So a while back, I threatened to write up something about the TI home computer, just so people know what the FUCK I am talking about. I think I generated a decent historical overview.

Spoilers: despite their best efforts, the home computer division got fucked by repeated bad luck and managerial incompetence.

If you're interested, ask questions. I will answer to the best of my ability. If you aren't, oh well, my time wasn't going to be spent on anything better anyways and I enjoyed writing this up.
If you just want to make smartass remarks about calculators, it is getting KIND OF OLD, Kakashi.





Chapter 1: In the beginning...

So way back in the prehistorical stone age of the 1970s, integrated circuits got cheap enough to put them in little boxes on desks and in homes. TI, being a company with fingers in a lot of pies at the time, wanted a piece of that action. So they designed a home computer based on the TMS9900 they were using in the 990-series minicomputers(The 9900 being a single-chip implementation of the processor board used in the older 990 systems).

The 99/4, as their first home computer was known, was fairly impressive for the planned 1978 launch. The sound hardware has four programmable triangle waves and a noise channel. And the TMS9918 "video display processor" had sixteen colors(if you count transparent), a 256x192 resolution, multiple background modes, and SPRITES. (In fact, the term "sprite" originated with the 9918, and obliquely referenced a capability that most implementations never adopted: given a motion vector, the VDP could move the sprites on its own, saving the CPU from touching every sprite in use on every frame.)


To save money and make the system more affordable, the 99/4 was designed with an 8-bit architecture, and was intended to use a variant of the TMS9900 known as the TMS9985 that had an 8-bit external bus. Due to the "registers exist in memory" architecture of the 9900, the 9985 required a small block of SRAM integrated into the die so it could reside in the 16-bit space, the 9985 design calling for 256 bytes. And TI went ahead and integrated a 4K PROM too, for various reasons.

But there is a problem: The 9985 never entered production. Apparently TI had problems with manufacturing the part that prevented it from becoming a viable commercial product. This left the nascent home computer division without a brain for their computer.

Faced with the prospect of redesigning and recoding everything, basically starting from scratch, they opted for a simpler solution: They reworked the motherboard to use a full 16-bit TMS9900 by adding a fistful of glue logic to marry it to an 8-bit system design. Of course, they also had to throw in an SRAM, since a 9900 won't work without one. And some of the system OS was to go in that internal PROM, so they've added a LOT of components to the system board. It was not a cost-friendly solution, but it would get them into a rapidly-evolving market while they were still relevant.

So the new, more expensive 99/4 is assembled, shipped to the FCC for approval, and TI starts getting ready to put it on the market.

But there is another Problem: The FCC does not approve TI's RF modulator. If TI ships this computer, it will have no way of connecting to a television of the era, which only has antenna inputs.

Solution: Package the 99/4 with a composite video monitor that DID meet FCC approval. Again, not a price-friendly solution. The system makes it to market in 1979, only a year late. It makes it to market in a tremendous box costing over a thousand dollars, largely due to the monitor.





Chapter 2: Let's rumble!

And in 1979, when the 99/4 hits the market, it throws down with the Commodore PET, TRS-80, and the Apple II+. It is the only one of the four with more than a simple 1-bit beeper for sound, by far the most graphically capable(one of two even capable of color, though the Apple II uses composite artifacting), and the only one not based on a 6502. But the 99/4's uppercase-only character set and chiclet keyboard are starting to look like poor decisions, especially in light of the uncomfortably high sticker price. In fact, in '79 Commodore redesigned the PET to feature a full-travel keyboard, so the TI is now the ONLY system with a chiclet keyboard.

Things get a little uglier once the Atari 400 and 800 hit the market later in the year, as TI loses much of their graphics and sound advantage to the far cheaper A400. The A800 is a little cheaper than the 99/4, but has a full-travel keyboard and can connect straight to your existing television. Both of them have lowercase text. And then Commodore announced the VIC-20 at the 1980 CES. TI's running start with technological superiority had been lost to a vaporware processor and a bum RF modulator, and now they were playing catch-up.

To make matters worse, people start noticing that the 99/4's internal BASIC is, shall we say, quaint. It lacks support for, well, ALL of the advanced graphics and sound features the system touts. It also lacks PEEK and POKE commands, so you can't fake it.
And most damning of all, it is SLOW. Part of this is because it uses floating-point math. But more importantly... TI BASIC is a DOUBLE-interpreted language. Under the hood, there is a "secret" programming language stored in the system ROMs called GPL(for Graphics Programming Language), and instead of interpreting directly to assembly, BASIC interprets to GPL, and then from GPL to assembly.

