neat article on first handheld digital calculator
- Thread starter Rick in PA
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I've had a bunch of calculators over the years.
First one was a (very) used Freden Model D mechanical calculator. Made in California just post WWII. A real beast of a desktop machine, very noisey.
A Casio Mini Calculator, one of their first, a real odd little calculator. Took it back to the store a week after I got it, I believe they had a lot that were returned. Actually it's a shame I returned it as it was a unique little piece, but it cost a lot of money at the time and I was young and didn't want to waste the money.
A TI SR-10, sold it to a friend in high school. Many, many years later, he gave it back to me as a surprise Christmas gift. I really appreciated that as it was one of my favorite calculators.
A TI SR-50, what I sold the SR-10 for. My workhorse calculator through college.
A Sharp EL-5500 II as mentioned above. Wrote some Basic programs to compute compressed air flow from rotameter / pressure gauge set-up at work, instead of having to work through graphs.
A Casio fx-115M (?) Solar Powered Scientific Calculator. My go-to calculator for work. I've had this one for a long, long time. It has a solar cell and a small button battery. You just tap the AC (All Clear) / ON button and it works, year after year. I like that it has large buttons for the numbers and basic mathematic operation.
And others.
Don't get me started on computers, Timex Sinclar, Coleco Adam, Packard-Bell, a bunch of generic PCs, all HP stuff now.
First one was a (very) used Freden Model D mechanical calculator. Made in California just post WWII. A real beast of a desktop machine, very noisey.
A Casio Mini Calculator, one of their first, a real odd little calculator. Took it back to the store a week after I got it, I believe they had a lot that were returned. Actually it's a shame I returned it as it was a unique little piece, but it cost a lot of money at the time and I was young and didn't want to waste the money.
A TI SR-10, sold it to a friend in high school. Many, many years later, he gave it back to me as a surprise Christmas gift. I really appreciated that as it was one of my favorite calculators.
A TI SR-50, what I sold the SR-10 for. My workhorse calculator through college.
A Sharp EL-5500 II as mentioned above. Wrote some Basic programs to compute compressed air flow from rotameter / pressure gauge set-up at work, instead of having to work through graphs.
A Casio fx-115M (?) Solar Powered Scientific Calculator. My go-to calculator for work. I've had this one for a long, long time. It has a solar cell and a small button battery. You just tap the AC (All Clear) / ON button and it works, year after year. I like that it has large buttons for the numbers and basic mathematic operation.
And others.
Don't get me started on computers, Timex Sinclar, Coleco Adam, Packard-Bell, a bunch of generic PCs, all HP stuff now.
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Thanks for the great thread. Brought back a whole bunch of good memories! All that stuff was "super cool" back then.
Still have and use the HP 41C I bought in 1983. If I recall correctly, it coast ~$300 back then. Still have the original box, manuals, etc. It was the "hot" calculator to have in those days, and you get all kinds of different plug-in "extension modules" for it (ie, Math Pack, Machine Design, Statistics, Extended Memory, etc).
ebay is flooded with HP 41 stuff ... amazing.
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hp-41-calculator
ebay is flooded with HP 41 stuff ... amazing.
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hp-41-calculator
This was my 1st calculator. I was just starting to learn how to use a slide rule and decided to get this instead. Can't remember how much it cost - maybe around $100 back then. I bought in 1975 myself from money I made slaving after school. Don't recall what happened to it, but I know I don't have it anymore.
In 1973, the summer after Grade 10, a friend paid $110 for a 3-function (NO DIVISION!) handheld calculator with a weird blue display.
I made it through high school with a slide rule, but in Gr 12 a friend had an electronic calculator with a red LED display. It used a 9 V (non-rechargeable) battery which had a life of < 10 minutes. You turned it off between operations.
That same year my Dad brought home a calculator from work to show it off. I divided by zero, and all the segments flashed on and off repeatedly. This one didn't have an 'E' for error function. Dad sort of freaked out, thinking I'd broken it. I turned it off and back on to 'fix' it.
In college I had first a Sears Digimatic D8, later a TI-30, and finally a little Sharp. (The TI didn't do polar-rectangular conversions, and the Sharp did. I think I was the last one in my class to upgrade.)
And now ... I use the one on my computer at work - the one that comes w/ Windows.
I made it through high school with a slide rule, but in Gr 12 a friend had an electronic calculator with a red LED display. It used a 9 V (non-rechargeable) battery which had a life of < 10 minutes. You turned it off between operations.
