Canon X-07

A little beauty, this one. The computer is book-sized and fits into a VHS-case sized plastic binder. It offers pretty much what a home micro would have around 1983, except in a very small portable size. The language is Microsoft BASIC, which was state of the art at the time. Well, the memory is not that impressive, only 8K of which roughly 6 are available to BASIC.

Despite the looks the X-07 is not really a scientific calculator. For example, the math symbols are not directly available but behind SHIFT-combinations as on an ordinary micro. It's of course possible to write some calculator software! The BASIC offers very direct access to screen features such as text and bitmap graphics with commands like PSET, LINE, CIRCLE and FONT$ which can be used for the 5x8 user character definition. I suppose for graphing purposes these are fine and to me this is more flexible than the clunky TI-BASIC found in Texas Instruments calculators, even the newer ones.

On the negative side, the connectors are a bit non-standard. For a tinkerer it's nothing, but of course an ordinary RS232 port would have been nice (It's not even that much smaller). Sadly the resolution is very small, 120x32 pixels, and the display is not backlit. Apparently there's a display adapter which would give an 8-colour display on a television. This would make X-07 even more interesting, although then it would no longer be portable.

The Z80-compatible chip is likely to be on the slow side to conserve power, my hunch is 1mhz. (Edit: Nope, it seems the NSC800N variant is 2.5mhz) Printing and graphics commands are quite slow via BASIC. I don't know how long the battery life is, but I'd assume that the display is not that greedy.

What I like about this machine is that the "booting" time is non-existing. The RAM "disk" is permanent as long as the batteries last. The user chooses a suitable portion of the memory for the RAM files, and code snippets can be stored and retrieved via SAVE and LOAD commands. DIR brings up the file list. It's also possible to RUN "filename" to execute a file without loading it into the text memory.

The RAM is battery-backed and it's also possible to put the display to SLEEP and continue later from where you left. There are some interesting possibilities for using this computer to "upload" tiny pieces of data via the RS232, and I might be tempted to try this later. An "autobooting" command can also be created, for running the program in memory, for example. This makes me think the computer is meant to be customized into a variety of one-purpose devices, possibly a controller for industrial machines.

The eight bits between the nybbles. We've seen this before.

Tape options are of course available and using Audacity on my MiniMac I could store and reload a BASIC program. The format seems straightforward enough and if there's nothing about it on the internet I might examine it a bit further. (Edit: Actually, it's all in the manual. Silly me. Also, there's a webpage about the tape formats.)

I feel positive about this tiny computer. The build quality is high and the Canon competence in calculators also shows here. Everything there is, is pretty well made and thought out.


The memory upgrade:

A Toshiba TC5565PL-15 memory chip adds 8K memory, to a total of 16K. The whole system may need resetting before the memory becomes active. The RAMdisk use becomes a bit more reasonable with this expansion.

How to build an RS-232 cable between Canon X-07 and a PC:

Edit: I'd recommend NOT connecting this serial port directly to a Mac/PC! They have a different voltage level.

It is quite fortunate that a piece like the one below can be stuck into the existing port, by ever so slightly twisting the pins. However, the pin order is not standard so a special cable or an adapter needs to be built.

The diagram below shows how to connect between two port types. A cable between two Canons would of course be symmetrical. Note that the numbering in Canon port follows the order in the manual. (1=LTxD, FG, N.C., TxD, RxD, CTS, RTS, SG, VBB) 

The manual also tells the signal level is not standard, but this did not seem to cause problems when connecting between Canon and a Mac. I just went away and tried, although they should not be compatible. I'd be careful. What I see the RS232 in Canon is likely to be TTL level ("5v") whereas serial ports can be 12v. I suspect modern computers and USB/serial adapters may be accommodating, but I'd be wary of connecting different kinds of computers.

The serial port, seen from the outside.

On the Canon end, you do this to set the port:

INIT #1,"COM:",2400,"B"

4800 is the highest speed. The "B" combines the various parity and bit length parameters into a single letter. B seems to work ok with 8 bits, no parity.

After initializing the channel you can:

PRINT #1,"HELLO" to send a string of characters.

...or OUT #1,65 to send characters out.

...or LIST #1 to output the BASIC listing in ASCII.


Some good resources:

The Canon is quite well documented on the net. There seems to be a whole scene focusing on collecting and enthusing about hand-helds, calculators and even digital wrist watch computers.

Here's a page that tells everything you need to know about various peripherals and extension cards:

http://gtello.pagesperso-orange.fr/cx07_e.htm

Programs for creating tape files:

http://www.mvcsys.de/doc/casioutil.html