Why is GPL a secret, and BASIC crippled? Because upper management had dreams of the home computer being a locked-down platform, development of quality software impossible without the purchase of a development package from TI, thus providing a lucrative second source of income. Even if a developer reverse-engineers the system, they still can't publish anything without TI getting involved because the 99/4 won't boot a cartridge that doesn't contain GROM, which is a TI-specific form of serial-access ROM. Since they are the only manufacturer, you can't really make an unlicensed cart. This would be a problem regardless, but it is compounded by TI's limited software library. Especially their games library. They view the home computer as a practical device for doing taxes, balancing budgets, and so on. The game library is a little weak and not heavily marketed.

Other problems abound. Hardware expansions for the TI are more expensive than for other platforms. Not so much because TI is exceptionally greedy on them, but because they are built quite sturdily and connect directly to the system bus.

It will be two years before the faster and more capable Extended BASIC makes it to market and 99ers get the BASIC they should've had from the start. '81 will also see a few moves to make the platform less locked-down, in a nod to sanity. And some other important developments. TI is now limping through this race they should've won out of the gate.




Chapter 3: The second coming.
So... 1981. Alongside Extended BASIC(which is faster, offers PEEK and POKE and commands to access the hardware without using PEEK and POKE as well as several other improvements), the Editor/Assembler bundle ships with full documentation of TMS9900 assembly as well as the previously-secret GPL. For the first time, developers have documentation of the system without having to shell out for a developer's license(just the memory expansion and disk controller). This is, quite literally, the exact same assembler that is used for the TI-990 minicomputers(hence why it needs the extra RAM and floppy disks).
There is also Mini Memory for people that don't want the expansions but still want to code up some assembly. And Mini Memory is adorable, offering 4K of battery-backed RAM in a cartridge. You can code your own cart now!


And the computer got an upgrade too!
Yes, we can quit talking about the 99/4 and start talking about the 99/4a! Notable changes are the use of the TMS9918a for graphics which brings a full-resolution, full-color bitmap mode(still only 16-color, though), a full-travel keyboard with three modifier keys(control, shift, and function), LOWERCASE TEXT SUPPORT, and the FCC actually approved the RF modulator this time, so it doesn't have to ship with a monitor in the box. The modulator in particular is a godsend for TI. The 99/4a is something like half the cost of a 99/4, and better in every regard.
TI also realized that games matter. Aside from more and better in-house original titles like Parsec(the must-have title for any self-respecting 99er, and one that requires the new graphics mode of the 9918a), they also have a project to create, shall we say, less-original titles. Titles like Munch-Man and TI Invaders look really similar to popular arcade games. But TI assures you they are original works. In fact, they ran these games by legal to make sure they were safe(I don't actually know how TI Invaders got clearance, it bears more of a resemblance to the Space Invaders arcade than most of the official versions). There's also an active attempt to license new games, which sees significant releases from Sega(Congo Bongo and Star Trek are not to be underestimated) and Imagic(one of only two versions of Microsurgeon, as well as a near-total remake of Demon Attack, to the extent that it is sold under the unique title of SUPER Demon Attack).
We are COMPETITIVE now!

I think I forgot something, what could it be... Oh, right! They also changed the boot ROMs so the system will read a cartridge that doesn't carry GROM. You can pack a cart with nothing but ROM and it work just fine. Minor detail, you know. No big deal... unless you want to make a game cartridge without paying TI to make you some GROMs, but why would you want to do THAT?


So between Extended BASIC and the new cart slot behavior, we can open the floodgates and let the unlicensed software flow!
...
Or not. It turns out that you can't just throw existing 6502 code from another system onto it and bang until it works because the thing's fundamentally different, and no one is really inclined to learn TMS9900 assembly and the quirks of a very quirky system just so they can sell software for a computer with minimal market share from an antagonistic company. While a small industry of TI-centric developers crops up, and Atarisoft is porting some high-profile games to the system, it is nothing like the torrential influx of fresh blood that was expected. Much of the third-party software that does exist is distributed on disk and requires Extended BASIC to load.

The 99/4a will do one thing, though: make the 99/4 even rarer. TI offered an upgrade program where you got a discount on a 4a if you traded in a 99/4(not entirely original, as Apple would do the same for the entire life of the II line). Most owners took them up on this offer.



