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Canon card MD-81 aka MULTI 81

Date of introduction:  March 1980 Display technology:  LCD
New price:   Display size:  8 + 8
Size:  4.7" x 2.8" x 0.3"
 120 x 70 x 8 mm3		    
Weight:  2.3 ounces, 65 grams Serial No:  358867
Batteries:  2*LR44 Date of manufacture:  year 1980
AC-Adapter:   Origin of manufacture:  Japan
Precision:  8  Integrated circuits:  Toshiba T3715
Memories:  1    
Program steps:   Courtesy of:  Joerg Woerner

Canon introduced in 1979 with the MD-8 aka MULTI 8 the first pocket calculator featuring a two-line display. The lower display is the usual working display while the upper line shows the memory content or intermediate results. Main disadvantage of this in 1979 very innovative concept was the high power consumption of the display and the used TMC1079 single-chip Microcomputer resulting in a short operating time of the three AA-sized batteries.

Within one year Canon introduced this MD-81 using a modern LC-Display and a power-efficient Toshiba single-chip microcomputer. A very similar approach resulted in the novel FC-82 Metric Converter calculators. 



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If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.

© Joerg Woerner, January 1, 2007. No reprints without written permission.