Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40

Infobox computer

Photo =
Type = Home computer
Released = March 1983
Discontinued =
Processor = TMS70C20 @ 2.5 MHz
Memory = 6 KB
OS = The Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40 or CC-40 is a battery-operated portable computer that was manufactured and released by Texas Instruments in March 1983. Priced at US$249, it weighs 600 grams (22 ounces) and can be powered by four "AA" batteries or an AC adapter. It was intended as a portable business computer, and uses TI's TMS70C20 CPU, an 8-bit microprocessor that ran at 2.5 MHz.

The CC-40 has 6 kilobytes of on board Random Access Memory (expandable to 18 KB), 34 KB of Read Only Memory, and a 31-character LCD display. It is capable of operating for 200 hours off one set of batteries, and memory is not erased by powering the unit off, so an unpowered unit can retain data for several months. However, no disk or tape drive was released with the unit, and a digital "wafertape" unit depicted on the computer's box was never released, reportedly because it proved too unreliable. The inability to store data permanently hurt the CC-40's sales. The CC-40 does have ports for connecting a printer and a modem. Expansion was to be through a "HexBus" interface, arguably prototypical to USB, providing hot-swappable plug-and-play functionality. The HexBus interface was also available for the TI-99/4A and was built into the prototype-only TI-99/8.

Software was only available on cartridge, or by typing simple programs into its built-in BASIC interpreter. The BASIC interpreter os similar but not identical to the TI-99/4A.

References

* Thomas, David (1983). "Learn BASIC: A Guide to Programming the Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40". Texas Instruments, Inc. and McGraw Hill, Inc. ISBN 0-07-064257-5.

External links

* [http://www.99er.net/cc40.html 99er page on the CC-40]
* [http://oldcomputers.net/cc-40.html OLD-COMPUTERS.COM online-museum CC-40 page]