Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Texas Instruments TMS1000
The TMS1000 is a family of microcontrollers introduced by Texas Instruments in 1974. It combines a 4-bit central processor unit, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), and input/output (I/O) lines as a complete "computer on a chip". It was intended for embedded systems in automobiles, appliances, games, and measurement instruments. It was the first high-volume, general-purpose commercial microcontroller. In 1974, chips in this family could be purchased in volume for around $2 each. By 1979 about 26 million parts in this family were sold every year.
The TMS 1000 is used in Texas Instruments' own Speak & Spell educational toy, the Big Trak programmable toy vehicle and in the electronic game Simon.
The Smithsonian Institution says TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael Cochran succeeded in creating the first microcontroller in 1971. The TMS1802NC was a single-chip microcontroller which was announced September 17, 1971 and implemented a four-function calculator. The TMS1802NC, despite its designation, was not part of the TMS 1000 series; it was later redesignated TMS0102 as part of the TMS 0100 series, which was used in the TI Datamath calculator and the Sinclair Executive calculator.
The later TMS 1000 series went on the market in 1974. TI stressed the 4-bit TMS 1000 for use in pre-programmed embedded applications.
A computer-on-a-chip combines the microprocessor core (CPU), memory, and I/O (input/output) lines onto one chip. The computer-on-a-chip patent, called the "microcomputer patent" at the time, U.S. patent 4,074,351, was awarded to Gary Boone and Michael J. Cochran of TI. Aside from this patent, the standard meaning of microcomputer is a computer using one or more microprocessors as its CPU(s), while the concept defined in the patent is more akin to a microcontroller.
The TMS1000 family eventually included variants in both the original PMOS logic and also in NMOS and CMOS. Product variations included different sizes of ROM and RAM, different I/O counts, and ROMless versions intended for development or for use with external ROM. The original TMS1000 had 1024 x 8 bits of ROM, 64 x 4 bits of RAM, and 23 input/output lines.
The TMS1000 family used mask-programmed ROM. Once the user had a debugged program ready to be committed to production, it would send the program to Texas Instruments who would then make a special mask to program the on-chip ROM. The ROM could not be altered in the field; the contents were fixed by the patterns laid down on the chip by the manufacturer. While this process had a high initial cost, the production cost was very low, making it suitable for high volume products (say, more than a few thousand items sold per year).
All internal data paths of the processor were 4 bits wide. Program ROM and data RAM were separately addressed as in a Harvard architecture; this became a typical characteristic of microcontrollers by many other manufacturers.
Hub AI
Texas Instruments TMS1000 AI simulator
(@Texas Instruments TMS1000_simulator)
Texas Instruments TMS1000
The TMS1000 is a family of microcontrollers introduced by Texas Instruments in 1974. It combines a 4-bit central processor unit, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), and input/output (I/O) lines as a complete "computer on a chip". It was intended for embedded systems in automobiles, appliances, games, and measurement instruments. It was the first high-volume, general-purpose commercial microcontroller. In 1974, chips in this family could be purchased in volume for around $2 each. By 1979 about 26 million parts in this family were sold every year.
The TMS 1000 is used in Texas Instruments' own Speak & Spell educational toy, the Big Trak programmable toy vehicle and in the electronic game Simon.
The Smithsonian Institution says TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael Cochran succeeded in creating the first microcontroller in 1971. The TMS1802NC was a single-chip microcontroller which was announced September 17, 1971 and implemented a four-function calculator. The TMS1802NC, despite its designation, was not part of the TMS 1000 series; it was later redesignated TMS0102 as part of the TMS 0100 series, which was used in the TI Datamath calculator and the Sinclair Executive calculator.
The later TMS 1000 series went on the market in 1974. TI stressed the 4-bit TMS 1000 for use in pre-programmed embedded applications.
A computer-on-a-chip combines the microprocessor core (CPU), memory, and I/O (input/output) lines onto one chip. The computer-on-a-chip patent, called the "microcomputer patent" at the time, U.S. patent 4,074,351, was awarded to Gary Boone and Michael J. Cochran of TI. Aside from this patent, the standard meaning of microcomputer is a computer using one or more microprocessors as its CPU(s), while the concept defined in the patent is more akin to a microcontroller.
The TMS1000 family eventually included variants in both the original PMOS logic and also in NMOS and CMOS. Product variations included different sizes of ROM and RAM, different I/O counts, and ROMless versions intended for development or for use with external ROM. The original TMS1000 had 1024 x 8 bits of ROM, 64 x 4 bits of RAM, and 23 input/output lines.
The TMS1000 family used mask-programmed ROM. Once the user had a debugged program ready to be committed to production, it would send the program to Texas Instruments who would then make a special mask to program the on-chip ROM. The ROM could not be altered in the field; the contents were fixed by the patterns laid down on the chip by the manufacturer. While this process had a high initial cost, the production cost was very low, making it suitable for high volume products (say, more than a few thousand items sold per year).
All internal data paths of the processor were 4 bits wide. Program ROM and data RAM were separately addressed as in a Harvard architecture; this became a typical characteristic of microcontrollers by many other manufacturers.