Some of our latest additions are shown below - clicking on the link will take you to the items main page and will also show any further photographs.
Originally known as the SFS481, and designed specifically for the Commodore Plus 4, it is in appearance like a charcoal grey 1541, the drive plugs into the cartridge slot of the machine, using it's own built in interface.
Due to the plus 4 being a poor seller, especially in America, few of these were made, the computer could also take a 1541 or 1571 drive through the serial port, and as they were far cheaper than this drive, this seriously impacted on it's sales, and it was discontinued not long after introduction.
Although the Plus 4 was more commercially successful in Europe, most software was sold on tapes, so the drive did not sell much better there.
Because it used a parallel port it was enormously faster than the other Commodore drives, The 1551's data transfer speed is about 1 kB per second. It is about 3 faster than 1541.
The drive itself is single sided 170kb, using 5 1/4 inch media, and used a motorola 6510 processor as a disk controller.
Our model is fully boxed with poly trays, and in fully working condition.
It incorporates the Epson The Epson PX-8 aka Geneva which was a small laptop computer made by the Epson Corporation in the mid-1980s. It had a Z-80 compatible microprocessor, and ran a customized version of the CP/M-80 operating system as well as various applications from a pair of ROM cartridge slots. For file storage, it had a microcassette drive.
The PX-8 was released in 1984:
Price: US $995
Weight: 5 lbs, 2.3kg
CPU: Z-80 @ 2.45MHz
RAM: 64K, 128K max
Display: 80 X 8 text LCD
480 X 64 graphics
Storage micro tape-drive
Ports: RS-232, serial
Audio in/out, bar code
OS: CP/M 2.2 in ROM
The system also included a Epson P80-X Portable Printer:
Thermal Transfer Printing
Unidirectional (Left to Right)
2 lines per second (at 1/6 inch/line
96 Roman Characters
96 Italic characters
32 Graphics characters
8 international character sets
Line spacing: 1/6 inch (default). 1/8 inch programmable
All combined in A Samsonite hard case. The system was put together by Telsoft Ltd, a British company which was primarily established for the Financial Planning markets and was marketed as a Portable Profit Centre which had software pre-loaded
We are extremely grateful to Michael Houghton for his kind donation
The Eureka A4, established a new standard for assistive tools for vision-impaired people. Its sleek design, its features and user-friendliness were unique compared to other devices available at that time. The device still remains in wide use now, nearly twenty years after it was conceived, probably setting a record for the World's longest-serving personal computer. The Eureka A4 was launched in the times of the first IBM PCs. It was the first personal computer equipped with (then revolutionary) low power floppy disk drive, which was made by Citizen Watch company.
The device had a Braille keyboard, voice output, in-built modem, a rich portfolio of wordprocessing, educational and personal organizer functions, ROM-based operating system, and even a sophisticated music composer.
The Eureka A4 attracted a number of international awards, such as the Rolls-Royce Qantas Award for Engineering Excellence, Winston Gordon Award for Technological Achievement in the Field of Blindness, and many others.
The large family of Eureka users included school children, professionals as well as pensioners, and also many famous people (such as Stevie Wonder
The 'braile' buttons on the machine are numbered 321 space 456. So pressing buttons 124 will make the machine say H. The Braile Alphabet is shown in one of the pictures.
Our Eureka A4 was manufactured by Robotron Pty from Melbourne Australia It is an Australian research & development and manufacturing company of various specialty high-technology equipment. The company was founded by 1983 by a Czech-born engineer Milan Hudecek. Its products include assistive technology equipment for the blind, such as reading machines, navigational and word-processing tools, etc.
One of the pictures shows Stevie Wonder using his Eureka A4
Our Eureka AD is complete with original documentation within a Samsonite case with a serial number of 2579 and was very kindly donated by Jefferson Tarn
This unusual book has a built-in connector for the TRS-80. Buttons at the back allow the user to interact with the replacable inserts.
Original sales text:
"The DK Microdrive compatible keyboard is the best selling keyboard in the world and is used by 10% of all Spectrum users. It is Microdrive compatible and offers more key functions than any other keyboard in its price range. The stepped keys and space bar make it even easier to use. It is constructed from high density black ABS and has 52 keys and a full width space bar. A separate numeric keypad of 12 red keys, including a single entry 'delete' plus single entry decimal point, facilitate fast data entry."
