|
Yep, good times.
I built my first system (z80 based) in 1978. Bought an s100 bus backplane with power supply, a CPU card and a video card (connectes to TV - 16 lines of 64 characters). I wire wrapped a 4K RAM board and a dual port serial card. I didn't have any programming language at the time so I learned to program the z80 by the numbers (all I had at the time was the Zapple control monitor). I eventually wire wrapped a board to allow me to store programs on cassette recorder. This system grew until it ran CP/M, had 64K RAM and dual 8 inch floppies. I eventually picked up a Selectric typewriter mechanism and designed and wire wrapped a control board for it so my printouts would be pretty  . I think my last project was to wire wrap a board to control a Votrax speech synthesizer chip (phoneme based sound generation) so that I could have my computer talk. Definitely fun stuff!
|
|
|
|
|
I cut my teeth on the TI990 minicomputer, from which the TMS9900 was derived. It has a first class operating system, hampered by the 16 bit address space. I wrote a device driver for a terminal running over RS 232 (it needed to be further away than their own VDUs could handle). That was fun.
Paul Sanders.
If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter - Blaise Pascal.
Some of my best work is in the undo buffer.
|
|
|
|
|
The TMS9900 was actually used in several different systems, by different divisions within TI. I helped write one of them, before I was reassigned to DX10, the OS built on the TI 990 minicomputer. Then, after leaving TI, I worked for Ryan-McFarland (RMC), which implemented an executive (would hesitate to call it an OS) which ran on the TMS9900-based 990/2 model. The 990/2 was sitting more-or-less dead in distributors' warehouses (DX10 did not run on it), and the RMC product made the 990/2 sellable in competition with low-end NCR offerings. The 990/2 was totally separate from the more famous 99/4, which was the product developed by a different TI division.
The TMS9900 was well ahead of its competitors (as the OP's ad quotation claims), but TI's focus was on different things. Being a diversified tech company has its drawbacks that highly focused companies can exploit.
|
|
|
|
|
I used it on one project. Its claim to fame was rad hard parts were available. The same project used the original Mac toaster for documentation since it passed TEMPEST requirements.
|
|
|
|
|
It's fun to revisit these advertisements from the good 'ol days. Speaking of old time advertisements, I remember the days of flipping through the hundreds of pages in "Computer Shopper", looking at all the cool stuff that was available. I remember back in 1991 as a new Lieutenant in the USAF, finally picking a "high end" PC and having to use two different credit cards to pay for it.
The good 'ol days indeed... 
|
|
|
|
|
TMS-9900, is that the processor that had all its registers in RAM?
For ordinary processing, it was much slower than dedicated register logic within the CPU, but on the other hand: It makes interrupt handling extremely simple: Just change the address of the current register block to where the interrupt handler has its register block. I have the impression that TMS-9900 grew out of what we today would call an embedded processor line. In that segment, interrupt handling is often far more critical than processing speed.
And, you could have as many threads as you wanted, each with its own register block - again: With very rapid thread switching: Just set the register block address. As long as you don't run out of space, of course. Maybe you couldn't fit that many threads in 64K. 64K should be enough for everybody, though.
|
|
|
|
|
Yes the registers in RAM were called the workspace. And in order to branch, you would use an instruction called Branch and Load Workspace Pointer, BLWP. This single instruction would transfer control to the specified address and load a specified address into the Workspace Pointer. Sort of a primitive way of giving functions their own stack space.
I don't recall the TMS-9900 being multithreaded. It only had real mode. Perhaps you're thinking of a different CPU?
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
|
|
|
|
|
Richard Andrew x64 wrote: I don't recall the TMS-9900 being multithreaded. It only had real mode. Perhaps you're thinking of a different CPU?
Multithreading does not in itself require any hardware support at all. If you want preemptive multithreading, you need a thread switcher triggered by a clock interrupt to move the active register block pointer to the next one to receive attention. This goes well without any sort of virtualization or non-real mode. In a simple world, threads in a workspace are just different points where something is happening, in a single world, not in different virtual worlds.
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 6/6
🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟨⬛🟨⬛
🟩⬛🟨⬛🟩
🟩⬛⬛🟩🟩
🟩⬛⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 5/6
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟨🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 4/6
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟨🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 3/6
🟩🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟨🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 3/6
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟨🟨⬛🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 5/6
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟨🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 3/6*
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟨🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 2/6*
🟩🟨⬜🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. -Frederick Nietzsche
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 4/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟨🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 4/6
🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛
🟨⬛🟨⬛🟨
⬛🟨🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Ok, I have had my coffee, so you can all come out now!
|
|
|
|
|
Wordle 852 4/6
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
odd one
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
|
|
|
|
|
And I bet y'all lie about it saying you are when you ain't. Prove me wrong.
You can't though; I already know.
Jeremy Falcon
|
|
|
|
|
Why do you ask this ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
|
|
|
|
|
Maybe he woke up from the philosophic side of the bed.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
Not gonna lie, these days (not that I'm old) I usually am just glad to wake up ya know.
Jeremy Falcon
|
|
|
|
|
Psssst... it's a test. Don't tell anyone.
This message will self-destruct.
Jeremy Falcon
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
