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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments PocketMate 100
The
PocketMate 100 was introduced together with the larger sibblings PocketMate
120 and PocketMate 140 late in the market. The
PocketMate 100 is the successor of the PS-2400+.
The PocketMate 100 Databank features 6 useful functions:
| The Telephone Directory stores names, addresses and telephone numbers | |
| The Scheduler stores appointments, meeting times an dreminders | |
| A flexible clock with 12-hour AM/PM or 24-hour time showing day of week | |
| A calendar displays day of week and year of any schedule entry | |
| A calculator with 10-digits display capacity and 12-digits of accuracy | |
| World time of 30 cities in all 24 time zones supporting one home city and one world city |
The
display of the PocketMate 100 consists of one line for alphanumeric characters and two
lines supporting only numbers.
The
inside view of the PM-100 gives a simple construction using only one Integrated
Circuit scanning the keyboard, driving the display and storing data in the
internal memory.
A closer view gives you
the differences between this PocketMate 100 and the sibblings -120 and -140. In
the middle of the area marked with RAM you'll notice two small areas for either
a memory of 8k Byte or 32k Byte size. One of the small chips is placed on the
center mark and bonded with about 28 wires direct to the printed circuit board.
A small "top glop" - the black epoxy resin found on top of the MPU on
the right - is placed above the circuit to protect it. This technique called
chip-on-board (COB) is very common in far east assemblies. Early products like
the PS-2100 used COB to reduce the size of the printed
circuit board, later designs to lower manufacturing costs.
The design of the PocketMate 100 fits neatly with the PocketMate 300 series.
The whole PocketMate series was discontinued in the year
2000.
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If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.
© Joerg Woerner, January 17, 2002. No reprints without written permission.