Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!shelby!unix!filbert!hht From: hht@filbert.sarnoff.com (Herbert H. Taylor x2733) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti Subject: Re: Card Wanted... Keywords: Pascal Message-ID: <930@filbert.sarnoff.com> Date: 21 Feb 91 21:44:28 GMT References: <*A+&HM*@rpi.edu> <4x2G_6rm@cs.psu.edu> Distribution: usa Organization: David Sarnoff Research Center, Princeton, NJ Lines: 67 The plug in port on the speech module was intended to expand the number of permanent words of vocabulary as in Speak-n-spell. When TE-II worked better then expected TI lost interest in expansion modules. It is possible that only the first few thousand speech modules have the "hooks" for those modules. I own several vintage speech modules and they all have the hooks but I never got any plug in modules and I designed the interface... (please, no questions, its been eleven years...) Another historical note... the first few thousand original 99/4's had a hidden plug-in slot on the top flat surface (under the metal overlay) for an IR remote control transmitter/receiver about the size of a Kodack Instamatic. This supported a number of never introduced wireless peripherals - including a wireless "super" keyboard and joystick. These peripherals were never introduced because TI thought they were too expensive for a Home Computer with an intended 1979 price under $100 (when Apple was $2000.00). When the price "skyrocketed" to $1000 it was supposedly "too late" to bring out the wireless peripherals. ( BTW the price increase was due to the complete failure of the cheap TMS9985 microprocessor originally designed into the 99/4. This resulted in the use of a very expensive goldlead ceramic packaged TMS9900, a TTL clock driver, a 256 byte static ram and a ton of TTL glue logic. The true story of how the 9900 ended up in the 99/4 would rival General Hospital... ) The wireless peripherals were supported on the systems shown at the June 1979 CES show in Chicago. Ten minutes before the intro press conference we were told, "not to show the peripherals..." In any event I am fairly certain the software support for these peripherals was left in GROM at least until the switch to 99/4A which included the new (actually the "original") keyboard. Also the first few hundred units had the "hooks" to bring in external video and genlock the TMS9918 - a capability which even today is not generally found in personal computers. This was removed from the connector (despite its < $1.00 in parts) because at the time of the 99/4 introduction the interface had not been tested sufficiently and there was still too much uncertainty about the FCC implications of genlocking a class 1 TV device. Remember at that time (1979) any TV game or Computer that had an RF modulator had to pass very strict FCC testing. The 99/4 originally had a built-in RF modulator which was removed shortly before the June 79 introduction when the decision was made to package the 99/4 with the Zenith color monitor... In 1978 we built 200 prototype 99/4's with builtin RF modulators and a 9900 "emulation" of the 9985 on a 9" x 4" board sandwiched onto the original PWB and crammed into the original 99/4 tooled case. These 200 units were givin to TI executives and board members to play with for six months. I have a wire-wrapped prototype with one of the very few 9985's ever produced but I would be interested in acquiring any of the 200 prototypes which might be extant. If anyone knows where any are I would appreciate it... Everyone was actually quite shocked when the FCC ruled in TI's favor - that ruling distinguished personal computers from video games. ( I have been told, however, that the cost of compliance to the new set of rules for the mini-computer industry (HP, DEC, etc) was in the 100's of millions of dollars...) Incidently, one final historical note: the decision to remove the RF modulator from the console was initiated when the FCC agreed to test a fiber optic interface we had developed which optically coupled the computer console with a standalone RF modulator. This interface was dubbed the "video light pipe". After the system was sent to the FCC they returned it UNTESTED - stating that they could not accept it afterall but would accept petitions for rule making to modify the existing rules. The rest was history... Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com