Logos 328 Calculator
Olivetti Logos 328 Olivetti Logos 328 (1968)
The Logos 328 was a logical follow-on to the Programma 101, using the keyboard and printer from the P101 with a reduced set of electronic logic to produce a non-programmable calculator. This less expensive machine was no doubt intended to extend the market to users whose needs were simpler than the P101. A prototype was made in 1966 but development was slow and the 328 did not reach the market until 1968, by which time the calculator market was in the midst of more great change.
Small- and medium scale integrated circuits were well established by 1968 and this was transforming the power and the price of desktop calculators. Machines like the Casio AL-2000, Burroughs C33xx series and Olympia ICR412 were coming to market with the same capability as the Logos 328 but at a fraction of the size and price. The Logos 328 was obsolete as soon as it was introduced and became more so as calculators-on-a-chip became available by 1970.
The Logos 328 was sold in for only about two years, from 1968 until early 1970. It was probably the last example of the hybrid mechanical-electronic architecture that was natural to mechanical calculator companies who had moved into electronics, but was expensive to design, produce and maintain. The Logos 328 sold poorly and is now a rare and unusual machine.
The Logos 328 is an unusual Olivatti machine in another way - it’s rather lumpy and inelegant. It has some Olivetti design cues and some elements of style but the overall effect is not that successful - rather like the story of the entire machine.