In 1979 our local grocery store, which we called “the P&C” and was actually called “P&C Foods”, upgraded their checkout systems from the venerable mechanical NCR Class 5 cash registers to Electronic Cash Registers made by Data Terminal Systems of Maynard, Massachusetts. I’ve included a photo of the type of cash register above; photo courtesy of a screen cap from a Shutterstock video. I don’t know who the cashier is, and the video is from another grocery store somewhere else in the country, but she seems friendly enough.
The P&C installed Data Terminal Systems Model 440 cash registers. These electronic cash registers replaced the functions of their mechanical predecessors in that prices were still entered by the cashier, departments were selected, and there was no scanning available at the time. Other store chains in the area had these new electronic cash registers as well and being the young geek I was at the time, I was able to identify by the printing on the receipt whether the store in question went with the “Series 400” cash registers or the more simplistic (but still quite capable) “Series 300” cash registers. I do remember the Series 400 cash registers were able to do rudimentary price look ups; at “The P&C”, a “53 PL#” followed by a price on the receipt meant my mother bought a loaf of Wonder Bread. After the “53 PL#” was a price, like “.99 GR”. Nowhere did it indicate this was a loaf of bread, it was something I had to figure out for myself.
I was fascinated with these electronic cash registers and through hours and hours of careful studying of the receipts my mother left in the bottom of grocery bags, I was able to figure out how these cash registers worked. A watchful eye of cashiers at work helped my observational understanding. Two cashiers at “the P&C” were a favorite; one was named Delores and she was a gangly sort of young woman always stationed on Register #2. Another, a woman by the name of Betty Brown, was the personification of a sigh; she always seemed resigned to her job and she was usually on Register #1. She didn’t move as quickly on the DTS 440 as Delores did on Register #2.
There isn’t a lot of information online about Data Terminal Systems of Maynard, Mass. My scant research has revealed that it was led by a pilot by the name of Bob Collings of Stow, Mass. From what I am able to gather, he left Digital Equipment Corporation, also of Maynard, Mass. (and a company I worked for in the late 1980s) and struck out on his own after Sears & Roebuck approaches Digital to have them computerize their point of sale operations and CEO and founder Ken Olsen turned down the opportunity. Apparently Mr. Collings felt there was ample opportunity for Electronic Cash Registers that were able to chat with one another in the marketplace, and he, along with other DECcies, formed Data Terminal Systems.
At one time I had a large collection of receipts from these cash registers, as I saved that sort of thing while I studied them, but I believe they have long been lost. After all, it’s been decades.
I would love to find one of the cash registers in a thrift store or flea market to see if I can figure out how they tick. From the little information available online about DTS, I believe they were 4-bit machines, with processors made by Rockwell. The earlier models didn’t have scanning, but all models were designed to by upgraded to a more powerful model by field personnel. I do know they had “Star Trek (The Original Series)” look to them and I found them very nifty. I can still hear the distinct sounds of the Seiko EP-101 (later known as “Epson”) printer in my head.
My search continues for equipment by Data Terminal Systems. I hope to create a website dedicated to the memories and information of this company that started the Electronic Cash Register revolution as we know it today.
Maybe one day I’ll stumble across one of these registers at a flea market here in Chicago. I know these machines are what got me started in computers to begin with.
Hi. My name is Orin Anderson. I was (back in the day) project manager for the DtS 440. I would like to get contact information for anyone who worked at DTS. Maybe a reunion,
Orin
Hello Orin. Thanks for stopping by the site! Unfortunately you’re the first one from DTS that has ever stopped by, but if someone else stops by I’ll be sure to make sure they see your comment.
And while I’m writing, thanks for your work on the DTS 440. It sparked my interest in computers and gadgets over 40 years ago and because of that spark I’m a successful software developer today. I’ve never gotten my hands on a DTS register aside from a couple of Model 150s. I’m always on the search for any documentation or information I can find.
Best regards,
J.P.
Hi! Thanks for putting up this blog, JP!
I found it very informative — as I was searching for info on Data Terminal Systems.
My family’s grocery chain [Hinky Dinky, in the Midwest] used DTS terminals until we sold the biz in 1973.
They were an integral part of our conversion to computer-tracked inventory, and were part of the reason we were so successful back then.
PBN
Hello! Thanks for stopping by the site. Do you remember if you had Series 300 or 400 (or maybe even 200?) registers at Hinky Dinky? Information on these registers is little-to-none on the Internet, but my quest for more information continues. I’ll post it as I find it.
