Author Topic: Geek gadgets - Calculators... (Read 42,279 times)

phitsc · « **Reply #25 on:** November 20, 2009, 08:15 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on November 19, 2009, 09:35 PM

I also have a 48gx now - awesome grapher but SLOW!

Indeed! The time I bought it, that was about 1993, that was a Killer Machine though.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #26 on:** November 20, 2009, 11:52 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on May 19, 2009, 06:08 PM

I find it scary that kids today are ENCOURAGED to use a graphing calculator in calculus and physics classes in high school. Granted, they're not allowed to use them on exams, but why encourage them in the first place? If you don't understand what you are doing and why, what value is there in arriving at the correct answer quickly? I'm getting old...

That's just the down-side of our "Results Driven" society (All Hail the Laued "Rain Maker") as long as you can produce huge stacks of cash...it doesn't matter to the head office how many people were screwed or killed.

(I'm getting old too...)

Darwin · « **Reply #27 on:** May 01, 2010, 03:11 AM »

Crap! Now I'm fixated on slide rules (in addition to calculators).

My Kingdom for a Dietzgen N1725 and a Faber-Castell 2/83

app103 · « **Reply #28 on:** May 01, 2010, 09:32 AM »

I must come from a different world than you guys because this is my idea of a nice calculator.

It might also explain why I hate the Windows calculator and its lack of history tape, and opt for this impossible to find ancient piece of software, instead:

Edvard · « **Reply #29 on:** May 01, 2010, 03:50 PM »

App, I've got like 3 of those kinds of calculators hanging around my house (somewhere), and a small paint bucket full of brand-new ribbons for them all.

I also have a Casio CFX-9800G color graphing calculator that I wrote an RC filter program on when I first started experimenting with fuzz boxes.
Army green and still works like a champ!

Darwin · « **Reply #30 on:** May 01, 2010, 05:34 PM »

Heh, heh - Edvard, I think app meant that she likes virtual calculators whereas I *think* you're assuming she meant the old, big desktop printing calculators?

FWIW, this is what I was talking about:

[attachimg=#]

or this:

[attachimg=#]

rjbull · « **Reply #31 on:** May 01, 2010, 06:48 PM »

Quote from: app103 on May 01, 2010, 09:32 AM

It might also explain why I hate the Windows calculator and its lack of history tape, and opt for this impossible to find ancient piece of software, instead:
(see attachment in previous post)

app, I use another probably impossible to find ancient piece of software, PC Magazine's TapeCalc from the days before they started charging for their utilities. I have an archive of it, which I can make available if wanted.

Oh, and there's the better-known Moffsoft FreeCalc as well, for another that has tape.

app103 · « **Reply #32 on:** May 01, 2010, 08:57 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on May 01, 2010, 05:34 PM

Heh, heh - Edvard, I think app meant that she likes virtual calculators whereas I *think* you're assuming she meant the old, big desktop printing calculators?

No, Edvard got it right. I fell in love with the big desktop calculators with the tape when I had to take a 10-key class (all accounting students were required to do that, back in the 80's). Didn't get one of my own till I contracted a job that required me to have one. (early 90's)

Quote from: rjbull on May 01, 2010, 06:48 PM

app, I use another probably impossible to find ancient piece of software, PC Magazine's TapeCalc from the days before they started charging for their utilities. I have an archive of it, which I can make available if wanted.

Oh, and there's the better-known Moffsoft FreeCalc as well, for another that has tape.

This calculator app I mentioned is a little special. Not sure if you noticed the different modes in the screenshot, but one of them is "fraction". That was the original reason for downloading it. (it also expands into a scientific calculator)

My daughter had misplaced her TI Math Explorer solar calculator supplied by her school and needed it for her homework. That TI calculator was the first designed for teaching fractions, and was kind of hard to find a replacement or substitute, since they were only made available to educational institutions, in packs of 10.

But this little calculator app did the trick and she passed her math class.

That ability to change modes has come in handy quite a bit over the years, for various things.

Incidentally, I never bought the full version which was something I had been meaning to do all these years, but the email address in the about box is no longer in use and I couldn't find the developer. After making my original post about it, I tried one more time and found a web developer by the same name (Thomas Muck). I sent him a note through the contact form on his site asking if he was the same guy that wrote that calculator, and just received a reply back confirming that he is. So now to find out if he is interested in letting me purchase the full version without the nag screen. (I hope he will, he deserves my money and I'd like to finally get rid of the nag)

Darwin · « **Reply #33 on:** May 01, 2010, 10:08 PM »

Quote from: app103 on May 01, 2010, 08:57 PM

No, Edvard got it right. I fell in love with the big desktop calculators with the tape when I had to take a 10-key class (all accounting students were required to do that, back in the 80's). Didn't get one of my own till I contracted a job that required me to have one. (early 90's)

Damn! I completely missed the hyperlink before I wrote my last note

Sorry, app, I just looked at the screenshot!

Edvard · « **Reply #34 on:** May 02, 2010, 10:06 AM »

Darwin, don't forget this thread if you're going to post such juicy photos...

app103 · « **Reply #35 on:** May 02, 2010, 11:08 AM »

I first learned 10-key on something similar to this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/37790018/vintage-olivetti-suma-quanta-20-electric

Technically not a calculator, but an electric mechanical adding machine. It was probably 20-30 years old by the time I got to it.

rjbull · « **Reply #36 on:** May 02, 2010, 02:33 PM »

Quote from: app103 on May 01, 2010, 08:57 PM

This calculator app I mentioned is a little special. Not sure if you noticed the different modes in the screenshot, but one of them is "fraction". That was the original reason for downloading it. (it also expands into a scientific calculator)

No, I just noticed that it didn't seem to have a tape, so I suggested ones that do.

