3 Mar
2013
3 Mar
'13
1:58 p.m.
On 2013 Mar 3, at 10:26 AM, Chris Tofu wrote:
Did Commie make only one? I have one, don't ask me the specifics.
White keys, some red, some blue IIRC. Green display IIRC. 1000$ to
the first/last bidder (make that a Pay it Right Now). Mostly for
the distinct pleasure of exhuming it from my time capsule. Alright
I'll take 950$. I'm not a hard man.
As others have pointed out, there were lots and lots of Commie
calculators, but their presence in the calculator market actually
predates the 70's calculator boom. Their early electronic ones were
OEM'd by others though (read: Japanese).
Here's my favorite (for some def. of favorite), from 1969, the
ugliest electronic calculator ever made:
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hilpert/eec/calcs/CommodoreDAC612.html
Commodore was a big player in the calculator market wars in the 70's.
I suspect it was seeing the writing on the wall for the calculator
business that prompted Tramiel to get into the personal computing
market with the PET when they did. Seen from the outside it looks
like an astute and well-timed business move.