NAME  

TI 99 / 4

MANUFACTURER  

Texas Instruments

TYPE  

Home Computer

ORIGIN  

U.S.A.

YEAR  

June 1979

END OF PRODUCTION 

November 1979

BUILT IN LANGUAGE 

TI Basic

KEYBOARD  

Chiclet 41 key keyboard

CPU  

TI TMS 9900

SPEED  

3 MHz

VIDEO  CHIP

TMS 9918

RAM  

16 KB

ROM  

26 KB

PEREPHERALS  

Speech Synthesizer, External 5-1/4" floppy drive, Thermal printer, Data storage cassette, RS-232 serial interface

TEXT MODES 

32 x 24

GRAPHIC MODES 

192 x 256

COLORS  

16

SOUND  

3 channels, 5 octaves (110hz to 55khz) and 1 noise channel

SIZE / WEIGHT 

38 x 25,5 x 6 cm / 2,15 kg

I/O PORTS 

Tape interface, RGB video, Joystick (2), cartridge slot (Solid State Cartridge)

POWER SUPPLY 

Special TI external PSU (pins 1,2: 16v / 1,6A -- pins 2,4: 8v / 0,15A)

PRICE  

$1500.00

 

TI-99/4

TI 99/4

 The TI-99/4 was a less known and not very successful predecessor to the popular TI-99/4A computer.

Released in 1979, the 99/4 was TI's first entry into the home computer market and many expected it to be a hit since it was developed by a major semiconductor company. However, due to many factors such as FCC rejection of the TI's RF Modulator and the failure of the cheaper TMS 9985 chip, the


price was significantly higher then average family was ready to pay and the computer never gained much popularity. It was discontinued in about a year since the introduction to market. Approximately 25,000 units were sold. It was replaced by the improved TI-99/4A console in 1981 which ended up selling somewhere around 3 million units.

The TI-99/4 has a chiclet keyboard with orange Shift and Enter keys. Plastic overlays were sold with some of the cartridges, which could be placed on the keyboard to show what functions the keys provided. Some cartridges required use of specialized functions, which made it necessary to package overlays with some of the titles. The TI-99/4 uses the same TMS 9900 CPU as the TI-99/4A, but has a different video chip - TMS 9918 instead of the updated TMS 9918A in the TI-99/4A (hence the "A" in its name).