Quote

found a web developer by the same name (Thomas Muck)

If his calculator is interestingly different, it's a pity that it doesn't appear on his current Web site.

app103 · « **Reply #37 on:** May 02, 2010, 08:47 PM »

Quote from: rjbull on May 02, 2010, 02:33 PM

No, I just noticed that it didn't seem to have a tape, so I suggested ones that do.

That dropdown at the top is the history tape.

Quote from: rjbull on May 02, 2010, 02:33 PM

If his calculator is interestingly different, it's a pity that it doesn't appear on his current Web site.

It's about 10 years old and written in VB. That might have something to do with it.

app103 · « **Reply #38 on:** May 03, 2010, 03:17 AM »

Update on the calculator app story...

Tom Muck answered my email and says that he never sold that calculator because it was never properly finished. He gave me a slightly newer version of it for free, without the nag screen, with the VB source, and an even newer version with some extra features (a proper tape!)

This is starting out to be a great day!

steeladept · « **Reply #39 on:** May 03, 2010, 02:15 PM »

Well while we are at it then, App (or anyone else), have you found anything that does a justifiable job of recreating a Time Value of Money (TVM) calculator? I found a bunch online, but none offline. Well a few that were particularly expensive, but none that were resonable and that made a good replacement for the windows calc. I even looked into rolling my own, but I was having a lot of trouble with getting accurate results from certain calculus functions. I sort of gave up before I could troubleshoot the issue (was it the math library, was it the function, or was it the coder? Probably a little of all 3

)

app103 · « **Reply #40 on:** May 03, 2010, 03:18 PM »

Quote from: steeladept on May 03, 2010, 02:15 PM

Well while we are at it then, App (or anyone else), have you found anything that does a justifiable job of recreating a Time Value of Money (TVM) calculator?

Don't look at me. I have no idea.

rjbull · « **Reply #41 on:** May 03, 2010, 07:27 PM »

Quote from: steeladept on May 03, 2010, 02:15 PM

have you found anything that does a justifiable job of recreating a Time Value of Money (TVM) calculator?

I don't even know what that is... it sounds like the kind of thing only turbo accountants can understand!

Moffsoft Calculator 2 ($19.95) has, amongst much else:
[...]
Financial functions - Calculate loan payments, amortization schedules, depreciation, bonds, cash flows, and interest rate conversions. (see example)
[...]
Product Pricing - Calculate cost of goods sold, profit margin, markup, retail sales price, and gross profit. (see example)

Darwin · « **Reply #42 on:** May 04, 2010, 02:33 AM »

I thought it would be easy to find an HP 12c emulator/simulator, but everything I found was either 10 years old and wouldn't run on my Windows 7 system or shareware...

rjbull · « **Reply #43 on:** May 04, 2010, 08:05 PM »

Quote from: app103 on May 02, 2010, 08:47 PM

Quote from: rjbull on May 02, 2010, 02:33 PM
If his calculator is interestingly different, it's a pity that it doesn't appear on his current Web site.

It's about 10 years old and written in VB. That might have something to do with it.

He may be worrying unnecessarily. TapeCalc is VB, dated 1993/1994, and works on Vista Home Premium. Here's the file list:

CMDIALOG.VBX   18688  1993.4.28
GRID.VBX       45136  1994.11.1
KEYSTAT.VBX    25648  1993.4.28
OPTIONS.TXT     8903  1994.10.20
TAPECALC.DOC    2341  1995.1.6
TAPECALC.EXE   37536  1994.11.1
TAPECALC.FRX    1540  1994.11.1
TAPECALC.HLP   41025  1994.11.1
TAPECALC.ICO     766  1994.10.10
THREED.VBX     64544  1993.4.28
VBRUN300.DLL  398416  1993.5.11

app103 · « **Reply #44 on:** May 04, 2010, 10:59 PM »

Quote from: rjbull on May 04, 2010, 08:05 PM

He may be worrying unnecessarily. TapeCalc is VB, dated 1993/1994, and works on Vista Home Premium.

But does that old VB IDE work on Vista Home Premium? And how about Win7? And what kind of future could it have if Microsoft isn't supporting that IDE any more?

rjbull · « **Reply #45 on:** May 05, 2010, 07:12 PM »

Quote from: app103 on May 04, 2010, 10:59 PM

But does that old VB IDE work on Vista Home Premium?

If you mean, do old versions of the compiler etc. work on Vista Home Premium, I don't know, I don't have access to them. Perhaps you could port the source code to Pascal or whatever it is you use yourself?

Quote

And how about Win7? And what kind of future could it have if Microsoft isn't supporting that IDE any more?

Don't know. What sort of future would the world have if Microsoft didn't support it any more?

app103 · « **Reply #46 on:** May 06, 2010, 01:08 AM »

Quote from: rjbull on May 05, 2010, 07:12 PM

Perhaps you could port the source code to Pascal or whatever it is you use yourself?

While he did supply me with the source, it is not open source. Therefore, if I were to port the code and make any improvements, it could only be for my own use. I could not distribute the modified version, either in compiled or source form.

It is something I have considered, though.

rjbull · « **Reply #47 on:** May 06, 2010, 08:02 PM »

Quote from: app103 on May 06, 2010, 01:08 AM

While he did supply me with the source, it is not open source. Therefore, if I were to port the code and make any improvements, it could only be for my own use. I could not distribute the modified version, either in compiled or source form.

Ah, I see... I had indeed assumed that it would be open source.

Quote

It is something I have considered, though.

If you do recompile it, it would indeed be nice to be able to release it. For now, though, TapeCalc "just works" and as a user, not a programmer, that's good enough for me.