Decimo Ltd was founded by Douglas Dorsett in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The company had about 50 employees and marketed a wide range of office products, apparently just in the UK.
Our model is the Vatman 121 LCD desktop model with a serial number of 870410937 and was made in Japan.
Size (approx):
175mm x 210mm x 20-30mm(keyboard), 50mm(max) (w,h,d)
Weight 675g excluding cable
Features: Standard four functions with percentages, square root, four function memory, register exchange, change sign and double zero entry.
Age: Estimate 1979
Kindly donated by Iain Smith
The TI-92 series of graphing calculators are a line of calculators produced by Texas Instruments. They include: the TI-92 (1995.
The TI-92 was originally released in 1995, and was the first symbolic calculator made by Texas Instruments. It came with a computer algebra system (CAS) based on Derive, and was one of the first calculators to offer 3D graphing. The TI-92 was not allowed on most standardized tests due mostly to its QWERTY keyboard. Its larger size was also rather cumbersome compared to other graphing calculators. In response to these concerns, Texas Instruments introduced the TI-89 which is functionally similar to the original TI-92, but featured Flash ROM and 188 KB RAM, and a smaller design without the QWERTY keyboard. The TI-92 was then replaced by the TI-92 Plus, which was essentially a TI-89 with the larger QWERTY keyboard design of the TI-92. Eventually, TI released the Voyage 200, which is a smaller, lighter version of the TI-92 Plus with more Flash ROM. The TI-92 is no longer sold through TI or its dealers, and is very hard to come by in stores.
Type Programmable Graphing
Introduced 1995
Discontinued 1998
Successor TI-92 Plus
Display Type LCD Dot-matrix
Display Size 240x128
Memory Register 68 kB RAM (128 kB on TI-92 II)
Power supply 4 AA's, 1 CR1616 or CR1620
Our model has the reference V4104528 7-11980 and is complete with the original packaging and a 400 page manual
The TI-Nspire product line is a series of graphing calculators developed by Texas Instruments. This line currently includes the TI-Nspire, TI-Nspire CAS, TI-Nspire CX and TI-Nspire CX CAS. There are models aimed for Chinese market, named as TI-Nspire CM-C, TI-Nspire CX-C, TI-Nspire CM-C CAS, TI-Nspire CX-C CAS. There is also software available for Windows and Mac OS X that act in similar ways to the calculators and allow the user to create compatible files. This software either requires a license or can only be used for a limited time. However, Texas Instruments also provides a separate software that can be used for an unlimited time without a license but only allows file transfers and not emulation of the calculator
he TI-Nspire calculator offers the computing power of a computer algebra system in a convenient, hand-held size. Capable of linking with a computer, the Nspire can download, create, and save documents, as well perform a variety of mathematical operations. The Nspire offers fully manipulatable graphing, spreadsheets, statistics software, as well as regular calculating abilities. The Nspire can be used to explore and investigate mathematical topics such as slope, standard deviation, graphical transformations, and many other concepts.
Nspires come with a switchable keyboard, so they can transition between a CAS (Computer Algebra System) and regular graphing calculator (similar to the TI-84). They also come with a program that allows teachers to display the calculator on the SmartBoard, so that students can watch the teacher use it.
Reference NS/PWB/2E712C complete with the original packaging
The Origin 200 (codename "Speedo") is the entry level server of the Origin line. Although being designed with an entry budget in mind the Origin 200 is based on the same core technologies as the larger scale Origin 2000 system: Silicon Graphics distributed Scalable Shared-memory MultiProcessing architecture (S2MP), the CrayLink interconnection and MIPS R10000 or later RISC CPUs.
The Origin 200 is a deskside tower system, much smaller in size than the larger Origin 2000. A single tower can support dual processors and can be Cray-linked to another tower to build a larger Origin 200 system, which is also the Origin 200 maximum configuration with four processors. The towers are enclosed in the usual heavy sheetmetal which is covered in decent but brittle blue plastics.
Processors 1 or 2 MIPS R10000 or R12000 CPUs
Memory 32 MB to 2 G
I/O 2 SCSI channels
3 PCI slots
1 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet
Drives 6 3.5" SCSI devices
2 5.25" SCSI devices
1996, 2nd half Origin 200 series introduced
1998, AugustMIPS R10000 processors with 225 Mhz introduced to Origin 200 series
2002, January End of Production announced for 30 June 2002.
