What was the first home computer released by Texas Instruments?
History of personal computers
Texas Instruments (TI), at the time the world's largest chip manufacturer, decided to enter the home computer market with the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. Announced long before its arrival, most industry observers expected the machine to wipe out all competition – on paper its performance was untouchable, and TI had enormous cash reserves and development capability.
ZX81
Sinclair's first home computer was the MK14, which was launched in kit form in June 1978. It was a long way from being a mass-market product. Its very name – MK standing for "Microcomputer Kit" – was indicative of its origins as a product developed by, and for, hobbyists. It had no screen but instead used an LED segment display (though Science of Cambridge did produce an add-on module allowing it to be hooked up to a UHF TV); it had no case, consisting of an exposed circuit board; it had no built-in storage capabilities and only 256 bytes of memory; and input was via a 20-key hexadecimal keyboard. Despite the limitations of the machine it sold a respectable 10–15,000 units; by comparison, the much more expensive Apple II had only sold 9,000 units in the United States, a much bigger market, in 1978. This success convinced Clive Sinclair that there was an untapped market for low-cost computers that could profitably be exploited.
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
Available peripherals included a 5¼" floppy disk drive and controller, an RS-232 card comprising two serial ports and one parallel port, a P-code card for Pascal support, a thermal printer, an acoustic coupler, a tape drive using standard audio cassettes as media, and a 32 KB memory expansion card. The TI-99/4 was sold with both the computer and a monitor (a modified 13" Zenith color TV) as Texas Instruments could not get its RF modulator approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in time . The TI-99/4A did ship with an RF modulator.
List of home computers
The home computers between 1977 and about 1990 were different from today's uniform and predictable machines. During this time it made economic sense for manufacturers to make microcomputers aimed at the home user. By simplifying the machines, and making use of household items such as television sets and cassette recorders instead of dedicated computer peripherals, the home computer allowed the consumer to own a computer at a fraction of the price of computers oriented to small business. Today, the price of microcomputers has dropped to the point where there's no advantage to building a separate, incompatible series just for home users.
Home theater PC
In 1996 Gateway Computer unveiled the "Destination" computer that included a tuner card and video card. The unit cost $4,000 and mostly integrated television viewing and computer functions on one color monitor. The Destination was called a "PC-TV Combo" but by December the term "Home-theater PC" appeared in mainstream media: "The home theater PC will be a combination entertainment and information appliance".
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments was active in the 1980s, in the area of artificial intelligence. In addition to ongoing developments in speech and signal processing and recognition, it developed and sold the Explorer computer family of Lisp machines. For the Explorer a special 32-bit Lisp microprocessor was developed, which was used in the Explorer II and the TI MicroExplorer (a Lisp Machine on a NuBus board for the Apple Macintosh). AI application software developed by TI for the Explorer included the Gate Assignment system for United Airlines, described as "an artificial intelligence program that captures the combined experience and knowledge of a half-dozen United operations experts." In software for the PC, they introduced "Personal Consultant" a rule-based expert system development tool and runtime engine, followed by "Personal Consultant Plus" written in the Lisp-like language from MIT known as Scheme, and the natural language menu system NLMenu.
Home computer
In the early part of the 1980s, the dominant microprocessors used in home computers were the 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 (Apple, Commodore, Atari, BBC Micro) and Zilog Z80 (TRS-80, ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 128, Amstrad CPC). One exception was the TI-99 series, announced in 1979 with a 16-bit TMS9900 CPU. The TI was originally to use the 8-bit 9985 processor designed especially for it, but this project was cancelled. However, the glue logic needed to retrofit the 16-bit CPU to an 8-bit 9985 system negated the advantages of the more powerful CPU. Another exception was the Soviet Elektronika BK series of 1984, which used the fully 16-bit and powerful for the time 1801 series CPU, offering a full PDP-11 compatibility and a fully functional Q-Bus slot, though at the cost of very anemic RAM and graphics. The Motorola 6809 was used by the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer, the Fujitsu FM-7, and Dragon 32/64.
TI-57
The TI-57 was a programmable calculator made by Texas Instruments between 1977 and 1982. There were three machines by this name made by TI, the first was the TI-57 with LED display released in September 1977 along the more powerful TI-58 and TI-59. It had 50 program steps and 8 memory registers. Two later versions named TI-57 LCD and TI-57 LCD-II have a LCD display, but were less powerful (ran much slower) and had much less memory: 48 bytes to be allocated between program 'steps' and storage registers.
Texas Instruments
In 1979, TI entered the home computer market with the TI-99/4, a competitor to such entries as the Apple II, Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 and the later Atari 400/800 series and Commodore VIC-20. It discontinued the TI-99/4A (1981), the sequel to the 99/4, in late 1983 amidst an intense price war waged primarily against Commodore. At the 1983 Winter CES, TI showed models 99/2 and the Compact Computer 40 (CC-40), the latter aimed at professional users. The TI Professional (1983) ultimately joined the ranks of the many unsuccessful DOS and x86-based—but non-compatible—competitors to the IBM PC (the founders of Compaq, an early leader in PC compatibles, all came from TI). The company for years successfully made and sold PC-compatible laptops before withdrawing from the market and selling its product line to Acer in 1998.
PDP-1
In this setting, the PDP-1 quickly replaced the TX-0 as the favorite machine among the budding hacker culture, and served as the platform for a long list of computing innovations. This list includes one of the earliest digital video games, "Spacewar!", the first text editor, the first word processor, the first interactive debugger, the first credible computer chess program, and some of the earliest computerized music. At the Computer History Museum TX-0 alumni reunion in 1984, Gordon Bell said DEC's products developed directly from the TX-2, the successor to the TX-0 which had been developed at what Bell thought was a bargain price at the time, about . At the same meeting, Jack Dennis said Ben Gurley's design for the PDP-1 was influenced by his work on the TX-0 display.
The PDP-1 sold in basic form for . BBN's system was quickly followed by orders from Lawrence Livermore and Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL), and eventually 53 PDP-1s were delivered until production ended in 1969. All of these machines were still being actively used in 1970, and several were eventually saved. MIT's example was donated to The Computer Museum, Boston, and from there ended up at the Computer History Museum (CHM). A late version of "Spacewar!" on paper tape was still tucked into the case. PDP-1 #44 was found in a barn in Wichita, Kansas in 1988, apparently formerly owned by one of the many aviation companies in the area, and rescued for the Digital Historical Collection, also eventually ending up at the CHM. AECL's computer was sent to Science North, but was later scrapped.
Timex Sinclair 1000
Timex claimed to have sold 600,000 TS1000s in the US by early 1983, and other companies imported localized versions of British software. It sold for US$99.95 in the US when it debuted, making it the cheapest home computer at the time; it was advertised as "the first computer under $100". This pricing initiated a price war with Commodore International, who quickly reduced the price of its VIC-20 to match and later announced a trade-in program offering $100 for any competing computer toward the purchase of a Commodore 64. Since the TS1000 was selling for $49 by this time, many customers bought them for the sole purpose of trading them in for a Commodore 64.
1980s
The personal computer experienced explosive growth in the 1980s, transitioning from a hobbyist's toy to a full-fledged consumer product. The IBM PC, launched in 1981, became the dominant computer for professional users. Commodore created the most popular home computers of both 8-bit and 16-bit generations. MSX standard was the dominant computer platform in Japan and in most parts of Asia. Apple superseded its Apple II and Lisa models by introducing the first Macintosh computer in 1984. It was the first commercially successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse, which started to become general features in computers after the middle of the decade.
