Calculator Drawer

It may just seem a throwback, but some of these calculator emulators of TI and HP calculators may provide some functions that may be harder to find online these days. If you had a favorite old TI or HP calculator, you can check out these emulators here. https://archive.org/details/calculatordrawer Actually, I still have working models going back to my first calculator and having a hard time justifying not sending them to salvage.

Thanks for the link. I must check that out!

I had an HP 41-CV with all the addons including a barcode scanner to import programs. Then I took my calculator to work because I was doing my homework during my work shift as a computer operator. On my way out, I took the stairs instead of the elevator and I stumbled. The calculator slipped between my fingers and fell 4 floors to the ground floor. When I made it to the bottom, I picked up the pieces and threw them away. There was literally nothing left of the HP 41-CV.

Unfortunately, that one doesn't seem to be included - yet. I remember my first calculator I paid something like $74 on sale at JCPennys. It did the four basic math functions and maybe percents, and that was it. It quit fairly early on, and I took it back for a refund. About that time my Dad had seen an ad by National Semiconducter. They made chips for the HP Scientific calculators, but they had a faulty batch. It wasn't much, something like if you took the arcsine of a certain number to a large number of decimals (and it had to be THAT specific number!), the answer would be off in some decimal place or other. I think it made a difference of something like an inch in the diameter of the universe, but nonetheless it was a defect! So, they could not sell them to HP.
Instead, they came out with a Novus calculator that was basically the HP Scientific in a plain wrapper. Plain black case, silver front, black buttons. Same key and function layout as the HP Scientific. The same red display. The same RPN. I got it for about $25. It still works today!

I have two Casio CM-100 calculators. I use them every day. It makes short work of doing Binary, Octal, or Hex math, as well as making decimal coordinates (23.453 degrees) into DMS notation (23:27:10.8). This is especially great for working with such stuff as Google Earth and maps of all types. Since it is light-powered (a very early innovation in calculators) I never need batteries. I also have a Casio fx-115d. Another great scientific calculator.

Bill

I have a Texas Instruments TI-nspire graphing/scientific calculator. It has a removable graphing and scientific number pads and was a high-school graduation gift to myself, along with crossing off my bucket list a trip south to Folkston, Georgia. I also have a Casio graphing calculator that I used all the way from middle school all the way through high school. I also programmed a lot of mathematical formulas into that Casio graphing calculator.

Bill and Jordon, these are some of the things I wondered if these emulators might be good for, once the physical calculators are broken or worn out. But in those days, I think they built components and circuit boards better than they do today, and a lot of them are still around!

I forgot all about my programmable calculator. I have (and still use to calculate crystal frequencies for my ham receiver, a Drake 2B) a Casio FX-502P. Wonderful machine. The battery I installed in 2003 still powers it!

Bill

I got a TI-30 when I headed off to college in the fall of 1976. It was used while majoring in aeronautical engineering. I pulled it out of the closet and it still will power up but some of the display elements have missing segments. You looked so nerdy with that hanging from your belt.

https://www.screencast.com/t/lV8DIJQD4JP

Sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, I got a replacement, a solar powered TI-34 with boolean algebra functions and Hexadecimal, Octal, Binary and Decimal conversion.

https://www.screencast.com/t/4ln9z32r04

I used it mostly while programming.

William