Texas Instruments
"Compact Computer 40"
Released:March 1983
Discontinued:March 1984
Price:US$249.95
Weight:22 oz. / 600 grams
Size:1 x 6 x 9 inches
CPU:TI TMS-70C20 @ 2.5MHz
Power Source:Four "AA" batteries
Memory:6K RAM, 34K ROM
Display:31 character LCD display
Ports:"Hex-Bus" interface
Cartridge port
OS:TI ROM BASIC




Texas Instruments (TI), then the world's largest maker of semiconductors, introduced the Compact Computer 40 (CC-40) in 1983. The CC-40 was very 'cute', and TI's first entry into the portable computer market.

The CC-40 was a handheld, portable computer, which could be programmed in the BASIC programming language, very similar to their older TI-99/4A Home Computer from 1981.

Running on just four "AA" batteries, the CC-40 is efficient enough to maintain the program and data stored in temporary RAM memory for many months - TI calls this constant memory.

Even when turned on and being used, the system will operate for up to 200 hours before the batteries run down.

Although it had just 6K of RAM memory, this could be increased to 18K, by replacing the memory chips inside the unit. It wasn't easy - they had to be desoldered from the motherboard - but people did it.

Purchased programs can be loaded from
Preprogrammed Solid State Software cartridges.
Just plug them into the cartridge slot and go -
no loading time is required.

Lacking any standard communications ports, the CC-40 doesn't really interface to anything directly, so there's no way to permanently save your own programs or data on any external or removeable storage device like a floppy disk. This severely limited the usefulness of the CC-40 system. While the CC-40 has a built-in proprietary Hex-Bus serial networking port (like USB, but not hot-swappable), no Hex-Bus storage devices were ever released by TI.

Texas Instruments *did* design and manufacture the Wafertape Digital Tape Drive, which would allow fast and inexpensive data storage on tiny (68 x 40 x 5mm) removable cassette tapes, but it apparently proved to be unreliable, and was never released to the public.

The Wafertapes are similar to the old 8-track audio cartridges from the 1970's, in that the tape is a continuous loop which never ends. The tape is pulled from the center of the hub, while the returning tape winds onto the outside of the hub.

The Hex-Bus peripherals that *were* released includes two printers, an RS-232/parallel port adapter, and a 300-baud telephone modem.



Here is a list of the Hex-Bus peripherals from TI - all were design and manufactured, but not all were released to the public.
 Part Number Name Price  Released? Description Device # 
 HX-1000 Printer/Plotter $200
yes
  Based on ALPS printer. A four-color, x-y plotter, using 2.5 inch (60mm) wide paper. Can print simple graphics, and 18 or 36 text characters per line. 10,11
 HX-1010 Printer 80 $250
yes
  An 80-column thermal dot matrix printer - prints on full-size 8.5-inch wide paper. Can print on thermal paper, or plain paper using an ink ribbon. 16,17
 HX-1100 Video Interface $100
no
  Displays 40x24 monochrome text on your TV (RF ch.3 or ch.4) or monitor (composite video) 40
 HX-2000 Wafertape Digital Tape Drive $140
no
  Similar to the Exatron Stringy Floppy. Up to 48K bytes storage, with a data transfer rate of 8K bits per second. Holds 16 files per tape maximum. 1-8
 HX-3000 RS232 Interface $100
yes
  Communicates with an external serial device such as a printer, modem, terminal, other computers, etc, at up to 19,200 baud 20-23
 HX-3000P RS232 Interface w/ Parallel Option $120
yes
  Same as above, but also interfaces with parallel printers. Might also be part number HX-3200 50-53
 HX-3100 Modem $100
yes
  300 baud direct-connect Bell 103-compatible modem to communicate with another computer via telephone line. 70
 HX-5102 Disk Drive/Controller unkwn
no
  DSDD (360K) 5.25 inch floppy drive, formats to sixteen 256K sectors per track. Supports four floppy drives. 101-104


Just a few Preprogrammed Solid State Software ROM cartridges were ever released for the CC-40 - mostly serious applications, a couple memory expansion cartridges, and a cartridge entitled "Games I" - it's difficult to play a good game on a single 31 character display.
These are all (maybe) of the (very expensive) ROM cartridges manufactured by Texas Instruments for the CC-40:
  • SS-1000 - 16K RAM expansion
  • SS-1001 - ($60) - Pascal - Programming Language
  • SS-2000 - 8K RAM expansion w/ battery back-up
  • SS-3004 - ($60) - Memo Processor for Data Communications - works w/ Modem
  • SS-3006 - ($60) - Finance
  • SS-3007 - ($60) - Advanced Electrical Engineering
  • SS-3008 - ($60) - Statistics
  • SS-3009 - ($60) - Mathematics
  • SS-3024 - ($40) - Games I - Backgammon, Blackjack, Hammurabi, Planetary Lander, Stocks and Bonds, Hunt the Wumpus
  • SS-4002 - ($130) - Editor/Assembler - requires Wafertape or Disk Drive/Controller

    • By 1984, the carts had risen to $75 or more each.