Hey there, I was a service tech for a local cash register company in 1977 and cut my teeth on DTS systems starting with the model 300 up through the 2200 when I left that business in 1987 and started a new roll as a microcomputer analyst. My last roll at that company was manager of sales support and I did all kind of custom programming on the DTS 500 series using a macro programming language. I also did programming on the DEC PDP-11 which was used as a back office system for the first DTS scanner based systems in the early 80’s.
The small mom and pop company I worked for did a crap load of business with DTS. I was trained in Maynard MA multiple times and we eventually did third party repair of DTS circuit boards for other POS companies.
If not for the DTS systems I’m not sure that I ever would have followed my path into IT from software development in the late 80’s up to where I am now as a senior network engineer.
Don’t ask me why but the word Sweda popped into my brain this morning and I did some googling for it. Sweda was a cash register company in the 70’s that made primarily mechanical cash registers but then developed some electronic versions prior to DTS. I’ll never forget servicing the old Sweda ECR that had core memory. On occasion the programming would get messed up and you would have to erase all the memory by removing the core memory board and running a magnet over one side to get all the cores to flip to zero. Crazy stuff, google it.
Anyway unfortunately I have not seen any old DTS equipment in my travels and doubt any of it works. Although it was cutting edge at the time and were some serious design flaws and my guess is that none of that equipment could have stand the test of time.
J
Great to hear from you. Yeah, I’m thinking not much in the way of DTS equipment survived this long. I had a couple of DTS Model 150s about 10 years ago and they weren’t doing well, throwing a bunch of crazy characters on the displays, etc.
As a former DEC employee I kinda thought some of the DTS equipment ran off of PDPs or VAXen in the back room. My interest in DTS definitely started off my software development career.
Thanks for stopping by the site!
Hello again, any chance you still have any DTS Series 300 or 400 manuals? The machines might not be around anymore but I’d love to find some documentation.
J-
Were you in central Indiana by chance?
Got a Data Terminal Systems 1&13/16″ square acrylic cube with an exposed chip inside, reads ” Data Terminal Systems commemorating production of 75,000th ECR/POS terminal May 1, 1978 Pioneering Business Control Systems For Today’s Modern Retailer” And I sure would like to sell it, was trying to figure out how much to ask for it when I came across this site.
Hi did you ever get a response?
I have a keychain with gold metal cash register on the back of which it says “Data Terminal Systems. 100,000th ECR January 1979” and I encountered your query while trying to figure out what I might be able to ask for it. Any ideas?
Hello, I was a cash register technician for the local South African Sweda dealers when we took on the DTS agency in 1975. In 1980 I had the opportunity to work for DTS Europe software support division based at their Ireland offices in Clondalkin, Dublin. I also did contract work for their UK subsidiary in Maidenhead (now called Datachecker after DTS was purchased National Semiconductor. Datachecker was subsequently bought by ICL), working primarily on the macro programs for their Thorn Television customer from 1987 to 1989. I still have the macro layout sheets and ram location definitions for the model 520/521 as well as some copied pages from the PDP11 retail macro generator manual. I can scan these and let you have them if you are interested.
I’d definitely be interested! Thank your sharing!
Don,
I remember you. I started work as a technician in the original DTS plant in Walkinstown before it moved to Clondalkin. I was the test department supervisor for a period. I have to say I have very fond memories of DTS both the people and the products. Hope you are doing well.
Hello Colm,
Apologies for the late response. I remember you as well. I am still in contact with Paul Gough who now lives in Leominster MA.
Great blog! Growing up in the 80’s, I’ve always had a fascination with cash registers. Several retailers in my area used DTS registers; Demoulas/Market Basket grocery stores and Ann&Hope department stores are the two that popped into my head. Market Basket used them up till around 1990 and replaced them with NCR scanning terminals. They did still use the DTS registers outside during the summer for flower/plant sales through the 90’s. Ann&Hope used a model that had alpha numeric print on their receipts. They closed all of their stores back in 2001.
I remember the Sweda cash registers being owned by Litton and then Hugin. Hugin used to make the mechanical machines for Victor. I have a Victor model 36S cash register that was made by Hugin, for my home bar. It can be plugged in or used manually with the crank. I would also like to get my hands on one of the DTS machines. You may want to contact Market Basket corporate in Tewksbury, MA. It’s possible that they have some of these in storage or something. Good luck, and please post anything you might find!
