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To save the cost of a dedicated monitor, the home computer often would connect through an [[RF modulator]] to the family [[television|TV]] set, which served as both video display and sound system.<ref>[http://oldcomputers.net/ti994.html Texas Instruments TI-99/4 computer]: At the start, the TI99/4 could not offer an RF-modulator certified by United States [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC), and had to use an expensive modified TV instead</ref>
After the success of the [[RadioShack]] [[TRS-80]], the [[Commodore PET]] and the [[Apple II]] in 1977, almost every manufacturer of [[consumer electronics]] rushed to introduce a home computer. Large numbers of new machines of all types began to appear during the late 1970s and early 1980s. [[Mattel]], [[Coleco]], [[Texas Instruments]] and [[Timex]],
Almost universally, home computers had a [[BASIC]] [[interpreter (computing)|interpreter]] combined with a [[line editor]] in permanent [[read-only memory]] which one could use to type in BASIC programs and execute them immediately or save them to tape or disk. In [[direct mode]], the BASIC interpreter was also used as the [[user interface]], and given tasks such as loading, saving, managing, and running files.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.websters-dictionary-online.org/definition/english/Mi/Microsoft+Basic.html |title=Dictionary — Definition of Microsoft Basic}}{{dead link|date=April 2013}}</ref> One exception was the [[Jupiter Ace]], which had a [[Forth (programming language)|Forth]] interpreter instead of BASIC. A built-in programming language was seen as a requirement for any computer of the era, and was the main feature setting home computers apart from [[video game consoles]].
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