History of computing
The 1980s brought about significant advances with microprocessor that greatly impacted the fields of engineering and other sciences. The Motorola 68000 microprocessor had a processing speed that was far superior to the other microprocessors being used at the time. Because of this, having a newer, faster microprocessor allowed for the newer microcomputers that came along after to be more efficient in the amount of computing they were able to do. This was evident in the 1983 release of the Apple computer Lisa. Lisa was the first personal computer with graphical user interface (GUI) that was sold commercially, she ran on the Motorola 68000, dual floppy disk drives, a 5 MB hard drive and had 1MB of RAM . After successfully launching Lisa, a year later Apple released its first Macintosh computer still running on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor. Another advancement because of microprocessors came from Texas Instruments. Texas Instruments first introduced their TMS9900 processor in June 1976. They then used their microprocessor in their TI 99/4 computer.
TI-1030
The TI-1030 is a 4 function calculator first manufactured by Texas Instruments on June 11, 1978. The introductory price was $15.95 (). It was powered by 2 LR43 sized batteries.
Speak &amp; Spell (toy)
The Speak & Spell line was a series of electronic hand-held child computers by Texas Instruments that consisted of a TMC0280 linear predictive coding speech synthesizer, a keyboard, and a receptor slot to receive one of a collection of ROM game library modules (collectively covered under patent ). The first Speak & Spell was introduced at the summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1978, making it one of the earliest handheld electronic devices with a visual display to use interchangeable game cartridges.
TI SR-50
The SR-50 was Texas Instruments' first scientific pocket calculator with trigonometric and logarithm functions. It enhanced their earlier SR-10 and SR-11 calculators, introduced in 1973, which had featured scientific notation, squares, square root, and reciprocals, but had no trig or log functions, and lacked other features. The SR-50 was introduced in 1974 and sold for US$170. It competed with the Hewlett-Packard HP-35.
Nelson Ford
In 1979, Nelson Ford got his first personal computer, a Radio Shack Model II. In 1980, he got one of the first IBM-PCs available in Texas and shortly after that helped start the "Houston Area League Of PC Users", which became the largest PC user group in the country with well over 10,000 members.
Texas Instruments Professional Computer and Professional Portable Computer
Additionally, both the TIPC and TIPPC were equipped with voice recognition software, allowing the user to speak basic commands to the computers. Both computers also featured an Ethernet card, a new device developed in 1983 by 3COM. The TIPC and the TIPPC were superseded by IBM Personal Computers and compatible machine.http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/ti/professional/2223216-001_TIPC_Technical_Reference_Manual_Preliminary_012183.pdf
Tandy 2000
The Tandy 2000 is a personal computer introduced by Radio Shack in September 1983 based on the 8 MHz Intel 80186 microprocessor running MS-DOS. By comparison, the IBM PC XT (introduced in March 1983) used the older 4.77 MHz 8088 processor, and the IBM PC AT (introduced in 1984) would later use the newer 6 MHz Intel 80286. Due to the 16-bit-wide data bus and more efficient instruction decoding of the 80186, the Tandy 2000 ran significantly faster than other PC compatibles, and slightly faster than the PC AT. (Later IBM upgraded the 80286 in new PC AT models to 8 MHz, though with wait states.) The Tandy 2000 was the company's first computer built around an Intel x86 series microprocessor; previous models used the Z80 and 68000 CPUs.
Leading Edge Model D
"Dataquest" estimated that the Model D won 1% of the American home-computer market in 1986, its first year of availability. Its $1,495 list price was the lowest of seven compatibles with comparable configurations in a September 1985 "InfoWorld" chart, and under half the price of the $2,820 IBM PC. Along with the Tandy 1000 and Epson Equity series, the Model D was one of the first IBM PC compatible computers to become popular for home use, due to its low price and good reviews. Previously, MS-DOS and IBM Compatibles were almost exclusively used in businesses, with the home computer market dominated by Commodore, Apple and Atari. For years afterward, many home-oriented software packages for the PC specifically cited the Model D along with the Tandy and Epson models as compatible hardware.
TI PLT SHH1
TI PLT SHH1 (Personal Learning Tool, Spot Hand Held) is a prototype calculator created by Texas Instruments as an early attempt to develop a Linux-based calculator. It features an ARM based OMAP 1510 processor, 16 MB RAM, and an SD slot. In conjunction with its "TI PLT-FHH1" Personal Learning Tool, Fido Hand Held and "TI PLT-SU1" Personal Learning Tool, second generation are prototype calculators. The project was eventually scrapped by TI in early 2004. However, a few of the early prototypes such as the PLT SHH1 leaked to the public, making it one of a few rare prototypes among collectors. A few elements of its design, including its large screen and casing, seem to have been reappropriated for use in the TI-Nspire.
CTIA and GTIA
Shortly after design began, the home computer revolution started in earnest in the later half of 1977. In response, Atari decided to release two versions of the new machine, a low-end model as a games console, and a high-end version as a home computer. In either role, a more complex playfield would be needed, especially support for character graphics in the computer role. Design of the CTIA was well advanced at this point, so instead of a redesign a clever solution was provided by adding a second chip that would effectively automate the process of racing the beam. Instead of the user's programming updating the CTIA's registers based on its interrupt timing, the new ANTIC would handle this chore, reading data from a framebuffer and feeding that to the CTIA on the fly.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments offers Wireless Connectivity products which include the following product families:In addition to Wireless Connectivity, Texas instruments offers the following product families for Wireless MCUs:Texas Instruments also offers a portfolio of microcontrollers, including:In the past, TI has also sold microcontrollers based on ARM7 (TMS470) and 8051 cores.
Texas Instruments Power
Texas Instruments Power, known more popularly by its acronym TIP, is a series of bipolar junction transistors manufactured by Texas Instruments. The series was introduced in the 1960s, and still sees some use today due to their simplicity, their durability, and their ease of use. A Texas Instruments catalog in 1966 lists the TIP04 and TIP14 part numbers.
Home computer
Clock rates on the 68000-based systems were approximately 8 MHz with RAM capacities of 256 KB (for the base Amiga 1000) up to 1024 KB (1 megabyte, a milestone, first seen on the Atari 1040ST). These systems used 3.5" floppy disks from the beginning but 5.25" drives were made available to facilitate data exchange with IBM PC compatibles. The Amiga and ST both had GUIs with windowing technology. These were inspired by the Apple Macintosh, but at a list price of US$2495 (), the Macintosh itself was too expensive for most households. The Commodore Amiga in particular had true multitasking capability and unlike all other low-cost computers of the era could run multiple applications in their own windows.
Microsoft Home
Microsoft Home was a line of software applications and personal hardware products published by Microsoft. Microsoft Home software titles first appeared in the middle of 1993. These applications were designed to bring multimedia to Microsoft Windows and Macintosh personal computers. With more than 60 products available under the Microsoft Home brand by 1994, the company's push into the consumer market took off. Microsoft also announced at that time Microsoft Plus!, an add-on enhancement package for Windows, which was continued until the Windows XP era. The range of home software catered for many different consumer interests from gaming with Microsoft Arcade and Entertainment Packs to reference titles such as Microsoft Encarta, Bookshelf and Cinemania. Shortly after the release of Microsoft Windows 95, the company began to reduce the price of Microsoft Home products and by the rise of the World Wide Web by 1998, Microsoft began to phase out the line of software.
