Author Topic: What calculator do you use ?  (Read 173332 times)

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Offline Architect_1077

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #175 on: August 17, 2012, 06:15:15 pm »
TI-92, vintage. This thing still works!  ;D
 

Offline Tepe

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #176 on: August 17, 2012, 08:13:35 pm »
I use the HP-15C I got a tad over 28 years ago  :P
 

Offline Randall W. Lott

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #177 on: August 18, 2012, 08:35:09 am »
I use a TI-89 Titanium and a HP 50g.
- Randy
 

Offline AndyC_772

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #178 on: August 18, 2012, 12:11:20 pm »
I use a Casio FX115MS, because it's one of the very few models that understands and supports engineering suffixes for powers of 10. So, for example, I can directly multiply 47n by 33.1k and get an answer of 1.5557m, without having to first think about converting the natural way I write and specify components into E-9 or E+3 or whatever. Stick the calculator in Eng mode and it gives results directly in picofarads, megahertz or whatever other unit is appropriate, not just x.yyyE13 which requires thinking.

Offline PA4TIM

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #179 on: August 21, 2012, 08:53:35 am »
After the hint from juiceking about calcultor apps I found a very nice app from a HP45s for my lumia 900
I allready used it a lot. It looks so rela, and because the 900 is a big phone it works great too. I was using it on my desk and one of the guys asked, " got a new calculator ? , nice, looks expensive" he did not noticed it was my phone.
Also found one for the ipad, from a HP42. This is a real woking picture of a 42 (but with added functions) as an extra it gives the stack and registers seperate in a box. It works well but i think the modern two line display showing X an Y stack at the same time is more usable, aso the fact it uses rectangulair and polar notation on one line instead of R in Y and jX in X ( or I do domething wrong) . ( but not as good looking as the leds)

I would love to have on old HP with the point-led display. But i think they are rare collectors items by now (and need a lot of batteries)

Fred

www.pa4tim.nl my collection measurement gear and experiments Also lots of info about network analyse
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Offline Rerouter

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #180 on: August 21, 2012, 09:40:25 am »
a more recent fx-82AU mainly becuase it has a rather deep memory and its functionality covers effectivly my understanding of mathmatical formula, (i am one of those people that become confused with integral representations of plain algebraic equations)
 

Offline JuiceKing

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What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #181 on: August 22, 2012, 12:59:35 am »
Does the HP 45 emulation include the "secret" stopwatch feature? Does it keep lousy time like the real thing?

There are always plenty of the old LED-based HP calculators on eBay, and when I was interested in these things I noticed that occasionally buyers made  out like bandits when there was a dearth of bidders on a common model in mediocre condition. The original batteries are inevitably shot, but there is a vendor on eBay who thoughtfully supplies new nicads in the right shape as a replacement. Leaked batteries are these old calculators' worst enemies, so insist on seeing an interior photo before bidding.

There are some very detailed and interesting papers from HP about the workings and engineering of the original 35 and 80, and on YouTube, a superb interview of Tom Osborne.

You are warned that reading these papers may create an irresistible desire for one of these in your hand,

After the hint from juiceking about calcultor apps I found a very nice app from a HP45s for my lumia 900


I would love to have on old HP with the point-led display. But i think they are rare collectors items by now (and need a lot of batteries)

Fred
 

Offline PA4TIM

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #182 on: August 22, 2012, 06:26:46 am »
Yes, it has the hidden timer and you can choose someting that as to do with original speed or time or so bu I did not know what they meant because I have no compare.

I never buy or look on ebay, this is as self-protection ( i allready have to much gear and I can not make bids, if someone askes no price on the dutch craigslist equivalent i do not react, even if i want the instrument) i have one GR bridge from ebay but a friend negotiated and bought if for me.

I will look the osborn movie. There is a piece about the 35 in an interview with hewlett or pachard, they ask in a meeting about is if this could be commercial because the price and Hewlett said something like ; if there is a computer I can take with me in my pocket I would buy it, and i I would there must be others. They named it calculator because a computer was in those thays synonim with IBM.
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Offline robrenz

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #183 on: August 22, 2012, 11:09:01 am »
Yes, it has the hidden timer and you can choose someting that as to do with original speed or time or so bu I did not know what they meant because I have no compare.