2002, June End of Production
2007, June End of Service
Model No: CMN A018
Marketing Code: LIR-56402-2
Serial N0: 690D89FB
Designed for the ZX Spectrum.
Specifications:
- Programmable sound generator based on the AY-3-8912 PSG chip.
- Joystick controller
- BEEP amplifier
- Cassette interface
- Through bus
Features:
- Bright red 8-digit display
- Fully floating decimal point or fixed point, sscientific display format
- Reciprocal, square, square root, Pi
- Two levels or brackets
- Seven independent 3-function memories
- Common and natural logs and antilogs
- Sin, cos, tan, arcsin, arccos, arctan; radian degree conversion
- Full 79 step program capability with merged upper case functions, forward and backward step facility, conditional and unconditional branching.
Our calculator is in the original box with the full accessory package:
- Comprehensive instruction book
- A/C mains adaptor
- Carrying case for calculator
- 3-volume comprehensive program library covering Physics, Engineering, Electronics; Mathematics; General finance and statistics
- Felt-tip pen
The Sage II was a 68000-based computer produced by Sage Technology of Reno, Nevada in 1982. The machine ran a multi-user version of the UCSD p-System IV.
Specifications:
- CPU: Motorola 68000 at 8MHz
- 512KB DRAM
- One or two 5.25" floppy drives
- Serial port (for modem)
- Parallel port (for printer)
- IEEE 488 port
The Alice 90 was an upgraded version of the Alice 32. It had a full-sized keyboard and four times the RAM. It supported video-in on the video cable to allow overlaying graphics and text on an external video signal.
Produced from 1983 and sold in France by Matra and Hachette in collaboration with Tandy Corporation. Functionally equivalent to the TRS-80 MC-10.
Specifications:
- CPU: Motorola 6803
- 4KB on-board RAM
- 8KB ROM (Microsoft BASIC)
- RS232 serial interface
- Cassette interface
- Expansion interface
- AZERTY keyboard layout
Model number: H1500
Family number: G5431 E89826T LR66731
For use with BBC computers and video games.
Our trackball comes with the original box.
Our light pen comes with the original box and cassette.
Amstrad Centronics Parallel/RS232C Serial Interface for the Amstrad PCW 8256.
Our modem has the original manual.
This item was donated by William H L Willaims.
The MicroLink multi-speed modem works at three speeds - 1200/75, 300/300 and 1200/1200 baud (V21, V22 and V23).
Extra features include powerful auto-dial and auto-answer, plus comprehensive Help screens on rom.
Our modem has the original box and manual.
Together with the appropriate Prism Comms Pack, connects your microcomputer to Micronet 800, Prestel and other viewdata services.
Allows you to communicate directly with other modem users.
Data rate 1200/75 full-duplex (viewdata), 1200/1200 half-duplex software selectable (user-to-user).
Multi speed. multi standard modem for use with Prestel, Micronet, Telecom Gold as well as many public databases.
Our WS4000 has original box, manual, and power supply.
This barcode reader attaches to Pioneer laserdisc drives and enables the user to quickly seek through the disc by scanning barcodes from sheets provided.
Our barcode reader has the original box, cables, and manual.
BCM3000 Bar Code Module is a small, compact unit capable of attachment to all standard laser, matrix and ink jet printers. The BCM3000 transforms them into powerful barcode printers. Normal printer operation is not affected - the BCM3000 simply extends the printer's capabilities to include bar codes, scalable text, line and box drawing.
Our BCM3000 has the original box and powersupply.
Sinclair-branded joystick.
The official Dreamcast Controller is carefully designed to deliver maximum accuracy and control, enabling you to perofrm to the best of your ability. With 5 front-mounted buttons, a digital directional control, an analogue joystick and 2 analogue triggers, the official Dreamcast controller is as versatile as the games you play with it. The two expansion slots built into the controller allow compatability with the Visual Memory and Vibration Pack, which further enhance your gaming experience.
The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International. A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was Commodore’s first full-featured computer, and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line.
Commodore tried to update the PET line with a new redesign called the CBM-II series (also known as the B series). These were not as successful and were ultimately abandoned. However, due to demand, the original PET machines were revived and the CBM-II case style was retained. These were known as the SK’s (due to the separated keyboard). They also had a swivel monitor. Originally, standard 8032 boards were retrofitted into these cases. Later the SK models got a new mainboard that already included the 64 kB extension directly on the board and were sold as 8296 or, with a built-in 8250 dual disk drive, as 8296-D.