Tomy Tutor
The Tomy Tutor, originally sold in Japan as the and in the UK as the Grandstand Tutor, is a home computer produced by the Japanese toymaker Tomy. It was architecturally similar, but not identical, to the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, and used a similar Texas Instruments 16-bit CPU. The computer was launched in the UK and the United States in 1983. Outside Japan, however, sales were not significant.
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model was part of a wave of 16- and 32-bit computers that featured 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphics and audio over 8-bit systems. This wave included the Atari ST—released the same year—Apple's Macintosh, and later the Apple IIGS. Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Amiga differed from its contemporaries through the inclusion of custom hardware to accelerate graphics and sound, including sprites and a blitter, and a pre-emptive multitasking operating system called AmigaOS.
Space Invaders
The 1980 Atari 2600 version was the first official licensing of an arcade game and became the first "killer app" for video game consoles by quadrupling the system's sales. It sold over two million units in its first year on sale as a home console game, making it the first title to sell a million cartridges. Other official ports were released for the Atari 8-bit computer line and Atari 5200 console, while Taito later released it for the Nintendo Famicom in 1985 (Japan only). Numerous unofficial clones were made, such as the popular computer games "Super Invader" (1979) and "TI Invaders" (1981), which was the top-selling game for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A through at least 1982. Adjusted for inflation, all versions of "Space Invaders" are estimated to have exceeded $13 billion in gross revenue, making it the highest-grossing video game of all time.
Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was the first RISC-based home computer. The first models were released in June 1987, as the 300 and 400 series. The 400 series included four expansion slots (although a two slot backplane could be added to the 300 series as an official upgrade, and third parties produced their own 4-slot backplanes) and an ST-506 controller for an internal hard drive. Both models included the Arthur operating system (later replaced by RISC OS as a paid-for upgrade), BBC BASIC programming language and an emulator for Acorn's earlier BBC Micro, and were mounted in two-part cases with a small central unit, monitor on top, and a separate keyboard and three-button mouse (the middle one, used for pop-up context menus of the operating system). All models featured eight-channel 8-bit stereo sound (time-multiplexed in software to the one channel the hardware provided, with the software also providing volume control that was easier as the sound was logarithmic) and were capable of displaying 256 colours on screen.
Aster CT-80
The Aster CT-80, an early (1982) home/personal computer developed by the small Dutch company MCP (later renamed to Aster Computers), was sold in its first incarnation as a kit for hobbyists. Later it was sold ready to use. It consisted of several Eurocard PCB's with DIN 41612 connectors, and a backplane all based on a 19-inch rack configuration. It was the first commercially available Dutch personal/home computer. The Aster computer could use the software written for the popular Tandy TRS-80 computer while fixing many of the problems of that computer, but it could also run CP/M software, with a big amount of free memory Transient Program Area, (TPA) and a full 80×25 display, and it could be used as a Videotext terminal. Although the Aster was a clone of the TRS-80 Model I it was in fact more compatible with the TRS-80 Model III, and ran all the software of these systems including games. It also had a built in speaker which was compatible with such games software.
Sol-20
The Sol-20 was the first fully assembled microcomputer with a built-in keyboard and television output, what would later be known as a home computer. The design was a combination of an Intel 8080-based backplane, a VDM-1 graphics card, the 3P+S I/O card to drive a keyboard, and circuitry to connect to a cassette deck for program storage. Additional expansion was available via five S-100 bus slots at the back of the machine. It also included swappable ROMs with boot code that allowed it to start up running a selection of programs.
History of electronic engineering
In 1969, Ted Hoff conceived the commercial microprocessor at Intel and thus ignited the development of the personal computer. Hoff's invention was part of an order by a Japanese company for a desktop programmable electronic calculator, which Hoff wanted to build as cheaply as possible. The first realization of the microprocessor was the Intel 4004, a 4-bit processor, in 1969, but only in 1973 did the Intel 8080, an 8-bit processor, make the building of the first personal computer, the MITS Altair 8800, possible. The first PC was announced to the general public on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics.
Atari ST
The "1040ST" was the first personal computer shipped with a base RAM configuration of 1 MB. When the list price was reduced to $999 in the U.S. it appeared on the cover of "BYTE" in March 1986 as the first computer to break the $1000/megabyte price barrier; "Compute!" noted that, in fact, the "1040ST" was the first computer to break the $2500/megabyte price barrier. However, the ST remained generally the same internally over the majority of its several-year lifespan. The choice of model numbers was inherited from the model numbers of the "XE series" of the Atari 8-bit family of computers. A limited number of 1040STFs shipped with a single-sided floppy drive.
NuBus
The NuBus was first developed commercially in the Western Digital NuMachine, and first used in a production product by their licensee, Lisp Machines, Inc., in the LMI-Lambda, a Lisp Machine. The project and the development group was sold by Western Digital to Texas Instruments in 1984. The technology was incorporated into their TI Explorer, also a Lisp Machine. In 1986, Texas Instruments used the NuBus in the S1500 multiprocessor UNIX system. Later, both Texas Instruments and Symbolics developed Lisp Machine NuBus boards (the TI MicroExplorer and the Symbolics MacIvory) based on their Lisp supporting microprocessors. These NuBus boards were co-processor Lisp Machines for the Apple Macintosh line (the Mac II and Mac Quadras).
Commodore PET
The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) is a line of home/personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was the first personal computer sold to the public and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line, including the Commodore 64. The first model, which was named the PET 2001, was presented to the public at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in 1977.
Home video game console
RCA and Atari soon released their own cartridge-based consoles, the RCA Studio II and the Atari 2600 (originally branded as the Atari Video Computer System), respectively. Both Bally (with their Home Library Computer in 1977) and Magnavox (with the Odyssey² in 1978) also brought their own programmable cartridge-based consoles to the market. However, it was not until Atari released a conversion of the golden age arcade hit "Space Invaders" in 1980 for the Atari 2600 that the home console industry took off. Many consumers bought an Atari console so they could play "Space Invaders" at home. "Space Invaders" unprecedented success started the trend of console manufacturers trying to get exclusive rights to arcade titles and the trend of advertisements for game consoles claiming to bring the arcade experience home.
ZX81
The ZX81 is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and was designed to be a low-cost introduction to home computing for the general public. It was hugely successful, and more than 1.5 million units were sold before it was discontinued. The ZX81 found commercial success in many other countries, notably the United States where it was initially sold as the ZX-81. Timex manufactured and distributed it under licence and enjoyed a substantial but brief boom in sales. Timex later produced its own versions of the ZX81 for the US market: the Timex Sinclair 1000 and Timex Sinclair 1500. Unauthorized clones of the ZX81 were produced in several countries.
List of early microcomputers
A number of complete microcomputers were offered even before kits became popular, dating to as far back as 1973. For some time there was a major market for assembled versions of the Altair 8800, a market that grew significantly through the late 1970s and into the early 1980s. The introduction of three computers aimed at personal users in 1977, the Radio Shack TRS-80, Apple II, and Commodore PET, significantly changed the market and led to the home computer revolution.
Bubble Bobble
In 2002 a homebrew version for the Texas Instruments TI-8x series of calculators was released.