Hi! Loved reading about DTS registers in your grocery store. Here in the UK I worked for a toy and hobby store called Beatties from 1986 to 1994. Beatties had DTS series 500 registers installed in 1982 and continued to use DTS series 500 registers until 2000. The company went bust in 2001. I loved those machines; they were way superior to a lot of newer registers in many ways and the Seiko printers were awesome! I can remember the exact sound they made churning out X and Z reports now! I’d love to find out more, share memories with others, and one day get my hands on a series 500 machine – no sign of them on places like e-bay; I’ve been looking for years! I’ve subscribed to your blog but if you ever get any more DTS info, pictures, etc., or want to have a geeky chat about them would you let me know?
All the best.
I just watched an episode of MONK on Netflix. The episode featured Willie Nelson, but also had a guest appearance by a DTS register at the super market.
The episode was aired in 2002.
I was surprised to see a system still operating.
I was a service tech all over Indiana in. 1981-1983.
Here in the UK in the late 1970s a supermarket chain Fine Fare was undergoing a massive expansion into large superstores. These new stores all had Data Terminal Systems checkouts, I remember being quite fascinated by them, I don’t remember how they worked but were certainly different any other cash registers at the time in other stores.
Sadly Fine Fare were taken over by the Dee Corporation around 1987, trading under Gateway Foodmarkets name, and they took the backwards step of replacing the DTS with a more standard and unremarkable Omron cash registers which were still going in some stores up until the mid 1990s.
Also another chain WH Smith stationers and booksellers also had DTS checkouts in their stores in the 1980s and early 1990s, but they additionally had an early form of scanning in that their terminals had a laser scanning pen attached, similar to those in use in many of our local libraries.
I seem to remember that the laser scanning pens could be hit and miss as they had to be physically run across the whole barcode unlike the newer full barcode readers.
Besides Fine Fare and WH Smith I don’t recall any other UK retailers with DTS.
Habitat used DTS checkouts until the mid 1990’s. Argos had them everywhere. Beatties Models and Toys, where I worked, used them and at one point we had a bit of a ding-dong going with Argos because they were much bigger than us and could afford to pay their staff much better than we did, and they worked out that we trained our staff very thoroughly on the DTS tills, so they were in the habit of poaching some of our staff, especially in the run up to Christmas! I think Argos kept them until well into the 1990’s – long after I left Beatties in 1994 anyway. Scotch Corner toy shops in Scotland used them too.
I looked up this episode specifically for this purpose. They looked like Series 500 registers. I noticed the customer display was turned away from the camera (and the customer) so as to not advertise the company name. I was curious if it was marked Data Terminal Systems or National Semiconductor/DTS (after the buyout). I never caught a glimpse though.
I looked up the episode: oh fond memories! shame it doesn’t show much in the way of the register operating … they are the same as Beatties used as Master Tills …. we used to call them the ‘sit up and beg’ tills and they were, as I recall 2500 machines, whilst the plain 500’s had the cash drawer built into the sloping front under the keyboard.
I worked at Data Terminal Systems in the early 1970s. If I recall correctly, I was employee # 20….I was there until 1975 or so. It was a great place to work. My father eventually worked there and was involved in integrating product scanning with the DTS cash register systems.
Thanks for stopping by! I didn’t really notice the company until DTS 440 cash registers were installed in our local grocery store in 1979, though I vaguely remember DTS 300 Series registers being used in a local chain drug store before then.
The 300 series I remember had two drawers and I want to say they had two separate cash tend buttons in the upper left hand corner of the keyboard, one marked “A” and one marked “B”. This was different than single drawer models, which had the “TOTAL CASH” button in the same place as the Model 440s. I know some stores were using Model 440s until the later 1990s, did they ever get scanning capabilities?
Hi Paul, Your name sounds familiar to me. I was employee # 120. I started working there January 1974, right out of HS. I have a picture somewhere of me working with the test equipment. I’ll see if I can dig up some pictures, newsletters, etc..
Elizabeth,
I bet I’d remember you! I ran the shipping and receiving department most of the time I worked there. Please post a picture if you can! Or, you could send it to me at pmca@together.net
Hi Paul I replace you as the shipping receiving supervisor and was there up to the end…. my employe # was 296
Did you work directly for Matt Harris?….Paul
Hi Rico, my name is Dean Melanson. I remember you. I worked in the test dept. And eventually became the supervisor
Betty;
Kirk MacAulay here… Just found out about this blog from Chris Jones.. DTS was one of the happiest place I ever worked for. My employee # was 377.
