Editing Jack Tramiel (section)

===Typewriters and calculators===
In 1953, while working as a [[taxi]] driver, Tramiel bought a shop in the [[The Bronx|Bronx]] to repair office machinery,<ref name="Up">{{cite web|url=https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-history/chronological-history-of-commodore-computer/|title=Chronological History of Commodore Computer|publisher=Up & Running Technologies Incorporated|access-date=April 12, 2021}}</ref> securing a $25,000 loan for the business from a U.S. Army entitlement.<ref name="Up & Running Technologies Incorporated">{{cite web|url=https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-history/you-dont-know-jack/|title=You Don't Know Jack!|publisher=Running|access-date=April 12, 2021}}</ref> He named it '''Commodore Portable Typewriter'''. Tramiel wanted a military-style name for his company, but names such as Admiral and General were already taken, so he settled on the Commodore name.<ref name="pcmag">{{cite news
 |title        = As Commodore 64 Turns 25, Founders Reminisce
 |work         = PC Magazine
 |date         = March 29, 1994
 |url          = https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2231499,00.asp
 |access-date  = December 14, 2007
 |first        = Natali
 |last         = Del Conte
 |archive-date = December 13, 2007
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071213183701/http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2231499,00.asp
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>

In 1956, Tramiel signed a deal with Czechoslovak typewriter manufacturer [[Zbrojovka Brno|Zbrojovka Brno NP]] to assemble and sell their typewriters in North America. However, as Czechoslovakia was part of the [[Warsaw Pact]], they could not be imported directly into the U.S., so Tramiel used parts from Zbrojovka's Consul typewriters and set up '''Commodore Business Machines''' in [[Toronto]], Canada.<ref name="Up"/> After Zbrojovka began developing their own hardware Commodore signed an agreement in 1962 with [[Rheinmetall-Borsig]] AG and began to sell Commodore portable typewriters made from the parts of older Rheinmetall-Borsig typewriters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2013/05/rheinmetall-portable-typewriters.html|title=oz.Typewriter: Rheinmetall Portable Typewriters|last=Messenger|first=Robert|date=May 3, 2013|website=oz.Typewriter|access-date=May 11, 2016}}</ref> In 1962, Commodore went public, but the arrival of Japanese typewriters in the U.S. market made the selling of Czechoslovak typewriters unprofitable. Struggling for cash, the company sold 17% of its stock to Canadian businessman [[Irving Gould]], taking in $400,000<ref name="Up"/> and using the money to re-launch the company in the [[adding machine]] business,<ref>In 1962, he bought Feiler, a German company producing adding machines (see [https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-history/early-history-of-jack-tramiels-commodore/ Early history of Jack Tramiels-Commodore])</ref> which was profitable for a time before the Japanese entered that field as well. Stung twice by the same source, Gould suggested that Tramiel travel to Japan to learn why they were able to outcompete North Americans in their own local markets. It was during this trip that Tramiel saw the first digital calculators, and decided that the mechanical adding machine was a dead end.<ref name=early>{{cite web|url=https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-history/early-commodore-history/|title=Early Commodore History!|publisher=Running|access-date=April 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323133002/http://www.commodore.ca/history/company/early_commodore_history.htm|archive-date=March 23, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

When Commodore released its first calculators, combining an LED display from [[Calculator#Pocket calculators|Bowmar]] and an [[integrated circuit]] from [[Texas Instruments]] (TI), it found a ready market. However, after slowly realizing the size of the market, TI decided to cut Commodore out of the middle, and released their own calculators at a price point below Commodore's cost of just the chips. Gould once again rescued the company, injecting another $3&nbsp;million, which allowed Commodore to purchase [[MOS Technology|MOS Technology, Inc.]] an [[Integrated circuit|IC]] design and [[semiconductor fabrication plant|semiconductor manufacturer]], a company which had also supplied Commodore with calculator ICs.<ref name=early/> When their lead designer, [[Chuck Peddle]], told Tramiel that calculators were a dead end and computers were the future, Tramiel told him to build one to prove the point.<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2012-08-19 |title=Jack Tramiel, Founder Of Commodore Computers, Dies Aged 83. |url=https://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2012/08/19/jack-tramiel-founder-of-commodore-computers-dies-aged-83/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=Liverpool Sound and Vision |language=en-US}}</ref>