The top of the line Commodore Pet 8296D computer with integrated 8250 high density drives. This machines was the most powerful Pet but very few were produced. Only sold in Europe. Features slick rounded retro design. Keyboard is detachable and the monitor has a nice swivel feature.
CPU: MOS 6502 1 mhz
ROM: 24 Kilobytes
CBM 8296 ROMs
Video: MOS Technology 6545 CRTC
12" Monochrome displays 80 columns x 25 rows
Sound: Piezo electronic speaker. One square wave voice three octaves.
Ports: MOS 6520 PIA, MOS 6522 VIA IEEE-488 Port
Keyboard: Full 73 key QWERTY
11 key numeric keypad!
4 direction 2-key cursor-pad
MEMORY: 96 kilobytes
OS: Microsoft BASIC
GRAPHICS: 256 graphic symbols (PETSCII), monochrome monitor
Date Released: 1983
Manufacturer: Commodore International Ltd.
Made in West Germany
Serial number:7293
Our machine was very kindly donated by Tom Armitstead
The ALT-386SX dates from 1988 and is a laptop computer based on the Intel 80386SX (so without the mathematical coprocessor built-in) with a clock speed of 16 megahertz. There is version on the market that is almost identical to the 386SX but based on the Intel 80286 (AT) processor, with the type designation ALT 286. I obtained one during the HCC!dagen 2006 and will investigate it (to be continued). The facts and figures on this page only relate to the 386SX version, although these can also apply to the ALT-286. The computers look identical and use, at least, the same battery pack and share the User manual and even the Service manual (that we also have) which indicates that many parts can be exchanged between the two models. The 286 comes with a 20 megabytes hard disc and the 386SX with an 80 or a 170 megabytes hard disc.
A characteristic design feature of this laptop is the single eccentrically fitted hinge on the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD screen). Instead of in the middle, as you would expect, this is fitted to the extreme right of the base unit.
MODEL ALT386SX
Processor 80386SX
Speed 16MHz (switchable !0 8MHz)
RAM 1Mb {2Mb and 4Mb upgrades
Expansion Slot 1 x 16-bit, half length
Power Save Features Power down of LCD & HDD after user
Hard Disk 40Mb (25ms access time)
Floppy Drive 1 x 3.5" x 1.44Mb
External Floppy Drive 1 x 3,5" x 720Kb or 1.44Mb
Graphics VGA/EGA/CGA/MOA/Hercules
Parallel Port l x 25-pin D-type
Serial Port 2 x 9-pm D-type
Keyboard 85-key, integrated numeric Keypad, 12 function keys Maths co-processor Socket available
System Reset Switch Available
External interlaces VGA Monitor Port
Supplied Software MS-DOS 3 30 Operating System
DIMENSIONS
Width 318mm
Depth 380mm
Weight 7.00Kg (inc. battery pack} 6.00Kg {without battery pack
SCREEN
Type Backlit LCD
Dimensions 223 x 169rnm
Resolution 640 x 480 pixels
Made in Japan. Our machine has a serial number of N15136136 A and was kindly donated by Tom Armitstead
With 12 digit Scientific notation
The Commodore P50 is a programmable calculator with 8 digits precision and algebraic logic. It has an unknown number of functions, 49 keys and an LED (light-emitting diode) display, typical of calculators of this era. The power source is PP3 9V. The calculator was manufactured in Hong Kong.
Type Programmable
Keys 49
Precision 8
Logic Algebraic
Display type LED
Display size Length 150 mm Width 80 mm Thickness 31 mm
Weight 124 g
Power Source PP3 9V
Country Hong Kong
Year introduced 1978
Year discontinued 1978
Complete with the original box and manual. Kindly donated by John Darcy
Features
Large Touch Screen Keyboard
Large LCD Display Clock
Home Time Function
Dual Time Function
World Time Function (16 Time Zones)
Date Time Function (Year 1900-2099)
12/24-Hour Format
Day-light saving Function
Daily Alarm with Snooze Function
Annual Schedule Alarm with Snooze Function
Currency Converter
8-Digit Calculator with Basic Arithmetic, Percentage and Memory Function Key Tone Function
Complete with manual and soft case
Kindly donated by John Darcy
The Dragon 64, launched in 83, was exactly the same computer as the Dragon 32, except that it had 64k RAM instead of 32k, an OS9 operating system and a RS232C connector.