Price Chopper (Golub Corporation) Supermarkets used DTS registers for scanning well into the late 1990s. They looked and acted like Series 500 registers but for some reason I feel like they were actually marked Series 2500 or Series 2550. I remember most had the Data Terminal Systems name plate, but some had National Semiconductor/DTS.
JP, Price Chopper used DTS 545 registers for scanning. They started out with 300’s which were upgraded to 440’s which were upgraded to 540’s eventually upgraded to 545 scan systems with load scales
My company sold Price Chopper 1,600 scan systems along with 1 Intel 8080 based computer per store to act as a server as their file was to large for internal register memory. In the early 90’s they wanted to do online debit credit along with positive check authorization. I found a comm. Board a dealer in France had made to communicate with the outside world, there was an instillation in sweden that failed(they never got it working) I had the board re-engineered & wrote the software to communicate with a credit card terminal(took months to write).
My company was the 3rd. Dealer DTS had sold the 3rd. DTS register they produced(DTS 44) & were the 3rd. Largest dealer they had.
I love these registers! I think about them often… they were used here in WI at Walgreens, Jewel, Zayre, and Sentry foods (they added scanning)…. The sound of the printer was mesmerizing as a kid!!! It sounded like “ Errrrrrr -E-E!” “Errrrrr E-E!” And the sounds of the keys being pressed was also cool!
Also! There’s an early episode of the X-files where Scully is at a grocery store checkout with a DTS register! I’ll try to track down the episode… season 1 or 2.
Didn’t know this Site existed. Worked for DTS for several years as a componet engineer. I have many pleasent memories of the people there.
The chip sets used we were Rockwell PPS4.
The 500 series used a PPS8
Hello… I worked at DTS from 1973 to 1979. I too remember Paul Howley. I was a member of the Engineering department. In addition to Bob Collins there was another founder – – a brilliant engineer named Murray Rubin.. Murray designed the first-generation DTS cash registers, the Models 1 and 2, and he programmed the Model 300. The 1 and 2 were implemented using 7400-series TTL-chip technology. The 300 was the first model to use a microprocessor from a division of North American Aviation – – a four-bit P-channel MOS device running on – 17 volts. Clock frequency was 199 kHz. Other logic function implemented in 4000-series CMOS. The display high-voltage gas-tube technology pioneered by Cherry. My contributions included design of the Model 300 electronic hardware, and several of its option cards supporting a grocery scale, a coin-changer, and a remote printer. Also two battery-backup systems for supporting peripheral equipment. The 300 (and later) injection-molded cases were designed by Hugh Fowler (no relation to HR chief Nancy Fowler).
Peter,
I certainly remember you! The engineering department had some great people in it…very friendly and professional. ….Paul Howley
Hi
I worked at DTS from 1978 to 1985
Started on assembly line
PC boards
I ran the Sequencer Machine Dept
Thank you for stopping by! My first exposure to DTS was the Series 400 registers at a local grocery store and then at a local department store. The first time I saw the Series 300 registers was at a drug store chain in Syracuse, N.Y. They looked like the Series 400 and used the same Seiko EP-101 printer but the rhythm of the printer was different and it was obvious the keyboard layout was a little bit different. For some reason I remember either Total or Cash Tend being in the upper left hand corner on those registers, which was weird to me. These particular Model 300s had two drawers.
I did see Model 300s at a couple of grocery stores later on, and they had a check endorsement key and stamp built into the case on top of the cash drawer, and I thought it was quite nifty that the “check tend” button was on the endorsement stamp, they stamped the check and finalized the sale with one key press. That was clever. I’ve never seen another register do that.
I worked in Lexington, KY for one of the first DTS dealers and, as a result, visited Maynard many times in the 70’s. Fond memories I have are of Bob Collings home with the natural pegged floors and the beautiful sound from his large platter antique music player. He and his wife were such gracious people.
And a funny story about Murray… you will remember this. His old car… he had removed all of the wiring from under the dashboard and it was all hanging out on the floor because he wanted to see hoe it all worked! He was a wee bit odd bit he certainly had a genius mind!
