Idea

First Computer

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A: programs saved to cassette tape, and a map of Hawaii drawn on graph paper in hex codes.

Overview

The TI-99/4A was a home computer that Texas Instruments sold from 1981. It plugged into a television, ran programs written in TI BASIC, and loaded software from cartridges or from an ordinary cassette recorder. Texas Instruments left the home computer market in 1983.

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (1981). Photo: oldcomputr.com.
Plate 1

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (1981). Photo: oldcomputr.com.

"The Home Computer worthy of the name": an advert from Your Computer, December 1981. Centre for Computing History.
Plate 2

"The Home Computer worthy of the name": an advert from Your Computer, December 1981. Centre for Computing History.