I had one of these in 1977 and upgraded to a TI-59 in 1978. Had a couple of the ROM modules, but mostly wrote my own programs and saved them on the mag cards on the TI-59. In 1981 or there about I upgraded to the HP 41CX then around 1992 or 93 to the HP 48GX which I still use today - both the actual calculator and also emulators on my iPhone and PC. Recently started playing with a TI Nspire CX CAS II calculator, but I have so many engineering functions written for my HP 48 that it will take some time to convert them all over to the Nspire CX CAS II calculator.
TI59 was the full blown version that had a magnetic strip writer/reader for program retention. The TI58 was the stripped version of the TI59. I played around with a 59 when Ben was a wee lad and when that calculator he is handling was brand new.
thanks, I could not remember which one it was. I was 24 when I got it as a gift from a friend, I gave my other TI 52 to a kid in my class that did not have a Sci Calculator. it was cool I could do the programing once and all I had to do was slide a new stripe to do a different formula. Merry Christmas
Pretty cool. I designed the software development system used to develop programs stored in the CROM. The first time we used it was to develop a flight data calculator for the Harrier. The CROM has a 5000 step memory.
My TI-59 (the 58's big brother) got me through my almost completed EE program 1979-84. Great little machine. The bonus of the 59 was that you could write your own programs and data to magnetic cards.
This brought back some memories. The early 70’s was the era of the programmable calculator. I picked up one of the TI 59 calculators and printer units they were tossing out at work and used it for quite a while.. It used magnetic strips to store your programs on. The calculator can read and write to the strips. This allows you load, at will, any programs you created prior. It also can use the rom cartridges like the TI-58. TI and HP were big competitors and there was always an argument about what was a better system - RPN or standard notion.
Ben, I used to have the TI 52 I got in late 1976 for my Tech School I was 23 yrs old (I'm 68 now), and later I got the one that recorded the programs you wrote and saved it on a magnetic strip then all you had to do was run the strip through the Mag reader it would load it in memory, I cannot remember what # it was but I think it was like the TI59? Boy, it was fun using it because in one of my AC/DC Theory classes I need to calculate different coils values into a formula equation so all I had to do was just put in the numbers and I did not have to do the whole formula equation. I love Bud, I have an Orange Tabby too his name is Firestar, I just lost my Older Orange Tabby Data, in April he was 9 yrs old, he was a big boy (18#) when I got him at almost 5 yrs old, His owners pasted away. Also, TI calculators use the "Algebraic Operating System" vs HP's " Reverse Polish Notation".
That compartment that opened was used to store the removable battery pack of the calculator and the cover for the calculator mounting bracket. The Printer Security Cradle (The PC-100A or PC-100C) is also compatible with the TI-59
I had the TI-59 and printer. The little card could slide out and be read by a tape reader in the calculator. It still is one of the coolest features. I remember punching in programs and storing them on the cards.
I sold them back in1977. That compartment held the batt and charged it when in the cradle. Also it would hold extra program roms. the ti 59 had a magnet reader for storing data. yes it is a thermal printer. Car dealers used these alot for sales.
Sometime it gets really cringey but i love how ben just embraces it. Mixed with the overall insanity, the electornics and the cat this is some weird, yet enjoyable content. That's why i'm subscribed ^^
Cool! I had a TI-58C, which would retain the program when turned off. "C" stood for Constant Memory. There was a nicad pack that fit into the back, and the two pin connector on the side was how you recharged it. At the time, it was a great calculator, and got me through a couple of years of engineering school. I picked up an HP-15 next, which didn't drain the battery in an hour like the TI-58C, which was a huge improvement!
I've got this calculator (actually TI-59) with a full 30 piece software catalog, each program on one of those magnetic strips! Insane & great vintage technology :)
This was quite an entertaining video. It was a very cool calculator along with the HP C/CV/CX - Both of which I have in my vintage calculating devices collection. The 59 was my first version in HS which I had to present my case to my parents to buy one due to the costs. I spent nights reading the 2 volume manuals and to have the cool pouch hanging off my belt solidified my status in the ORIGINAL GEEK SQUAD!
