Mathatron, 9100, 9830, etc. - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

20 Aug 1998

Hi,

I'm combining several responses here on early programmable
calcs  ...

At Wed, 19 Aug 1998 17:41:17  Doug Yowza wrote:

...
 Hi, Alex.  I really think this is the coolest find yet.
 I have a desktop
programmable computer from 1959, but mine is analog.  I haven't heard of
any desktop programmable solid-state digital machine that predates your
Mathatron. 
So far, I haven't either.  The Anita and Friden EC-130 electronic
calculators both came out in 1963, they're generally regarded as
the first two electronic desktop calculators but neither are
programmable.  I'm not aware of any other programmable calculator
coming onto the market until the Wang units.
...

  Another "crossover" machine that I have
a little info
 (mainly pictures) of is the HP 9830, called a calculator
 but in fact a computer with BASIC.   
The 9830 doesn't get discussed much, but it's one of my favorites. 
There's a lot of noise on this list about the Altair, a "PC" from 1975
that was just a big box with lights and toggles.  In 1972, the HP 9830 was
an elegant light-weight desktop computer with full alphanumeric keyboard,
built-in secondary storage, built-in display, built-in BASIC, and it just
plain works.  There was nothing else remotely like it at the time, and it
was even reasonably priced (around $5000, I think). 
In addition to the pictures I have on my Web site, David Hicks' Museum
of HP Calculators has a bunch more info on the 9830 and the 
available peripherals (including things like printer, plotter, paper
tape reader, digitizer, etc.).  I was surprised when I got my
9830A and it had aftermarket ROM and memory cards in it.  The ROM
is a "Fast Basic" card and it and the memory were made by Infotek.
The 9830 has a bus architecture for it's main ROM and memory 
cards, and it has an I/O bus on the rear.  I don't know if HP
ever published the specs for these buses, perhaps Infotek reverse-
engineered the timing/functionality to make their cards.  Also
curious about the Infotek cards was that the markings on all
the ICs on their cards had been intentionally rubbed off.  I
wonder if that was to make it harder for others to clone their
design.  At any rate, it predated the Apple II by about 5 years,
it has built-in BASIC and storage, and you could add stuff to
it.  What more could you ask ;-)

The darned things are built like a tank, too.  Extremely heavy
and rugged.  There is also a 9830B version, but from what I can
tell by comparing the guts they are the same except for the
memory cards (the 9830B supports more RAM).  It looks like the
Infotek memory card in my 9830A was used to upgrade it to the
same amount as would be in a maxed-out 9830B (16K, I'm not sure
if this is words or bytes).
...

-- Doug 
At Wed, 19 Aug 1998 19:12:22 dave dameron wrote:
...
 At 05:41 PM 8/19/98 -0500, Doug wrote:
I found a book I would recommend if anyone finds a copy, although I am still
getting used to it. It is "Computer Structures: Readings and Examples" by
Bell and Newell. It uses strange notation (for me) and even the table of
contents is "virtual".

Anyway, it includes descriptions of 2 desktop calculators, both about 1968:
an Olivetti 101 (USD$3500) and a HP 9100A. The HP uses core memory, its
program ROM uses 16 layer PC board technology. The HP article is a reprint
from the HP Journal. Does anyone have either of these? 
Text (and some/most of the photos) from the HP Journal articles about the
9100A (and a lot of other HP calcs) can be found on the Museum
of HP Calculators in the "HP Journal Articles" section.  These make
for very interesting reading about the machine's architecture and
how it works.  I have a copy of the original patent on the 9100
(unfortunately the quality isn't good enough to scan and I haven't
found an on-line source yet), this gives some real insight into
how the machine operates.

The Olivetti Programma 101 was apparently targeted more for the business
market than the scientific market, the pictures of it that I've
seen show that it's basically a programmable, four-function calculator
with several memory registers.  Like the 9100, it used a magnetic
card to store programs.

...
 -Dave

At 12:38 AM 8/20/98 -0500, Doug Yowza wrote:
...

Somebody with a better sense of calc history should chime in here, but I
think Monroe, Olivetti, HP, and Wang all had programmables in the 60s. 
As far as I know, the Mathatron, HP9100, and Wang calculators were
the only scientific-oriented programmable machines available during
the 1960s.  I don't know if the Wang LOCI series was programmable
or not.  The 300-series (300, 310, 320, 360) Wang machines used
a separate keyboard/nixie display unit and an electronics box
with the actual calculator (on some of the models four keyboard/
display units could be attached to "time-share" the calculator
electronics).  The electronics box itself wasn't programmable,
but one of the keyboard/display models (I think it was the 370)
could be programmed to execute a series of key sequences, which
were then sent down to the electronics box to do the math.
In the early 70s (late 1970 or early 1971), CompuCorp developed
a pair of programmable calculators (one printing, one Nixie) that
were marketed by Monroe (the Model 1655 is the Nixie one) and Dietzgen.

Rick Bensene's Web page has a lot more info about the Wang
300 series calculators.

In the 60s, there were business-type programmable
machines from Monroe (EPIC 3000), Olivetti (Programma 101),
Smith Corona Marchant (Cogito 516 PR), and Canon (Canola 164P).
There is also the Burroughs C3660 business programmable, but
I don't know if it's a 60s machine or not, and Sony made
a programmable Sobax but I'm not sure when.  All of these
machines were very large and were probably either transistorized
or used early Small-Scale integrated circuits.

...

I have an HP9100A manual and the first HP _Keyboard_ that describes it.  I
think I recall at least four people on the list having a 9100.  It was not
the first programmable, but it was the first HP, and it is pretty cool
with its built-in CRT and expansion bus. 
Apparently there were also aftermarket accessories made for the 9100
by other companies.  I recall seeing something on the net from
one company that took a 9100 and modified it to become an instrument
controller.

...
 -- Doug 
At Thu, 20 Aug 1998 07:33:46 dave dameron wrote:

...
 Yes, that's it. My copy was published in 1971, so
the HP9100A is one of the
later computers in it. Yes it is neat with the custom CRT and all the boards
stuffed into its case. I guess it sold for about $6000. 
The 9100A initially sold for $4995.  Its price was dropped to $4495
when the 9100B (with 2x the memory) was introduced (at $4995) a little
while later.

Hope this info. has been of some interest.

REFERENCED LINKS:

http://www.hpmuseum.org  --  David Hicks' Museum of HP Calculators

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7510  -- Rick Bensene's Web Page

Regards,
Alex 

Calculator History & Technology Archive Web Page
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