Aside from the amount of RAM, the 64 also has an RS-232 serial port which was not included on the 32.
A minor difference between the two Dragon models is the outer case colour; the Dragon 32 is beige and the 64 is light grey. Besides the colour and the Dragon 64's serial port (and the model name stickers, of course), the two machines look exactly the same. The Dragon 32 was upgradable to Dragon 64.
Our Dragon 64 has been modified to strip the colour burst from the composite TV signal. This results in a much sharper, although monochromne, image.
The ITT 2020 was an Apple II Plus clone manufactured by ITT under license from Apple Computer (the first licensed clone), specifically for the European market. In the Benelux, it was distributed by Bell Telephone mfg. company. In the United Kingdom, it was distributed by Microsense Computer Limited.
The major difference, and the reason ITT believed this personal computer would be a success, was that the color video signal conformed to the European PAL standard, rather than the American NTSC standard. This meant color graphics could be viewed using a standard European monitor or TV set, rather than having to import an NTSC monitor from America or Japan as was the case with the Apple II plus. ITT sold this computer starting 1979 for only a few years. When Apple Computer started shipping the Apple II Europlus, ITT withdrew from the market, despite the fact that the Europlus did not support color.
The most significant other change was the Hi-res graphics resolution. ITT increased the horizontal resolution from the 280 pixels the Apple II Plus used, to 360 pixels. The vertical resolution however, remained the same.
This made many Apple II programs incompatible with this computer.
The higher resolution was a necessary consequence of the higher frequency of the PAL color subcarrier. In order to provide enough bits to the video shift register to generate the higher PAL subcarrier frequency, 9 bits per memory location were needed, rather than the 7 bits the Apple II+ used.
To achieve this, an extra 16Kx1 memory chip was added to the motherboard, which added a 9th bit to the Hires memory pages (0x2000 to 0x5FFF).
This made it necessary to modify the graphics routines in Apple's Applesoft Basic interpreter in ROM. To emphasize this difference, ITT called this "PALSOFT".
To make room for the longer graphics routines (manipulating the 9th bit required extra code), the HPLOT instruction was limited to a single parameter, rather than a string of parameters.
ITT also supplied a floppy disk drive that was identical to the Apple II disk drive with 13 sectors and DOS 3.2. They never supplied the upgrade to 16 sectors and DOS
Electronic calculator with memory and percent:
- 8 digit LED display
- Algebraic logic
- Floating decimal
- Repeat function
- Battery operated
- AC jack
- Clear entry
- Full accumulating memory
- Automatic constants
- % key
- Mark-on and discount
Our exhibit has the original box and operators manual.
Product Specifications:
- Type II PC-Card; 512K RAM
- High-contrast 160x98 black-and-white full-graphical LCD
- Size: 3-3/8" x 2-1/8" x 1/8"
- Weight (with batteries installed): 1.4oz
- Batteries: 2 x CR2025 (included, up to six month life)
A 16KB memory expansion for the ZX81.
Prinz / Prinztronic - The Prinz brand was first used on Japanese-manufactured goods during Dixons' 1950s expansion.[22] Later, the Prinztronic brand appeared on electronic items such as pocket calculators
Made in Japan with built in printer
Uses 4x 1.5V batteries
Seial number 1200384
Complete with soft case
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
The SR-50 was Texas Instruments' first scientific pocket calculator with trigonometric and logarithm functions.
The SR-50 measured 5-3/4 inches long by 3-1/8 inches wide by 1-3/16 inches high (147 mm by 78 mm by 31 mm) and was powered by a rechargeable NiCad battery pack, built from three soldered AA cells. It had 40 keys, and flat sliding switches for degrees/radians and on/off. "SR" stood for "slide rule."
Manufactured in 1973
New price: $169.95, DM 520.00
Display size: 10 + 2
Size: 5.8" x 3.2" x 1.3" 147 x 81 x 32 mm3
Weight: 8.5 ounces, 240 grams
Serial number SR50 0553347
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
The Casio company takes its name from its founder, Tadao Kashio, who established a small mechanical manufacturing business in Tokyo in 1946. During the early 1950s Kashio and his three brothers developed an electro-mechanical calculating machine based on telephone relay technology. The machine used over 300 relays and weighed 140kg, but was apparently quite successful. The Casio Computer Company was established in 1957 to develop and manufacture the relay-driven calculators.
10-digit scientific calculator with a fluorescent display
Made in Japan 1978
2 x AA batteries
Dimensions: 15.2 to 8 cm.