Problem: the Commodore 64 launches in early 1982, and the 99/4a doesn't compare near as favorably against the C64 as it does the VIC-20.
Also, Jack Tramiel HATES TI. His company's calculator division nearly destroyed them when TI started selling calculators for less than it cost Commodore to buy the parts, and he has never forgiven them for this. He makes it his personal mission to drive TI out of the market through VERY aggressive pricing on the VIC-20.

TI never actually realizes they are in a price war with Commodore, believing instead that the entire market is in a price war with Timex-Sinclair(It would likely infuriate Mr. Tramiel to know that TI management never actually gave two shits about Commodore). The result is the same either way: a vicious hacking and slashing of prices across the entire market as everyone tries to keep up with the VIC-20.
TI stubbornly refuses to redesign the 99/4a to cut costs, believing the market will recognize quality workmanship. This also means they have less headroom to lower prices before the system starts selling at a loss. The market never actually cares, or even notices, that TI uses real metal RF shields instead of cardboard and spraypaint, or that they use discrete components instead of less-reliable, impossible-to-source custom ASICs.

Marketing attempts to boost sales mainly through aggressive pricing, rapidly driving the system down to below-cost(and ironically destroying sales, as people start wondering how they can sell it so much cheaper than the competition, and assuming it is deeply flawed). And they hire Bill Cosby, then the most trusted man in America, for an extensive ad campaign. Bill Cosby will later sue TI for damage to his reputation. (Decades later, he will do far more damage to his own reputation than TI ever could've.)

Problem: After a few reports of failure, the entire 1982 run sees a power supply recall. This recall is financially devastating.


Chapter 4 :The great beige hope.

So... TI is kinda struggling here. They've gone ahead and reduced costs a bit(redesigned the entire line to get rid of cosmetic aluminum that makes up much of the enclosure in favor of a more angular look and pure beige plastic), and designed another new computer: The 99/8. 64K of RAM inside the console attached to the CPU, alongside the original 16K behind the VDP, speech synthesis built-in, the new TMS995 processor running at 12 MHz(with a menu option to downclock it to the original 3.3 MHz for compatibility), the peripheral bus is 16-bit instead of 8-bit... about the only thing that isn't improved is AV capabilities. It still rocks a 9918a and 9919 for graphics and sound.



Big problem! Between selling computers at a loss and replacing their power supplies, the entire home computer division has serious budget issues. In fact, they posted over a hundred-million dollar loss in a single quarter in '83. The CEO and board of directors decide to kill the division as soon as possible. They announce in october that the home computer division is dead. The 99/8 is cancelled, the CC40+ is cancelled(slight upgrade to the CC40 portable computer, a neat little device crippled by the fact that the only planned external storage device was unreliable garbage that wasn't fit to release), the 99/2 is cancelled(not that it ever had a place in the market), the CC80 is cancelled(successor to the CC40 with a bigger screen), outstanding 99/4a stock is clearanced out... the computer itself hits a price point of fifty dollars during this clearance, and that's all she wrote. A couple hundred 99/8s exist in the wild as staff saved engineering samples and prototypes from the crusher, but they are rare collectibles and despite my enduring lust, I have no access to one.
(I DO have access to a CC40+, but... less interesting.)




Epilogue: Resurrection, and an even quicker death
Shortly after TI announces the end of the home computer division, peripheral manufacturer Myarc announces they are making a successor system. The Myarc 9640 uses the 12 MHz TMS9995 processor the 99/8 would've used, and borrows the V9938 from our friendly MSX developers in Japan.

Problem: Myarc hardware was never exceptionally reliable, and the 99ers doubt they can make something as complicated as an entire computer. Justifiable doubts, as the 9640 Geneve is delayed repeatedly and launches in 1987 with unfinished software. Myarc dies.
...
Were you expecting another thousand words about the Geneve? Sorry.
I'd love to have one of these, also.





There's a few detours along the way, but this covers most of the salient points.

Some notable detours:
1. The home computer division developed a 99/7 business computer. Did everything most people wanted for a tenth the cost of a TI-990 setup. The minicomputer division went crying to mom and dad, I mean upper management that it wasn't fair and the home computer division couldn't sell this because it would be DEVASTATING to minicomputer sales. As the minicomputer division was by far TI's most profitable at the time, they carried a lot of influence. Management told the home computer division in no uncertain terms that the 99/7 could not move forward. And then IBM launched the PC 5150 and take the exact same market the 99/7 was aiming at. The minicomputer division lost all those sales anyways.