My dad, who was killed in a car accident in 1981, loved that song. I was born in 74'. Really cool to hear you reference a song that most of today's folks, wouldn't recognize! Merry Christmas Ben! Love your channel!
This is awesome. My dad nicked (*) one of those from his work at Dow Chemical. This is the first actual hardware device I programmed. Up to then I had to pretend program Fortran on paper. I was like 12 at the time.... (*) He "took it home" to work, obviously.
Org web shooters takes less explanation during movie. Also it's believable that a teenager could make a suit, but less believable they could make a super high tension molecular compound.
I remember watching my dad and his friend playing a golf game on one of these back around 1979 or 1980. It was the coolest thing to them. This same friend of my dad’s later introduced our family to the VIC-20, which convinced my dad to buy a C64, which I used all through elementary school, printing out my homework assignments on an Okidata dot matrix printer. But this TI calculator is how I was first exposed to the idea of a home computer.
Your hair is Harlow gold. A lot of times I play these videos as audio only while I work my graveyard shift at FoodMaxx. You'd think without visuals I'd be bored but almost everything Ben says is either funny and/or interesting/informative. Thanks Ben. You got Bette Davis eyes.
"The Goblin King Service for Cats" is just the 8 Bit Guy in a wig and a codpiece singing songs about Retrobrighting and Commodores with random intermittent nervous laughter. Not at all what I expected.
I had a 58 for a few months until I realized how much it sucked to retype my programs, so I ponied up for the 58C. Great times. I lived with that thing from '79 into the mid '80s when the HP 15C and TI 66 slid into my heart.
When I was in school I used a TI SR-50A which is similar in style to this thing but not programmable. Its design is a couple of years older. Others had that calculator you have there, some even had the printer or had a TI 59. As you said, this was only very shortly before the first home computers appeared and then there also were programmable calculators that were programmed in BASIC and had a slightly larger display, so it was possible to display prompts for data values etc.
10:09 the 8-bit guy 🤣 I remember that printer from work - didn't know what it was but that's because the calculator was missing. It's been thrown away a few decades ago (yes I've been with the company for over 30 years)
when I was working in the Engine development lab long ago, I would calculate Turbo efficiency for each power setting instead of waiting for the official plots to come out of the computer. by doing a calculation using the points right off the engine, and then goiing back and rereading data points to a higher level of precision All THE performance curves were then smooth when printed out on the official plots. It took ever s slight adjustments in air flow, fuel rate, exhaust temperatures ... so it wasn't dry lab because all the adjustments were within the range of error in the initial readings. ALL PROGRAMED BY ME INTO MY Ti59.
@@BenHeckHacks the crazy overpriced adapters and instruments. Most specifically the Xbox adapter for past instruments is insanely overpriced in the second hand market running about $300. It's causing a slow death to the community. Because harmonix doesn't seem to have an interest on reproducing anything instrument related. The communities been trying to figure out how to cycle up 360 instruments for Xbox One/ X-Series. But it has not worked out to this point.
This has a very similar shell to the TI Business Analyst I have sitting behind me collecting dust. There was a special battery pack that had the port on the side (for that printer?) embedded within it. (I removed it but kept the backplate) still runs off of standard 9 volt batteries. Calculators with these old LEDs are so cool.!
Yes the key was to prevent someone from pocketing the calculator but the Ti 58 wasn’t the really expensive one. It was maybe $130. The Ti 59 was the pricy one. It was $300 because it had twice the program memory and three times the registers and a motorized card reader built in. I haven’t seen a Ti 58 before, only the Ti 58C which has constant memory, which is a nice feature. I’ve got a 58C along with the Ti 55 programmable I bought when I was 14. They’re pretty advanced for that time.
I had a TI-58 - I remember wishing I could have the TI-59 instead because it had a lot more capabilities but it was way more $ than my parents could afford at the time...