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
The Texas Instruments TI 2550-IV TI-2550-IV is an arithmetic calculator with 8 digits precision and algebraic logic. It has 8 functions, 24 keys and a VFD (vacuum fluorescent) display. The power source is 2xAA batteries. The calculator was manufactured in Turkey.
Functions 8
Keys 24
Precision 8
Logic Algebraic
Display type VFD
Length 147 mm
Width 81 mm
Thickness 32 mm
Power Source 2xAA
Country Turkey
Year introduced 1978
Year discontinued 1979
Serial Number 13468
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Functions 7
Keys 26
Logic Algebraic
Display type LCD
Length 124 mm Width 68 mm Thickness 6 mm
Weight 70 g
Power Source 2xSR1130
Year introduced 1977
Year discontinued 1978
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
The HP-25 was a hand-held programmable scientific/engineering calculator made by Hewlett-Packard between 1975 and 1978. The HP-25 was introduced as a cheaper (US$195[1] MSRP) alternative to the ground-breaking HP-65.
To reduce cost, the HP-25 omitted the HP-65's magnetic card reader, so it could only be programmed using the keyboard. After switching off, the program was lost and had to be typed in again. The model HP-25C, introduced in 1976, addressed that shortcoming through the first use of battery-backed CMOS memory in a calculator, termed continuous memory by HP.
Display and Keyboard HP-25C
Display type LED
Display format 1 Line
FIXed number format
ScIentific number format
Length: 5.1"
Width: 2.7"
Height: 1.2"
Weight: 6oz
49 lines of fully merged keystrokes (multi-keystroke steps require just one line).
8 Registers (0-7).
Step number addressing.
Conditional and unconditional branching based on register values.
Serial number 170BS31277
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Size (approx): 77mm x 129mm x 19.5mm (max) (w,h,d)
Weight 124g excluding batteries
Power: 3V through 2 x AA size batteries. Also accepts adapter (3V, 0.35W DC EA-17E) which can be used as a charger through a socket on the top side on the far left. The back states that you should use use rechargeable battery EA-18B, 2.4V. The on/off switch is on the left hand side in line with the top line. Battery life is quoted at 12 hours (dry) and 10 hours (rechargeable).
Case: Slim two piece plastic case, the front being black matt plastic and the back grey matt plastic. Small metallic sticker above the display is printed black for the company name and model number and sits in its own recess. An oversized green plastic display filter is flat and inset and gives a reasonable display - letting in a bit too much light. They keys are squishy but work well.
Display: 8 digit green VFD with a ninth (right-most) digit used for minus, memory and error indictors
Features: 4 function calculator with percentages, square root, register exchange and four function memory
Date: 1980
Manufacturer: Sharp Corporation. Made in Korea. Serial number 08123869 is on a sticker on the inside of the battery compartment.
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Decimo marketed a large number of similar and similarly named hand-held calculators.
Decimo was a UK calculator and office equipment company
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Type 4 function
Number of functions 6+4mem
Number of keys 25
Display type LCD
Number of digits on display 8+indic
Functions list Sqrt % MC MR M- M+
Batteries 2xAA
Made in Hong Kong
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Prinztronic was a trade name of Dixons, a British photographic and electronic chain store company, now merged into DSG. The history section of the DSG international website says "[The company] forged vital links with Japanese manufacturers who supplied Dixons directly with products often made to the company's own specification and sold under the brand name of "Prinz". Hard bargaining and bulk buying, predominantly in Japan, gave Dixons the competitive edge over its rivals".
Serial number: 757172
Made in Taiwan
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Prinztronic was a trade name of Dixons, a British photographic and electronic chain store company, now merged into DSG. The history section of the DSG international website says "[The company] forged vital links with Japanese manufacturers who supplied Dixons directly with products often made to the company's own specification and sold under the brand name of "Prinz". Hard bargaining and bulk buying, predominantly in Japan, gave Dixons the competitive edge over its rivals".
Production : 1980 ?
Display : Y-LCD 8
Power : 2 x LC43
Made : Taiwan
Serial number: 2871208
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Prinztronic was a trade name of Dixons, a British photographic and electronic chain store company, now merged into DSG. The history section of the DSG international website says "[The company] forged vital links with Japanese manufacturers who supplied Dixons directly with products often made to the company's own specification and sold under the brand name of "Prinz". Hard bargaining and bulk buying, predominantly in Japan, gave Dixons the competitive edge over its rivals".