Personal computer
During the early 1980s, home computers were further developed for household use, with software for personal productivity, programming and games. They typically could be used with a television already in the home as the computer display, with low-detail blocky graphics and a limited color range, and text about 40 characters wide by 25 characters tall. Sinclair Research, a UK company, produced the ZX Seriesthe ZX80 (1980), ZX81 (1981), and the ZX Spectrum; the latter was introduced in 1982, and totaled 8 million unit sold. Following came the Commodore 64, totaled 17 million units sold.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments invented the hand-held calculator (a prototype called "Cal Tech") in 1967 and the single-chip microcomputer in 1971, was assigned the first patent on a single-chip microprocessor (invented by Gary Boone) on September 4, 1973. This was disputed by Gilbert Hyatt, formerly of the Micro Computer Company, in August 1990 when he was awarded a patent superseding TI's. This was over-turned on June 19, 1996 in favor of TI (note: Intel is usually given credit with Texas Instruments for the almost-simultaneous invention of the microprocessor).
TI Advanced Scientific Computer
When ASC machines first became available in the early 1970s they outperformed almost all other machines, including the CDC STAR-100, and under certain conditions matched that of the one-off ILLIAC IV. However only seven had been installed when the Cray-1 was announced in 1975. The Cray-1 dedicated almost all of its design to sustained high-speed access to memory, including over one million 64-bit words of semiconductor memory and a cycle time that was one-fifth that of the ASC (12.5 ns). Although the ASC was in some ways a more expandable design, in the supercomputer market speed is preferred, and the Cray-1 was much faster. ASC sales ended almost overnight, and although an upgraded ASC had been designed with a cycle time one-fifth that of the original, Texas Instruments decided to exit the market.
Texas Instruments SBP0400
The Texas Instruments SBP0400 (SBP = silicon bipolar), also known as SBC 0400 and X0400, is a microprogrammable 4-bit slice processor that was introduced in 1976 (delivery began in December 1975). It was one of the first VLSI processors and was the first device in the USA based on I²L technology (integrated injection logic). It was used for research and teaching purposes in the aerospace industry (NASA) and in the learning computer LCM-1001 (Texas Instruments, 1976). This microprocessor learning computer was probably the company's first.In addition to the SBP0400, the learning computer contains a 74279 latch and a rechargeable battery. It is powered by a 7 V power supply unit. It is operated via a total of 20 toggle switches, which are divided into nine micro-operation switches, four data input switches, six control switches and the main switch. The switch position "down" or "left" corresponds to digital "0" or LOW; the position "up" or "right" corresponds to "1" or HIGH. The switch position at "1" is additionally indicated by a red LED lighting up. Nine further LEDs are used as output, four each for data and address, and one for ALUCOUT (ALU carry-out).
TI-81
The TI-81 is the first graphing calculator made by Texas Instruments. It was designed in 1990 for use in algebra and precalculus courses. Since its original release, it has been superseded several times by newer calculators: the TI-85, TI-82, TI-83, TI-86, TI-83 Plus, TI-83 Plus Silver Edition, TI-84 Plus, TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, and most recently the TI-Nspire and TI-Nspire CAS. Most of these share the original feature set and 96×64-pixel display that began with this calculator.
Texas Instruments
In 1978, Texas Instruments introduced the first single-chip LPC speech synthesizer. In 1976 TI began a feasibility study memory intensive applications for bubble memory then being developed. They soon focused on speech applications. This resulted in the development the TMC0280 one-chip linear predictive coding (LPC) speech synthesizer which was the first time a single silicon chip had electronically replicated the human voice. This was used in several TI commercial products beginning with Speak & Spell which was introduced at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1978. In 2001 TI left the speech synthesis business, selling it to Sensory Inc. of Santa Clara, California.
Atari 5200
Much of the technology in the Atari 8-bit family of home computer systems was originally developed as a second-generation games console intended to replace the 2600. However, as the system was reaching completion, the personal computer revolution was starting with the release of machines like the Commodore PET, TRS-80 and Apple II. These machines had less advanced hardware than the new Atari technology, but sold for much higher prices with associated higher profit margins. Atari's management decided to enter this market, and the technology was repackaged into the Atari 400 and 800. The chipset used in these machines was created with the mindset that the 2600 would likely be obsolete by the 1980 time frame.
Timex Sinclair
The Timex Sinclair 1000 was introduced in July 1982, with Timex Sinclair touting it as the first home computer to cost under $100 in the U.S. market. In spite of the flaws in the early versions, half a million units were sold in the first six months alone. Overall, the machines were nowhere near as successful as their UK progenitors; in contrast with the ZX Spectrum, which was the best-selling computer in Britain at the time, the TS2068 was a relative failure, due to Timex leaving the computer business prior to the introduction of the TS2068 (and TS 1500).
Intel 4004
Three other CPU chip designs were produced at about the same time: the Four-Phase Systems AL1, done in 1969; the MP944, completed in 1970 and used in the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet; and the Texas Instruments TMS-1000 chip, announced in September 17, 1971. Both the AL1 and the MP944 use several chips for the implementation of the CPU function. The TMS0100 chip was presented as a “calculator on a chip” with the original designation TMS1802NC. This chip contains a very primitive CPU and can only be used to implement various simple 4-function calculators. It is the precursor of the TMS1000, introduced in 1974, which is considered the first microcontroller i.e., a computer on a chip containing not only the CPU, but also ROM, RAM, and I/O functions. The MCS-4 family of 4 chips developed by Intel, of which the 4004 is the CPU or microprocessor, was far more versatile and powerful than the single chip TMS1000, allowing the creation of a variety of small computers for various applications.
TI-35
Texas Instruments TI-35 was a series of scientific calculators by Texas Instruments. The original TI-35 was notable for being one of Texas Instruments' first use of CMOS controller chips in their designs, and was at the time distinguished from the lower-end TI-30 line by the addition of some statistics functions.
Sord Computer Corporation
In 1977, SORD released the M200 Smart Home Computer, one of the first home computers. It was a desktop computer that combined a Zilog Z80 CPU, keyboard, CRT display, floppy disk drive and MF-DOS operating system into an integrated unit.
Acorn Computers
The second ARM-based product was the "Acorn Archimedes" desktop-computer, released in mid-1987, some 18 months after IBM launched their RISC-based RT PC. The first RISC-based home computer, the Archimedes was popular in the United Kingdom, Australasia and Ireland, and was considerably more powerful and advanced than most offerings of the day. The Archimedes was advertised in both printed and broadcast media. One example of such advertising is a mock-up of the RISC OS 2 desktop, showing some software application directories, with the advert text added within windows. However, the vast majority of home users opted for an Atari ST or Commodore Amiga when looking to upgrade their 8-bit micros. As with the BBC, the Archimedes instead flourished in schools and other educational settings but just a few years later in the early 1990s this market began stratifying into the PC-dominated world. Acorn continued to produce updated models of the Archimedes including a laptop (the A4) and in 1994 launched the "Risc PC", whose top specification would later include a 200 MHz+ StrongARM processor. These were sold mainly into education, specialist and enthusiast markets.
Little Professor
The Little Professor was first released by Texas Instruments on June 13, 1976. As the first electronic educational toy, the Little Professor is a common item on calculator collectors' lists.
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as Apple ][) is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak (Steve Jobs oversaw the development of the Apple II's foam-molded plastic case and Rod Holt developed the switching power supply). It was introduced in 1977 at the West Coast Computer Faire by Jobs and was the first consumer product sold by Apple Computer, Inc. It is the first model in a series of computers which were produced until Apple IIe production ceased in November 1993. The Apple II marks Apple's first launch of a personal computer aimed at a consumer market – branded towards American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists.