Original speed means the calculations will take as long as they did on the original calcualtor running its painfully slow processor.  Otherwise they happen instantaneously

Offline T4P

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #184 on: August 22, 2012, 04:25:30 pm »
Some emulators i used actually emulate the calculator so well it feels like the original processor's and ram's in  :-\
Well at least the TI-86 emu i have didn't emulate the processor either, only the 96KB
 

Offline olsenn

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #185 on: August 22, 2012, 05:52:44 pm »
The TI-86 is the best calculator ever made in my opinion.
 

Offline ttp

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #186 on: August 23, 2012, 12:38:11 pm »
My first calculator was HP 21 back in 1975, once I got my head around RPN it was amazing what you can do with 4 level stack. Nowadays I don't use calculator very often, I got HP 32SII for more demanding tasks and for casual use I got Real Calc on my phone (in RPN mode of course). I find after getting comfortable with RPN I can use algebraic entry calculator but it requires extra effort and it's slower for me.

Got a bit of soft spot for old calculators, mainly HP but other too. Have a few HP 21's and some others from 1970's, most of them bought junk from Ebay and restored to working order. There are few more waiting to be repaired including Casio from early 70's (4 function office calculator with VFD display) and abused HP 28S which may be beyond restoration.
 

Offline robrenz

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #187 on: August 23, 2012, 01:05:47 pm »
In my progression from the hp25 to the hp48GX (and every single model between them) I used to carry my hp97 to work every day in my breifcase.  Magnetic card reader to load programs, soft keys that lined up with the magnetic card, built in thermal printer, pure calcualtor porn.  ;D


I still use the 48GX every day in the shop.  I hate the 50, it is unuseable compared to the 48.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2012, 01:09:25 pm by robrenz »
 

Offline saturation

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #188 on: August 23, 2012, 01:41:35 pm »
Nice, do you use the paper tape feature?  Can you still get inked-ribbon for it?  I see they occassionally sell them but its nearly $45 for a ribbon cartridge!

http://www.staples.com/HP-97-Tricolor-Ink-Cartridge-C9363WN/product_573985

In my progression from the hp25 to the hp48GX (and every single model between them) I used to carry my hp97 to work every day in my breifcase. ..
Best Wishes,

 Saturation
 

Offline robrenz

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #189 on: August 23, 2012, 02:05:38 pm »
I did not keep all the intermediate calculators, I sold them to friends and coleagues as soon as I could buy the next generation.  The printer on the 97 was thermal.  I actualy wrote a 97 program that generated gcode for our cnc lathes before there were readily available CAM packages. I had 3 people using the same program on hp41CX's cranking out gcode to manualy punch into the controls.  Also did a program to do helical interpolation before it existed as a command on the  cnc controls.  Many a thread was milled using that program.  Those were the days ;D

Offline Lightages

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #190 on: August 25, 2012, 03:47:07 pm »
I still use the 48GX every day in the shop.  I hate the 50, it is unuseable compared to the 48.

I have been considering buying a 50. Could you please elaborate on your experience with it compared to the 48?
 

Offline robrenz

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #191 on: August 25, 2012, 08:45:14 pm »
I have been considering buying a 50. Could you please elaborate on your experience with it compared to the 48?

It could be that it is just harder to get to the things I use a lot and I didn't give it much of a chance ( got very frustraded very quickly).  Unit conversions on the 48 are very convienient with very few keystrokes. There are to many levels of menu for me on the 50 to get to the conversions and even when yoy get there it is not as useable. If I didn't have years of conditioning on the 48 I might find the 50 ok.  I am not adverse to agebraic entry since I use maple for heavier duty stuff but it is to cumbersome for daily number crunching in the shop.  (I know the 50 does RPN also but I still dont like it)

Offline PA4TIM

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #192 on: August 25, 2012, 09:01:48 pm »
Looked for an old HP on the Dutch market place but not much offers, just one and that was sold the same day for over 55 euro. That is more expensive as a new 35s

What would be a good model for EE , must have complex numbers.
www.pa4tim.nl my collection measurement gear and experiments Also lots of info about network analyse
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Offline JuiceKing

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #193 on: August 25, 2012, 09:26:18 pm »
Looked for an old HP on the Dutch market place but not much offers, just one and that was sold the same day for over 55 euro. That is more expensive as a new 35s

What would be a good model for EE , must have complex numbers.