Serial number 022467. Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Released 1975
9V Alkaline battery or mains adaptor
9 digit 7-segment green vacuum fluorescent display
5 digit precision
Reverse polish data entry
Sine, cosine, arc-tangent, antilog, log, reciprocal, square and square root
73 x 155 x 34 mm (2.9 x 6.1 x 1.4 ins).
Made in England
"This is a very basic programmable calculator with many shortcomings. Although there is a 9 digit display, the precision is limited to 5 digits because 3 are reserved for the exponent. There is no "power of" function. The reverse polish entry is limited by a two level stack, which is destroyed whenever a scientific function is used. The programming model is wasteful, for example constants require a start and end quote. Constants in programs must be integers."
Our calculator was kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Size (approx): 6mm x 128mm x 20mm (w,h,d)
Weight 110g excluding batteries
Power: 3V DC using 2 x AA size batteries. It accepts an adapter/charger (3V DC 0.5W EA-17E) through a socket (centre negative) on the top side to the far left. It recommends that you use rechargeable batteries EA-18B. The on/off switch is on the left hand side in line with the Sharp logo and sits within its own recess.
Case: The base is a “u-shaped” smooth white plastic whilst the front section is matt dark brown plastic. The green plastic display filter sits flat and slightly proud. It gives a bright image and is surrounded by a large metallic gold panel. The panel is printed black and red with designer lines, brand and model number. The keys are squishy with a soft click and work well to this day.
Made in Korea.
Display: 8 digit green VFD with a ninth digit for negative, error and memory indicators.
Features: Standard four functions with percentages, square root and four-function memory.
Date: 1977
Manufacturer: Sharp Corporation, made in Korea, serial number 78042745 is on a sticker inside the battery compartment.
Our calculator was kindly donated by Francis Hookham
The HP-65 was the first magnetic card-programmable handheld calculator. Introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 1974 at an MSRP of $795, it featured nine storage registers and room for 100 keystroke instructions. It also included a magnetic card reader/writer to save and load programs. Like all Hewlett-Packard calculators of the era and most since, the HP-65 used reverse Polish notation (RPN) and a four-level automatic operand stack.
Bill Hewlett's design requirement was that the calculator should fit in his shirt pocket. That is one reason for the tapered depth of the calculator. The magnetic program cards are fed in at the thick end of the calculator under the LED display. The documentation for the programs in the calculator is very complete, including algorithms for hundreds of applications, including the solutions of differential equations, stock price estimation, statistics, and so forth.
Type Programmable
Introduced 1974
Display Type 7-segment red LED
Display Size 10 digits
Memory Register 8 (9) plus 4-level working stack
Program Steps 100
Power supply charger 115/230 V, 5 W
Weight 312 g including battery pack
Dimensions 14.7 cm × 8.1 cm × 3.4 cm (1.8 cm on thin side)
Our calculator was kindly donated by Francis Hookham
The ANITA 811 was the first ANITA hand-held electronic calculator, launched in 1972.
8-digit red LED display, %, memory.
The Anita 811 was the backbone of the Anita handheld calculator range. The odd semi-circle by the middle switch indicates rounding to two decimal places (compare with the Adler 81 variant which has it marked as 5/4). The operation is a little odd (by modern standards). A sort of reverse polish, but not quite. So substracting two numbers ends up as something like "5+3-" and the equals keys is not used. When multiplying or dividing, it acts more like a modern calculator, and the equals key is used The memory is accumulative when enabled---i.e. all the results after pressing '=' get added to the memory.
Versions of this calculator were also supplied to the Litton Industries subsidiary TA Vertriebs, of Germany, as its Adler 81 and Triumph 81 models
Display: 8 digits, red LED.
Functions: 4 functions, %, memory.
Batteries: 4.5v (3x AA cells).
Integrated circuit: Rockwell A1030PE, in this example date coded week 48 1974.
Size: 69 mm x 118 mm x 24 mm (2.8" x 4.7" x 1").
Made by Sumlock Comptometer Ltd, Uxbridge, Middlesex.UK
Price £75
Weight 128g excluding batteries
Display: 8 digit flat multi-point red LED with a ninth digit for negative and error indicators.
Features: Standard four functions, percentages and two function memory. Floating and two digit switching and accumulated memory switch. Reverse Polish Notation input.
