Casio FX-502P series

CASIO FX-501P / FX-502P

A 30-year-old Casio FX-501P in working condition displaying the number π
Type Programmable Scientific
Manufacturer Casio
Introduced 1978
Calculator
Entry mode Infix
Precision 12 digits mantissa, ±99 exponent
Display type LCD Seven-segment display
Display size 10 + 3 Digits
Programming
Programming language(s) Keystroke (fully merged, Turing complete)
Memory register 11 (FX-501P) 22 (FX-502P)
Program steps 128 (FX-501P) 256 (FX-502P)
Interfaces
Ports one vendor specific
Connects to

Compact Cassette via:

Other
Power supply 2×"G13" or 2x"LR44"
Power consumption 0.0008W
Weight 141g, 5 oz
Dimensions 15.24x7,6x1.2 cm, 6"×3"×½"

The FX-501P and FX-502P were programmable calculators, manufactured by CASIO from 1978. They were the predecessors of the Casio FX-601P and Casio FX-602P.

Arithmetic

The FX-502P series use the algebraic logic as was state of the art at the time.

Display

The FX-501P and FX-502P featured a single line 7-segment liquid crystal display with 10 digits as main display. An additional 3 digits 7-segment display used to display exponents and program steps when entering or debugging programs and 10 status indicators. The display was covered with a yellow filter, supposedly to prevent ultra-violet radiation damage.

Programming

The programming model employed was key stroke programming by which each key pressed was recorded and later played back. On record multiple key presses were merged into a single programming step. All operations fitted into one program step.[1]

The FX-501P could store 128 steps, with 11 memory registers. The FX-502P had double capacity with 256 steps and 22 memory registers.

Conditional and Unconditional jumps as well as subroutines where supported. The FX-502P series supported 10 labels for programs and subroutines called P0 .. P9. Each program or subroutine could have up to 10 local labels called LBL0 .. LBL9 for jumps and branches.

The FX-501P and FX-502P supported indirect addressing both for memory access and jumps and therefore the programming model could be considered Turing complete.

Since the FX-501P and FX-502P only employed a Seven-segment display each program step was represented by a special 2 digit codes made op of the digits 0 .. 9 and the character C, E, F and P. The Calculator came with a special overlay[2] so the user need not memorise the mapping between code and actual command.

What differentiated the 501/502P from its competitors was that programming was retained in a battery-buffered memory when the calculator was turned off. Texas Instruments And Hewlett Packard had comparable devices but without the constant memory capability.

Programming example

Here is a sample program that computes the factorial of an integer number from 2 to 69. For 5!, you'll type 5 P0 and get the result, 120. The whole program is only 9 bytes long.

Key-code Display-code Comment
P0 P0 You'll call the program with the P0 key
Min0 C6-00 stores the value in register 0
1 01 starts with 1
LBL0 F0-00 label for the loop
* E1 multiply
MR0 C7-00 with M0
INV DSZ FF-01 Decrements M0 and Skips next command if M0=Zero
GOTO0 F1-00 Go to LBL0
= E5 end of loop, the machine has calculated

Interface

Casio FA-1
Connects to

FX-502P series and FX-602P series Compact Cassette via one of:

Manufacturer Casio
Introduced 1979
Type Compact Cassette Interface

The FX-501P and FX-502P used the FA-1 to store program and data to Compact Cassette using the Kansas City standard. The FA-1 also enabled the calculators to generate musical notes.[2]

References

  1. ↑ FX-602P Token list - note that the FX-502P series only employed the standard plane.
  2. 1 2 casio fx-501p with programming overlay
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