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Texas Instruments TI-66

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Years of production: New price: Size: Weight:

1982-1985?

Display type: Display color: Display technology:

Numeric display Black Liquid crystal display 10(8+2) digits Algebraic with precedence Trig Exp Lreg Cmem +/-// Partially merged keystroke Jump Cond Subr Lbl Ind Mnemonic display Auto-insert program entry 9.000002294775

3"5"" 4 oz

Display size:

Entry method:

Datasheet

Batteries: External power: I/O:

2"LR44" button cell Printer port

Advanced functions: Memory functions:

Programming model: Precision: Memories: Program memory: Chipset: 13 digits 64(0) numbers 512 program steps Program functions: Program display: Program editing: Forensic result:

After the failure of the infamous TI-88 project, Texas Instruments was stranded without a product that could meet the challenge represented by Hewlett-Packard's amazing HP-41 calculator. The solution was to seek help from other manufacturers. The TI-66, an obvious successor to TI's hugely popular TI-58/TI-59 product line, is a calculator built by Toshiba, with Toshiba components inside. A less ambitious machine than the HP-41, the TI-66 was nevertheless a quite capable device. Like the HP-41, it offered an alphanumeric display; its programming model, however, is very similar to that of the TI-59. It lacked the HP-41's fabulous expandability, but it did have a proprietary serial port that allowed it to be connected to the PC-200 printer. (The same port appeared on the BA-55.) Up to 512 program steps or 64 memories are enough for many complex problems. The machine contained numerous improvements over the TI-58C, which can be considered its closest predecessor with its continuous memory. In addition to the low power alphanumeric display, the calculator offered mnemonic display of program steps, a program entry mode that always showed the most recently entered step (as opposed to the next, usually blank, program step), and a pleasant shape and appearance in a small form factor. About the only drawback, when compared with the TI-58C, is the lack of a module port; gone were the solid state software modules that made the TI-58/TI-59 machines so versatile. (Then again, those modules were never as popular as they could have been, so perhaps TI had a solid reason for dropping this feature.) Internally, these machines reflect the bold new age of extreme simplicity: a single circuit board that also serves as the keyboard backplate, with two surface mounted chips and a couple of discrete components. It was somewhat of a surprise to me when I realized that the machine's memory chip is an off-the-shelf component in a large, easy-to-solder DIP socket. However, this made it possible for me to repair one of my TI-66s that had a working processor but dysfunctional memory.