TMS-0970


Some electronic games and calculators from the mid-70s use a variant of the Texas Instruments TMS-1000/TMS-1100 known as the TMS-0970. So far, I've found it in Comp IV, Code Name: Sector, Wiz-a-Tron and TI-1270. The die is similar to the TMS-1000, with 1K of 8-bit ROM and 64 4-bit nibbles of RAM, but the pinout is slightly different. It has built-in drivers for LEDs. I haven't been able to find much (any?) information about it. It seems to be the little brother to the TMS0980; the dies are very similar, although the 0980 has twice as much ROM and RAM, and 9-bit ROM.

Below are pictures and ROM dumps of each chip. The raw ROM dump is a left-to-right, top-to-bottom transcription of the bits as they physically appear on the die, which is not how they are logically addressed. The TMS-1000-order ROM dump rearranges the bits from the raw ROM dump in the same way that works for the TMS-1000 and TMS-1100 ROM arrays, and which seems to also match these chips.


Comp IV

This Milton Bradley game is pretty simple- a calculator-style keypad (0-9, R, and E) and 10 LEDs. The game selects a random 3-, 4- or 5-digit target number which the player attempts to guess. For each guess, the game lights up LEDs to indicate how many of the digits guessed are in the target, and how many of those are in the correct position.

Hardware description and pinout

TMS-1000-order ROM dump

raw ROM dump

picture of ROM array

full die shot top metal (a little singed)

full die shot after acid

disassembled unit


Code Name: Sector

A Parker Brothers hunt-the-sub game.

Hardware description and pinout

TMS-1000-order ROM dump

raw ROM dump

picture of ROM array

full die shot after acid


Wiz-a-Tron

This is an educational calculator from TI that lets you enter an equation and an answer, and it tells you if you are correct.

Hardware description and pinout

TMS-1000-order ROM dump

raw ROM dump

picture of ROM array

full die shot top metal

full die shot after acid


TI-1270 Calculator

Texas Instrument basic calculator with some scientific features. The pinout is slightly different- since the die is the same as the other chips, the bond wiring must be different.

Hardware description and pinout

TMS-1000-order ROM dump

raw ROM dump

picture of ROM array

full die shot top metal

full die shot after acid


Little Professor (1976)

Texas Instruments educational calculator.

Hardware description and pinout

full die shot top metal

full die shot after acid

ROM array after acid

raw ROM dump

ROM dump in TMS1000 order


TI-1250 Calculator

Texas Instrument basic

Hardware description and pinout

TMS-1000-order ROM dump

raw ROM dump

picture of ROM array

full die shot top metal

full die shot after acid


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