This was in the early days of the company. I sold a lot of the early DTS models with full preset keyboards for restaurants and also to grocery chains connected to NCR coin changers.
Ahh… the good old days!
I remember you Peter.
Good to say hello.
Cliff Quinn
Tri-State Business Equip.
Bob Collings and others founded the Collings Foundation in Stow, MA.
It’s a fascinating place – see the detail at https://www.collingsfoundation.org/
Well worth checking it out….. (check out – get it 🙂
Bob Collings and others founded the Collings Foundation in Stow, MA.
It’s a fascinating place – see the detail at https://www.collingsfoundation.org/
Well worth checking it out….. (check out – get it 🙂
Hi.
I was with DTS 1977 thru 1982. I was in cost accounting.
I found this dialogue because was looking for the Forbes magazine cover when we went to Rome. No luck.
But I have three DTS items I’d like to get rid of. 1979 “cube” for 75,000 ECR; 1980(?) key chain; series 300 display (they were great straight edges for us accountants.
My email is chrisjemail@me.com if interested. I am in the US, near Boston.
Hi Chris Jones
I found this blog by accident.
I remember you and some of the others here. I worked at DTS in the early-mid seventies, in Maynard. I worked in purchasing with Reg Brown, in the same office area than John Gilday, Ron Bufton and others, before the big building was built. I left DTS and got a job at DEC. worked there for over fifteen years. You probably remember Mary Pelrine. She worked in QC and we started at DTS at the same time. This blog really brings back memories. I thing you are the same Chris Jones.
Fran Coyne
I started with DTS in 1976 – 1978.. Worked in the Maynard manufacturing location for a couple of years. Was able to take the first DTS company trip to London… Oh my the stories we all could share… I came back in 1979 and stayed with the company till 1990. During those 11 years, there were a few name changes and I ended up getting transferred to Santa Clara CA, once National Semi bought the company… still have very close friendships that began in the mid 70’s….
Kirk,
Your employee number was 337, I started right after you in Sept’77. My employer number was 914. I still have a paycheck stub, believe it or not…(sigh)…. just confirmed.
Maybe the increase included Puerto Rico?
I was the manager of store systems for B Dalton Bookseller in the late 70s through 1987. We transitioned from Singer 902 cash registers to DTS cash registers in the early 80s. I remember going to Newton(?) for a two week programming class. As I recall, one of the selling points was the bubble memory (non-volatile) that made it practical for data storage. Our older NCR Class V registers used punched paper tape, and our Singer registers used mag tape storage. But we did have a problem with data storage capacity. Like cows, the data needed to be pulled off regularly or there were problems. Around Christmas we needed to schedule mid-day polling of the largest stores to empty storage.
Re POS printers. At my peak geekiness, I used to be able to walk an indoor mall in Minnesota and tell what kind of register was being used in each store by the sound of the printer. 🙂
I remember B Dalton having DTS registers, I’m almost certain they were Series 500 with the 20 character alphanumeric display and dot matrix printers.
Like you, I could easily tell the kind of register being used by the sound of the printer. I could also tell by the printing of dot matrix receipts.
Thanks for stopping by the site! I’m also writing about vintage point of sale systems at https://vintagepointofsale.com.
Interesting blog. I went to work at DTS in 1974 as what we called a “Support specialist” which would be equivalent to a software support person today. I was able to rise thru the ranks and became Director of Supermarket Systems which was responsible for the 440 and 540 systems as well as others. My biggest thril was that I installed the first handful of scanning systems for DTS ( model 540). Tons of great memories. DTS was eventually bought by Datachecker and transferred me to CA.
Hi Roger I remember you well.
Cliff Quinn
TRI-STATE
Roger;
Lots of great memories working for DTS in Maynard, Stow and Acton.
Like Roger, I was part of the migration from Mass to Santa Clara.
HI
Fine Fare, Beaties, WHS,Argos,SPAR,Granada,Thorn, great memories, I was a DTS field engineer in the UK 80s & 90s, the registers were ahead of their time there is no doubt, with the PDP 11 back office. They must have put a lot of storemen stock controllers out of work.
Hi Johnny. I worked at Beatties (mostly Sheffied SH124 assistant manager, but also Nott’m, Newcastle and Manchester relief manager from time to time) 1986 to 1994. Very fond memories of DTS Datachecker systems …. even the re-inputting after a master till failure wasn’t so bad really! If you ever serviced the tills in those branches in that time chances are we may have met.
