Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (1981)

John Knight explores one of the classic ‘coulda-been’ computers.

This month we feature a cult computer that could have dominated the early 1980s but fell short of fame due to bad management decisions. Instead, machines such as Sinclair’s ZX80 and ZX81 and the Commodore VIC-20 became the standard-bearers for a new era of home computing. Nevertheless, the TI-99/4A had a sizeable following, offering retro computing fans a combination of features not found elsewhere and some interesting arcade action. Development & release Before the TI-99/4A came 1979’s TI-99/4. When 8-bit microcomputers were just becoming mainstream, Texas Instruments (TI) had the ambition of releasing a 16-bit home computer, based on its own TMS9900 CPU. As the first 16-bit home computer, this machine had the potential to dominate the home computing scene, with a 3MHz CPU, 16KB of RAM, 15 colours, 32…

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APC (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2022

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