Now that we are discussing vintage electronics learning, which book(s) helped you first understand electronics circuits?

Back in the late 1960s my grandfather loaned me a book series which essentially covered only vacuum tube circuits.
Back then I didn’t know the English language so the books were in Spanish, translated from English of course from a program originally devised for the US Navy. 5 or 6 paperback booklets.
The authors were Van Mecklenburg, Leece and Neville. But my memory fails to remember exactly the author’s correct spelling of their names. I could be wrong.

 

 

In those days it was reasonable to expect to be able to repair electronic devices. More recently I find that the intention has been to assure that no way a device can be repaired. Completely aside from just "design for assembly" results, the obvious assembly sequence assures that none of the replaceable parts are accessible.

 

Not electronics, but old school...

 

 

What a cool looking calculator.

I think I might build one with a PIC and some 2812/2813 LEDs.

 

Really, it can be implemented with just a ripple carry up down counter, with or gates between decades and a master up/down control to serve as the add/subtract control. The biggest challenge will be debouncing the dial pulsing contacts.
The real benefit will be not needing to use the nines complement to subtract.
Actually, it will be the electronic equal of an abacus. But it can function just like the one in the video.It will need the adition of binary to decimal decoders/drivers. BUT it will not have any voltage dependent counting elements.

 

Really, it can be implemented with just a ripple carry up down counter, with or gates between decades and a master up/down control to serve as the add/subtract control.

Or a single PIC and a bunch of addressable LEDs (and the telephone dial and digit selection switches, of course).

 

Discrete logic is more towards keeping with the concept this time. And far more educational as well. In addition, following hard logic is easier for many of us than tracing thru software.