and time clock. The price was not available at presstime. Noting that the system is completely compatible with TI hardware and software, Myarc spokesman Lou Phillips says the manuals that come with the systems “are about 75 percent TI manuals.”

Myarc also markets a Winchester hard disk drive for the TI in five, 10 and 15 megabyte models. Phillips says the company is planning to market several other products for the T199/4A ‘in the near future.” For more information, write: Myarc Inc., P.O. Box 140, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 or call (201)766-1700.