Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Retro Review

The TI-99/4A was a home computer released by Texas Instruments in 1981. The TI-99/4A was the first domestic home computer to feature a 16 bit processor, plug and play hardware, full color graphics, and an impressive array of programs and software for education and entertainment. With an assortment of optional features and accessories, the TI-99/4A home computer was the perfect home computing solution for many families in the early 1980s.

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A featured a unique cartridge system for much of its consumer software. Many cartridge titles were available for education and entertainment, ranging from math and word games to games just for fun, such as Alpiner, TI Invaders (a Space Invaders knock-off), Video Chess, etc. In addition to the software cartridges, the TI-99/4A could be connected to an audio cassette recorder to load software that was available recorded onto a standard audio cassette. A special interface cable allowed the TI-99/4A to be connected to any standard audio cassette player/recorder with a microphone jack, a headset jack, and a remote operation switch.

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A could also be programmed by users via Texas Instruments' own proprietary version of the BASIC programming language, called "TI BASIC". TI BASIC allowed users of the TI-99/4A to write their own programs using a system of numbered command lines that were performed in sequence. TI BASIC was a robust computer language for the time, although its performance on the TI-99/4A was hindered by the slow speed at which the processor executed each line individually. For advanced users, a more advanced version of TI BASIC, TI Extended BASIC, was available on a separate cartridge. Since the TI-99/4A had no permanent internal storage medium, homebrew BASIC programs could only be saved onto an audio cassette using the aforementioned interface cable and recorder or onto a floppy disk with an optional floppy disk drive.

A unique accessory for the TI-99/4A was a Speech Synthesizer, which allowed some programs to render a crude approximation of human speech, albeit in a stilted and artificial manner that was still quite advanced for the time period. Several of the TI-99/4A cartridges supported the Speech Synthesizer, although the speech was so artificial that it was almost painful to listen to.

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A connected to a standard television via a special video selector switchbox that was included with the TI-99/4A. The TI-99/4A video switchbox would hook up to a television's standard VHF antenna input and the switchbox would allow one to switch between the TI-99/4A and the antenna or cable. This meant that one did not have to constantly be hookup up and unhooking the TI in order to switch between regular TV or the computer.

The TI-99/4A remains popular with retro computer hobbyists or collectors of vintage computer equipment. While it can be difficult to find a TI-99/4A in excellent condition, a number of former TI users are instead going the route of TI-99/4A emulators for their modern PC computers. A number of good TI-99/4A emulators are available for free download, some of which have the ability to save programs written in TI BASIC as disk images right on your PC hard drive, which means that if you use a TI emulator then you would not have to fiddle with clumsy audio cassette tapes or floppy disks.

In conclusion, the TI-99/4A was a balanced computer system from the early 1980s that was loaded with features that were adequate for the average computer user of the day. Other competing systems such as the TRS-80 and the Commodore 64 were better suited for the serious programmer, but the graphics and user-friendliness of the TI-99/4A made it a better choice for many households. The TI-99/4A was wildly popular, due in part to some memorable television and print ads featuring Bill Cosby as the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A spokesman. The TI-99/4A quickly faded into nostalgia with the advent of more powerful computers and with Texas Instruments' lost market share in the home computer industry, but those of us who grew up with the TI-99/4A will always hold a special place in our hearts for our first computer love, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A.