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
Green said that although his company Instant Software had published "hundreds of programs for the TRS-80 [and] want to translate as many as possible for use on the TI-99/4", it could not find anyone among more than 1,000 developers in its network who could port software to the computer, adding "We understand the problems with the system and the efforts Texas Instruments made to make translation difficult". Rival companies were much more open with information. The next issue of "Kilobaud Microcomputing" reported that a Commodore executive promised that the forthcoming VIC-20 would have "enough additional documentation to enable an experienced programmer/hobbyist to get inside and let his imagination work". IBM released complete software and hardware technical information for the Personal Computer when announcing it in 1981, stating that "the definition of a personal computer "is" third-party hardware and software".
BBS software for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
One of the most popular BBS applications for the TI-99/4A in the early to mid 1980s was aptly named TIBBS (Texas Instruments Bulletin Board System). TIBBS was purported to be the first BBS written to run on the TI-99/4A microcomputer. Its author, Ralph Fowler of Atlanta, Georgia, began the program because he was told by TI's engineers that the machine was not powerful enough to support a BBS. Approximately 200 copies of the application were officially licensed by Fowler and many TIBBS systems popped up around the World. Operators ranged from teenagers to one sysop in Sacramento, California who was over 70 years old. After Texas Instruments ceased producing the 99/4A, its enthusiasts became even more supportive of each other and TIBBS continued into the late 1980s. Eventually Fowler made the program public domain and moved to a different PC platform.
Fab@Home
The project was led by students at Cornell University's department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. The effort was inspired by the history of the Altair 8800, one of the first DIY home computer kits released in 1975. The Altair 8800 is largely credited with triggering the home computing revolution and the transition from the industrial mainframe to the consumer desktop, by making a low-cost, open and “hackable” computer accessible to home enthusiasts for the first time. The goal of the Fab@Home project was to accomplish a similar effect in the 3D printing space. The project was one of the first larger scale cases that applied the open-source development model to physical devices, a process that later became known as Open Source Hardware.
History of computing hardware (1960s–present)
The advent of the microprocessor and solid-state memory made home computing affordable. Early hobby microcomputer systems such as the Altair 8800 and Apple I introduced around 1975 marked the release of low-cost 8-bit processor chips, which had sufficient computing power to be of interest to hobby and experimental users. By 1977 pre-assembled systems such as the Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80 (later dubbed the "1977 Trinity" by "Byte" Magazine) began the era of mass-market home computers; much less effort was required to obtain an operating computer, and applications such as games, word processing, and spreadsheets began to proliferate. Distinct from computers used in homes, small business systems were typically based on CP/M, until IBM introduced the IBM-PC, which was quickly adopted. The PC was heavily cloned, leading to mass production and consequent cost reduction throughout the 1980s. This expanded the PCs presence in homes, replacing the home computer category during the 1990s and leading to the current monoculture of architecturally identical personal computers.
Home computer
In 1986 UK home computer maker Amstrad began producing their PC1512 PC-compatible for sale in the UK. Later they would market the machine in the USA as the PC6400. In June 1987 an improved model was produced as the PC1640. These machines had fast 8086 CPUs, enhanced CGA graphics, and were feature-laden for their modest prices. They had joystick adapters built into their keyboards and shipped with a licensed version of the Digital Research's GEM, a GUI for the MS-DOS operating system. They became marginal successes in the home market.
NuMachine
The NuMachine was first developed commercially by Western Digital. It was bought by Texas Instruments in 1983. Texas Instruments dropped the NuMachine development in 1985 in favor of the TI Explorer.
TI-34
The TI-34 name is a branding used by Texas Instruments for its mid-range scientific calculators aimed at the educational market. The first TI-34 model was introduced in 1987 as a midpoint between the TI-30 series and the TI-35/TI-36 series. The TI-34 is better than the TI-34IIEarlier models included Boolean algebra features, though these were removed with the introduction of the TI-34II in 1999, which focuses more on fractional calculations and other subjects common in middle and high school math and science curricula.
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
The feature and price information is from advertisements in "Radio-Electronics" magazine (issue date shown). The 816 price is from the original article in "Popular Electronics".
Bowmar Instrument Corporation introduced the "Bowmar Brain", a four-function pocket calculator, in September 1971 and the $179 calculator sold over 500,000 copies in the first year. Bowmar then developed the "901B" calculator that was priced at $120. In September 1972, Texas Instruments (TI) introduced the TI-2500 portable four-function calculator that also sold for $120. The 901B and the TI-2500 both used the TI TMS0100 family of "calculator-on-a-chip" integrated circuit. TI was now directly competing with their IC customers. Other semiconductor companies such as National Semiconductor and Rockwell began selling calculators. Commodore Business Machines and other office equipment companies also got into the market. A frenzied price war started. By early 1974, Ed Roberts found he could purchase a calculator in a retail store for less than his cost of materials. The larger companies could sell below cost to win market share. Bowmar lost $20 million in 1974 and filed for bankruptcy. Commodore acquired their IC supplier, MOS Technology. Texas Instruments won the price war but their calculator division lost $16 million in 1975.
Personal computer
Also in 1973 Hewlett Packard introduced fully BASIC programmable microcomputers that fit entirely on top of a desk, including a keyboard, a small one-line display, and printer. The Wang 2200 microcomputer of 1973 had a full-size cathode ray tube (CRT) and cassette tape storage. These were generally expensive specialized computers sold for business or scientific uses. The introduction of the microprocessor, a single chip with all the circuitry that formerly occupied large cabinets, led to the proliferation of personal computers after 1975.
1974 saw the introduction of what is considered by many to be the first true "personal computer", the Altair 8800 created by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Based on the 8-bit Intel 8080 Microprocessor, the Altair is widely recognized as the spark that ignited the microcomputer revolution as the first commercially successful personal computer. The computer bus designed for the Altair was to become a "de facto" standard in the form of the S-100 bus, and the first programming language for the machine was Microsoft's founding product, Altair BASIC.
History of the Amiga
By 1988 software sales for the Amiga remained disappointing compared to those for the IBM PC, Commodore 64, and Apple II. With its lowered price, the Amiga 500 went on to become a successful home computer and eventually outsold its main rival, the Atari ST. The Amiga 2000, thanks to its Genlock and internal expansion slots, managed to carve out a market niche within desktop video. This market was not as large as the office and publishing markets dominated by the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh and as a result the Amiga 2000 lagged these systems in sales. Also, Commodore had initially announced a price of $1495 for the 2000, resulting in widespread grumbling among their customer base when the higher price was made public. To a lesser degree this was the case for A500 which Commodore announced its price $595.95 but later released it at $699. The Amiga did see widespread use in the television and video production industry during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including on popular shows like Clarissa Explains It All and Unsolved Mysteries.
