Old Rockwell Calculator

[passedpawn]

I still remember. You never forget your first.

In the next few years, I would get very jealous over the the cool TI calculators with the red LED displays, and all the buttons. No money for that then.

I remember the first calculator watches (never got one). I did end up with a couple of HP calculators in my adult life. Turns out that RPN is awesome, and the way to go. If you know what that means, then you know what I'm saying.

 

[user 231514]

Hello passedpawn, My first graphing calculator was an HP-28s that I purchased over 20 years ago. At that time it cost me about $280. You can get a much, much more powerful calculator for about a third of the price now. The sad thing is that RPN has not caught on. Most of the people reading this probably don't know what the heck we're talking about but, yes, RPN is awesome.

 

[jeffrow1]

Reverse Polish notation

 

[thekraken]

RPN is the way to go! Now the thing is I have a hard time using a calculator that isn't RPN...

 

[Homercidal]

Mom had a calculator with "chunky" buttons and a red display. Used it for years for balancing checkbook.

In High School I had a Casio calculator watch that also had a few games on it.

Kid has a graphing calculator. I have zero idea how to work it.

And I learned about RPN years ago, but I could never figure it out. I suppose I'm mentally retarded, because according to my friend, "It works the way your brain works!" I think at one tim e I even had an app on my phone for one. Maybe I should install it again and try again.

 

[passedpawn]

Hello passedpawn, My first graphing calculator was an HP-28s that I purchased over 20 years ago. At that time it cost me about $280. You can get a much, much more powerful calculator for about a third of the price now. The sad thing is that RPN has not caught on. Most of the people reading this probably don't know what the heck we're talking about but, yes, RPN is awesome.

Hi Hoppy. I also bought one of those back in the day. Used the heck out of it - even had a nifty burgundy leather carrier for it. Replaced it with a 48G later. I never use either of them now. I've got several calculator apps on my phone, and there's the handy calculator button right on my keyboard here.

 

[arturo7]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485355800.200455.jpg

 

[passedpawn]

football game

Those were the coolest until Mr. Quarterback came out (you could pass with that one).

 

[Whut]

Wow, this thread takes me back a few decades. "The one who started it all."

 

[passedpawn]

Wow, this thread takes me back a few decades. "The one who started it all."

Yea, those TI's were the apple of my eye. All the cool kids had those. I still had my crappy Rockwell. Frigging rich kids.

 

[Shawn3997]

My professors used to tell us how good we had it because they had to use punch cards to do anything on a computer.

 

[passedpawn]

My professors used to tell us how good we had it because they had to use punch cards to do anything on a computer.

I'm sure others will jump in, but I remember punching cards (hollerith cards). You numbered them (by hand) immediately, because if you dropped your tray of cards you were screwed. Feed them through the slot to the ubernerd who ran the mainframe, wait for fanfold printout. Repeat until you got it right.

The cards, in case anyone else remembers them, were that size because for some reason Hollerith made them exact same size as the current dollar bill. It's smaller now.

 

[arturo7]

I remember using those cards. I also remember thinking "computers are bullshvt" because of those cards.

Guess I got that one wrong.

 

[Brewenstein]

I remember this one. My dad would bring it out after dinner just to play with it.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485397649.108833.jpg

 

[passedpawn]

It's interesting to see how the designers dealt with a large matrix of buttons. Colored background, outlines around the buttons, and different colored buttons. Became even harder with buttons that had 2nd/3rd functions.

 

[passedpawn]

I remember this one. My dad would bring it out after dinner just to play with it.

Out of curiosity, how do you remember it was that model? Can you remember the sight of it that clearly?

 

[Homercidal]

I remember this one. My dad would bring it out after dinner just to play with it.

View attachment 386276

That looks quite a lot like the one my mom had. It's been a long time, though...

 

[Brewenstein]

Out of curiosity, how do you remember it was that model? Can you remember the sight of it that clearly?

Is this some kind of test? I'm 51 and have a hard time remembering what I had for dinner last night! It might not have been this *exact* model, but if not, it's darn close. I clearly remember it only had the basic functions and nothing extra.

 

[stella_tigre]

I recall in grade school that my father, a EE who worked at John Deere at that time, used to bring me to work on the weekends and let me do my math homework on a simple desktop 4 function calculator that had nixie tubes. My recollection is that it was similar to this picture....I was proficient at arithmetic so the exposure to technology probably more instructive. Also played with oscilloscopes and other lab equipment. He also had, a little later, one of the earliest "portable" calculators, but if I recall it had an external power supply. It might have been a proptotype.

At that time JD was working on computer control of transmissions, so I think he worked with a bunch of companies that were pretty cutting-edge.

 

[shelly_belly]

In 1974 I bought a Curta mechanical calculator because I had been so fascinated by them. Two years later I traded it for an HP-65 which cost nearly 8 times what I had paid for the Curta!

 

[binabik]

I used to program using punch cards. The trick was to draw a line from upper left to lower right corner in case you dropped them. Much easier to sort out. Didn't learn that right away though. Had to sort through the cards before I learned this trick.

 

[PlexVector]

Off the top of my head I think my calcs were the sr-11, the 51, 58, and finally the 59 with the printer. then I moved to HP RPN non programmable and the last calc was a HP graphing programmable calc that I hardly used. The TI's I had in school and I could program them on the fly during a test with no fear of making a mistake. I wish I had held onto all of them, even though they were worn completely out. Of course I'm dating myself since these started coming out in the last half of the 70's. Good memories though!

 

[stella_tigre]

Anyone ever use the old Rockwell AIM-65?