Calculators

Thread Starter

ApacheKid

Joined Jan 12, 2015
1,533
Some might call me a loser, but I recently bought a calculator an HP 35S which has superb build quality.

Of course my PC has a calculator as does my phone, but I wanted to have a dedicated well constructed unit for sitting at my desk doing real electronics calculations like when I was a student in the late 1970s.

Do others here still use such calculators? do you use them on a regular basis?

When I was a teen I longed to get a TI-58 or TI-59, these were the "Rolls Royce" of calculators back then but unaffordable for me!
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,280
The best calculator I've ever had, an HP-42s, developed a bad key and I sorely missed it.
Then I found a virtual HP-42s app which I installed on on my computer and cell phone, which I use often.
The skin looks like the real device (screen-snip below) and it has all its functions operational (someone did a lot of work to generate that app).
When active, my cell phone has the exact look and face dimensions close to the real device.
So my favorite calculator now has a virtual life after a real death. :)

1581265426263.png
 
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SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
Still using an ancient TI-83 after retiring my previous TI-30X. Along with a host of virtual calc apps. Still like a handheld to use though.
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Do others here still use such calculators? do you use them on a regular basis?
Yes, but not to the extent I did at work before retiring. Recently there was a thread and I believe it was crutschow who mentioned the Free 42 App for smart phones. Really pretty cool for those who enjoyed the HP 42 calculators. I actually wore mine out to where I had to bend it to get certain keys to work. The I was gifted a TI83 Plus and used that till I retired but missed the HP RPN which I was so comfortable with. Here on my table lies a TI-31 which goes back 30 years and does fine on my computer table. During my career my calculator was a part of my daily life, today, not so much. Anyway, the liked app is pretty cool and actually I think I downloaded it free on Google Play.

Ron
 

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,153
I am using HP-35S calculators. On my second one with only two spares left. Beware -the keyboards on these tend to become intermittent. Press the keys on your calculator gently and your's may last a few years.

I also keep a $5 Algebraic calculator on my desk mainly for conversion between decimal and hex notation.
 

Chris65536

Joined Nov 11, 2019
270
I still have my HP-28S from college. For a long time I used it for balancing my checkbook, since it stores the last value when the power is off. For the last 6 months though, I've been using a calculator of my own design, constructed on breadboard. So far, the checkbook still balances!
 
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