    Software was also planned on being released on Wafertapes, which would have cost just $20 each.
    Blank Wafertapes would have cost $7.95, $6.95, and $5.95 for 50, 25, and 10 foot tape lengths.
    The Wafertapes can each hold 16 files maximum, and the tape speeds along at 8 inches per second

    Again, although magazine and other periodical advertisements were placed, Wafertapes and Wafertape drives were never made available for purchase - neither were some of the other Hex-Bus peripherals. The peripherals which do still exist were probably engineering samples used by Texas Instruments employees - that's were I got mine.



    Texas Instruments quickly developed an improved CC-40 computer, entitled the CC-40 Plus. The major improvement - this system now has a cassette drive port to load and save programs and data to a standard audio cassette deck, a common and inexpensive practice in the 1980s.


    The original CC-40 is on the left, the CC-40-Plus on the right. Can you spot the five cosmetic changes in design?


    Unfortunately, this system was also never released to the public - the original Compact Computer 40 was on the market for less than one year.

    Instead, Texas Instruments released the TI-74 BASICALC - a downsized and improved handheld unit, that could actually fit in a shirt pocket.
    As TI's newest and smallest computer, the Texas Instruments TI-74 BASICALC seemed to be aimed mostly at business - available software cartridges included Mathematics, Statistics, Pascal, Finance, and Chemical Engineering.

    It retained the "Hexport" (now called the "DockBus") from the CC-40, but the physical connector layout was changed, so the older CC-40 devices can not be used, although it's been reported that CC-40 Hexbus devices will work if you build an adapter cable to match the two connectors together.


    The system also retained the "cartridge port" for RAM or ROM on the right side of the system, but it is unique and not electrically or physically compatible with the older CC-40 cartidges.

    The new "PC-324 Thermal Printer", and the new "CI-7 Cassette Interface Cable", can be plugged into the "DockBus" for printing and data storage, respectively. There'a also the "PC Interface Cable", which connects to the 25 pin parallel port of an MS-DOS computer, to transfer data back and forth between the two systems.

  • TI-74 Price: $135.00
  • Size: 12 ounces (340g), 8.3 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
  • CPU: TMS70C46 CPU @ 4MHz
  • Display: 80 characters per line (31 visible) 5x7 character LCD
  • Memory: 8K RAM
  • I/O: DockBus RAM/ROM memory expansion port
  • Power: 4 AAA-size batteries


    •      

    Related Links

  • CC-40 from 99er.net
  • CC-40 from R/S Programmable Calculators
  • CC-40 from The Pocket Computer Museum
  • CC-40 from www.datamath.org
  • CC-40 information from ftp.whtech.com
  • Texas Instruments info from classictech.wordpress.com
  • CC-40 brochure from Classic Computer Brochures

  • Exatron Stringy Floppy - Computer Gazette - July 1983
  • CC-40 Review - Your Computer - May 1983
  • CC-40 Review - Microcomputing - Dec 1983
  • CC-40 Review - Video Games - Feb 1984


    • History of Texas Instruments' Computers

    • 1954: Texas Instruments produces the first commercial silicon transistor.
    • 1958: TI engineer Jack Kilby co-invents the integrated circuit.
    • 1964: Texas Instruments receives a patent on the integrated circuit.
    • 1967: TI develops the hand-held calculator.
    • 1971: TI develops the first microcomputer-on-a-chip, containing over 15,000 transistors.
    • 1979: June - TI introduces the TI-99/4 personal computer, for an initial price of US$1500, including a color monitor.
    • 1979: November - TI begins shipping the TI-99/4.
    • 1980: January - Production problems haunt TI-99/4 for the first few months of 1980 and TI is selling fewer than 1000 units per month.
    • 1980: TI introduces a 5 1/4-inch mini-floppy disk drive for the TI-99/4. It can store up to 90KB per disk. Price for controller is US$300; price for disk drive is US$500.
    • 1980: TI introduces a 300 baud modem for the TI-99/4 for US$225.
    • 1980: TI introduces a thermal printer for the TI-99/4. It produces 5x7 dot matrix characters, at 30 CPS, on 3 1/2-inch thermal paper. Price is US$400.
    • 1980: TI introduces an RS-232 interface for the TI-99/4. Price is US$225.
    • 1981: June - The new and improved TI-99/4A Home Computer is unveiled for $525.
    • 1982: January - TI introduces a Peripheral Expansion Box for the TI-99/4A for $250. Expansion cards are approximately $300 - $500 each.
    • 1982: February- Unsatisfied at Texas Instruments, three engineers (Rod Canion, Jim Harris, Bill Murto) leave and form Compaq Computers, to build the world's first true IBM clone, the Compaq Portable. It was an incredible success.
    • 1982: June - TI hires Bill Cosby as the ad campaign spokesman for their Home Computer. It costs TI $1 million a year.
    • 1983: January - TI announces the TI-99/2.
    • 1983: March - TI introduces the Compact Computer 40 (CC-40). It runs on four "AA" batteries, lasting up to 200 hours.
    • 1983: June - TI drops plans to market the TI-99/2.
    • 1983: June - TI releases the plastic beige console version of the TI-99/4A.
    • 1983: July - TI ships the 1 millionth TI-99/4A.
    • 1984: January - TI has sold 2.5 million TI-99/4As.
    • 1984: March - TI gives-up and drops-out of the home computer market altogether.
      Source: Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers
      and
      TI-99 Home Computer Timeline by Bill Gaskill





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