Floodgap Systems presents

The Little Orphan: The Tomy Tutor

also featuring the Grandstand Tutor, Tomy Pyuuta, Tomy Pyuuta Mk II and Tomy Pyuuta Jr.

Last modify 18 March 2024.

Here lies probably the only major memorial to this most obscure of 1980's home computers. Part kid's toy, part graphics superstar, part unknown TI-99 clone, the Tomy was just another computer to fall under the wheels of the Commodore 64. And I should know, because my parents got me a Commodore 64 after we got the Tutor. Released in 1983, the Tutor was just unlucky enough to hit in the middle of the VIC-20 and 64 craze, despite its superior graphics and its fast, efficient speed. Based around the 16-bit Texas Instruments 9995 processor, it blew away the 99/4's in both speed and efficiency (but alas is largely incompatible), implementing the fine graphics of the TMS 9918ANL chip, its earlier relative, the TMS 9918A, powering the Coleco Adam, the Sord and, of course, the 99/4 series. It even had a built-in paint program, since the graphics were so good, plus lots of fabulous games.

I have no information on when the Tutor was discontinued or how many units were ultimately sold. Inquiries to the Tomy Corporation have been to date ignored. Presumably no one there knows that the computer even exists nowadays.

The Tomy Tutor (left) and Tomy Pyuuta (right) at Vintage Computer Festival 6.0.
Click the thumbnail for a full-size .JPG (111K), or visit the complete photographs archive.

If you have one of these little gems, and it still works/you still use it, or even if you used to have one, please get in contact with me! Send mail to ckaiser@floodgap.com. Let's trade information!

• (18 Mar 2024)What's New?
  Site news, on the hoof!

• (23 Aug 2020)The Tomy Tutor And I and My Trade List
  Why is it I'm so nostalgic about this thing? What's so good about the Tutor? Why am I using a Mac instead of a Tomy Tutor 2000? And what Tutor stuff can I trade ya for?

• (18 Oct 2019)General Information
  Summary of capabilities, characteristics and history. Call it our mini-FAQ. What could you do with a Tutor? Well, here you go.
  • (15 Mar 2024)Tomy Tutor Cartridge and Hardware Catalogue
    Stock numbers for games and peripherals, plus screen shots of selected games so you can easily identify them! Perpetually under update.

  • (23 Aug 2020)The Myth, The Muddle, The Marketing: The Purcell Pamphlet and Demonstration Cartridge
    A healthy dose of Tomy's wishful thinking, sold to you on demo units in your favourite store and through the dulcet tones of celebrity endorser Sarah Purcell. Find out the scoop on how the Tomy was marketed to parents, what features were advertised, what the vapourware peripherals looked like, and what happened after.

  • (26 Jan 2009)The Tomy Tutor User Club: You Are Not Alone!
    All about the official 1980s USA Tomy Tutor User Club, along with downloadable newsletters in Adobe PDF!

  • The Yahoo! Groups Tomy Tutor Archive
    From 2001 to 2019, the Yahoo! Tomy Tutor Users Group was the spiritual successor to the User Club, and we've got all the messages archived for posterity. The Internet never forgets! Even when you want it to!

• The Pyuuta Page: the Pyuuta, Pyuuta mk II "Mark Two" and the Pyuuta Jr.
  Includes (1 Jan 2007)the Pyuuta series' history and subparts for individual models, complete with disassemblies and scans, photographs and screenshots. Nothing beats the original(s)! Our special dedicated section lets you see the Japanese remixes and console version in all their (its) glory, plus (23 Aug 2020)their own demonstration cartridge. I'll even translate the Japanese for ya!

• (17 Sep 2005)The Grandstand Tutor Page
  The mysterious UK Tutors, so far as yet unseen -- but perhaps unlabeled as well? We check it out.

• Pictures and Photographs
  Some images of this wonderbox. Also see the Pyuuta section for images of those units. Subparts:
  • (26 Jan 2009)Photographs of the Tomy Tutor
    Pictures of the main unit, box and packaging, ports, and some of the cartridges and peripherals. Plus, check out the goodies inside with our "Disassembling the Tutor" section and high-resolution photographs of the internals!

  • (3 Apr 1999)Scans and Pictures, Rear Ports Diagram and Keyboard Diagram
    Fully annotated diagrams from the manual showing how to hook up your Tutor, and what keys do what.

