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

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/380883-unix99-a-unix-like-os-for-the-ti-994a/
88•marcodiego•1h ago

Comments

glimshe•57m ago
The joy of computing still lives in the age of AI...
Zardoz84•57m ago
WoW!
b00ty4breakfast•55m ago
made me remember knightOS

https://github.com/KnightOS/KnightOS

haunter•54m ago
This is the main updated comment with the user guide and download

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

bink•16m ago
Thanks. I wasn't looking forward to browsing all those pages in the hopes of finding the source. Did they never put it up on GitHub?
MBCook•51m ago
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.

jandrese•43m ago
While the CPU is a better fit than the 8 bit contemporaries, the 16kb of working memory is going to be a struggle.
MBCook•27m ago
Yeah it really was an interesting choice on their part. Makes sense as a move for TI. Not the target market.
SoftTalker•24m ago
It's cool because the registers are all in RAM, with a "workspace pointer" on the CPU pointing at where they are. This is slow, but a context switch is just changing that pointer.
jandrese•6m ago
Yep, but it lacks a MMU so memory protection and paging are going to require a lot of work. I think the only reason this is feasible at all is they're running the OS out of a ROM cartridge.
MBCook•3m ago
Did the minicomputers of the time have MMUs?

I thought UsagiElectric showed a case where his Centurion didn’t, but I may be misremembering.

bananamogul•36m ago
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these.
SoftTalker•28m ago
@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.

ectospheno•22m ago
I had one in grade school. Taught me the value of backups early in life. Spent all night typing in a game from a magazine. Started it without saving to tape first. It was so loud! Panicked and restarted the machine. Sadness ensued.

Replaced it with a C128-D. Didn’t get my first intel until I bought a 386 after graduating high school. Good times.

hn_acc1•19m ago
Same here - parents bought one for me in 1982, IIRC. By 1984 I had moved to Atari XL, but I'll always have a soft spot for the TI-99/4A, Extended Basic cartridge, speech synthesizer, cassette drive, etc.

My sister and I used to co-type programs from "Compute!". The times were so much simpler then..

icedchai•10m ago
The TI99/4A was my first computer when I was 7 or 8. Unfortunately, no cassette drive. As soon as I shut it off, my basic program was gone!
buildsjets•25m ago
Does it run PARSEC? Nice shot captain!
nonamenoslogan•25m ago
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.
UncleOxidant•16m ago
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?
jandrese•4m ago
A USB video capture device or a converter box. There are devices sold specifically to interface these old machines with modern displays. One of the more famous ones is the RetroTINK.
hunterpayne•14m ago
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.

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