http://gigaom.com/2009/02/27/a-tour-of-processors-from-wwii-through-the-70s/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:40:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://gigaom.com/2009/02/27/a-tour-of-processors-from-wwii-through-the-70s/#comment-162225 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:10:49 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=41145#comment-162225 I think you may find that TI did in fact beat HP when it came to calculators – and TI were certainly the first to come out with programmable calculators. If I remember correctly, the first was the TI52 which (gasp!) stored 50 programme steps, and then the TI53 took that to 256 (?) programme steps – which could be stored on a short magnetically coated strip about 1.5″ X 0.5″ – and printed out on rolls of paper about 2″ wide. It’s all a long long time ago – early seventies if my memory serves me correctly – happy days! I used various TI calculators for linear projections which helped me manage stock levels.

]]> http://gigaom.com/2009/02/27/a-tour-of-processors-from-wwii-through-the-70s/#comment-162224 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:54:13 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=41145#comment-162224 Holy Grail of Computer history…. ohhh im gonna cum…

]]> http://gigaom.com/2009/02/27/a-tour-of-processors-from-wwii-through-the-70s/#comment-162223 Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:15:05 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=41145#comment-162223 Very nice piece of history. I wasn’t aware of the range of mechanical calculators, but I guess I knew that Norden Bomb Sights must be calculating something. Fascinating to see all this in one place. … About the Korta, and it’s being the pre-eminent mechanical calculator before the advent of electronic calculators, I think it would have been HP and not TI that could lay claim to being the premier electronic calculator of that time. HP-35 showed up in late 1971 or early 1972.

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