That might be a tough combination... The classics don't have native handling of complex numbers. You can program the HP65/67 for this, but then you are looking at more money and the hassles of programming and magnetic cards. The HP67 bizarrely puts shift functions UNDER the keys (not over them, as on every other HP calculator) which makes them annoying to use and error prone. Both models depended on the battery to be in the calculator for voltage regulation...it's a common problem that the card reader motor is damaged because someone tried to use the calculator with the external power adapter without a battery in place.

The HP34C is a late LED model with non-volatile memory, and no doubt can be programmed to do some complex number operations. These are not that rare, but their weak point is a fragile battery cover, so watch for problems there. (Also, I will repeat my complaint that the reciprocal key is a shift function, which is terrible because reciprocal is a commonly used operation in RPN.)

I think you would like the HP 15C very much, even though it doesn't have an LED display. The LCD has very good contrast and is readable under normal light. The newer dot-matrix LCD displays on HP calculators are very hard to read by comparison. It has good complex number support built in, and achieves its power without ruining usability. The old ones are collector items, but HP re-issued this model as a "limited edition" and they were selling until recently on the HP website for about $100. Maybe they ran out, but they are still available on Amazon, I believe, for about the same amount.
 

Offline PA4TIM

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #194 on: August 25, 2012, 11:11:36 pm »
Thanks for the info.I think I keep using the virtual one for fun. I had not tought about batteries ect. I really want to use it and I have the 35S that I like but I want that in the shop instead of the casio (and it is in a safe leather jacket) and a second HP for my "desk" (i do the design ect not in my lab but most times while resting on bed or couch.
So I looked for the 15C and that is indeed very nice. I think I have to get used to the single line display but the functions are placed very logical. Found one here in Holland. On stock 115 euro and free postage.
Let you know when I have it.
www.pa4tim.nl my collection measurement gear and experiments Also lots of info about network analyse
www.schneiderelectronicsrepair.nl  repair of test and calibration equipment
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Offline Lightages

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #195 on: August 26, 2012, 03:24:54 am »
I have an HP35S and I am impressed with it. it does everything except graphing and is in the traditional design that HP was known for. Well it doesn't have the double molded keys but the feel and colours are very ergonomic.

There is an open source project based on the HP20/30 that is also very interesting.
This person is selling a pre-modified product at what I think is a reasonable price for his time:
http://commerce.hpcalc.org/34s.php

There are also links to the project.

For the most part I use the emulators for HP calcs on my Samsung Galaxy SII, but  still like the physical feel of real HP calcs.
 

Offline PA4TIM

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #196 on: August 26, 2012, 06:44:20 am »
I found an open source emulator that works under linux of a HP-15C. Installed is yesterday on my pc instead of the standard calculator.  I am on my Ipad now so i cannot link it but if you search for HP-15C emulator you find it. It looks just like the real on.
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Offline steve30

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #197 on: August 26, 2012, 07:06:35 am »
I have an HP 35s.

Bought it 3 years ago. I was quite new to RPN back then but quickly learnt it and fell in love with it.

It replaced my old Casio FX83MS. Now, whenever I get the old Casio out I forget how to use it.

My only major complaint about the 35s is the display, it isn't very readable in the dark. I wonder how easy it would be to bodge in a backlight.
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #198 on: September 01, 2012, 05:06:20 am »
HP42S, along with an ancient Casio FX602P. most commonly though are the real simple ones in the cellphone, or the built in scientific one in Debian gCalctool. More often then not a pen and paper is sufficient.
 

Offline PA4TIM

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Re: What calculator do you use ?
« Reply #199 on: September 01, 2012, 05:35:42 am »
My HP-15C limitted edition just arrived. I love it. The 35s can do more, but the 15C does all functions  I use too, but is a bit easier to use. Also a very clear display.
www.pa4tim.nl my collection measurement gear and experiments Also lots of info about network analyse
www.schneiderelectronicsrepair.nl  repair of test and calibration equipment
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