The Commodore Programmable Thermostat
The Commodore Programmable Thermostat
One of the lesser-known, non-computer items that Commodore put to market was a programmable thermostat, released by Commodore’s consumer products division. It was intended to provide increased energy efficiency for home heating and cooling by adjusting temperature levels to maximize comfort while people were at home, and reduce power consumption while people were away at work during the day. Like many Commodore products, the programmable thermostat was not originally created by Commodore.
The History of Commodore’s Programmable Thermostat
MDSI Founder, Tom Hyltin
This thermostat was created by a company out of Dallas, TX named Micro Display Systems, Inc. MDSI was founded on March 27, 1973 by Tom Hyltin, Bob Schnurr and Charlie Ristagno who all worked together at Texas Instruments’ LCD watch division. The company was initially financed by Seiko out of Japan, with the President of Seiko, Ichiro Hattori being listed as one of the original directors of Micro Display Systems, Inc. In 1978, MDSI was primarily selling LCD watches when, according to Howard Upchurch who was the 8th employee hired by MDSI, Tom Hyltin called a meeting in his executive suite one morning. Howard Upchurch, Red Schneider (from the Engineering Department) and Neal Moat (Mechanical Design) were in attendance. Hyltin opened the meeting with, “We’ve got the watches up and running and there’s not going to be much change there. Watch sales aren’t what we wanted them to be and we are losing money with every LCD we make. To bring in money, we’re trying to sell displays to other watch companies. What we need to come up with this morning is a new product that will use all the knowledge and expertise we have. That means it will use an LCD, will have to use MOS chips, will have have to require very low voltage and power and a few other requirements. I’ve done a lot of thinking and I think a thermostat will do.”
Scott Jamieson demonstrating the programmable thermostat. Photo credit: John Feagans
The LSI chip was secured to the board with a blob of epoxy. Photo credit: Santo Nucifora
MDSI hired a consultant named Scott Jamieson, who was eventually hired full-time, to do the design. A prototype was built by American Microsystems, Inc. The prototype was a large wire-wrapped board, and once it was debugged, AMI created an LSI chip for their design. If you disassemble a Commodore thermostat, you’ll notice the LSI chip is secured to the PCB using a blob of epoxy with traces connected directly to it. MDSI did not have the silicon encased in a traditional ceramic or plastic package.
Tom Hyltin and Scott Jamieson secured a US patent for their thermostat design in 1981.
Commodore’s release of the programmable thermostat
Commodore’s 1980 Annual Report to Shareholders, page 9
L-R: Richard Rainbolt, Frank Hughes and Ned Whatley of Commodore’s Cash Register Team. Photo credit: John Feagans
Commodore purchased MDSI in 1979 and their Consumer Products Division put the completed thermostat to market in 1980. Scott Jamieson became Commodore staff as part of this purchase. The MDSI facility at 4350 Beltwood Parkway South, in Dallas, Texas was renamed “Commodore Optoelectronics” and housed the MDSI LCD line, Commodore’s Speech Technology Division (headed by Dr. Richard Wiggins who developed the Texas Instruments Speak and Spell), and Commodore’s Cash Register team. The building was still unfinished at this point and had a dirt floor in some parts. Micro Display Systems, Inc was legally merged into Commodore Business Machines, Inc, along with MOS Technology, Inc and Frontier Manufacturing, Inc on December 23, 1980, at which point it ceased to exist as a legal entity unto itself.
The end of Commodore’s Consumer Product Division
