The Programma 101 (or P101) was a desktop programmable calculator introduced by Olivetti in 1965. It is sometimes called the first desktop computer, and was noted for its robustness and elegant design.
It had no microprocessor or integrated circuits, and used transistors, resistors, and condensers, along with magnetostrictive line memory. There was no display – output was from a parallel drum printer – and no alphabetic capability.
Programs could be saved to plastic cards, which consisted of a side with a magnetic coating and a label side. Two programs could be saved to a card by putting it in the reader the opposite way up. When the card was placed in the reader, the end of the card label corresponded to keys marked V,W,X and Y and these could be allocated special functions as noted on the card.
The P102 was introduced in 1966 and was almost identical apart from a connector allowing up to four printers, Teletype machines, or punched tape machines to be connected.
The Programma series sold well, and most of the 44,000 units were sold in the North American market, including some to NASA that were used for the Apollo 11 programme. By the early 1970s however it faced competition from newer products such as the Hewlett-Packard 9100.