--- title: Texas Instruments DS990 categories: - Computers types: - Professional Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1980' cpus: - TMS-9900 params: name: DS990 image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_system_s1.jpg company: /companies/texas-instruments company_name: Texas Instruments specs: - label: NAME value: DS990 - label: MANUFACTURER value: Texas Instruments - label: TYPE value: Professional Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1980' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: Unknown - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: None - label: KEYBOARD value: 88 key with numeric and arrow keypads, 10 function keys and 8 state led - label: CPU value: TMS-9900 (16-bit) - label: SPEED value: Unknown - label: RAM value: 64 KB - label: ROM value: 12 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 80 columns x 24 lines - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: None - label: COLORS value: Monochrome - label: SOUND value: Beeper - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 58.5 (W) x 58.5 (D) x 46.5 (H) - label: I/O PORTS value: 3 x serial, 1 FDD port - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: None - label: OS value: DX10, DNOS - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in modular switching PSU - label: PERIPHERALS value: TI extension cards - label: PRICE value: Unknown tabs: - photos - hardware photos: - title: LARGER VIEW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_system_s2.jpg - title: TOP VIEW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_topview_s1.jpg - title: SIDE VIEW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_rightside_s1.jpg - title: REAR SIDE subtitle: '' text: Notice the three serial ports and the (blue) floppy disk unit connector. image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_rearside_s1.jpg - title: KEYBOARD subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_keyboard_s1.jpg - title: KEYBOARD DETAILS subtitle: '' text: Left and right keypads. Notice the 8 status leds. image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_keyboard_s2.jpg - title: RUNNING subtitle: '' text: Main menu of the TI utilities disk. image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_bootscreen_s1.jpg - title: COMPLETE SYSTEM subtitle: '' text: With a dual 8" floppy disk unit and a serial printer/terminal. image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_completesystem_s1.jpg - title: 'INSIDE #1' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_inside_s2.jpg - title: 'INSIDE #2' subtitle: '' text: |- A large cooling fan separates the logic cards and the power supply unit.\ **(1)** Serial cards dedicated to video terminals or printers\ **(2)** CPU card\ **(3)** RAM card\ **(4)** Display card\ **(5)** Floppy disk controller cards\ **(6)** Modular switching PSU cards\ **(7)** The large fan is enclosed between the logic cards and the PSU image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_inside_s1.jpg - title: 'INSIDE #3' subtitle: '' text: A single backplane supports the PSU cards (green slots) and the logic cards ((black slots). image: /media/museum/photos/texasinstr_ds990_backplane_s1.jpg hardware: - title: INSIDE THE FD UNIT subtitle: '' text: 15 years of advances made in technology have elapsed between this massive dual 8" FD unit (about 30 kg) and a 100-gram 3.5" floppy drive which provides more than twice as much storage capacity. image: /media/museum/hardware/texasinstr_ds990_fdunit_s1.jpg - title: FLOPPY DISC DRIVES subtitle: '' text: |- Both sides of the 8" Qume floppy disk drive.\ Some technical features:\ • 300 rounds per minute\ • 128 bytes per sector\ • 26 sectors per track\ • 77 tracks per diskette\ • 3328 bytes per track\ • 256,256 bytes per diskette image: /media/museum/hardware/texasinstr_ds990_fddrives_s1.jpg - title: OMNI 800 TERMINAL/PRINTER subtitle: Model 820 RO (Read Only) text: |- Under the Omni 800 label, T.I. released numerous professional printers and terminals. Most of them acted as a remote input/output unit.\ This version has a covered operator control keypad, but other models featured a complete typewriter keyboard. image: /media/museum/hardware/texasinstr_ds990_printer_s1.jpg - title: OMNI 800 TERMINAL/PRINTER subtitle: Model KSR text: Thanks to its typewriter keyboard, this version was a true interactive terminal. image: /media/museum/hardware/texasinstr_ds990_printer_s2.jpg - title: 'CPU CARD #1' subtitle: '' text: Notice the beeper and the keyboard connector on the right-hand side. image: /media/museum/hardware/texasinstr_ds990_cpucard_s1.jpg - title: TMS-9900 PROCESSOR subtitle: '' text: A nice ceramic version of the 16-bit TMS-9900 CPU. image: /media/museum/hardware/texasinstr_ds990_processor_s1.jpg - title: 'RAM CARD #1' subtitle: '' text: 64 KB RAM card populated with 32 x 4116 RAM chips (16K x 1 bit). image: /media/museum/hardware/texasinstr_ds990_ramcard_s1.jpg - title: 'RAM CARD #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/texasinstr_ds990_ramchips_s1.jpg comments: - author: John Sambrook (Kirkland, Washington, USA) date: Monday 1st June 2020 text: |- I have wonderful memories of working with TI DS/900 systems, including the /10 and the /12. Someone asked about where to find materials. Here is one location$ I believe bitsavers.org has both manuals and binaries. http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ti/990/dx10/ Hit me up if you''d like to discuss anything DS/990 related. I''d love to be able to buy some old TI gear. - author: Jeffrey Brace (USA) date: Wednesday 27th May 2020 text: I am looking for the TX5 operating system for this machine for a fellow member who lives in Italia. Specifically TI DS990 Model 1. - author: John (Australia) date: Monday 29th January 2018 text: |- I have obtained a DS990 Model 1 and FD1000 dual disk drive assembly and currently restoring it as best as I can, after it sat in someones shed for many many years. I do not have any original disks, nor any physical documentation. Seems like this machine is overshadowed by the other 990/\* systems, along with the 99/4A. I can hardly find software specifically for this machine. Even then, I''m not 100$ sure how to get the disk images onto the 8" floppy disks this machine reads. I am hoping that once I finish cleaning the dual Qume drives, I''ll be able to build up a PC interface and use some fancy utility to read and write disk images accordingly. Who knows if that is even possible... - author: Ross Milbourne (England) date: Thursday 4th January 2018 text: Please can anyone help me to locate any of the software for this machine? I have a DS990 Model 1 with FD1000. - author: Keith Winterburn (USA) date: Monday 24th September 2007 text: I used to look after our own and our customers systems which were DS 990 12 and so on multiple terminals mostly with 96 meg phoenix drives some with remote clusters supporting 911vdt terminals largest system was 30 terminals on three sites mostly business systems with the occasional one used for a library or similar they wern't much bother except for disk crashes and the ksr printers which lost sync pulses and jammed whilst printing oc_id: 1025 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230330025208/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1025 date: '2023-03-30' --- This DS990/1 system was the basic model of the DS990 series which was also comprised of the **990/2**, **990/4**, **990/10** and **990/12** models. They were targeted as multi-user business systems, and ran the DX10 then the DNOS (Distributed Network Operating System) OS's. The 990/1 was the only version including its own video display, although up to three serial dumb video terminals could be connected as well. Other versions had a separate main unit managing several terminals, mass storage and printers. The core of the system was a true 16-bit microprocessor, the TMS-9900, also made by T.I., and mounted later in the first 16-bit home computer, the [TI-99/4](/museum/texas-instruments-ti-99-4a/). Apart from the dumb terminals, interface cards allowed to connect a serial printer and a single or dual 8" floppy disk unit.