Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

The TI-99/4A was released in June 1981, to address some of the issues with its predecessor, the TI-99/4. It added a full-travel keyboard, improved graphics, and a unique expansion system, which supported peripherals including a speech synthesizer. At half the price of the original model, sales picked up significantly, however TI’s insistence on limiting publishers continued to starve the platform of software.

Texas Instruments “Speak & Spell”

The Speak & Spell was one of a four-part talking educational toy series from Texas Instruments, along with the Speak & Math, Speak & Read, and Speak & Write. It consisted of a TMC0280 linear predictive coding speech synthesizer, a membrane keyboard, and a game ROM cartridge slot. The Speak & Spell was introduced at the summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1978, making it one of the earliest handheld electronic devices with a visual display to use interchangeable cartridges.

Texas Instruments “Speak & Math”

The Speak & Math was one of a four-part talking educational toy series from Texas Instruments, along with the Speak & Spell, Speak & Read, and Speak & Write. Like the Speak & Spell, it uses a 9-character 14-segment VFD display, and has an expansion slot – however, no expansion modules are known to have been produced for the Speak & Math.

Texas Instruments “Speak & Write”

The Speak & Write was one of a four-part talking educational toy series from Texas Instruments, along with the Speak & Spell, Speak & Math, and Speak & Read. It is similar to the compact variant of the Speak & Spell, lacking a VFD display.