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Texas Instruments TI-5100 (MTA)

Date of introduction:  January 1976 Display technology:  Fluorescent
New price:  $69.95, DM 198.00
 $40 (October 1981)
Display size:  10
Size:  7.8" x 7.6" x 2.6"
 197 x 193  x 65 mm3
   
Weight:  20.1 ounces, 571 grams Serial No:  0910970
Batteries:   Date of manufacture:  wk 03 year 1979
AC-Adapter:  AC9171, AC9900/G Origin of manufacture:  USA (MTA)
Precision:  10 Integrated circuits:  TMC1073
Memories:  1 Displays:  Itron FG119A1
Program steps:   Courtesy of:  Joerg Woerner
    Download manual:   (US: 3.2M Bytes)

Texas Instruments introduced this TI-5100 desktop calculator together with the very successful TI-5040 printing desktop calculator in January 1976, followed within a few month by the TI-5200 sporting a 12-digit display.

The TI-5100 had for its time a rather long life-cycle and was manufactured both in the USA and The Netherlands. We discovered in the meantime four different manufacturing facilities for the TI-5100:

TI-5100 Lubbock, TX (July 1976)
TI-5100 Midland, TX (January 1979)
TI-5100 Abilene, TX (December 1981)
TI-5100 Almelo, The Netherlands (April 1976)

Comparing TI-5100 calculators manufactured within a timeframe of about 5 years at different places reveals only minor differences between them and you can find a complete teardown of a TI-5100 here.

Dismantling the featured TI-5100 with Date code MTA 0379 and manufactured in January 1979 in Midland, TX reveals a very efficient design based on a single-sided printed circuit board (PCB) connected to the keyboard module and powered by an external AC adapter.

The Main-PCB of the TI-5100 is centered around a TMC1073 single-chip calculator circuit, a member of the TMS1000 Microcomputer family introduced in October 1974 with the SR-16 calculator. While the TMS1000 design was mainly intended for designs using power-hungry LED displays with external display drivers, uses the TMS1070 redesigned output drivers for the 11 R-Outputs (Display Scan) and 8 O-Outputs (Segments) that can withstand voltages up to -35 Volts and hence allows direct operation of low-voltage Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFDs).

Don't miss the Toshiba BC-1015 introduced in 1979 and using almost identical electronics in a much smaller housing and powered by two batteries. 

Texas Instruments revived the TI-5100 designation in 1983 with the TI-5100 II using a much sleeker housing.

The TI-5100 is featured in the Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH leaflet ER-1976 dated 1976.

 



Find here an excerpt from the Texas Instruments Incorporated leaflet CL-199J dated 1981:

TI-5100

An attractive, functional calculator that means business.

This versatile, quality calculator can increase calculating efficiency in the office or at home with silent, effortless operation. Adds, subtracts, multiplies, divides and features a memory to store and recall numbers. Display shows M when a number is in memory. Overflow is indicated by an arrow at the left of the display. Calculate percentages, taxes and discounts. An item count key for simplified inventory and calculation of averages. Decimal selector switch positions decimal at full floating or presets at two places. Large 10-digit green vacuum fluorescent display (with comma) for easy readability.

© Texas Instruments, 1981


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If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.

© Joerg Woerner, December 9, 2022. No reprints without written permission.