List of calculators with magnetic card readers

[pauln]

I'm trying to come up with an extensive list. Let me know if I forgot any:

TI

• SR-52
• 59
  

HP

• 65
• 67
• 97
• 41C
• 71B
• 75
  

Other

• Casio PRO fx-1
  

(Of these, I own the 2 TIs as well as the HPs 67, 97 and 41CV)

Notes

• HP-41C seems to be the only one where the card reader is not built-in
• I have seen the Casio calculator exactly once, when a high-school friend brought to class his dad's
• HP-97 seems to be the only non-handheld of the lot
• I find remarkable that the first (?) programmable handheld calculator, the HP-65, already had a built-in card reader
  

[Thomas Okken]

Texas Instruments SR-60
HP-9100
Olivetti Programma 101

I think Canon also had a programmable desktop calculator with a card reader, but I don't remember what it was called, so maybe my memory is failing me there...

[pauln]

(06-05-2022 03:43 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  Texas Instruments SR-60
HP-9100
Olivetti Programma 101

I think Canon also had a programmable desktop calculator with a card reader, but I don't remember what it was called, so maybe my memory is failing me there...

Thanks! I figured out I would miss some of the non-handhelds. I had heard of the first 2, but I had to google the Olivetti one.

[vaklaff]

Sharp PC-1300S (#1 on my wish list, unlikely to be ever satisfied, sigh…)

I’ve never seen it in real life but maybe it can be considered a handheld machine. It had a brother with smaller memory and without the ending S in the name, not sure about the card reader there.

[pauln]

(06-05-2022 06:01 AM)vaklaff Wrote:  Sharp PC-1300S (#1 on my wish list, unlikely to be ever satisfied, sigh…)

I’ve never seen it in real life but maybe it can be considered a handheld machine. It had a brother with smaller memory and without the ending S in the name, not sure about the card reader there.

Nice, good luck on your quest!

Good looking machine, alphanumeric and with a built-in printer to boot: https://www.rskey.org/pc1300s. I wouldn't say it is a "pocket calculator" but I'd definitely consider it a handheld.

[AndiGer]

(06-05-2022 03:43 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  I think Canon also had a programmable desktop calculator with a card reader, but I don't remember what it was called, so maybe my memory is failing me there...

Canon had the 164P, 167P and 167P-II (Edited ... clarification see below)
All desktop machines

Olivetti P102 - "Almost the same machine as the Olivetti P101"

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-05-2022 03:29 AM)pauln Wrote:  HP-41C seems to be the only one where the card reader is not built-in

It was an option also for the 71B.

[jonmoore]

Does anyone have any opinions as to the reliability of the addon 41 card reader, in comparison to the reader in e.g. the 67/97? The 67/97 readers were notoriously subject to mechanical failure, so I wondered if HP managed to improve on these failures with the 41 card reader.

[Duane Hess]

Of course, HP-9810/20.

The Canon 164P, 167P/P-II and 167P/P-II line also had the Canon 1614P; but all were punched paper/"plastic" cards, not magnetic. As was the Canon SE-600 (paper). They were hand-punched with a stylus:
http://www.teclas.org/maquina.php?mm=C001
https://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/canon164p.html

Can't make out the part number, but you'll notice they are IBM cards used in 50's or 60's stuff. (they are skinny, not the standard 80-column 12-row IBM card) The "holes" were perforated and you used a Port-a-Punch (which was for 80x12 cards) and stylus to knock the chad out. Various calculator manufacturers used these cards when not utilizing magnetic cards. But can't think of them at the moment. The cards had 40 columns and 7 rows.

Canon had magnetic cards in the SX-100/300 series: SX-100, 103("Japanese" version), 105, 110, 310. The main 100/300 difference was the 100s had internal memory only and no I/O ability. Most SX-3xx models had a cartridge tape (not casette). A continuous loop tape virtually identical to a miniturized 4 or 8-track, but a fixed 1 head position track.

All 300's could attach an external memory box (one). And an additional interface plug for peripherals; singly or in a (somewhat) "daisy-chain" attached. But dead-ended, i.e. not a loop (pretty sure). Wish I had some of those peripherals and software.

Sharp used magnetic cards in the CS-363P (was OEM'ed for the Burroughs as the C3660), CS364P, CS364PI-III and CS365P. Don't know if there were others. I don't have any cards for the 363P, but from the slot it appears similar to the 9810 in width.

An old post, I found when Googling the Sharp 364 models, as I couldn't remember the model numbers:
https://archived.hpcalc.org/museumforum/...08762.html

which lists already mentioned items and a few additional ones. One, to my embarrassment, is the Victor 4900. Embarrassing as I have one & forgot.

Also the Sharp PC-3600 programmable calculator used mag cards. Wish I had the manual, as I have one. There was a similar PC-2600, which also used magnetic cards.

[isanchez]

Hi!
I have a couple of Canon 1614P and they are impressive!! I made the punched cards from an Australian website. You can print them in thick paper. (100-120gr/m2).. What a work! making the holes with the e-xacto knife...but the result was incredible! It came with a collection of software...a lot of punched cards!

I share with you a small video I made with the "testing programme", just to verify the reader works well. Both calculators are nixie tube and work and look fine!

https://youtu.be/aYiGMdmCofE

Regards,

Ignacio

(06-05-2022 01:37 PM)Duane Hess Wrote:  Of course, HP-9810/20.

