Texas Instruments TI 99 4/A
Photo 1: Rama & Musée Bolo, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons (Texas Instruments TI-99-4A (white bg).jpg) Photo 2: Ron Reuter, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons (TI99-4A beige front.jpg) Photo 3: joho345, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (TI99expansion.jpg)
Home computer, 1981, Texas Instruments. The TI-99/4A was the first home computer with a 16-bit processor, the TMS9900 that TI had developed for its minicomputers, and it has the TMS9918 video chip with sprites later used by MSX and the ColecoVision. Released in 1981 as the improved version of the 1979 TI-99/4, with a proper keyboard, it sold nearly three million units at a loss during the price war with Commodore before TI abandoned the home computer market in late 1983. Its "Solid State Software" cartridges and the speech synthesizer made it popular with families.
| Years | 1981 to 1984 |
|---|---|
| Processor | Texas Instruments TMS9900 at 3 MHz |
| RAM | 16 KB video RAM plus 256 bytes of processor RAM; 32 KB expansion in the Peripheral Expansion Box |
| ROM | 26 KB with TI BASIC |
| Graphics | TMS9918A, 256 x 192, 16 colours, 32 sprites |
| Sound | TMS9919 (SN76489), 3 voices plus noise |
| Storage | cassette; 5.25" floppy drives in the Peripheral Expansion Box |
| Ports | cartridge, side expansion, joystick, cassette, RF and composite video |
| Price (1981) | US$525 |
Documentation
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