DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM
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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments TI-Collège Plus (Pre-series)
| Date of introduction: | May 9, 2007 Available: Feb. 21, 2008 |
Display technology: | LCD dot matrix |
| New price: | Display size: | 4 * 16 characters (5 * 19 for menus) |
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| Size: | 6.5" x 3.1" x 0.6" 166 x 79 x 16 mm³ |
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| Weight: | 3.7 ounces, 104 grams | Serial No: | |
| Batteries: | CR2032 | Date of manufacture: | year 2007 |
| AC-Adapter: | Origin of manufacture: | China (N) | |
| Precision: | 13 | Integrated circuits: | Toshiba JT6F54 |
| Memories: | 7 | ||
| Program steps: | Courtesy of: | Joerg Woerner |
Texas
Instruments introduced in February 2008 with the TI-Collège Plus the successor of
its TI-Collège introduced already in 2005 as the first calculator with keys (e.g.
ANNUL), notations and even the menus in French to simplify the use by younger
students.
Due to some design problems with the
calculator it took until February 2008 before the TI-Collège
Plus arrived together with the TI-34 MultiView finally in the store shelves.
Instead of the then novel 2-line display,
the TI-Collège Plus features a dot
matrix display with 31 * 96 addressable pixels allowing the calculator to
display equations as they would be printed in a text book.
The featured calculator on the left is a very early prototype and makes use of
the pre-programmed single-chip microcontroller used in the TI-30XS MultiView.
You may have noticed already the use of the decimal point on the result screen
instead the comma separator used in France. Much more remarkable is e.g. the
[n/d] key responding with the "log" function and the [stats] key
opening the Probabilities menu. Just compare the layout of the TI-30XS MultiView
with this TI-Collège
Plus! Don't miss a very early Prototype of the
TI-Collège Plus used for Engineering Validation
Tests.
Dismantling the TI-Collège
Plus reveals a pretty common construction with two printed circuit boards
(PCBs). The main PCB hides the Toshiba JT6F54 single-chip calculater circuit under a small protection blob of black epoxy and
drives the graphing display with a heat sealed fine-pitch connector. The
keyboard makes use of a much simpler second PCB and a heat sealed connector,
too. The featured calculator was manufactured by Nam
Tai Electronics, Inc., a
well-known company with OEM calculator production facilities in Shenzhen, China.
Don't miss the battery powered TI-30XB MultiView and its solar-cells operated sibling TI-30XS MultiView sold since July 2007 and the close relative TI-34 MultiView.
Texas Instruments announced
on March 1st, 2010 the TI-84 Plus Operating System version 2.53MP
with MathPrint™ mode for free download. The OS 2.53MP enables users to input
and view math symbols and formulas, including stacked fractions, in their
handhelds exactly as the equations appear in textbooks.
If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.
© Joerg Woerner, February 29, 2008. No reprints without written permission.