I was hoping to see you play "moon landing" on this calculator as I did when I was a child. The neighbour had a similar looking device which could read magnetic cards and the printer was likely the same. After reading the comments here, I assume it was a Ti-59. So I realised that it would have been a big effort to program that lunar landing on the Ti-58 just to loose the program as soon as you turn off the power.
That's why TI then came out with the TI-58C which had CMOS memory that didn't lose its content when switching off. It had exactly the same capacity (480 steps and/or 40 memories) and function as the TI-58 but "permanent" memory.
That card is magnetic storage for one program. I got to play with a TI-57 and printer in 1979. It came with about 10 program cards. They only had NiCad battery packs and the printer for power. That compartment under the calculator is a battery charger.
@@tomlake2732 We had the card reader/writer and the function ROM. I recall that the cards were black and yellow, but they definitely fit into that window. The calculator cost about $400 and the printer $250 in '79. I'm about 85% sure ours was TI-57, but allow 15% that it was TI-59.
@@byronwatkins2565 The TI-57 was a slightly smaller much simpler single chip, highly cut down version and could not be used with the printer or the little program modules, and obviously no card reader/writer either.
Battery pack was three AA NiCd batteries soldered in series in a "sealed" pack, so 3.6VDC. Side port is the charger input. The charger was 3.7VAC, so the calculator rectified the input voltage. Also, you can determine the date of manufacture by the date code stamped on the back of the calculator in WWYY format (i.e. 0177 would be first week of 1977).
Battery pack was numbered bp1a, lve been told running the calculator on the adapter without the battery pack in place will screw up the calculators memory.
I just saw one of these yesterday when I was up visiting my dad. I consider it my first computer. Love that whirring sound when loading a mag strip. We used to play the hi / low game on there.
LMAO that caution sticker warns you not to remove the calculator with the unit powered on, but you can't even open that to see the warning with the calculator on it
you got the one that takes aspirin (ROMs) . . . i still have the better one it not only takes aspirin but it chews gum too! (those cards that slide into the letter labeled keys also come in a version with ferrite on the back that are read by an integral card reader built into the calculator body)! . . . you should get the manual because you can enter a several hundred line program . . . and the better model can write that to a stick-of-gum card you can reload . . . you have to reenter your program any time you want to use it. as to what it can do . . . almost anything an 8086 could do . . . but slowly! . . . and you could get a card to turn the printer into a plotter.
TI precision is 13 digits BCD, so it doesn't suffer from the decimal/binary conversion errors that generally happen with floating points. You could have seen the rounding in your calculations by subtracting 10 or 15 from the last result.
Sony & Marvel confirmed a new Spider-Man trilogy is in the works, though I heard they are planning two more trilogies, one with Peter in college, one with Peter as an adult.
I think that stacking was an upgrade that they used to do on HP calculators too, not even a first party thing, but people who used them would hack the calculator by stacking ram chips, then soldering the CS line elsewhere. I wonder if it was a later mod by a user on this calculator.
Ben! you look like Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049 , you cast away yourself while you still got it , i know you are done with building stuffs from scratch and you have not crew to help you but i miss those BenHeckShow days!
Hey Ben I love your portable consoles ,, my relevant era is the NES ,, but this device is too far back ,, so I'm out of the picture for this video BEN ,, I'll return for relevant portable coolness once again look forward to seeing you again BEN ,,,😋😸😋😋
That is real gold on the board.. is the rom pack a bubble chip? This would be the right time period… really cool stuff.. bubble memory.. The pictures of the actual bubbles is amazing
My dad had one of those. It came with a normal battery pack, and I think the finance pack was the common prepacked version. It will plow through batteries too!
I have the Programmable 59, with the printer as well. I think the 58 and 59 were the first calculators with alphanumeric support, even if it's only through the printer. And, don't worry about the thermal paper running out; it works great with modern thermal paper. I use a modern roll that's a bit narrower, but it's close enough and it works fine.
