1970s Commodore 797D Calculator Teardown & Refurb
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- Опубліковано 29 чер 2024
- I'm inspecting and refurbishing a 1970s Commodore electronic calculator. // Kindly sponsored by my favorite PCB manufacturer PCBWay! www.pcbway.com/
Leonard Tramiel talking about the early Commodore days:
• Early Commodore Histor...
List of Commodore Calculators:
www.calculator.org/manufactur...
TIME STAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
2:12 First Inspection
4:12 Sponsor Message
4:40 Powering on
5:45 A Look inside
10:09 Cleaning & Refurbishing
15:53 Restoring the silver Logo
17:42 Final Result
19:27 Thank you & Good night
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Thanks for watching!
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#JanBeta #Commodore #Calculator #1970s #VintageTech #VintageComputing #RetroComputing #VintageCalculator #PCBWay - Наука та технологія
OMG - that was my Very first Calculator when I was at school in 1978 !! what a memory - I loved the buttons, and I remember it had a " Smell " LOL, my teacher used to ask to borrow it. As soon as I saw the box , the memories flooded back
Some people will immediately recognize that calculator keyboard as the keyboard used on the KIM-1, with different key labels of course.
40 years ago I took apart a Commodore deck calculator which had started failing due to bad switches. It plugged into the wall and had a multi-digit neon 7 segment display with a radioactivity warning label on the back as the tube also held krypton-85. I wonder what that unit is worth today.
I remember in around 75, they had expensive Texas Instrument calculators at one of the large department stores here. The calculators were "secured" to the counter and crowds gathered around them since many had not seen such small calculators before. I ended up buying a 5 function (+ - / x and %) one at Sears for around $50, which was quite a bit of money in 75 and for me (I was in grade 9). I bought it to my junior high school and there too, people gathered around to see what they were like. (I still have that calculator). It was a cool age of electronics back then :)
I never had a Commodore calculator, but I surely had that exact Sharp you showed in the end.
Commodore made many file cabinets too. Still find them around here. Commodore got revenge on TI, when the pushed TI out of the Home Computer market, by under cutting them.
I got a commodore gl976md, a couple years ago. In a charity shop, was £2. Its in great condition, has the vinyl case. I used it at a college course
I was fortunate enough to find a Commodore SR-9190R Calculator on ebay, badly in need of restoration but that's why I bought it ;) Nice find on this one though, thanks for sharing ;)
Thank you for the video. I enjoy videos about old technology stuff
Now that is some late 70s design. Looks like it came straight out of the original Star Wars.
Great and nice calculator to have one. Much pleasure with it. Greetings from Steven from the Netherlands
What a surprisingly simple thing! I still use two vintage calculators still... A HP97 with use on my computer desk and a TI57 programmable calculator that I converted to run on a 9v battery. I quite like the deep red numbers..
I own 2 Commodore calculators and I'm still using them. One at work and one at home. They are much faster to use than a calculator on a phone or on Windows...for simple stuff at least.
Great video, as always. Very enjoyable.
Those LED calculators literally have brilliant displays compared to a standard LCD calculator display.
You might be a bit disappointed looking to some of the earlier Commodore calculators for TI calculator chips, except for a few of the earlier rebadged Bowmar calculators, as even in 1973 they were using MOS calculator chips, albeit with TI display drivers. This was quite a few years before they bought out MOS.
Looking at the cost reductions made during this time of calculator development is fascinating. My profile photo is from an early Commodore Minuteman 3 calculator from 1973, with its nine discrete Monsanto MAN 3A seven segment displays. The MOS calculator chip is in a translucent purple package, with gold plated connectors, and is socked, a number of discrete components and a couple of display chips. It’s interesting comparing this to the later single chip designs as costs continued to be cut in the very competitive calculator market.
LCD calculators had been around for a number of years by the time your commodore calculator was made, with Commodore themselves offering an LCD calculator.
Japanese calculator manufacturers during this time were leaning more towards LCD and VFD technologies as an alternative to the American dominated LED display market at that time.
I found one of these on FB Market but it had battery leak damage,. :( I been trying to restore it and you reminded me to get back to this project thanks.
You probably already know this but that jack has a switch built in to disconnect the "normal" connection. It should be wired to disconnect the battery when plugged in, easy enough to test. It would have been very dangerous to sell it where the power supply could cause the battery to fail
I have the 887D and I use it at work periodically.
Actually I'd love to have one of these on my desk. I think they still look amazing..
Hi Jan,
For the marks on the keys, if it's ballpoint pen you could try using lighter fluid (Waschbenzin) since they use an oil based ink.
There was literally hundreds of calculator manufacturers in the 1970s. In fact the era was known for the calculator wars. Many casualties, and only a few winners, which was really Casio, Sharp, HP, and TI.
Very cool Commodore calculator and nice that the original box is still with it :)
No experience about Commodore calculators, but I remember my dad used to have some calculator, I think between 1978 - 1982, which had glowing green vfd display. That looked amazing and magical to me as a kid :D
I only have Casio FX-115d calculator from 1991, it has solar cell to power it even without battery, and it still works. I have the box, protective plastic case, manuals, etc. for it, as have had it from new.