I can’t believe I have found this site! I was a Field Engineer in the UK at the same time as you Johnny! :-). Only joined in 1987 but I loved the whole setup! Such a friendly team of people! The best job I have ever had, and the best people, but wow, how the job changed when ICL took over and staff were culled and those left were just a number! Sad.
In 1985 I separated from the USAF. I was living in Jacksonville Arkansas and answered an ad for a calculator technician, at a business called Rainer business Machines, in El Dorado Arkansas. They were also the southern Arkansas DTS representatives. I had always been fascinated with cash registers. I jumped at the chance to start helping the cash register techs with their calls, when asked. After 13 months my wife and I desired to move closer to where she was raised and I found another job at another DTS rep. I stayed there about 2 1/2 years. By then it was late 1988 and many of the systems were phasing out and I was offered a job servicing computers and their associated hardware.
I have fond memories of DTS systems.
150, 200, 400, 500, 2100, I’m thinking there was a model 300 but can’t say for sure, scanners, and one customer had the backend “mind is a little foggy here” that used 2 big 8 inch floppy drives. Carrying around the tape backup/restore machine. Calibrating the scales. Rebuilding the (westrex?) Printheads. In some cases we repaired our own boards. Finding crumpled money, checks or food stamps in the cash drawers. Oh the times.
Thanks for the page. I was just home today and thought I’d Google DTS cash registers.
Happy Easter All,
This is Bob, sometimes called Dr. Bob. Badge no.1. While today is the number one best day in this Christian’s life your blog and all the comments from all over the world would have to be one of the best things in this otherwise crappy last year.
Hallahan, Ruben, Sonn, Orsatti, Fowler and I have gotten together annually to regal DTS “War Stories” and would welcome some virtual way of sharing them with all. We’re all still pretty proficient at talking but not so nearly much so with the keyboard. Thanks for the memories. Dr. Bob
Thank you for stopping by and commenting on this post! I’m happy that over the past couple years this blog post has been able to bring folks from DTS together on the Internet. Happy Easter and a blessed day to you and your family.
Bob,
I just want to say that DTS blessed me in many ways! At different times, I worked there, my wife worked there, my brother Jay and my sister Sharon, and my father Jack Howley worked there! It was a great company that really cared about their employees. Thanks for everything you (and the others in management) did to make it such a special place….Paul Howley
PS. Please tell Nancy Fowler that we think of her often!
Good to see your post Dr. Bob
Cliff Quinn
Tri-State
My wife and I were early DTS employees in the UK from 1976. It was very hectic and a very big lesson.. Here the company was small but aimed high selling to the Uk’s major retailers. This worked well for 4 years until the 4 owners split to go their separate ways. DTS (UK) was sold and moved nearer to London. In the early times we have 12 employees in the UK and we spent a lot of time making the supplied cash registers from Boston and Ireland fit for sale. We identified the DTS 320? problem where a faulty batch of bus interface chips caused memory corruption. I remember desoldering this 42 pin chip on a customer till and soldering in a replacement !. We were unable to progrees the company in the UK due to poor product quality and a sales team that didnt gain the trust of our customer base. We left DTS in 1981 and moved to a larger retail supplier.
We had some great times
My father was the DTS dealer in a small town in Malaysia from 1983 onwards. We sold many 200 and 500 systems. As a 10 year old kid back then I have such fond memories of heading to his office every day after school to help out. I worked mostly on the 219 systems fixing the Seiko Epson printer and also occasionally helping out with programming using the P-key. The Seiko Epson printer can be a pain, every so often a few coils on the print head would blow, the pins in the print head either snap every now and again or wear off and become shorter, the left/right light gate would stop working sometimes. The motor also gets worn – this gives the dreaded FE error on the filament screen. Those were fun days cannibalising printers for parts to keep customer units working. In the end the DTS sales dwindled due to lack of new products and high cost. Japanese counterparts which were cheaper and technologically newer took over.
I worked at a Holiday Inn in 1992 that ran on DTS machines. Both the Front Desk & Food & Beverage ran on these machines. I’m wondering how big their market was for Hospitality back-in-the-day!?
