DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

Texas Instruments PC-100C cradle

Date of introduction:	1980	Display technology:
New price:	$175 (October, 1981)	Display size:
Size:	10.4" x 11.3" x 4.1"	Printer technology:	Thermal
Weight:	5 pounds 7 ounces	Serial No:	A00033
Batteries:		Date of manufacture:	wk 16 year 1982
AC-Adapter:	120 V or 240 V	Origin of manufacture:	USA
Precision:		Integrated circuits:	TMC0251
Memories:
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner

The PC-100C printing cradle followed the PC-100A soon. It can be used with the TI-58, TI-58C and TI-59. Its thermal printer has 64 alphabetic, numeric and special characters which can be printed at the rate of 60 characters per second. Up to 20 characters can be printed per line on 2.5 inch wide thermal paper.

The PC-100C can also be used to print, list or trace program steps as an aid to debugging.

The PC-100C cradle also had some more features than just the printer. It functions as a power-adapter and also has a storage/ charging compartment where you can charge the battery pack. The calculator (and batterypack compartment) is locked solidly to the cradle with the use of a key.

Dismantling the PC-100A printing cradle reveals a rather complex printed circuit board (PCB) based on a TMC0251 single-chip micro-computer. The two additional TMC0561 and TMC0569 ROM found in the PC-100, PC-100A and PC-100B to support the SR-52 resp SR-56 calculators were removed in the final PC-100C.

Printer paper:

The thermal paper used with this printer (TP-30250 2-1/2" wide and 14 Feet length) was discontinued long time ago. In 2008 Appleton (Appleton, WI) manufactured with the Alpha 700-2.4 paper still a compatible paper.

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

PC-100C Printer/Plotter

Provides the convenience and efficiency of hard copy printouts.

The PC-100C printer/plotter turns your TI Programmable 58C or 59 into a quiet, high-speed printing calculator that prints, lists, and traces your program. Just push the LIST key for a printout of the entire program. Push the TRACE key and every calculation that’s performed in your program is printed – the full number and the operation. Provides alpha and plotting capabilities. Prints 64 characters with a maximum line length of 20 characters. Print headings and data labels. Plots curves and histograms. You can even use the alpha capability to build prompting messages into your program.
Uses a non-impact, thermal printer.

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