Old Hardware Emulated : PockEmul - Texas Instruments

 

The Emulation of Handheld Computers From The 80's.

The popularity of the handheld computers made by the Japanese consumer electronic companies caught the eye of Texas Instruments.  The company was already poised to enter the market these handheld computers. Eventually, TI would come to dominate the compact computer market in North America, except there handheld computers were called graphing calculators, and not in the mold of those devices made by Sharp. TI got a early head-start with the creation of handheld scientific and programmable calculators. 
TI-57
TI-57
TI introduced the TI-57 on September 1977. It was introduced alongside the TI-58 and TI-59. The most notable difference between the TI-57 and the other calculators is that it had less memory than them, with 48-bytes to play around with. It was also slower than the other calculators mentioned above, taking longer to do math computations. This is reflected in the flickering of the LED lights during computing.
TI-58
The TI-58 was released along TI-59 and TI-57 on 1977. It was a step up compared to the TI-57, but it didn't have as many features as the TI-59. For example, the TI-58 didn't have the tape reader and half the memory of the TI-59, but it was essentially identical. Both calculators were powered by aTMC0501  processor and had a 13-digit LED display. On the TI-59, the magnetic tape reader allowed users to load and save programs onto the programmable calculator.


Like the other calculators/pocket computers, there were peripheral devices that were released for these calculators as well. There were simple programs that were released on magnetic tape for TI-59 users to use. There were also a thermal printer attachment for people to print there results on. The printer attachment is emulated by PockEmul.

TI CC-40
The CC-40 (Compact Computer 40) was released on March 1983. The CC-40 was TI's answer to the pocket computers made by the Japanese consumer electronics companies released by Sharp and Casio. The compact computer ran on a 8-bit TMS70C20 running at 2.5MHz and has 6KB of RAM.It was expandable to 18KB.The pocket computer also had a 31-character LCD display.It was powered by four AA batteries or a AC adapter. According to the Wikipedia article, the CC-40 can ran about 200 hours on one complete charge from the AA batteries.

There was no tape or disk units that were released for the unit. As a result, this hurt sales of the device as users couldn't load or store programs. At a cost $249 ($642.06 2018), the lack of ability to load and store programs could not justify the purchase of this device. Without any storage units, this pocket computer might as well have been used as a four-function calculator.

As mentioned by the Wikipedia article, there were still peripheral devices that were released for the CC-40, like a 80 column printer, and a printer/plotter. Also developed was a serial, RS232 modem available as well. TI were working on other peripheral devices that were never released, like a floppy disk drive and a video interface. The expansion port on the CC-40, the Hexbus, had a early implementation of device hot-swapping similar to USB. Hot-swapping is a term of switching device while the computer is powered on.

Texas Instruments had a improved version of the CC-40, that was never released. It was cancelled, along with the TI-99/4A home computer, when TI left the home computer market. They were no match for Jack Tramiel and his war machine called Commodore. The 1983 home computer price war was not very forgiving, as the TI-99/4A was no match against the C64. That though could be a article for another day.

As mentioned in the Wikipedia article, Byte Magazine reviewed the unit, and they were not impressed. They heavily criticized the unit for lack of features, little memory, and for the BASIC implementation on the handheld. There was also a lack of software and peripheral devices compared to those used on pocket computers made by Sharp and Casio. Due to this, people could not justify the price that TI offered the unit for. As mentioned before, the CC-40, without these peripheral devices, was essentially a glorified calculator. The CC-40 was not well received in the marketplace.

TI-74
The TI-74 was released on 1985 to replace the CC-40 Compact Computer. The unit was powered by a TMS70C46 processor, and had 8KB of RAM. Like the CC-40, the TI-74 had a Hexbus port. This means that peripheral devices for the CC-40 could be used on the TI-74 as well. There was a 31 character LCD display, and was powered by 4 AAA-batteries.

TI-95
The TI-95 PROCALC programmable calculator was released in 1987.Like the TI-74, the TI-95 had a TMS70C46 processor and had 8KB of RAM. There was a ROM slot on the device that allowed users to load programs onto the pocket calculator. The following ROM programs for the TI-95; Mathematics, Chemistry and Statistics.

TI didn't dominate the pocket computer market in the 80's like Sharp or Casio. With that said, here in North America, Texas Instruments would continue to dominate the calculator market. Even though there equivalents to the Sharp Pocket Computer did take over, TI did released there own handheld computer of sorts that would go on to very great success. The TI-8x series of graphing calculators were full-fledged, handheld computers in there own right that would go on to dominate educational institutions here in North America. They can run advance scientific and mathematical programs, and support graphing capabilities as well. These devices would play a evolutionary role in the development of the smartphones and tablets that we so know and love today.

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