OT: Radio Shack EC-350

[Joerg Woerner]

Folks,

Any idea who manufactured this cutie?
It is made in the US, features a Western Digital calculator chip and is somehow similiar to some Texas Instruments OEM products (think Montgomery Ward P8M).

Any ideas / hints welcome.

Regards,
Joerg

[Matt Agajanian]

From the design of it, the slanted display and the label placement, my instinct tells me maybe it's a dupe of a Litronix made for
RS.

Edited: 29 Apr 2012, 9:43 p.m.

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

But mine use NS chips (CPU&driver), maybe there are different versions, or the CPUs are interchangeable

[Joerg Woerner]

Litronix manufactured usually in Malaysia, the keyboard is completely different and the display isn't from Litronix.

The CPU is a 40-pin DIP and Rockwell manufactured usually in Mexico. Rockwell keyboard designs are differnt from this one...

Very strange calculator.

Thanks and Regards,
Joerg

[Matt Agajanian]

Thanks for the tech clarification.

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

I noted "Manufactured by Rockwell" in my list, probably not without a reason :)
You might want to check for PCB marks, maybe there is the /|\ logo somewhere to be found...

[Don Davis]

I had one of those, and I am not sure of the manufacturer - but I seem to recall Bowman having similar models and I thought it was perhaps theirs. Not at all certain though. Don

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

So I just disassembled one, and on second sight, I don't think it is manufactured by Rockwell (odd that I added this as a hint).

I found an "ASSY 10xxxxx" only on the PCB and a moulding sign "E.M.C.".

Maybe it has been manufactured by TI after all, though the lettering of the serial number sticker might hint at Bowmar as well.

The manual hints at Fort Worth, so no clue there either.

[Ethan Conner]

Fort Worth being the corporate headquarters for (at the time) Tandy corporation/Radio Shack. This is now just Radio Shack.