History of personal computers
After the 1972 introduction of the Intel 4004, microprocessor costs declined rapidly. In 1974 the American electronics magazine "Radio-Electronics" described the Mark-8 computer kit, based on the Intel 8008 processor. In January of the following year, "Popular Electronics" magazine published an article describing a kit based on the Intel 8080, a somewhat more powerful and easier to use processor. The Altair 8800 sold remarkably well even though initial memory size was limited to a few hundred bytes and there was no software available. However, the Altair kit was much less costly than an Intel development system of the time and so was purchased by companies interested in developing microprocessor control for their own products. Expansion memory boards and peripherals were soon listed by the original manufacturer, and later by plug compatible manufacturers. The very first Microsoft product was a 4 kilobyte paper tape BASIC interpreter, which allowed users to develop programs in a higher-level language. The alternative was to hand-assemble machine code that could be directly loaded into the microcomputer's memory using a front panel of toggle switches, pushbuttons and LED displays. While the hardware front panel emulated those used by early mainframe and minicomputers, after a very short time I/O through a terminal was the preferred human/machine interface, and front panels became extinct.
Commodore Plus/4
In the early 1980s, Commodore found itself engaged in a price war in the home computer market. Companies like Texas Instruments and Timex Corporation were releasing computers that undercut the price of Commodore's PET line. Commodore's MOS Technology division had designed a video chip but could not find any third-party buyers. The VIC-20 resulted from the confluence of these events and it was introduced in 1980 at a list price of $299.95. Later, spurred by the competition, Commodore was able to reduce the VIC's street price to $99, and it became the first computer (of any kind) to sell over 1 million units. The Commodore 64, the first 64-KB computer to sell for under in the USA, was another salvo in the price war but it was far more expensive to make than the VIC-20 because it used discrete chips for video, sound, and I/O. Still, the C64 went on to become a best-seller and was selling for $199 at the time of the Plus/4's introduction. Even while C64 sales were rising, Commodore president Jack Tramiel wanted a new computer line that would use fewer chips and at the same time address some of the user complaints about the VIC and C64.
Atari 8-bit family
During the early development period, the home computer era began in earnest in the form of the TRS-80, Commodore PET, and Apple II family—what "Byte" Magazine would dub the "1977 Trinity". Nolan Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for $28 million in 1976 in order to raise funds for the launch of the 2600. Warner had recently sent Ray Kassar to act as the CEO of the company. Kassar felt the chipset should be used in a home computer to challenge Apple. In order to adapt the machine to this role, it would need to support character graphics, include some form of expansion for peripherals, and run the then-universal BASIC programming language.
History of personal computers
First produced in 1965, the Programma 101 was a printing programmable calculator described in advertisements as a "desktop computer". It was designed and produced by the Italian company Olivetti with Pier Giorgio Perotto being the lead developer. The Olivetti Programma 101 was presented at the 1965 New York World's Fair after 2 years work (1962- 1964). Over 44,000 units were sold worldwide; in the US its cost at launch was $3,200. It was targeted to offices and scientific entities for their daily work because of its high computing capabilities in small space and cost; also the NASA was amongst the first owners. Built without integrated circuits or microprocessors, it used only transistors, resistors and condensers for its processing, the Programma 101 had features found in modern personal computers, such as memory, keyboard, printing unit, magnetic card reader/recorder, control and arithmetic unit. HP later copied the Programma 101 architecture for its HP9100 series.
Unisonic Products Corporation
Like dozens of other manufacturers of consumer electronics, Unisonic released a series of dedicated consoles in the late 1970s. The consoles were generally patterned on "Home Pong", a game console released by Atari, Inc. in 1975. Unisonic released its first console in 1976: the Unisonic Sportsman T101, which featured four selectable games, two linear paddle controllers, and a light gun. Unisonic followed the Sportsman with a series of variations through 1976 and 1977, all for the US market.
Desktop computer
Apple II, TRS-80 and Commodore PET were first generation personal home computers launched in 1977, which were aimed at the consumer market – rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists. "Byte" magazine referred to these three as the "1977 Trinity" of personal computing. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, desktop computers became the predominant type, the most popular being the IBM PC and its clones, followed by the Apple Macintosh, with the third-placed Commodore Amiga having some success in the mid-1980s but declining by the early 1990s.
List of home computers by video hardware
Note: in cases of manufacturers who have made both home and personal computers, only machines fitting into the "home" computer category are listed. Systems in the personal computer category, except for Early Macintosh personal computers, are generally all based on the VGA standard, and use a video chip known as a Graphics processing unit. Although very early PCs used one of the much simpler (even compared to most home computer video hardware) video display controller cards, using standards such as the MDA, Hercules Graphics Card, CGA and EGA standard). Only after the introduction of the VGA standard could PCs really compete with the home computers of the same era, such as the Amiga and Atari ST, or even with the MSX-2. Also not listed are systems that are typically only gaming systems, like the Atari 2600 and the Bally Astrocade, even though these systems could sometimes be upgraded to resemble a home computer.
Patrick E. Haggerty
Patrick Eugene Haggerty (March 17, 1914 – October 1, 1980) was an American engineer and businessman. He was a co-founder and former president and chairman of Texas Instruments, Incorporated. Haggerty is most responsible for turning a small Texas oil exploration company into the leader in semiconductors that Texas Instruments is today. Under his influence, the company invested in transistors when their commercial value was still much in question; his company created the first silicon transistor, the first commercial transistor radio, and the first integrated circuit.
Fairchild Channel F
The Fairchild Channel F, F for Fun, is a home video game console released by Fairchild Semiconductor in November 1976 across North America at the retail price of $169.95. It was also released in Japan in October the following year. It has the distinction of being the first programmable ROM cartridge–based video game console, and the first console to use a microprocessor. It was originally named Video Entertainment System, or VES, but when Atari released its VCS the next year, Fairchild changed the name for its machine, although they continued to use the old name alongside it. By 1977, the Fairchild Channel F had sold 250,000 units, trailing behind sales of the VCS.
Atari, Inc.
Because of fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600.These problems were followed by the video game crash of 1983, which caused losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for Atari. When Texas Instruments exited the home-computer market in November 1983 because of the price war with Commodore, many believed that Atari would be next.
ZX80
The Sinclair ZX80 is a home computer launched on 29 January 1980 by Science of Cambridge Ltd. (later to be better known as Sinclair Research). It is notable for being the first computer (unless one counts the MK14) available in the United Kingdom for less than a hundred pounds. It was available in kit form for £79.95, where purchasers had to assemble and solder it together, and as a ready-built version at £99.95. The ZX80 was very popular straight away, and for some time there was a waiting list of several months for either version of the machine.
Microcomputer
The period from about 1971 to 1976 is sometimes called the of microcomputers. Many companies such as DEC, National Semiconductor, Texas Instruments offered their microcomputers for use in terminal control, peripheral device interface control and industrial machine control. There were also machines for engineering development and hobbyist personal use. In 1975, the Processor Technology SOL-20 was designed, which consisted of one board which included all the parts of the computer system. The SOL-20 had built-in EPROM software which eliminated the need for rows of switches and lights. The MITS Altair just mentioned played an instrumental role in sparking significant hobbyist interest, which itself eventually led to the founding and success of many well-known personal computer hardware and software companies, such as Microsoft and Apple Computer. Although the Altair itself was only a mild commercial success, it helped spark a huge industry.
Texas Instruments Business Analyst
The Texas Instruments Business Analyst series is a product line of financial calculators introduced in 1976. BA calculators provide time value of money functions and are widely used in accounting and other financial applications. Though originally designed specifically for financial use, current models also include basic scientific calculator and statistics functions. The BA series competes directly with other mid- to high-end financial calculators, particularly the HP-12C and other models from TI competitor Hewlett-Packard. As of November 2015, TI makes two models, the BA II Plus (originally introduced in 1991) and the BA II Plus Professional (introduced in 2004).