For the marks on the keys, we used to use methylated spirit ,back in the 90's for pen marks on memorex keyboard cases etc.
At home we used to have the exact same Sharp 80's calculator you showed at the end! I remember how much better it felt as for battery life compared to a VFD Casio model my older sister had a few years prior.
Nice story on the TI chip monopoly. Never knew that's what drove them to buy MOS. Great video.
I bought a TI-30 through school discount for (IIRC) $35 Australian, in 1976.
In 1977, I bought a TI-58 which cost the equivalent of a week's wages, but it served me well in Engineering studies. (And understanding programming)
Yup, i have the white one with the smaller keys. Works like a charm.
The rgb cable, the square psu plug and the rca stereo plugs on the antistatic mat exactly on the same order, is what I also always have. It makes me feel so good to see someone having exactly the same, a sense of safety, warm on the inside. I don't know how to exactly describe it. A few will know.
There were a LOT of calculator makers in the early 1970's. Pretty much every company that made electronics, which was a huge number since it was fairly profitable if you could keep your manufacturing costs down. Another very small calculator maker, and the first one to make the switch to making 8-bit computers (which helped inspire Commodore to go into that business, when a couple of guys named Steve and Steve unsuccessfully shopped this new thing they had called the Apple Computer to them, one Steve having been inspired by seeing MITS first computer and literally saying to himself, "I can build something better than that).
✌👌🖐 Wow! I have very similar model waiting for repair and... making video about it!
Had a family member that worked at the Commodore plant here in the USA. Located in Bristol VA back in the 70’s they also made calculators and many other assemblies. The building is a furniture store today. You could still see the Commodore logo faded on the building. Often most of the females would solder the assembly because they were said to have a steady hand at the work. And remember her saying if they dropped a component on floor they were not allowed to use it. Lots of parts thrown out that was dropped on floor.
Man, I want one as my everyday calculator. C= forever!😅
I have a Commodore calculator, which I found in a Fleamarket shop. It is model LC5K1. Has a single Toshiba chip, an early version SMD IC that needs a cutout on the PCB to be soldered in. It works perfectly but not like what you have there, which is a "BubbleLED" display. The green ones you mention are VFD (Vacuum Florescent Display). Although they are absolute battery eaters, I am a sucker for anything with a BubbleLED display, I love what you have there.
The T-2500 II was the ultimate. They also made a really tiny one.
I still remember my dad having a watch with these displays and i was mesmerized as a kid haha
I never had these, but i had some sharp calculators in schools.
(And i had a C64 for 5 years lol)
Nice one Jan, too bad Commodore went under, same with lots of other things..
Grüsse aus NL! 🕹
I restore a fair amount of Commodore calculators and you've probably seen some of mine on eBay if you were looking. heh. That brand of pens are the best for this, but they honestly take a solid week to really dry before you can touch them, so be careful. :) As for the pen mark, since they are possibly made from pen ink, and the keys look double shot, I'd use a very small piece of a "magic eraser", though I buy mine generic from china in huge blocks of 200 sponges, you could certainly use the brand name, and wet it with isopropyl, I use 99%. Probably the only think that would put a dent in it. If that doesn't work, nothing will that won't also damage the plastic. MEK is hard to get these days. :)
I had (still do) - back in the day (mid 70's), a Commodore Scientific Calculator (SR7919).
C’mon, Jan. Pimp that calculator up more with micro switches. That calculator would look great next to a Plus/4 if the Plus/4 had matching custom colored keys.
Had a beige one. Was great for its time. However the big problem was the battery drain. It was very sore on batteries.
Try not to get isopropyl alcohol on the bubble display, the acrylic type material it's made of can start to crack up, seen it happen on some hp-35 and Cronus stopwatches.
I've got the previous generation 796 model, and that has moulded key labels. If this does too then maybe a Magic eraser could do the trick as there's no risk of rubbing the labels off.
Hairspray helps to get ballpoint pen ink out of textiles. Worked for me, maybe it also works on plastic.
I would think that the ballpoint pen ink is there for good now. If those are the rubbery keys, the ink would’ve soaked into the key material. That kind of ink is hard enough to get off in the first place…if it’s soaked into a porous substance like the rubbery keys, it’s likely there for good. The printing that’s supposed to be on the key would probably get damaged trying (fruitlessly) getting the ink out. I’d just leave it as is and accept the “character”.
Thanks Jan!
I have a green VFD Commodore calculator, the keypad looks the same but has one row of keys less and runs on 3V. Still works and is plenty bright.
Another VFD calculator I have only uses a single AA battery, but it's so dim, it's barely usable plus the power switch has to handle quite some current and even looking at it weird makes the display go better or worse.
The display looks like the one CuriousMarc dissected in some of his videos... I don't remember the name but they looked quite similar (and I think they were also by TI)
I once bought a larger commodore calculator for school from a local shop that sold like bankrupt stock, it was about 79.
