alt Hacker NewsSpeaking of interesting bits, this machine isn't actually an 8-bit computer, the CPU is 16-bit. (The video controller is 8-bit though, i.e. the VRAM data bus is 8-bits. It's also the same video controller used in various other machines, e.g. MSX.)
Replies
"Bits" is a stupid measure of "computer". The TI-99/4A clearly belongs in the 8-bit era of computers.
Motorola's 68000 was the single most prolific microprocessor of the 16-bit era. Yet all the registers are 32-bit, and all the instructions easily operate on 32-bit values [1]. About the only claim to being "16-bit" is the 16-bit wide data bus.
If we go by that metric, then the IBM PC (with its 8088 hobbled by an 8-bit data bus) is clearly just another 8-bit microcomputer.
BTW, this is absolutely the way that Motorola sees it. The 68008 is just a 68000 hobbled with an 8-bit data bus, and they label it as a 8/32-bit microprocessor.
[1] And if anyone dares to point out that the 68000's ALU is only 16-bits wide, then I have bad news about the Z-80: It only has a 4-bit ALU, so I guess it's actually a 4-bit microprocessor
The other early 16-bit CPUs include:
National Instrument's PACE- I've never seen one used in anything: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Semiconductor_PACE
but its bit-slice precursor, the IMP-16 was used in Aston Martin's Lagonda https://sprague.com/peter-sprague/aston-martin/
https://opposite-lock.com/topic/90934/lagonda-dashboards
General Instrument's CP1600, used in the Intellivision (a video game console yes, but there was a home computer keyboard attachment).
http://spatula-city.org/~im14u2c/chips/GICP1600.pdf
Its co-processor, the CP1640 is famous for evolving into Microchip's PIC microcontroller.