I'm not into the collecting bit, but when an ancient programmable from university days died I found a basic scientific in, of all places, Poundland. It was so good I bought a spare, this one travels to various workplaces assuming that I haven't lost it. Calculators, like desk phones, are becoming difficult to find in the modern workplace. "Can't you just use your phone Steve?" Yeah, if you've got a phone that does standard deviation. Or knows tan 25. No? Sine then, I'll go that way. About 0.4 something I'd guess. No?
Pocket Calculator Thread
- Thread starter droodzilla
- Start date
Tony L
Administrator
I‘d love one of those, but as you say it gets seriously expensive for a nice example. I do however have this:
I bought it a few years ago (it was only £30 or so) just to learn how mechanical calculators work. It is certainly not a pocket calculator though, but neither is my Toahiba upthread!
droodzilla
pfm Member
This is timely.
I recently found my first and second calculator in an old drawer. I had no reason the think either would work, but I put fresh batteries in both — two AAs in the Casio and four button cells in the Sharp — and they still work.
The oldest (a Casio CP-801C) was a Christmas gift I got when in Grade 5 and dates to 1975, give or take. The cool-ass blue-green fluorescent numbers still light up just fine.
The second calculator (a Sharp CT-550), which is also a clock, day-date thingy and stopwatch, was a combo birthday and Christmas gift from the entire family a year later. I seem to recall its being around $50 then, so a bazillion dollars in today's money. I wanted it so badly because it flipped open like a communicator and would beep when the stopwatch hit zero in countdown mode.
To round it out is an HP-42S, a programmable RPN calculator that got me through a couple of science degrees.
It will let you know if you've created a black hole and it can work with complex numbers, which is kinda neat. It also has a guzinta button -- e.g., 3 guzinta 12 four times.
Joe
Nice collection! That Casio is remarkably well preserved and looks identical to my very first calculator (may God have mercy on its soul).
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
cj66
pfm Member
My dad had one very similar, not badged as Tosh though and the colour scheme was different.
and a late-70s Toshiba BC-1270
He was given quite a few new-model calculators and "hand held computers" by mainly HP and TI via his work.
I remember re-programming one in Basic to perform hire purchase calculations....
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Drood,
It’s interesting that even though you can get a new calculator for a few clams at clamland there’s a market for vintage calculators, particularly old HPs, which seem to be the calculator equivalent of that old clicky IBM keyboard.
Joe
It’s interesting that even though you can get a new calculator for a few clams at clamland there’s a market for vintage calculators, particularly old HPs, which seem to be the calculator equivalent of that old clicky IBM keyboard.
Joe
Tony L
Administrator
There is a real cult around HP calculators, some very collectable models there. RPN and all that (which would confuse the heck out of me).
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
I'll have to dig out Napiers Bones
droodzilla
pfm Member
Yes, HP, especially the programmable models, were the calculators that every geek aspired to own, so I'm not surprised there's a market for them now.
I could never afford one but, for a long time, I had a chunky Casio effort that was trying to emulate the HP experience (no RPN though!).
Just before going to university, I bought myself this monster:
which looked impressive (or so I thought) but wasn't terribly practical.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Seriously, this is about as far as I got.
dan m
pfm Member
That DM32 looks amazing. I’m also tempted by the reissue of the hp15c (“Special Edition”) which I had and sadly lost. https://www.studentcalculators.co.u...r-Collector-s-edition-NOW-IN-STOCK-HP15C.html
What was the schoolboy joke where you would tell some shaggy dog story about a woman who wanted breast enlargement, she added up the costs and "this is what she got!" You would then show your mate the inverted calculator reading "8008LE55", cue much sniggering.Seriously, this is about as far as I got.
Ich bin der Musikant mit Taschenrechner in der Hand…
Some very tactile and clicky adding and subtracting happening here.
Sinclair had a reputation of buying cheap chips from god knows where. Clearly in my case they were reject faulty ones why cheap. Didn't stop him did it?
Would love one of these, completely daft and completely 1970's. Even though introduced in 1985
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
My dad bought something very like that in about 1971 or 1972, except that in place of a % button it had a √ button, which was very cool. None of my mates had a square root function on their dads' calculators.The oldest (a Casio CP-801C) was a Christmas gift I got when in Grade 5 and dates to 1975, give or take. The cool-ass blue-green fluorescent numbers still light up just fine.
Our school allowed the use of calculators from the third form (~age 13-14) onwards (I can't translate this into 'year X' or 'grade' sorry) and recommended two models, one of which was the Texas Instruments Ti30, which I got. Exactly like this one:
I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