Zilog Z80
In the U.S., the Radio Shack TRS-80, introduced in 1977, as well as the Models II, III, 4, and the proposed Model V, used the Z80. A number of TRS-80 clones were produced by companies like Lobo (Max-80), LNW (LNW-80), and Hong Kong-based EACA (Video Genie and derivatives TRZ-80, PMC-80, and Dick Smith System 80). In the Netherlands a TRS-80 Model III clone was produced that had CP/M capability; this was the Aster CT-80. The Coleco Adam hybrid computer/game console could use Colecovision games as well as CP/M. An early Z80 home computer was the Exidy Sorcerer. In the United Kingdom, Sinclair Research used the Z80 and Z80A in its ZX80, ZX81, and ZX Spectrum home computers. These were marketed in the US by Timex as the Timex/Sinclair series. Amstrad used the Z80A in their Amstrad CPC and PCW ranges and an early UK computer, the Nascom 1 and 2 also used it. The Z80 powered a great many home computers adhering to the MSX standard in Japan, Asia, and to a lesser extent, Europe and South America (some 5 million in Japan alone). Also in Japan Sharp used the Z80 in its MZ and X1 series. The Hong Kong-based VTech made its Laser 200 home computer with a Z80. In Germany an Apple-CP/M hybrid called the paired a Z80 with a 6502. Similarly the Commodore 128 featured a Z80 processor alongside its MOS Technology 8502 processor for CP/M compatibility. Other 6502 architecture computers on the market at the time, such as the BBC Micro, Apple II, and the 6510 based Commodore 64, could make use of the Z80 with an external unit, a plug-in card, or an expansion ROM cartridge. The Microsoft Z-80 SoftCard for the Apple II was a particularly successful add-on card and one of Microsoft's few hardware products of the era.
Home computer
Sometimes they were equipped with a cheap membrane or chiclet keyboard in the early days, although full-travel keyboards quickly became universal due to overwhelming consumer preference. Most systems could use an RF modulator to display 20–40 column text output on a home television. Indeed, the use of a television set as a display almost defines the pre-PC home computer. Although dedicated composite or "green screen" computer displays were available for this market segment and offered a sharper display, a monitor was often a later purchase made only after users had bought a floppy disk drive, printer, modem, and the other pieces of a full system. The reason for this was that while those TV-monitors had difficulty displaying the clear and readable 80-column text that became the industry standard at the time, the only consumers who "really" needed that were the power users utilizing the machine for business purposes, while the average casual consumer would use the system for games only and was content with the lower resolution for which a TV worked fine. An important exception was the Radio Shack TRS-80, the first mass-marketed computer for home use, which included its own 64-column display monitor and full-travel keyboard as standard features.
History of personal computers
Tandy Corporation (Radio Shack) introduced the TRS-80, retroactively known as the Model I as improved models were introduced. The Model I combined the motherboard and keyboard into one unit with a separate monitor and power supply. Although the PET and the Apple II offered certain features that were greatly advanced in comparison, Tandy's 3000+ Radio Shack storefronts ensured that it would have widespread distribution that neither Apple nor Commodore could touch.
Home computer
While two early home computers (Sinclair ZX80 and Acorn Atom) could be bought either in kit form or assembled, most home computers were only sold pre-assembled. They were enclosed in plastic or metal cases similar in appearance to typewriter or hi-fi equipment enclosures, which were more familiar and attractive to consumers than the industrial metal card-cage enclosures used by the Altair and similar computers. The keyboard - a feature lacking on the Altair - was usually built into the same case as the motherboard. Ports for plug-in peripheral devices such as a video display, cassette tape recorders, joysticks, and (later) disk drives were either built-in or available on expansion cards. Although the Apple II series had internal expansion slots, most other home computer models' expansion arrangements were through externally accessible 'expansion ports' that also served as a place to plug in cartridge-based games. Usually the manufacturer would sell peripheral devices designed to be compatible with their computers as extra cost accessories. Peripherals and software were not often interchangeable between different brands of home computer, or even between successive models of the same brand.
TurboGrafx-16
The TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem, known in Japan and France as the , is a cartridge based home video game console manufactured and marketed by NEC Home Electronics, and designed by Hudson Soft. It was released in Japan on October 30, 1987 and in the United States on August 29, 1989. It also had a limited release in the United Kingdom and Spain in 1990, known as simply TurboGrafx and based on the American model, while the Japanese model was imported and distributed in France in 1989. It was the first console released in the 16-bit era, although it used an 8-bit CPU. Originally intended to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it ended up competing with the Sega Genesis, and later on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
Wi-Fi
In June 2014, Texas Instruments introduced the first ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller with an onboard dedicated Wi-Fi MCU, the SimpleLink CC3200. It makes embedded systems with Wi-Fi connectivity possible to build as single-chip devices, which reduces their cost and minimum size, making it more practical to build wireless-networked controllers into inexpensive ordinary objects.
Atari 2600 homebrew
The Atari 2600 game console was introduced to the market by Atari, Inc. in 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System or Atari VCS for short. Since the console's release, hundreds of different game titles, by dozens of game manufacturers, have been released for the console, with the most popular titles, such as "Pac-Man", "Pitfall!" and "Missile Command", selling millions of copies each. Atari 2600 consoles continued to be manufactured throughout the 1980s, but Atari Corporation dropped support in January 1992.
Personal computer
In the same year, the NEC PC-98 was introduced, which was a very popular personal computer that sold in more than 18 million units. Another famous personal computer, the revolutionary Amiga 1000, was unveiled by Commodore on July 23, 1985. The Amiga 1000 featured a multitasking, windowing operating system, color graphics with a 4096-color palette, stereo sound, Motorola 68000 CPU, 256 KB RAM, and 880 KB 3.5-inch disk drive, for US$1,295.
Timex Sinclair 1000
The TS1500 sold for $80 and was not a commercial success because it was launched too late. The ZX81/TS1000's successors, the ZX Spectrum/TS2068, were already available, and the home computer market in general was dominated by Commodore, RadioShack, Atari and Apple. It was sold in the United States and Portugal.
Home video game console
Atari cancelled their line of home computers, their Atari Portfolio, the Stacy laptop, and their handheld Atari Lynx when they released the Jaguar. It was an all or nothing gamble that ran the company into the ground. The Jaguar had three processors and no C libraries to help developers cope with it. Atari was ineffective at courting third parties and many of their first party games were poorly received. While games like Tempest 2000, Rayman, and Alien vs Predator showed what the console was capable of, the vast majority of releases underwhelmed. Many of the Jaguar's games used mainly the slowest (but most familiar) of the console's processors, resulting in titles that could easily have been released on the SNES or Genesis.
