Data Terminal Systems: Info Needed.
The cashier above is using a cash register made by Data Terminal Systems of Maynard, Massachusetts. The best I can tell, it’s either a Series 300 or Series 400 cash register. I am looking for any information I can get my hands on for these two series of registers by DTS. If you have any receipts, documentation, photos, anything, it would be most welcome.
There is very little information on the Internet about Data Terminal Systems, even though they were one of the first electronic cash register companies in the world and their technology was everywhere, especially in the 1970s and 1980s.
I’d like to get as much information about Data Terminal Systems online as possible, before it’s all lost to forgotten history.
8 thoughts on “Data Terminal Systems: Info Needed.”
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Filed under: Data Terminal Systems - @ July 21, 2020 7:10 pm
For about six months in 1982-83, I worked for DTS Australia as a support tech. Customer base was mainly: KFC, Red Rooster (scored lots of free chicken meals), some petrol (gas) stations and 2nd-tier supermarkets (eg Half Case Warehouse). Programming macros was one aspect of the software side. And I recall that setting the two keys into the X & P positions and simultaneously pressing CLEAR @ % LINE FEED would wipe the machine. In early ’83 there was a merger with National Semiconductor. I was a poor fit in the client-facing tech role; and the cross-training for the N.S. equipment was inadequate, so I left. Nevertheless, the (rare) photos make me very nostalgic. Trivia – In ~1986, a former DTS colleague was shot dead by a farmer while holidaying in France. RIP Gerry.
What POS pre-1982 would have black keys, “ITEM” “PRICE” and “QTY” keys (also in black) and a 10 alphanumeric characters vfd display? I’m trying to identify a prop from a TV show.
Thanks
Hello Andrea, this could have been a myriad of machines, but we can rule out DTS, NCR, IBM, and Datachecker, as they had multicolored keys. The 10-character alphanumeric display is throwing me off; I’m wondering if it was a Sweda machine. Do you have a photo?
Hello,
My daughter sparked this in my head today asking about buying her a cash register so she could play with it. I haven’t thought about this in about 30 years, and I couldn’t remember the brand of register that my dad used to work on in the 80s and 90s, but after some research tonight, I re-stumbled on DTS.
Dad, years ago, used to work for Harvey’s Supermarkets, a chain of regional grocery stores in North Florida and South Georgia. In the mid- to late-80s and early 90s, they ran DTS Model 400s. I would go with him to store openings to install or on weekends when he’d get a support call. We’d also have one or two at the house so that he could quickly drive and replace one when there was an urgent need.
I always wanted one when I was a kid to learn how to program them. I spent so much time around them, played with them, and heard them running through their night close processes on many nights when we were at the stores that I can almost hear the sound of the receipt tape printing still in my head to this day. Dad also wrote programs for Back Office operations in Clipper that would interface with the registers to aggregate the data collected from the registers all day so the Store Managers could analyze sales and inventory.
I found a few great pictures of one here on Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/163325923974120010/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/163325923974119990/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/163325923974120004/
Data Terminal Systems was from Maynard, Mass. The first registers produced was the DTS 100 (small, all in one style case/cash drawer assembly like the 200 Series) Their larger register was a clunky thing that had a separate power supply unit. It was called a “DaCap Model 44. It used the Seiko printer that used the 44mm register tape. If you purchased that tape back then, You asked for Dacap 44 tape! DTS was purchased buy National Semiconductor in the mid 80’s, and was called DataChecker/ DTS.
the last system I sold was a Model 2100. I believe Texas Instruments purchased National Semi, and they got out of POS.
Do you have pictures or the DTS or the futher future registers? Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada used the DataChecker models that had keys which were coloured. A rather redundant looking machine, but apparently they worked well
I worked in the systems support group for Safeway grocery stores from the late 80s to mid 90s.. When I first started in my local store in ’85 we had old sweda registers, but we were upgrading to 3683 by that time. I would LOVE to know if there’s any good 3683 resource around – I haven’t found any code or emulators or places to find cheap surplus hardware to play with.. Anyone have any ideas? email is steve at cherokeesystems dot com
Are you still hunting for DTS info?
I worked with DTS eguipment for years.. starting with 42, 100,… 500 etc.
The 400 series for retail grocery.. the picture is most likely a 400. A 441 was a Safeway model and 442 was Kmart.