website/content/museum/thomson-to-9.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Thomson TO 9	Computers	Home Computer	France	1985	Motorola 6809 e	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts hardware emulators links videos related oc_id source TO 9 /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_system_1.jpg /companies/thomson Thomson label value NAME TO 9 label value MANUFACTURER Thomson label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN France label value YEAR 1985 label value CPU Motorola 6809 e label value SPEED 1 MHz label value RAM 128 KB (107 KB for the user) label value ROM 136 KB label value TEXT MODES 40 x 24 / 80 x 24 label value GRAPHIC MODES 320 x 200 (16 colors) / 640 x 200 (2 colors) / 320 x 200 (4 colors) / 160 x 200 label value COLORS from 2 to 16 among 4096 label value SOUND three channels, 7 octaves label value I/O PORTS Light Pen, Joystick, Mouse, Centronics, Cardridge, Audio, Bus slots (3) label value BUILT IN MEDIA One 3.5'' disk-drive photos adverts hardware emulators links videos 249 title subtitle text image ANOTHER VIEW /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_system_2.jpg title subtitle text image TOP VIEW /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_topview_1.jpg title subtitle text image MAIN UNIT With external 3.5" FDD unit /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_system_3.jpg title subtitle text image FRONT PANEL From left to right:\ • ROM cartridges housing\ • Reset switch\ • Keyboard RJ11 plug\ • Light pen DIN plug\ • Tape recorder DIN plug /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_frontpanel_1.jpg title subtitle text image KEYBOARD /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_keyboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR SIDE **(1)** TV aerial output, not installed on this French version\ **(2)** Sound output\ **(3)** Scart connector. A TV set or colour moniteur could be used in RGB mode\ **(4)** Printer connector\ **(5)** Connector for an external floppy drive unit\ **(6)** I/O module connectors (Serial interface, joysticks,...) /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_rear_1.jpg title subtitle text image MONITOR REAR SIDE The Thomson monitor offered a headphone output as well as numerous screen adjustments, among them one adjustment for each RGB colour. /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_rearmonitor_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE The case was originally designed to receive a 5.25" floppy drive. The 5.25" housing have been adapted to receive a 3.5" drive just before mass production. /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_inside_1.jpg title subtitle text image MAINBOARD **(1)** 128 KB RAM chips (16x4464)\ **(2)** Custom Thomson gate array chip\ **(3)** FDD controller chips. They have probably been changed at the last time, when Thomson designers chose a 3.5" FDD instead of a 5.25"\ **(4)** External FDD connector\ **(5)** Printer connector\ **(6)** BASICs and file management ROMs\ **(7)** Motorola MC6809EP processor\ **(8)** Motorola 6821 PIA chip\ **(9)** Monitor ROM\ **(10)** Reset switch\ **(11)** Motorola 6850 ACIA chip in charge of keyboard and light pen management\ **(12)** 6846 PIA/timer and ROM chip used, inter alia, for ROM cartridge and keyboard management\ **(13)** ROM cartridges connector\ **(14)** Switching power supply unit /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_mainboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image BOOT SCREEN When the T09 is switched on, the boot screen offers several options:\ **[1]** "Fiches et Dossiers" database\ **[2]** "Paragraphe" word processor\ **[3]** Microsoft BASIC 128 KB\ **[4]** Microsoft BASIC 1.0, TO7 compatible\ **[5]** User adjustments\ **[6]** Diskette files management If a ROM cartridge is inserted, an additional option allows to run the ROM program. /media/museum/photos/thomson_to9_bootscreen_1.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT (DEC. 1985) "9990 francs the TO9. Colors included" "Thomson. All the world in a present" /media/museum/pubs/thomson_to9_pub_couleurs-comprises.