Home computer
From the introduction of the IBM Personal Computer (ubiquitously known as the PC) in 1981, the market for computers meant for the corporate, business, and government sectors came to be dominated by the new machine and its MS-DOS operating system. Even basic PCs cost thousands of dollars and were far out of reach for typical home computerists. However, in the following years technological advances and improved manufacturing capabilities (mainly greater use of robotics and relocation of production plants to lower-wage locations in Asia) permitted several computer companies to offer lower-cost PC style machines that would become competitive with many 8-bit home-market pioneers like Radio Shack, Commodore, Atari, Texas Instruments, and Sinclair. PCs could never become as affordable as these because the same price-reducing measures were available to all computer makers. Furthermore, software and peripherals for PC style computers tended to cost more than those for 8-bit computers because of the anchoring effect caused by the pricey IBM PC. As well, PCs were inherently more expensive since they could not use the home TV set as a video display. Nonetheless, the overall reduction in manufacturing costs narrowed the price difference between old 8-bit technology and new PCs. Despite their higher absolute prices PCs were perceived by many to be better values for their utility as superior productivity tools and their access to industry-standard software. Another advantage was the 8088/8086's wide, 20-bit address bus: the PC could access more than 64 kilobytes of memory relatively inexpensively (8-bit CPUs, which generally had multiplexed 16-bit address buses, required complicated, tricky memory management techniques like bank-switching). Similarly, the default PC floppy was double-sided with about twice the storage capacity of floppy disks used by 8-bit home computers. PC drives tended to cost less because they were most often built-in, requiring no external case, controller, and power supply. The faster clock rates and wider buses available to later Intel CPUs compensated somewhat for the custom graphics and sound chips of the Commodores and Ataris. In time the growing popularity of home PCs spurred many software publishers to offer gaming and children's software titles.
TI-82
The TI-82 is a graphing calculator made by Texas Instruments. The TI-82 was designed in 1993 as a stripped down, more user friendly version of the TI-85, and as a replacement for the TI-81. It was the direct predecessor of the TI-83. It shares with the TI-85 a 6 MHz Zilog Z80 microprocessor. Like the TI-81, the TI-82 features a 96x64 pixel display, and the core feature set of the TI-81 with many new features.
Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40
The Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40 or CC-40 is a battery-operated portable computer that was manufactured and released by Texas Instruments in March 1983. Priced at US$249, it weighs 600 grams (22 ounces) and can be powered by four AA batteries or an AC adapter. It was intended as a portable business computer, and uses TI's TMS70C20 CPU, an 8-bit microprocessor that ran at 2.5 MHz.
Personal computer
The first successfully mass marketed personal computer to be announced was the Commodore PET after being revealed in January 1977. However, it was back-ordered and not available until later that year. Three months later (April), the Apple II (usually referred to as the "Apple") was announced with the first units being shipped 10 June 1977, and the TRS-80 from Tandy Corporation / Tandy Radio Shack following in August 1977, which sold over 100,000 units during its lifetime. Together, these 3 machines were referred to as the "1977 trinity". Mass-market, ready-assembled computers had arrived, and allowed a wider range of people to use computers, focusing more on software applications and less on development of the processor hardware.
Texas Instruments Professional Computer
The Texas Instruments Professional Computer (TIPC) and the Texas Instruments Portable Professional Computer (TIPPC) were devices that were both released on January 31, 1983; the TIPC was a desktop PC and the TIPPC was a fully compatible, portable version of the TIPC. Both computers were most often used by white-collar information workers and professionals that needed to gather, manipulate and transmit information. TI was the first company to release videotape training videos for their computers.
Texas Instruments Business Analyst
From 1986 to sometime after 2010, TI produced the BA-20 (also known outside North America as the TI-620), which was a basic desktop calculator with the addition of dedicated cost, margin, and sell calculation buttons. Early models included a built-in clock module, which was removed for the 1998 revision. The short-lived TI-10 Profit Guide had similar functions in a pocket calculator size.
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
By mid-1982 Jerry Pournelle wrote that TI was "practically giving away the TI-99/4A". An industry joke stated that the company was losing money on each computer, but was making up for it in volume. The 99/4A's list price was $400 that autumn, but the street price including $100 rebate was about $200. Sales peaked at 30,000 a week in January 1983, but on 10 January 1983 Commodore lowered the price of its computers; the VIC-20's wholesale price was $130. In February TI responded by lowering the 99/4A's retail price to $150. In April Commodore again lowered prices, and the VIC-20's bundled retail price reached $100. TI also lowered prices and offered rebates, reducing the 99/4A's retail price to under $100; by this time the company was likely losing money on each computer. In early 1983 TI stopped sales for a month to correct a defect, but—predicting in April that the home-computer market that year would be much larger than most industry analysts expected—continued production at an annual rate of three million, increasing inventory. In May it began offering the PEB for free with the purchase of three peripherals; by this time TI was using price cuts as the 99/4A's primary marketing. In August the company reduced prices of peripherals by 50% and offered $100 of free software; in September, it reduced software prices by up to 43%.
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
Early models (the TI-99/4, identified by its keyboard and "codice_1" on the title page) includes a built-in equation calculator, but in the 99/4A ("codice_2") this feature was discontinued. All consoles includes TI BASIC, a strict ANSI-compliant BASIC programming language interpreter which is largely incompatible with the more popular, and frequently imitated, Microsoft BASIC. Later consoles, identified by "codice_3" on the title page, also remove the ability for the system to execute unlicensed ROM-based cartridges, locking out third-party manufacturers such as Atarisoft.
Home computer
As early as 1965, some experimental projects such as Jim Sutherland's explored the possible utility of a computer in the home. In 1969, the Honeywell Kitchen Computer was marketed as a luxury gift item, and would have inaugurated the era of home computing, but none were sold.
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977, that started with what Byte Magazine called the "trinity of 1977", (the Apple II, the TRS-80 Model I, and the Commodore PET) and which became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user. These computers were a distinct market segment that typically cost much less than business, scientific or engineering-oriented computers of the time such as the IBM PC, and were generally less powerful in terms of memory and expandability. However, a home computer often had better graphics and sound than contemporary business computers. Their most common uses were playing video games, but they were also regularly used for word processing, doing homework, and programming.
Graphics tablet
The first home computer graphic tablet was the KoalaPad. Though originally designed for the Apple II, the Koala eventually broadened its applicability to practically all home computers with graphic support, examples of which include the TRS-80 Color Computer, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit family. Competing tablets were eventually produced; the tablets produced by Atari were generally considered to be of high quality.
Texas Instruments
In the 1990s, with the advent of TI's graphing calculator series, programming became popular among some students. The TI-8x series of calculators (beginning with the TI-81) came with a built-in BASIC interpreter, through which simple programs could be created. The TI-85 was the first TI calculator to allow assembly programming (via a shell called "ZShell"), and the TI-83 was the first in the series to receive native assembly. While the earlier BASIC programs were relatively simple applications or small games, the modern assembly-based programs rival what one might find on a Game Boy or PDA.
List of home computers by video hardware
Early home computers all had quite similar hardware, (and software) mostly using the 6502, the Z80, or in a few cases the 6809 microprocessor. They could have only as little as 1 KB of RAM or as much as 128K, and software wise, they could use a small 4K BASIC interpreter, or an extended 12K or more BASIC. So the basic systems were quite similar, except for one part of the system, the video display hardware. Some systems proved to be much more successful than others, and careful observers will see that the most successful systems had the most capable video hardware. The reason for that is that the success of the home computer was mostly determined by the kind of games you could play on it.
VideoBrain Family Computer
The VideoBrain Family Computer (model 101) (not to be confused with Nintendo’s Family Computer, or Famicom, known as the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES outside of Japan) is an 8-bit home computer manufactured by Umtech Incorporated, starting in 1977. It is based on the Fairchild Semiconductor F8 CPU and is notable for being the first fully programmable cartridge-based home computer. It was not a large commercial success and was discontinued from the market less than three years after its initial release.