UNIX99, a UNIX-like OS for the TI-99/4A

103 points30 comments2 hours ago
arnonejoe

For some reason I was thinking it was that $99 dollar Sinclare from the 80s which had the most unusable keyboard on earth.

SoftTalker

@UsagiElectric on YouTube has a series of videos on building a homebrew around the TMS9900 processor. Would be cool if a unix-like OS could be used on something like that, though sounds like this project is specifically targeting the TI-99/4A system.

The TI-99/4A was the first computer I owned as a teenager. I had used TRS-80s and Apple ][ at school. I eventually bought the expansion box and a couple of accessory cards (floppy disk drive, memory and RS232). It all went in the e-waste dumpster about 20 years ago during a move.

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haunter

This is the main updated comment with the user guide and download

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/380883-unix99-a-unix-like-...

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nonamenoslogan

HOLY COW. Thank you for this. I LOVE the Ti99/4a, its one of the first computers I ever used. I've got one up and running at home now currently and can't wait to try this.

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MBCook

Wow. The TI-99 is such a perfect fit for this too given the chip was designed for multi-user computing in a way other home computer chips weren’t.

All due to TI’s desire to use the same chip standards across all their machines big and small, IIRC.

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hunterpayne

I learned to program on this exact hardware in the early 80s as a small child. It uses BASIC. It's hard drive was modem tones recorded to an analog audio tape. Its monitor was an analog TV. There was no mouse. The keyboard was built into the computer itself.

UncleOxidant

So assuming one wanted to buy a used one of these (I had timex sinclairs around this time) how would one display the composite video nowdays?

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glimshe

The joy of computing still lives in the age of AI...

buildsjets

Does it run PARSEC? Nice shot captain!

b00ty4breakfast

made me remember knightOS

https://github.com/KnightOS/KnightOS

Zardoz84

WoW!

bananamogul

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these.