1981 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Future Proofing and Mod Review
6,950
Published 2023-12-26
00:00 Introducing the TI-99/4A
00:38 Retro Relix Title
00:50 Inside
01:22 Power Supply Circuit
01:50 RF Metal Housing
02:52 Motherboard Review
04:00 Memory Management
05:14 Keyboard Review
05:40 Motherboard Clean-Up
06:14 Case Restoration
07:06 Donor Revision Review
07:48 Serial Number Dating
09:04 Trim Replacement
09:38 Exiting Power Supply Review
10:52 Power Supply Replacement
13:08 Video Output Review
13:40 Smoke Test
14:14 Video Conversion
15:38 Cassette Tape Games
15:48 Cassette Tape Interface Cable
16:40 Game: Blast IT!
17:22 Game: Spudz
17:56 Game: Core !
18:32 Cartridge Games
18:52 Car Wars
19:50 Parsec
20:12 More Modern Mods
20:58 Joystick Atari Conversion
22:02 Memory Expansion Card
22:58 Game: Arcturus
24:12 Game: Tennis
24:52 Game: Pole Position
25:34 Game: Never-Lander
26:16 Browser Emulation
27:20 End Titles
CASSETTE TAPE GAMES UPLOAD
As requested a few times, please find a link below to the following tape cassette games of which a few were featured in this video.
Astro Gallery
Blast It!
Code Breaker
Core
Forrest Rally
Haunted House
Snowflake
Space Alien
Spudz!
The Boss' Christmas Party
Wells Of Moricia
Wumpus
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/edzr9i...
Music Credit
Digital Voyage and Funky (Sting) by Twin Musicom. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
http://www.twinmusicom.org/
Retro by Wayne Jones.
Press Fuse by French Fuse
Thumbnail background generated using hotpot.ai/art-generator
Emulation via JS99'er - TI-99/4A Emulator
https://js99er.net/#/
Developed on a Surface Pro 4 using CyberLink PowerDirector 17 and Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8
All Comments (21)
-
I was one of 6 design engineers on the TMS9918/28/29. I defined the memory interface, helped define all the video processing, including how the sprites would work, and did all the sprite logic and circuit design. The 9918 ran at a 5.4xxxMHz clock rate (U.S. color Burst of 3.58xxxMHz times 3/2 and used a 10.8xxx Oscillator). It was designed in 5-micron Ratioless NMOS. It was a very high clock rate, for that level of technology which necessitated a heat sync.
-
My first home micro, I adored this, and it was the world to me back in 1981 I would like to say. I searched and searched and found a UK group that sold tape produced games that came from the States. It served me well for many years. It was the start of a my love of computers, and ironically, also the spurred me on to my first degree, and my career as a Computer Engineer. Thanks for the video it really bought back that Christmas many years ago.
-
Hi Everyone. This time Retro Relix reviews and tests the 1981 TI-99/4A computer from Texas Instruments. Afterwards, we play some games in BASIC, from ROM Cartridges and SD Card images. Enjoy...
-
one year for my birthday, My dad bought me a TI99-4A. hearing the sound of the data loading from the tape drive brought back some memories. I so miss that sound! I used to do a lot of coding in TI Basic, though I originally learned to code on an Apple II E in High school.
-
I went to a science/computer summer camp the year these came out. They made the Commodore and Apple offerings look antique. The only real competition were the Atari computers. I tried to get my parents to buy one after camp but we could not find them for sale? Ended up with an Atari 800. Those were on sale everywhere.
-
Love these videos, must take some time to slot together for our pleasure! Well done, takes us all back to those old days of fun. Now everything is so clinical
-
Excellent video and work. Thanks for sharing
-
This is my dad's first computer! I think the TI-99/4A had the potential to be a great computer, but unfortunately, it was just a failure on arrival. I would like to see what Texas Instruments could've done had they sticked around just a little longer in the computer industry.
-
I didn't know they made upgrades and new games, thanks for this video.
-
Another cracking video. The channel really deserves far more subs. Brilliant content.
-
What a detailed video; thanks so much for this!
-
In the 1970s 16-bit computers were like workstations.
-
I used to have one of those when I was a little boy.
-
The Delorean of 8 bit computers.
-
The quality of visuals and particularly the exposition and narration made this an immensely satisfying video to watch. As much as I enjoy waffling in the retro-computing sector—I am trying to relive the past after all—your results-oriented approach was refreshing. While this may have been the first video I've seen on the channel, it will not be the last. Well done indeed.
-
16 bit but just a 8 bit can be used ,as it had just a 8bit bus ,good video I have 2 TI99/4a and have used one of them powers on the one I given away last year..
-
Never seen those cassette games Spudz and Core! before as well as the some of the games shown in that pile of tapes, in fact they are not listed anywhere on the internet.
-
Doesn't your European version of the TI-99/4A have the TMS9929A video chip? Thanks for the video, too!
-
Nice video! Thanks! Because the games on Cassette tapes that you showed in the video are missing and needs to be preserved in the TI community, could be possibile to have a dump of them, please?
-
you want it complicated?? Yes !!! The memory is accessed via an I/O port (video processor) and the basic and other programs are executed via bytecode. On the other hand, the computer ran quickly. What he could do was observe if you had the memory expansion and the extedet basic. The processor only had the workspace register and the other registers were in the RAM. With the right architecture, multitasking would be possible.
