23 Apr
2008
23 Apr
'08
4:04 a.m.
Dave McGuire wrote:
I just remembered that I'd wanted to mention this, but things have
been busy and I forgot. My mother knows of my fondness for antique
computers, and she keeps her eyes open at thrift stores and related
places. She picked up a Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40 for me
and presented it to me for my birthday a month ago.
I had never heard of this machine, but now I've done some reading and
I've played with it a bit. It's pretty neat! Has anyone else here
messed with one?
-Dave
They are pretty common on ebay -- in fact, they often show up NIB, often
for under $50. Tell your mom to try harder next year. :-) Actually,
it is quite impressive that she identified it as something interesting.
If you like the CC40, keep your eyes peeled for the TI-74. It is
basically a CC40 with a few enhancements stuffed into a largish
calculator format, instead of a miniature laptop.
One thing that is charming about it is TI's BASIC. Microsoft so
dominated the 8 bit micro world with its BASIC that most such machines
kind of bore me because they are all so similar. The CC40 and TI-74
BASIC are highly similar to the advance BASIC of the TI 94/A, so I'm
told (I've never used one) even though they have different uPs.
What is cool about the BASIC? Long variable names, proper subroutines
with local variables, good extensability. There is a lot more, but I
don't have the manual at hand to refresh my memory.
The hexbus interface is pretty cool too, really well thought out.
Recently I scored a rare wafertape drive for the CC40, although I
haven't tried it out yet ... too much work to address first.
Going a bit further down the line, some European TI employees formed a
company to make a microcomputer, called the Exelvision EXL100. It
contained two 70C20 (or similar) microprocessors, from the same family
as the CC40 and TI-74. It has an enhanced version of the same BASIC.
This is a real micro, with a color PAL output, IR keyboard and
joysticks. I have a EXL100 and a number of games, but no floppy
subsystem (yet). Perhaps in the distant future I'll write an emulator
for it if someone doesn't beat me to it. It seems like an interesting
machine.