• (17 Sep 2017)Hardware and Schematics
  Hardware and a brief, illustrative schematic of the main board. Also contains information on ports and connectors, such as the Data Recorder cable, the joy port and the Centronics printer interface.

  

• (27 Jun 2015)Emulating the Tomy Tutor
  Yeah, yeah, you little warez leeches: you can emulate it. But you're not fit to polish the Tutor's deep purple butt if all you want to do is play some free games. However, for those of you who want to get your Tomy up and running again on your modern Macintosh or PC, we'll show you how! Plus,
  • (25 Sep 2020)Tutti II, the Tape-Enabled Tomy Tutor Emulator
    Typing your old programs on that Chiclet keyboard got you down? Does six minutes of waiting for pictures from the Data Recorder make you want to bang your head against the wall? If you've got a Mac, then you've got a saviour: the very first Tutor emulator that can load and save tape files compatible with the real hardware. Demo tape images included! (And check out XTOMYDEV below for other cool cross-development tools.)

  • (17 Sep 2005)Tutti, The Tomy Tutor Simulator
    Now that we have better emulators, Tutti -- my original Tomy Tutor simulator -- is no longer updated. But, if you can't legally get the ROMs for another emulator, you can still download and use Tutti instead! Commodore 64 or 100% compatible C64 emulator required: I'm dead serious. Includes the Tutti never-asked-but-should-be-questions document, and how you can get it. It's freeware, and honest, you don't need ROMs. Honest.

• (6 Jul 2014)Programming the Tutor
  At last! Comprehensive comparison of keywords, error messages, exhaustive vocabulary list, memory map, and more. Selected subparts:
  • (13 Apr 2016)Sample Tomy Tutor Programs
    Learn Tutor programming by example in the comfort of your own home! Lots of programs from useful simple tools to thorougly baffling hacks.

  • (17 Sep 2017)Exhaustive BASIC Keywords List
    Complete list of keywords and operators (and tokens) in Tomy BASIC.

  • (1 Jan 2007)GBASIC Tutorial
    A tutorial and comparison of GBASIC to other more conventional BASIC dialects.

  • (13 Apr 2016)GBASIC and MONitor Keywords
    A (now probably) complete list of known MONitor commands and GBASIC keywords, with an analysis of internal GBASIC structure and known tokens.

  • (6 Jul 2014)9918/9995 Memory Maps
    Now you know where to stick your, uh, stuff! Covers VDP and "real" RAM.

• (22 Jun 2016)XTOMYDEV: Tomy Tutor Cross-Development and the Tomy Tutor Cassette Tape Format Page
  The Tutor, like man, is no longer an island. Use your Data Recorder to send and receive data from your desktop computer with your Tomy Tutor! Includes tools to detokenize BASIC and GBASIC programs, convert GRAPHIC images and even encode your own GRAPHIC bitmaps!

• GPL and GBASIC: Separated At Birth?, or, (27 Jan 2009)How Close are the TI and the Tomy Tutor?
  Is it enough to call the Texas Instruments 99 series of home computers brother, just because they both have TI CPUs and VDPs? We investigate.

• (23 Aug 2020)The Tomy Tutor Toys: Tomy's Tutor Typer, the Tomy Tutor Play Computer and the Pyuuta-kun Series
  Our bonus feature just goes to show that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Meet the toy that gave the Tomy Tutor its name, and the toys (and even a coin-op) the Pyuuta and Tomy Tutor later spawned.

Also check out:

• Tutor luminaries past and present are now accumulating at the "Online" Tomy Tutor Users Group (replacing our old Yahoo! Groups meeting place after Verizon Media announced its shutdown: old messages archived here).
• Also: Steven Stengel has a nice page on his Tutor, Chris Stratford has an entry on the Tutor at the Home Computer Hall of Fame (the UK variant, the Grandstand Tutor) -- cool! -- and there's also a very complete entry on the Tutor at Olivier Boisseau's Old-Computers.com. Finally, check out this complete Pyuuta catalogue.
• While these have gone to the great Wayback Machine in the sky, if you can read Japanese, be sure to see the remnants of the outstanding Pyuuta Palace (Pyuuta no Yakata). Check out the tidbits on a Pyuuta sighting at Tokyo Disneyland, Junya Kubota's Pyuuta page and see the Japanese remixes in all their glory!