The Canon 164P, 167P/P-II and 167P/P-II line also had the Canon 1614P; but all were punched paper/"plastic" cards, not magnetic. As was the Canon SE-600 (paper). They were hand-punched with a stylus:
http://www.teclas.org/maquina.php?mm=C001
https://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/canon164p.html

Can't make out the part number, but you'll notice they are IBM cards used in 50's or 60's stuff. (they are skinny, not the standard 80-column 12-row IBM card) The "holes" were perforated and you used a Port-a-Punch (which was for 80x12 cards) and stylus to knock the chad out. Various calculator manufacturers used these cards when not utilizing magnetic cards. But can't think of them at the moment. The cards had 40 columns and 7 rows.

Canon had magnetic cards in the SX-100/300 series: SX-100, 103("Japanese" version), 105, 110, 310. The main 100/300 difference was the 100s had internal memory only and no I/O ability. Most SX-3xx models had a cartridge tape (not casette). A continuous loop tape virtually identical to a miniturized 4 or 8-track, but a fixed 1 head position track.

All 300's could attach an external memory box (one). And an additional interface plug for peripherals; singly or in a (somewhat) "daisy-chain" attached. But dead-ended, i.e. not a loop (pretty sure). Wish I had some of those peripherals and software.

Sharp used magnetic cards in the CS-363P (was OEM'ed for the Burroughs as the C3660), CS364P, CS364PI-III and CS365P. Don't know if there were others. I don't have any cards for the 363P, but from the slot it appears similar to the 9810 in width.

An old post, I found when Googling the Sharp 364 models, as I couldn't remember the model numbers:
https://archived.hpcalc.org/museumforum/...08762.html

which lists already mentioned items and a few additional ones. One, to my embarrassment, is the Victor 4900. Embarrassing as I have one & forgot.

Also the Sharp PC-3600 programmable calculator used mag cards. Wish I had the manual, as I have one. There was a similar PC-2600, which also used magnetic cards.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello,

as a Compucorp fanboy since school days - our school had one, but only teachers were allowed to operate it - I must mention the Compucorp 425G which also came with an (optional?) magnetic card reader/writer. Some other Compucorps of the 400 series maybe also.

Regards
Max

[pauln]

(06-07-2022 10:41 AM)isanchez Wrote:  [...]
I have a couple of Canon 1614P and they are impressive!!
[...]
https://youtu.be/aYiGMdmCofE
[...]

A couple of them? Definitely life is not fair : )

Thanks for the video, that's an amazing device!

[pauln]

In my original post I was thinking about handhelds, even if I included the HP-97. For now there are only 9 of them, the initial 8 I listed plus the Sharp PC-1300S.

What about handheld programmable calculators with a built-in printer? That group may be even smaller.

[Didier Lachieze]

(06-08-2022 04:29 AM)pauln Wrote:  What about handheld programmable calculators with a built-in printer? That group may be even smaller.

I know only 3:

• HP-19C
• Sharp PC-1300/1300S
• Canon FP-11
  

[isanchez]

(06-08-2022 04:13 AM)pauln Wrote:  

(06-07-2022 10:41 AM)isanchez Wrote:  [...]
I have a couple of Canon 1614P and they are impressive!!
[...]
https://youtu.be/aYiGMdmCofE
[...]

A couple of them? Definitely life is not fair : )

Thanks for the video, that's an amazing device!

...So we don't talk about the collection of Busicom models (yes, I have that one you are thinking)...:-)

[markhen]

Oh wow - that Canon 1614P - ALL those Nixies!? AND a punch card reader?? I’m in love….

[Boo]

(06-05-2022 03:29 AM)pauln Wrote:  I'm trying to come up with an extensive list. Let me know if I forgot any:

I know this a bit of a necro-post, but for completeness one should include the Elektronika MK-47, which by the scant information available was a magnetic-card reading handheld. Some photos are known, but no actual machine known to have survived so far. Many years ago I was offered one, but before the seller could take a photo for me (I wanted this above all else), his grandmother's house (where the machine was stored) burned down. So the story goes.

The MK-47 is my holy grail.

https://web.archive.org/web/200402171233...mk-47.html

[toml_12953]

(06-05-2022 03:29 AM)pauln Wrote:  I'm trying to come up with an extensive list. Let me know if I forgot any:

TI

• SR-52
• 59
  

HP

• 65
• 67
• 97
• 41C
• 71B
• 75
  

Other

• Casio PRO fx-1
  

(Of these, I own the 2 TIs as well as the HPs 67, 97 and 41CV)

Notes

• HP-41C seems to be the only one where the card reader is not built-in
• I have seen the Casio calculator exactly once, when a high-school friend brought to class his dad's
• HP-97 seems to be the only non-handheld of the lot
• I find remarkable that the first (?) programmable handheld calculator, the HP-65, already had a built-in card reader
  

If they don't have to be handheld, the Victor 4900 had one. The 4900 was strange. It had no display, just a printer. Also, it had 14 digits and all the usual trig and log functions but no scientific notation. If your answer was > 10^14 or < 1^-14, it errored out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW0hXXmdDOY