{"id":6421,"date":"2021-04-14T11:29:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T10:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/2021\/04\/14\/calculator-from-1975-pico-pa-80n\/"},"modified":"2021-04-14T11:29:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T10:29:29","slug":"calculator-from-1975-pico-pa-80n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/2021\/04\/14\/calculator-from-1975-pico-pa-80n\/","title":{"rendered":"Calculator from 1975: PICO PA-80N"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>From 1975 this Japanese calculator comes. He was sold from 1975 to 1976 by the Eduscho – Tchibo coffee chain. The device is called “PICO” PA-80N. Exactly this model was also once in my father’s possession and I was already fascinated by the luminous seven-segment displays as a child. And that was the problem again. As far as I can remember, I was in elementary school age, when I first disassembled the device into its individual parts. That was not the problem, but it was not there. Over time, I disassembled the computer several times. At some point wires broke off and nothing worked. Reassembled, the Pico then disappeared into a box and was disposed of years later by my father. Why I took apart and assembled the small computer again and again, I can not say today anymore. Apparently it was the success of an eight-year-old, after assembly again to have a working device – just to last. \ud83d\ude42 On an online flea market platform, I found just such a calculator and in addition to that in a TOP condition and almost gave it. So I had to have him …<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pico with the imitation leather case<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To the dates:<\/div>\n
The display has eight 7-segment digits based on LED technology. To be able to read the MikroLEDs they are embedded in a convex shaped plastic. This achieves a magnifying effect that makes the numbers readable.<\/div>\n
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Siebensegment – Anzeige mit 8 Digits<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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LEDs under the convex plastic encapsulant<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The housing is made of aluminum and plastic and has the dimensions in about a cigarette box. 8.2 x 5.7 x 2.4 cm. In order to keep the calculator gently, there was a leatherette case to do so.<\/div>\n
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Mainboard des PICO<\/p><\/div>\n

The calculator is powered by two Tripple A (AAA) batteries, so with 3V. Optionally, there was also an external power supply that could be purchased according to the then price list by almost 18DM. (unfortunately no price information for Austria)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Power adapter socket at the top<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Technically, the small computer consists of a display board, a “motherboard” and a keyboard board. These boards are connected to each other with a multipolar bridge line. This should not be bent too often, because then quickly break off individual wires …<\/div>\n
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Opened circuit boards<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The display board is driven by a Toshiba T1337 Displaydriver IC and the computer itself is a GI C593 (General Instruments) processor that handles the basic operations and percentage calculation. The processor works with a supply voltage of 15-17VDC and is able to drive Floureszentplays directly. In order to produce in the small Pico computer from the 3V of the AAA batteries also the 17VDC a small DC \/ DC converter on the Mainboard expires.<\/div>\n
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central processing unit<\/p><\/div>\n

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displaydriver<\/p><\/div>\n

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DC \/ DC converter circuit for the 17V of the CPU<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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datasheet from theC593 (source: 1977 Datacatalog GI Microelectronics)<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition to the faux leather case, there was also a card with a user manual and a flyer. It was printed with warranty information and an advertising slogan:<\/div>\n
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“The Pico will become an indispensable arithmetic assistant for you. At school, at home, at work – wherever there is something to be expected, the Pico is at your fingertips. Just press keys, and you’ve already calculated the most complicated tasks. This is how arithmetic becomes a pleasure! “(Source: Internet)<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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From 1975 this Japanese calculator comes. He was sold from 1975 to 1976 by the Eduscho – Tchibo coffee chain. The device is called “PICO” PA-80N. Exactly this model was also once in my father’s possession and I was already fascinated by the luminous seven-segment displays as a child. And that was the problem again.…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1526,1512],"tags":[1934,1936,1932,1937,1933,1929,1930,1931,1935,1939,1938],"class_list":["post-6421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retro-computer-en","category-retro-technology","tag-eduscho-pico-en","tag-pa-80n-en","tag-pico-en","tag-pico-pa80n-en","tag-pico-pocketcalculator","tag-retro-pocketcalculator","tag-tchibo-1975-en","tag-tchibo-1976-en","tag-tchibo-pico-en","tag-technik-aus-1975-en","tag-vintage-calculator-en"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":212,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fh-kaernten.at\/ingmarsretro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}