I don't know where the "HP 44 Bus" thing comes from, I've done tons of research into old HP computers (and actually use and work on a number at work!). There doesn't seem to be any such thing...
I agree wholeheartedly. Clearly, whatever they salvaged that edge connector from had to be, at a minimum:
a) Initially available (in some quantity > 1 strip) to the prop makers at the time and place they were building, and
b) of limited value at the time it was cannibalized.
I am actually a bit surprised that the Exactra fit that criteria. But I suppose that can be explained by a large production coupled with low reliability. Once the manufacturer ran out of replacement parts (and I have seen evidence of repairs in the Exactra's I have examined), those calculators may have started turning into relatively expensive paperweights. They would only have needed a couple laying around to plausibly get started.
When the ESB started filming, broken Exactra's may no longer have been readily available, and so they had to look around for something else...
And someone came up with a circuit board edge connector.
It seems that the universe of possible candidates for the edge connector we are looking for is disconcertingly large and poorly documented.
On the one hand, they may have only needed ONE card - if it was a large one with many pins. It could even have been from something expensive that had failed unrepairable.
On the other hand, it could have been something as obscure and inexpensive as a prototyping board. They did build electronic blinky things for various props. Else they contracted that work out. Either way, there would have been and electronic junk box laying around somewhere within easy reach.
The relative lack of progress from a community that has learned so much else does seem to argue that we are searching for a needle in a haystack that has been compressed into mulch and lies buried under 6 feet of urban waste.
Unless someone gets lucky, I fear that the most stubborn amongst us may have to satisfy themselves with something from the late 60's - early 70's that at least looks plausible.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
