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Calculators: Handheld: Commodore 796M
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Size (approx): | 65mm (max) x 137mm x
24mm (max) (w,h,d) Weight 76g excluding batteries |
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Power: |
9V DC, 1 x PP3 size battery. Also accepts adapter (DC-620R,505,506 or 507) through a socket on left side in the middle. Remove batteries before using adapter. | |
| Case: | Black softly stippled two-piece plastic case with black smooth keyboard surround. Raised logo and brand name looks like it may have had highlighting at one time(?) Heavily inset flat red plastic display filter gives a bright image but limited in viewing angle. Bold button colour scheme works well with keys that are wobbly and squashy. | |
| Display: | 8 digit red LED with bubble lens with a ninth negative and error indicators | |
| Features: | 4 function calculator with percentages and multi-key memory | |
| Age: | 1976 | |
| Manufacturer: | Commodore. Made in England (assembled at best). Serial number 190754 (also 221043) with a rear label part No. 200955-03. | |
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Comments:
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Pretty bog-standard Commodore of its time but in the rarer black rather than beige. Two sequence key press for memory saves the extra buttons. Made as cheaply as possible for an aggressive market at the time. The logic is very sound with good recovery but lack of a constant is a let down. |
| Components: | 1 x cpu Commodore 3D-98 7610
(week 10 of 1976) 22 pin DIL 1 x nine digit bubble lens LED display unit |
| Boards: | The keyboard doubles as the main cpu board and is fixed to the front via three screws and three rivets. Ref 200 949 1751 216 Made in Japan. |
| Construction: | From the rear, remove the two screws, gently push the lugs in their recesses and hinge the back off from the top. |
| Logic comments: | The (C/CE) button is used to clear last entry of a number press again to clear the whole calculator. |
| Overflow on number input is suppressed, typing in a nine digit number ignores the ninth digit | |
| An overflow shows the result with an "E" in the far left (ninth) digit, negative or positive and is recoverable by dividing by 10 or its multiples | |
| Divide by zero results in a "E00000000" which is also recoverable by dividing by 1 | |
| There is no constant on any function | |
| Memory usage is by two key presses, i.e. (=)(M) to store, (+)(M) or (-)(M) to accumulate or decrement. Clear is (0)(=)(M). | |
| A non-zero number in the memory is indicated by the far left (ninth) digit's decimal point alight. | |
| Negative numbers are flagged by a "-" sign in the immediate left digit, travelling into the far left (ninth) thereby allowing full eight digit negative numbers. | |
| The percentage key just divides by 100 - so it can also be used to recover overflows. |
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Measuring 108mm by 64mm this
12pp fan-fold one colour booklet does the job well enough. The light
buff colour doesn't make it easy to read under artificial light. It
has one page devoted to listing the seven service centres in the world. Printed in England.
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