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT (APRIL 1987) "You're never so well served than by yourself..." "...create your own micro-server on Thomson." /media/museum/pubs/thomson_to9_pub_microserveur_1.jpg title subtitle text image THOMSON JOYSTICKS /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to9_joysticks_1.jpg title subtitle text image 3.5'' FD UNIT Ref. DD09-350 /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to9_fdunit35_1.jpg title subtitle text image 5.25'' DISK DRIVE 320 KB model This 5.25'' disk-drive offers a 320 KB capacity (40 tracks > 16 sectors > 256 bytes) and a built-in controller. /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to7_diskdrive_2.jpg title subtitle text image DISK CONTROLLER CD 90-351 This interface was used to connect a disk drive or a Quick Disc Drive (QDD) to a TO-7, TO-7/70, MO5 or MO6. /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to7_disk-interface.jpg title subtitle text image JOYSTICK MODULE Dual Atari compatible joysticks module /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to9_joymodule_1.jpg title subtitle text image MUSIC & GAME MODULE CM 90-112 This module offers two joystick connectors (Videopac joysticks can be used) and adds three channels to the TO-7 or MO-5 (resulting in a total of 4 voices). Sadly, these new sound features were scarcely used in games... /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to7_joy-interface.jpg title subtitle text image MUSIC & GAME MODULE #2 /media/museum/hardware/thomson_mo5_musicetjeu_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ORDI 94 Joystick Interface This interface enables Atari joysticks to be used with TO-7, TO-7/70 and MO5. It was sold by Ordivisuel under the name Ordi 94. /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to7_joy-atari.jpg title subtitle text image PRINTER PR-90 080 80 columns dot-matrix printer which was a rebadged version of the Seikosha GP-80 /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to7_imp_pr90-080.jpg title subtitle text image PRINTER PR-90 600 80-column 9-pin dot matrix printer. A rebadged version of the Seikosha SP-1000 with graphics capabilities /media/museum/hardware/thomson_to9_imppr90_600_1.jpg title url platform text DCMO5 http://dcmo5.free.fr/ Windows Thomson MO5 emulator for PC title url platform text DCMO5 Gamer Edition HTTP://DCMO5.FREE.FR Windows Easy to use emulator, to run MO5 games without knowing MO5 commands title url platform text DCMO6 http://dcmo6.free.fr/ Windows Thomson MO5NR, Thomson MO6 and Olivetti Prodest PC128 emulator for PC title url platform text DCMOTO http://dcmoto.free.fr/ Windows Universal 8-bit Thomson emulator for Windows. Emulates Thomson MO5, MO5E, MO5NR, MO6, T9000, TO7/70, TO8, TO8D, TO9, TO9+ and Olivetti Prodest PC128 ! title url platform text DCTO7 and DCTO8 http://dcto7.free.fr/ Windows Thomson T9000, TO7/70, TO8, TO8D emulator for Windows title url platform text TODC http://www.jplang.fr.st/ Other platform No, you are not dreaming. This is a TO-7/70 emulator for the Dreamcast game system ! title url text AmiTO8 http://membres.lycos.fr/amito8/data/Accueil.html Amiga / Thomson dedicated site. Some original stuff there! title url text Christophe's Lair http://lair.thomsonistes.org/ Lot of stuff here, a must see site (french) title url text Collection Thomson http://gfournier.free.fr/ Another great site with tons of documentation title url text DCMOTO http://dcmoto.free.fr/ Excellent site !! Home of the DCMOTO emulator. Lot od documentations and software to download. A must see ! title url text Forum Thomson http://forumthomson2001.free.fr/forum01.htm Get in contact with other Thomson fans (in french) title url text MOTO, le site Des micros Thomsons http://www.multimania.com/tonews/ Some info about the Thomson computers (french) title url text Nostalgies Thomsonistes http://nostalgies.thomsonistes.org/ Excellent site dedicated to Thomson computers (french) title url text Thomatoes http://wiki.forler.ch Thomson Wiki title url text www.logicielsmoto.com http://www.logicielsmoto.com/home.php Fantastic site! Very big software library and much more! title url text MO5 french TV commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPr7NeqMobc Length: 31 s /museum/olivetti-prodest-pc-128 /museum/thomson-mo-5 /museum/thomson-mo-6 /museum/thomson-mo5-e /museum/thomson-mo5-nr /museum/thomson-to-7 /museum/thomson-to-7-70 /museum/thomson-to-8-to-8d /museum/thomson-to-9-plus 239 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230608080739/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=239 2023-06-08

The Thomson TO9 had a short career and was quickly replaced with the Thomson TO9 plus.

It was designed to be a "super" Thomson TO 7-70 and has lost of its characteristics. Some options were available : RS232c and joystick connector, modem or genlock. Notice that the very first version of the TO 9 (never marketed) had a 5.25" floppy disk drive.

Contrary to the next Thomson series which have a sophisticated memory management, the TO 9 upper 64 KB ram are used as a ramdisk.

It is provided with several utilities in ROM : two basics, a word processor (paragraphe) and a data base (fiche & dossiers), there were some problems with these utilities which couldn't be easy updated.