Is this a 97S on ebay?

[Mark Edmonds]

Have a look at item number 360172881797.

It is labelled as a normal 97 but there is a ribbon cable coming out the back where the cable does on a 97S. As there is no other reason that I know of for any external cable of this type on a 97, I can only assume this 97 has 97S internals although no interface unit.

Does anyone agree with that conclusion or have any other ideas?

Mark

[Katie Wasserman]

There are no internal differences between the later model 97 calculator and the 97S calculator. The layout of the circuit board changed from the original 97 to accommodate a 16 pin connector for the cable going to the i/o pod but I think that any 97 can be used with the i/o pod if you connected to the needed control lines in the calculator.

The logic in the pod is pretty complicated but you can do external keypad input relatively easily without the pod if that's all you need. Perhaps that's what this cable was used for.