DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments WIZ-A-TRON (Version D)
Date of introduction: | 1977 | Display technology: | LED-stick |
New price: | Display size: | 8 | |
Size: | 5.0"
x 3.5" x 1.1" 127 x 89 x 29 mm3 |
||
Weight: | 3.5 ounces, 99 grams | Serial No: | |
Batteries: | 9V | Date of manufacture: | wk 49 year 1978 |
AC-Adapter: | Origin of manufacture: | USA (MTA) | |
Precision: | Integrated circuits: | TMC0907/ZA0379 DBS | |
Memories: | Displays: | DIS713 | |
Program steps: | Courtesy of: | Joerg Woerner | |
Download manual: | (US: 1.2M Bytes) |
The WIZ-A-TRON was introduced soon after the rare MATH MAGIC. The only difference is the design of the keyboard plate and the color of the housing, from the technology both toys are identical. The WIZ-A-TRON might have been exclusively manufactured for retailer Sears.
The beautiful WIZ-A-TRON educational toy is a variation of the Little Professor.
The Little Professor gives you one of ten-thousands pre-programmed math
questions and you have to enter the correct answer. The WIZ-A-TRON works
different: You have to enter the math question and its answer! The wizard then
gives you a visual feedback if the entered answer was correct with a "flashing"
display or not with an "EEE" display.
Dismantling
the featured WIZ-A-TRON with
Date code 4978 MTA and manufactured in December 1978
in Midland, Texas reveals an internal construction already known from the Little
Professor. The single-sided printed circuit board (PCB) is centered around a
TMC907/ZA0379 single-chip calculator circuit and powered by a 9V alkaline
battery. The keyboard with 5 rows of keys is borrow from the Little Professor
although the WIZ-A-TRON is using only 4 rows of keys. The PCB itself is
identical to the later models of the original Little Professor but lacks the
sliding switch to adjust its 4 grade levels.
The
TMC0907/ZA0379 chip is a member of the
TMS0970 Product Family introduced in March
1976 with the TI-1200 and based on
the TMS1000.
The TMS0970 integrated both segment and digit drivers to the TMS1000 feature set
allowing for highly cost-optimized designs and paving the way of four-banger
calculators with 4-key memory selling below the magic $10 threshold. While the
original TMS0970 chips were housed in a standard 0.6” wide 28-pin DIP (Plastic
Dual In-line Package with a 0.1” / 2.54 mm lead pitch), started Texas
Instruments in 1977 to use a smaller 0.4” wide 28-pin SPDIP (Shrink Plastic Dual
In-line Package with a 0.07” / 1.778 mm lead pitch) design. The marking
TMC0907NL ZA0379 DBS 7845 SINGAPORE on the chip of the featured WIZ-A-TRON
indicates Metal Mask (ROM, Output PLA and Instruction Decoder PLA) Version
ZA0379, Die Version B, 28-pin SPDIP package, Production year 1978, Production
Week 45 and Manufacturing Site Singapore. The meaning of the leading D is not
yet understood. We located in a WIZ-A-TRON manufactured in June 1978 a chip with a slightly different
marking and the Production Site Singapore printed on the backside of the chip
and assume that Texas Instruments changed in 1978 the definition of their
package codes. Looking into different Little
Professor educational toys manufactured in 1978 reveal a similar pattern
with a unit manufactured in May 1978 still use the SP marking while units from
September 1978 sport either a leading K or G.
To
verify that the two Software Versions of the TMC0907NL ZA0379 DBS 7845
from the featured WIZ-A-TRON and the TMC0907NL ZA0379 BSP 7823 from an earlier
WIZ-A-TRON are identical, we used our
DCM-50A Platform
to allow the Characterization of Single-Chip Calculator Circuits
of the TMS0970/TMC0900 Family and couldn't
find any differences.
Similar educational products are known from National
Semiconductor with the Quiz-Kid and Radio Shack with the wonderful
Monkey See.
Both use simple green and red indicators to state correct and wrong.
Don't miss the similar Mickey Math Adventure
introduced in 1993 and the rare
Battlestar Galactica - an almost perfect copy of the WIZ-A-TRON.
If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.
© Joerg Woerner, November 19, 2023. No reprints without written permission.