Due to massive amounts of caffeine & sleep deprivation, Mr. Self Destruct
said:
Hi, I saw the post on the old calculator so here's
mine:
A buddy of mine used to work at a Salvation Army so I got
a lot of stuff that they threw out. One was an old TI
calculator that had these strips you fed in one side and
a motor pulled them through (almost like a credit card reader)
What is it? How old is it?
Les
Sounds like you might be talking about the TI-59 (? did the TI-58 have this
capability also? I've never seen a 58). I used one in high school... really
neato once you got used to TI's programming practices. It also had a 32 or
40 column thermal printer that the calculator mounted to, and then the
printer served as the base.
The mag strip was mainly for data storage or user-created programs, as it
also had the capability to use pre-programmed ROM cartridges. They even had
a cartridge of games! ISTR a football game that printed out all the team
stats on the printer.
A very interesting piece of hardware. Hope this helps,
"Merch"
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should
zmerch(a)northernway.net | *not* be your first career choice.