Got it home was well impressed till it told me the square root of 25 was 4.9999999
took it back next day guy swapped it for another, tested in shop same thing.... got a refund.
I'm well annoyed I didnt keep it!
Nice. I found one at a estate sale in town a couple of years ago. It has a built in rechargeable nicad battery so it's no good. I passed up a mechanical Commodore adding machine at a thrift store though.
I got really nice "Silver" permanent markers at Lidl
I use Air tool cleaner to remove ink.
I knew a German guy would use a Varta. 🔋👍 Thx for showing us this Commodore calculator in mint condition.
You sure the battery and AC adapter are connected together? Usually the ac adapter jack has a normally closed contact that the battery is connected to that is opened when a plug is connected
See if the calculator shuts off if you plug a 3.5mm plug into it
Have a Commodore PR-100 calculator somewhere.
What an amazing jump commodore made from being a one chip one trick pony to the most popular home computer of all time.
The guy who took down Commodore still had on his CV when I last looked at it the statement, "Oversaw a major turnaround at Commodore Business Machines." This is in fact entirely true: He took a multi-billion dollar a year company and drove it into bankruptcy.
Bizarre as life can sometimes be...as i'm usually last or late to technology..especially in the 21st century...but getting to the point...this is possibly the only device i've ever grabbed from day 1...i beat everyone here in this comment section and Jan...i got mine in 1974 at Selfridge Store Oxford street London west end...they were in beige colour...i even thought it might be late '73...like Christmas '73...but i've wracked my brain and believe it was early to mid '74...no later than Summer of 1974...because i used it for over a year as an office boy and left that job March '75...bought it myself...£9.99 or £14.99...not from petty cash box...it was mine...we all shared the big desktop mains calculator with printer roll...i needed to tot up columns increasingly frequent...when i saw these i had to have one...no more can i borrow etc...better than most pocket LCD calculators made years later...i kept it till the 80's...i lost stuff moving many times...this brings back a lot of mid 70's memories...i assume black version was the last production run...i never saw black shell till now...msmadlemon UA-cam channel she also does Amiga repairs cassette decks and stuff like Jan..she has a beige one of these 797D's.........update....there was 2 earlier models....ok...i had the 776M...at least i was right about the year...i'm old
Commodore 776M
Year introduced 1974
Year discontinued 1975
Information provided by www.calulator.org
Manufacturer: Commodore
Date: 1974
Wow, thanks for sharing! :)
That's the same power connector as atari 2600 except my atari adapter says it puts out ac power.
i just picked one up at a thrift store. nonworking. gonna crack it open and fix it hopefully.
There's CBM, and then there's CBM, best to not mix the two, cos one's Citizen, which always confused me when I was younger cos I thought they were both the same company before I recently learned they had nothing to do with each other, aside from sharing an abbreviated name... :P
i would try wd40 on the ballpen marks. Ballpen ink is very oily i think
All schoolboys of my era one how to enter ESSO and, of course, boobs
I have the model 796M which is a bit smaller and cheaper probably :) And I didn't think you would dare to put Varta batteries into any electronics... :p
76 is my year too. Best regards.
He put a Varta in there!?!? 😂
TANDY ELECTRONIC SHOPS USED TO HAVE A LOOK A LIKE MODEL 😊😊😊
I generally have to ask but why a Varta battery. Is it so repair it once the battery leaks?
THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF CALCULATORS IN 80 LATE 70 s etc 😊😊😊
at 15:53... Well.. if Adam Savage use them.. is because he probably have them @Tested 🤡.....
LCDs are the most boring kind of displays. LEDs and VFDs are much better.
Security screws… in a simple calculator?? I’m surprised the bean counters let that one past. They probably could have shaved a few pennies off the cost with plain Philips head screws. Next, someone will tell us that’s a sophisticated SoC in there to rival the 68000 chip… just to do a 4-banger calculator.
Those are "Robertson" screws, with a slot head. Robertson, invented in Canada, is a direct competition to Philips head screws. Robertson Drive is the square drive. Knowing that, they probably DID save a few pennies. In Canada everyone would have a bit to take the screws out. In USA they would, in effect, be "security screws", because no one had a driver for them. Now they come with included in most bit driver kits. My dewalt bit driver kit has #2, #3 Philips and Robertson (square) drives, as well as the flat head drives. Of course it is not much of a "security" when you can get a "secure bit" set from harbor freight. Secure Torx (microwave oven) is fairly common. The 3 blade Nintendo cart screws are still rare to get the bit for. Doable, just not from most hardware stores.
The advantage of Robertson screws is they stay aligned on the bit and don't fall off the bit, without the help of a magnet.This is a big plus while using robotics in assembly. Those obstacles have been overcome since the 1970s. As far as torque and bit pushing out of the fastener, it is a tie between Philips and Robertsons.
3:51 Mr Beta still buys Varta batteries after all we've been through, all the hell from the varta batteries in old computers, that they completely ruined.
My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.