1985-2008?

[dvandom]

My first "scientific" calculator, a Radio Shack EC-4012, may have finally ceased to function. The 7 key just doesn't work. I'm going to take it home and see if I can tinker it back into shape, but 23 years is a pretty good run for what was a $20 calculator back then. I've had more expensive and fancier calculators since then, but I keep coming back to this, as it's got what I need in a calculator and not much in the way of distracting extras.

The vinyl "book cover" is also stuffed with old cheatsheets dating back to high school chemistry (not to mention the instruction book).

Comments

[ryuko-midori.livejournal.com]

That calculator is as old as me :U

[acoustic-rob.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed. I kept accidently throwing away my High School calculators (I'd put them on my lunch tray, then forget about them when I left the lunch room), and lost my college calculator (a HP-28C that I won in a science competition) a week before the Qualifying Exam. (BAD time to lose one's calculator, by the way. I wouldn't recommend it.)

I still have the HP-32S I bought in 1992 to replace the -28C. Guess I'm getting better about not leaving stuff around.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

I got a 28S my senior year of high school, and used it pretty extensively for a few years, but then hit the courses where a calculator (even one that can integrate) isn't useful. I sold my 28S to a colleague a couple of years ago, since his own HP had died and he really prefers RPN.

Mainly I use a Calc program on my PDA or a scientific calculator I got at Dollar Tree these days, but the old Radio Shack special has been the one I keep at arm's reach at work for cases when I need to do a quick calculation.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

That was good calculator-building!

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Can you perhaps give it a nice final resting place? My old 286E Zenith Supersport laptop (back when a lapop meant 'may cause legs to fall asleep if you sit it on your lap' as it weighs 20 pounds with battery pack) passed away recently. Interestingly, my university asked if they could have it for a display of computing through the ages they are building on behalf of some museum. They got it, and I've seen it and my old wrist PDA (the kind that you could program in BASIC and had to hook an external tablet to to input anything) in a nice glass case.

It makes me feel really old...my Wordperfect 2.0 and Windows 3.0 'help' key guides are still taped to the keyboard!

[viscous.livejournal.com]

I want to say Casio was my preferred brand then. I probably still have some that work, but they haven't been used in 10+ years.

[sweh.livejournal.com]

I still have my Casio fx-570c. I'm pretty sure I got this in 1984, but I can't find any web page to validate that memory (I don't have any memory of buying a second calculator, but...). The manual doesn't seem to have a date in it. The calculator is still on its first battery.

Huh, I just opened the wallet it's in and the wallet is going slimey. Dunno if the glue or the plastic or what. Eww....

[viscous.livejournal.com]

Heh, this was surprisingly easy to Google once I decided to...

http://www.mrmartinweb.com/images/calculator/cafx.jpg

Casio fx-115v "Super-FX". I probably still have two somewhere!

[moonscream.livejournal.com]

I have a tiny 1.75" by 2.25" Logitech calculator that I got all the way back in 1981 as one of those middle school band calendar sales incentives. Its still going strong on the same battery 27 years later. :)

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

I did have to replace the batteries on mine once so far.