I worked at DTS from 1981 to 1985, my first job out of college. I worked as a programmer at the Stow office, and was involved with the new POS that could have up to 36 cash registers. I wrote most of the reports that would come out of a cash register. All was written in Forth language. We used the Motorola 68000 chip, but after National Sim bought the company, they decided to go with their chip (do not remember the model). I can still remember the faces of people I worked with, but I am very bad at names. I do remember vividly the bar across the street, good cocktails, good times.
The good old days!
Stow has a bar?
Wow what great memories, this was my first job in 1979 . DTS had a plant in Vega Baja , Puerto Rico. I was a team lead at the time. If anybody had any thing regarding them and would like share please do. Thankyou
I worked at a DTS dealer in Newburgh NY from 1980 to 1981, right out of high school. I then worked for a dealer in Sacramento CA from 1983 to 1986. I programmed many of the DTS models including 150, 219, 221, 440, 520, 540, and I think the 2100.
The 2100 is where they started going downhill. I think they were no longer made in the USA then, the cases were much lighter duty.
I even wound up writing polling programs for the 2100.
I also worked at dts #138 worked with some of the best people ever. I miss those days will never experience any thing better. Work assembly, production planner and customer service representative.
Hi Rodney
I remember you at DTS. I and Mary Pelrine first started
there part-time in QC. I later transferred to Purchasing and Reg Brown was the manager.
DTS was one of my favorite jobs. I worked in shipping and receiving as well as the parts department when the company was in the small building in Maynard. Really a nice group of people!
Hi there,
I worked as a Field Engineer, and later Engineering Manager for first DTS (Datachecker), then ICL (who bought DTS in Australia), the Fujitsu who merged with ICL in Australia, for 22 years. The DTS model 545 was the mainstay of many local supermarkets here, and was quite a robust machine for its day. All the circuit boards were modular, and easily swappable, so that repairs seldom required removal of the ECR from the premises. After many years of servicing thousands of these machines it was sad to see them eventually retired and end up in landfill. The march of progress I guess. Thanks for your article.
Hi All,
I started my tech career at DTS in 1979. I was given this opportunity by.Colleen Chase who hired me as a tech writer for her group. She was a great mentor and was influential in getting me started on my 40+ year career as a software engineer! As well as were Ralph Grimes and Brian Cobb. My last position was writing macro programs for the 500 series which were entered manually or using a cassette tape. I was laid off about1982 Also remember commuting to work with Bob Orenburg and Pete ?(hw manager) for a bit. From tech writer, to tester, to jr engineer I learned what goes into producing a great product.
Did you work at the Maynard, Massachusetts plant?
I worked in Stow Mass. in a refurbished dept store next to Purity Supreme where they first supermarket scanners where installed for testing. We did the engineering for all the cash registers at this location.
I met my wife, who worked for Purity Supreme, when we were testing the hand help scanner for delivery.
I worked both in Maynard, Stow and Acton for DTS,
Transferred to Santa Clara when DTS was acquired by National Semi.
Great people… always a fun place to work
I used to work as a service engineer in the UK for DTS, then Datachecker, then ICL and finally Fujitsu, from 1981 to my retirement in 2016. Many memories from the early days. I live in Kent and was taken on to service East Kent with a focus on a CWS ( Coop Wholesale Society) food site in Thanet. It was supposedly one of our largest sites with 35 checkouts using the modular 2500 series using IRC (Inter Register Communications) 1 & 2 connected by 2 circuits of 3 pin cannon plugs IRC 1 was for data communication sending sales data and software updates to the Application Processor, a DECpdp11 with its two 5 1/4″ HDD’s, IRC 2 connected the master and Alternate master and all the slave terminals to communicate the PLU’s (price lookups). We lost that contract when the sales guys sold CWS some surplus stock, for a rumored £1 million, then it surfaced that it actually belonged to CWS in the first place and we were just storing it for them! The contract was terminated immediately. At that point CRS, the Coop retail division selling homewares, was also terminated. Other contracts at the time were with WH Smiths, House of Fraser(theirs was a very old system I remember, no back office computer, so if the master failed and the site staff did not switch in the alternate, the store had to shut as all tills stopped working!. We also had the TV rental sector sown up having Radio Rentals, DER and Multi Broadcast contracts, which used their own tailored model earmarked as a 516 with a docket printer mounted on top of the Svenska matrix receipt printer. Later it was upgraded to a 526 when the docket printer was removed. Gateway supermarkets, which later became Somerfield’s, also had 500 series and Bejam freezer foods, with their very basic non networked, 200 series, that later became Iceland, as well. Layer, as Datachecker we won contracts for Sainsbury’s, Boots Chemists, B&Q, and many others. I also had to be trained on the “Datachecker” as we knew it, a dual computer (two independent computers in one cabinet, with its 8″ floppy drives), because we had the only 3 trial stores in the UK, operated by Safeway’s in my area (Maidstone, Canterbury and Larkfield I believe). The tills had non standard programmable modular keyboards that took, at best, 30 minutes to program after a swap out, what a pain. Also the Datachecker computer required a backup to be run, using up to 10 floppy discs, before we dared to shut it down. In theory one processor could be shut down, while the second one would take over(remember were physically in the same cabinet), In practice it didn’t work very often, they both crashed, so all processor work had to be done out of trading hours. The R&D was definitely the problem with that company. Existing faults were never designed out and new models failed to appear. A lot of proposed contracts, including Safeway’s, were never won because of that. DTS was a great company to work for though, the Christmas parties were legendary. I remember a hotel in Gatwick Airport being hired, with free bar up to a point, and a 3 course meal provided, discounts for rooms arranged if you wanted to stay overnight and remote personnel (for example, from Scotland etc) were flown in at the companies expense!
