NAME TI 99 / 4A
MANUFACTURER Texas Instruments
TYPE Home Computer
ORIGIN U.S.A.
YEAR 1981
END OF PRODUCTION 1984
BUILT IN LANGUAGE TI Basic
KEYBOARD QWERTY full-stroke keyboard, 48 keys
2 x SHIFT, CTRL, ALPHA LOCK, FCTN
CPU TI TMS 9900 (with 256 bytes 'cache', actually it accesses to 256 bytes of RAM)
SPEED 3,3 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR TMS 9918 (TMS 9929 in Europe) - Video / Sprite
RAM 16 KB - Memory expansion card can be added : 4 KB or 32 KB (up to 52 KB)
VRAM 16 KB
ROM 26 KB : 8 KB ROM connected to the CPU + 18 KB ROM in byte-serial bit-mapped circuits (usually known as GROM, Graphic Only Memory)
TEXT MODES 32 x 24 (16 colors), 40 x 24 (2 colors)
GRAPHIC MODES Multicolor mode : 48 x 64 with 16 colors
256 x 192 with 16 colors (only accesed via machine code)
Sprites (only with TI-Extended Basic)
COLORS 16
SOUND 3 channels, 5 octaves (110hz to 55khz) and 1 noise channel (periodic and white)
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)
OS TI's own system, but a p-code card could be added, which gave access to the UCSD p-system and a Pascal compiler.
POWER SUPPLY Special TI external PSU
(pins 1,2 : 16v / 1,6A -- pins 2,4 : 8v / 0,15A)