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Follow-up from HHC 2017 in Nashville - Commodore calculators?
12-27-2017, 02:01 PM
Post: #1
Follow-up from HHC 2017 in Nashville - Commodore calculators?
Hello all and Happy New Year in a couple of days.

I made a presentation this past HHC on Commodore calculators and wanted to ask this question...

Did anyone buy a commodore after the conference due to the presentation?

I know the last time I gave a talk like this was on the SR-56 and several people bought one.

Did anyone buy a commodore? If so, which one(s)?
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12-27-2017, 04:03 PM
Post: #2
RE: Follow-up from HHC 2017 in Nashville - Commodore calculators?
Gene

I acquired a Commodore financial calculator, "The Decision Maker" model F4902 (with user's guide). It operates off a 9V battery w option for external AC power source.

BEST!
SlideRule
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12-27-2017, 07:15 PM
Post: #3
RE: Follow-up from HHC 2017 in Nashville - Commodore calculators?
Hello!

(12-27-2017 02:01 PM)Gene Wrote:  I know the last time I gave a talk like this was on the SR-56 and several people bought one.

Although I could not attend the conferences and had to watch the talks on YouTube instead I am certainly one of those who bought an SR-56 after seeing it :-)

(12-27-2017 02:01 PM)Gene Wrote:  Did anyone buy a commodore after the conference due to the presentation?

So far not, unfortunately. As much as I have been looking no M55 has come up for sale... And I must say that the prices for the "bog standard" models are quite high these days. Luckily I already have some Commodores from back when one could afford to buy them, including the wonderful and rare N60. (That red one from the talk is still up for sale with no explanation why it is red.)

In my experience, the rechargeable models are not as bad as we are told in the talk. I have 3 PR-100 units and they all three of them work. The batteries (which I have removed in the meantime) of course hold no charge any more but they can be powered from a regulated power supply. And for those who are looking for Commodore calculators: In Europe they were sold under the brand name "CBM" (Commodore Business Machines).
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12-28-2017, 02:55 AM
Post: #4
RE: Follow-up from HHC 2017 in Nashville - Commodore calculators?
(12-27-2017 02:01 PM)Gene Wrote:  Did anyone buy a commodore? If so, which one(s)?

Not yet I have not found one I am really interested in. A Commodore PR-100 was my first calculator, I still have it and it still works but the case is not in good condition. The original batteries got me through my two year electronic technician course, but I understand what you are saying about the rechargeable batteries models it is a pain to open them up and replace the batteries, and even worse when they leak. I have another PR-100, a Híradástechnika PTK-1072 (re-badged PR-100) and a APF Mark 90 which has the same chipset and keyboard layout but different keyboard technology and a different internal power supply design. The APF had suffered a battery leak but there is hope it will work again, but the keyboard still need work. I discovered today that APF made a non-programmable version, Mark-65, with the same keyboard minus the top row of keys and the mode switch, this one was also re-badged by Híradástechnika (TK-1072) and Unitrex (UC-65), it does not seem like Commodore ever made a model like this.

Paul.
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05-19-2018, 07:47 AM
Post: #5
RE: Follow-up from HHC 2017 in Nashville - Commodore calculators?
(12-27-2017 02:01 PM)Gene Wrote:  Hello all and Happy New Year in a couple of days.

I made a presentation this past HHC on Commodore calculators and wanted to ask this question...

Did anyone buy a commodore after the conference due to the presentation?

I know the last time I gave a talk like this was on the SR-56 and several people bought one.

Did anyone buy a commodore? If so, which one(s)?

I didn't go to the conference, but I did watch the video and just by chance I did a search for an m55 just after I watched it and one was available. So I bought it. It was broken, but I managed to fix it and it is a very nice calculator. Also got the instruction manual and box so that's nice. I now have 3, the m55, and N60 ans an S61. I now suspect there's two m55s though, a US and a UK version with diffeent gallon/litre conversion factors. I seriously doubt I'll ever be able to get the US version though, they come up so rarely.
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05-19-2018, 09:05 AM (This post was last modified: 05-19-2018 10:06 AM by ijabbott.)
Post: #6
RE: Follow-up from HHC 2017 in Nashville - Commodore calculators?
I bought an SR5190R (part no. 201198-03, serial no. 007886, made in England) from eBay after watching Gene's Commodore presentation on youtube. It was in reasonably good condition although the label on the back was a bit worn. It came with an original Commodore mains adapter and faux leather pouch. The original Ni-Cd battery pack had been removed, but I replaced it with the highest capacity three-cell Ni-MH battery pack I could find (Emmerich 255066 NiMH AA 3.6V 2200mAh ZLF 3-Cell Ready To Use Battery Pack).

Interestingly, it uses US liquid gallons and US fluid ounces rather than their British imperial counterparts in its unit conversions to liters, so unlike blackjetrock's m55, they didn't bother doing an imperial unit version of the ROM for this model.
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