Oh and, unfortunately for yourselves regarding tech specs information, after I retired, 7 years ago I found my complete set of servicing ring binder folders, about 11 of them, some 2″ thick, covering everything for the 200, 500, 2500 series, Datachecker Processor, and PDP11 and also the later 2000 series, which was a straight re-badge of a basic Fujitsu till, in a desperate measure to keep the ailing business going by breaking into the hospitality sector, to some success with gaining the Whitbread contract, before they developed their Premier Inns budget hotel chain, as well as some smaller restaurant chains.
Anyway, I dumped all the manuals never thinking that anybody would be interested after so long.
DTS could have gone from strength to strength the markets were there, we were bidding but the kit was old and wouldn’t sell. They just didn’t put the investment in to develop the range.
I worked for DTS back in the early 80’s, great company! I worked in the RM department repairing boards. Transferred to to field service, worked there until National Semi Conductor bought us out. Lowest serial number I can remember working on was #25 model 42 (I think) My wife worked for Murray Rubin when he left DTS.
Do you remember a field engineer Mickey Portwain, forgive possible misspelling
Of course. A bit of a maverick as an engineer, he was promoted so he was on ‘the other side’. They management could not control him as an engineer, but as a manager he would take aim at those under him, rather than fight for them.
I was on a course with MT in Belgium, he was a born comedian 85 ish
I worked in the midlands as a field engineer based from the Leeds office. I was there 4 years ish. I worked at Hugin cash register before Datachecker/DTS we Hugin installed the Datachecker machine in stoke on Trent coop sept 84. It did have he ability supposedly to speak though this was never active. I spent 6 months baby sitting this “monster” it would need rebooting most days, it always came back up. As I understood this was Nat Semi product and DTS would be a base to flood the market with Datacheckers, but the 500 and PDP11 won the day and Datachecker system slipped away. I heard there were some installed down south, I bet you didn’t know of one up north.
There were 3 Datachecker host computers down here. All in Safeway Supermarkets. They were installed in Maidstone, Canterbury and Aylesford in Kent, running as a trial for a possible rollout. I had some onsite training by one of the only two engineers that supported it (John Franklin and Glenn Pumfrey). Nasty fully programmable keyboards on the slave tills that were supplied with US specs and took about 30mins of typing using the unmarked keys to reprogram them for Safeway use. I was scheduled for a 3 week training course in the states, but Safeway pulled out and the kit was removed, never to be seen again, before I had it and I missed out on an all expenses paid trip! Probably a good thing though as it was very unreliable and could not be worked on during trading hours. To name the company after that server was a big mistake!
I worked for a DTS agent in Dublin from 1981-1985 (POS Systems), remember the Clondalkin office well. McDonalds had two stores with old machines (can’t remember the model) never had to pay for a big mac for years!
Went to join another agent in Saudi in 1985. Met couple of DTS guys while in Saudi and they suggested I contact Les Ball if I was looking for a job back in UK. Took them up on their offer and Les asked north or south of the river, I quite literally tossed a coin and came up north, lived in Bury St Edmunds, was a field engineer for the East of England up until 1991. Argos, Budgeon, Gateway, Thorn, WH Smith (with the PDP at the back end).
Thanks for the memories