Our calculator was kindly donated by Francis Hookham
The Texas Instruments TI-1650 is an arithmetic calculator with 8 digits precision and algebraic logic. It has 6 functions, 24 keys and a VFD (vacuum fluorescent) display. The power source is Sealed battery pack. Our calculator was manufactured in Italy.
Introduction date 06/1976
Type 4 funct
Number of functions 6+4mem
Number of keys 24
Display type VFD
Number of digits on display 8
Microprocessor TI TMS1043NL
Functions list +/- % MC MR M- M+
Size (length x width x thickness) 125x70x16
Serial number 083290 1177RCI (week 11 in 1977) and was kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Texas Instruments TI-35 was a series of scientific calculators by Texas Instruments. The original TI-35 was notable for being one of Texas Instruments' first use of CMOS controller chips in their designs, and was at the time distinguished from the lower-end TI-30 line by the addition of some statistics functions. It was a version with TP0324-4NL processor, which increased accuracy.
Date of introduction: 1979
Display technology: LCD
New price: $33.00
Display size: 8 (5 + 2)
Size: 5.3" x 2.9" x 0.35" 134 x 74 x 9 mm3
Weight: 2.9 ounces, 82 grams
Batteries: 2*LR43
Integrated circuits: TP0324-4NL
Our model referebce 43 80 RCI was manufactured during week 43 of 1980 in Italy and was kindly donated by Francis Hookham
The relation between a SR-40 and the TI-55 could easily be found with the Business Analyst and The MBA. Both the TI-55 and The MBA use a 12-digit LED-stick and a single-chip design and the mechanical ON/OFF slider.
The MBA gave you advanced financial and statistical functions and targeted the market above the Business Analyst. The brown housing gave the calculator a very exclusive note.
Powerful business calculator with statistical and financial functions…and programmability.
Pre-programmed functions computer net present value and internal rate of return for variable cash flows. Payment, present value, future value, number of periodic interest rate for ordinary annuities and annuities due. Bond yields and much more.
Statistical functions – mean variance, standard deviation – at the touch of a key. Plus built-in linear regression with correlation coefficient. Twelve memories.
Simple programmability lets remember a sequence of up to 32 keystrokes.
Calculator Analysis for Business and Finance. Shows you how to analyze financial situations faster, and use statistical methods easily.
Introduced: August 1977
Display technology: LED-stick
New price: $79.95
Size: 5.8" x 3.1" x 1.4" 148 x 78 x 36 mm3
Weight: 4.0 ounces, 114 grams
Serial No: 72238
Batteries: BP7
Date of manufacture: 4877RCI - wk 48 year 1977
Origin of manufacture: Italy
Integrated circuits: TMC1502
Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Reference 606-0839 made in Sweden
Facit (Facit AB) was an industrial corporation and manufacturer of office products. It was based in Åtvidaberg, Sweden, and founded in 1922 as AB Åtvidabergs Industrier. Facit AB, a manufacturer of mechanical calculators, was incorporated into the corporation the same year. In 1932, the first ten-digit calculator was manufactured by Åtvidaberg Industries, it was named FACIT and became a great success.
In 1970, the company had reached its peak with more than 14,000 employees worldwide. In 1971, modern Japanese-made calculators started to seriously disrupt the industry, instantly making Facit's mechanical calculators obsolete. As a result, Facit went out of business virtually overnight. The general view on this failure is that Facit met its demise as a result of refusing to acknowledge the superiority of modern calculators, as well as an unwillingness to adapt and change accordingly, to meet the new demands from the market
This calculator was Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
Reference 551-02598 made in Sweden
Facit (Facit AB) was an industrial corporation and manufacturer of office products. It was based in Åtvidaberg, Sweden, and founded in 1922 as AB Åtvidabergs Industrier. Facit AB, a manufacturer of mechanical calculators, was incorporated into the corporation the same year. In 1932, the first ten-digit calculator was manufactured by Åtvidaberg Industries, it was named FACIT and became a great success.
In 1970, the company had reached its peak with more than 14,000 employees worldwide. In 1971, modern Japanese-made calculators started to seriously disrupt the industry, instantly making Facit's mechanical calculators obsolete. As a result, Facit went out of business virtually overnight. The general view on this failure is that Facit met its demise as a result of refusing to acknowledge the superiority of modern calculators, as well as an unwillingness to adapt and change accordingly, to meet the new demands from the market
This calculator was Kindly donated by Francis Hookham