That same year my Dad brought home a calculator from work to show it off. I divided by zero, and all the segments flashed on and off repeatedly. This one didn't have an 'E' for error function. Dad sort of freaked out, thinking I'd broken it. I turned it off and back on to 'fix' it.
In college I had first a Sears Digimatic D8, later a TI-30, and finally a little Sharp. (The TI didn't do polar-rectangular conversions, and the Sharp did. I think I was the last one in my class to upgrade.)
And now ... I use the one on my computer at work - the one that comes w/ Windows.
My parents had one much like that. That's a long time ago!
Originally Posted By: Shannow
One too many operations Al...as soon as you press +, you get the answer.
OK..makes sense
One too many operations Al...as soon as you press +, you get the answer.
OK..makes sense
CHILDREN! My first was bamboo, 5 inches long, bought about 1961. Second was similar with better trig capability about 1964. In 1967, I got a 10" model with all the bells and whistles. Of course, those were analog computers/calculators. Then in 1971, an HP-35 electronic slide rule ... $395. I still have it, but don't use it; a HP15c and HP48 do for me now with HP15 emulators on my phone and computers. RPN forever!
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
I'm still using the HP 15c calculator I got as a gift in 1983. It's worth more now than what seemed like a high price in 1983 ($110). There are emulators out there for iPhone and Android, but the feel of the button clicks make all the difference. Once you are used to RPN there's no going back.
It's all about the tactile feel of the clicks with the RPN HPs. You know immediately if you've made a mistake/miskey. I had the 11c in 1984 in HS and a few years later got the 12C/Financial and use it to this day for trading/in finance. No replacement.. The country of origin on the 12C moving around the world is a lesson in global manufacturing trend. USA ones are awesome, as are the Singapore ones. The newest Chinese ones (at least as of a few years ago) are absolutely useless. The feel is wrong and the buttons go bad.
I'm still using the HP 15c calculator I got as a gift in 1983. It's worth more now than what seemed like a high price in 1983 ($110). There are emulators out there for iPhone and Android, but the feel of the button clicks make all the difference. Once you are used to RPN there's no going back.
It's all about the tactile feel of the clicks with the RPN HPs. You know immediately if you've made a mistake/miskey. I had the 11c in 1984 in HS and a few years later got the 12C/Financial and use it to this day for trading/in finance. No replacement.. The country of origin on the 12C moving around the world is a lesson in global manufacturing trend. USA ones are awesome, as are the Singapore ones. The newest Chinese ones (at least as of a few years ago) are absolutely useless. The feel is wrong and the buttons go bad.
You all must be a lot more experienced than me...
This was my first calculator, bought when I was 15 or 16:
This was my first calculator, bought when I was 15 or 16:
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Still have and use the HP 41C I bought in 1983. If I recall correctly, it coast ~$300 back then. Still have the original box, manuals, etc. It was the "hot" calculator to have in those days, and you get all kinds of different plug-in "extension modules" for it (ie, Math Pack, Machine Design, Statistics, Extended Memory, etc).
Yes, me too. I bought my HP-41C in the early 80s and just kept using it. Sometime in the 90s it got damaged in the lab where I worked (solvent dripped on the buttons) and when I sent it in for repair they returned a HP-41CX instead. Nothing like RPN, I still like it and it kept the riffraff from borrowing your calculator
Still have and use the HP 41C I bought in 1983. If I recall correctly, it coast ~$300 back then. Still have the original box, manuals, etc. It was the "hot" calculator to have in those days, and you get all kinds of different plug-in "extension modules" for it (ie, Math Pack, Machine Design, Statistics, Extended Memory, etc).
Yes, me too. I bought my HP-41C in the early 80s and just kept using it. Sometime in the 90s it got damaged in the lab where I worked (solvent dripped on the buttons) and when I sent it in for repair they returned a HP-41CX instead. Nothing like RPN, I still like it and it kept the riffraff from borrowing your calculator
Originally Posted By: spiritrider
I fondly remember replacing my trusty slide rule with a TI SR-50 in 1974...
That brought back some memories. Halfway through college, I replaced my bamboo Post slide rule with a TI calculator (can't remember the model number). I also recall constructing a desktop digital calculator from Heathkit.
I fondly remember replacing my trusty slide rule with a TI SR-50 in 1974...
That brought back some memories. Halfway through college, I replaced my bamboo Post slide rule with a TI calculator (can't remember the model number). I also recall constructing a desktop digital calculator from Heathkit.
Franc Rode, inventor of a first pocket calculator HP35 died today...aged 86
http://www.rtvslo.si/news-in-english/fra...lculator/392355
http://www.rtvslo.si/news-in-english/fra...lculator/392355
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