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

97 pointsby marcodiegotoday at 8:05 PM27 commentsview on HN

Comments

SoftTalkertoday at 9:11 PM

@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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nonamenoslogantoday at 9:15 PM

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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hauntertoday at 8:45 PM

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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MBCooktoday at 8:48 PM

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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hunterpaynetoday at 9:26 PM

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.

UncleOxidanttoday at 9:24 PM

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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glimshetoday at 8:42 PM

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

buildsjetstoday at 9:14 PM

Does it run PARSEC? Nice shot captain!

b00ty4breakfasttoday at 8:45 PM

made me remember knightOS

https://github.com/KnightOS/KnightOS

Zardoz84today at 8:43 PM

WoW!

bananamogultoday at 9:03 PM

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these.