DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments TI-808 (Second Design, Black)
Date of introduction: | 1987 | Display technology: | LCD dot matrix |
New price: | Display size: | 8 | |
Size: | 4.7" x 4.1" x 0.9" 120 x 105 x 23 mm3 |
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Weight: | 2.7 ounces, 76 grams | Serial No: | |
Batteries: | n.a. | Date of manufacture: | mth 12 year 1987 |
AC-Adapter: | Origin of manufacture: | Taiwan (C) | |
Precision: | 8 | Integrated circuits: | |
Memories: | 1 | ||
Program steps: | Courtesy of: | Joerg Woerner |
Texas
Instruments introduced with the TI-808 a small desktop
calculator with a dot matrix display. It looks today like a marketing gag, neither
readability nor design of the numbers was enhanced to standard calculators like
the TI-1795+.
Dismantling
this TI-808 (Second Design) manufactured in December 1987 by Compal
Electronics in Taiwan reveals a surprise: The printed circuit board (PCB) of the calculator
is labeled (TI-)508(-12). Not very helpful because the original TI-508
appeared on the market about one year after this TI-808.
Don't miss the white sibling of the TI-808 and the
first Marketing Sample. Within a few months Texas
Instruments changed to a conventional Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) instead of
the fancy "dot matrix" display but kept the other internals. We refer to this
final edition of the calculator as TI-808 (Third
Design).
If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.
© Joerg Woerner, June 24, 2002. No reprints without written permission.