Computer History: 1981 - Texas Instruments TI 99/4A
46Computer history video where we talk about TI 99/4A, but also discuss the company (Texas Instruments) behind it as well as the impressive 16bit processor that is at the core of this vintage computer. See below for contents.
The Texas Instruments TI 99/4 and the follow up TI 99/4A were pretty successful minicomputers. They were born from the TI TMS9900 processor that was developed at the time by Texas Instruments. That processor architecture (and speed) was well ahead of its time however the version that was inside the microcomputer had a lot of shortcomings, making the machine slower and harder to program compared to what it should have been.
Software and games were provided on specialized cartridges. "Hunt The Wumpus" and "Tunnels of Doom" were ones of the most successful games for the platform.
The computer had an expansion interface to which various peripherals could be connected: memory expansion, a serial interface, a floppy drive and others.
As far as emulation the system is fairly well supported. Good emulators are Classic99 or PC99. For Linux you can use TI99SIM and for Macintosh MacV9T9. However in recent years MAME is able to properly emulate the TI99/4A.
Contents:
0:31 The company (Texas Instruments)
3:23 The Processor (TI 990)
6:26 The Unit
7:18 The Insides (motherboard)
8:00 Let's play!