2. The whole expansion thing. TI's original idea was that each expansion would go into a standardized expansion case, about the size of a lunchbox. They would attach directly to the side of the computer. But they were big. And each one had its own power supply, power switch, and power LED. And any self-respecting computer enthusiast wanted the 32K RAM expansion, the RS-232 adapter, and the disk controller(plus at least one full-height 5.25" disk drive). Also the speech synthesizer, but it came in a much smaller case. That was a lot of fucking desk space, and a lot of fucking outlets, and a lot of fucking switches to turn your system on and off.
TI realizes they have a problem and introduces the "peripheral expansion box", AKA p-box in early '82. It is eight slots, fifty pounds of steel(no, really. I have weighed mine, it is fifty pounds), a fan, and a power supply. Expansions are now cards that drop into the giant steel box. Cards with cast aluminum shells. Each individual card is fucking ARMOR-PLATED. I suspect the damn thing was designed by the military division, because it is pretty close to bombproof. It still takes up a lot of desk space, but it is cabled, so it doesn't have to be right next to your keyboard.
(Other companies, like Myarc and CorComp, use much lighter plastic shells on their cards. Or no shell, though this hurts cooling.) TI partially alleviates the cost of this setup by giving you a free P-Box if you buy three TI expansions. Which isn't a bad deal since you were going to buy a memory card, RS-232 card, and disk controller card anyways. Third parties offer smaller and lighter solutions, with at least one offering a RAM/Serial/disk controller all-in-one sidecar that was about half the size of a single TI sidecar.

That was a good read. I like the ironic all-caps announcement of lowercase support.

...whoa.

I want this for all the computers.

I had no idea what kinda stuff I was missing out on, since my family didn't have a computer until 96 or 97, after Windows 95 and dial-up internet was already a thing.

Honestly good stuff. Very interesting and well written.
I think this deserve more exposure. Maybe some site could publish it. Or you could post it on some sub reddit maybe?

I don't have nearly this kind of fondness for any of my old computers.

Great wall o' text, very informative.

THIS is the kind of nerdy stuff I love to read, rather than waste my time watching a random YouTube video explaining to me the same (and which I won't understand anyway unless you place some subtitles on it).

Management and Marketing, the two forces of evil that do nothing but to kill great ideas in a permanent race to bottom...

Glad everyone appreciates this. I had a bit of fun typing it up. Actually learned a thing or two myself in the process.
Notably, I'd never actually pinned a number to the delay on the 99/4's release or cross-referenced with other computer releases, which is really what makes that delay so damning.

Honestly, I thought of that, but there's one big problem: No one really CARES about the TI home computers outside of TI computer enthusiasts, most of whom already know all of this. I could register 99folklore.com, but it would see a tiny handful of visitors.
That is largely why I typed this up and posted it here. You guys care because I care.

Incidentally, the 99/4a was briefly the most popular home computer in America at the end of 1982.
This didn't do them any favors when the power supply recall hit.

I'm not in the slightest interested in TI computers by themselves. But I am generally interested in the history of computers and technology, and this was a really well written and presented slice of that history. You provided context, you gave insight into some of the big players, you give physical and technical details that were meaningful without being too dense or impossible to understand by avoiding limited vocabulary, and you gave us the perspective from the market and the manufacturing industry.

That's... actually really flattering.

Unfortunately, I can't really do this for other computers. Aside from the "everyone else did it already" angle that makes it less interesting, there's also the fact that I don't know as much about the rest. I was looking up the Commodores and the TRS-80 while typing this, to give myself reference points.
Also, I had the inside track. One of my parents served in the trenches during the great war, and went to the user groups and pimped his digital ride. Effectively, I am the kid whose dad worked at Nintendo, except it was the weird Nintendo no one wanted.... so I'm the kid whose dad worked at Sega during the Master System.

...

OH! Speaking of user groups... one of the reasons the TI's fanbase was enthusiastic about the platform after its demise(buying graphics upgrades and battery-backed RAM disks* and even a whole new fucking third-party computer) was that among the things TI did right was the sponsorship and encouragement of a wide network of user groups, some of which are active to this day. A lot of prototype hardware was demonstrated at user groups, and some intended upgrades were released to the user groups when the company bailed on us all(the "official" double-density disk controller being one such beast). They actively fostered the growth of a community, and it resulted in people being inordinately fond of the system that brought them together.



*The Horizon RAM Disk owns your ass. Just FYI.

Get LGR to read it.