I'm about 10 hours in and really enjoying it! Did you complete it?
That's interesting that they refactored it. Maybe there have been some improvements made over the last seven years.
In the beginning, there was ownCloud. They were a good FLOSS offering that decided to start catering solely to corporate customers in the hopes of juicy support contracts. The community who had been contributing the majority of the code gave them a mighty "Fork you" and created NextCloud.
That was about ten years ago. I haven't looked into ownCloud for the last seven or so, but it had stagnated pretty badly by that point. Maybe they've gotten some fresh blood since then, but you'll likely find it to be quite lacking in features and plugins comparatively.
That is definitely a well used little device! Coincidentally, the last calculator that I bought a couple of months ago is the EL-501X2, the most recent iteration of the model. Not a bad little calculator as long as you stay away from the edge cases! The edge cases are where the fun stuff is for me, cause I really like finding out where these machines tip over.
It's in beautiful condition, too! Great find!
It is supposed to be a capital A on top of a couple of corner braces. If you press SHIFT it turns into an S. On the fx-9750GIII you can use both upper and lowercase and the cursor has a lowercase a when in lowercase alpha mode. That said, it is pretty much a dong.
That was a fascinating find! Thank you for sharing it! I would have figured that the calculator would have been the focal point of the in-class demonstration, but they really showed it as being a supplement to the lecture. Great little time capsule!
Nerds to the rescue!
That is an awesome bit of kit! Amazing that it has non-volatile memory for the five accounts even though it's that old.
That is awesome! How different is the user experience between the two firmwares? Is it a really big jump in QoL, or is it just kind of nice?
That is phenomenal! My first graphing calculator was the only thing on my Christmas list when I was 14, I still have it, and it is still precious to me. I hope that he enjoys it!
Ding ding ding!
I hope that I remember to take out the batteries before then. That would suck to get the whole place set up and then have a whole corner coated in battery acid due to my own negligence.
It's one of the reasons that I love collecting them. They all have their unique flavors and quirks!
The Start of My Obsession: Radio Shack EC-300
This is the calculator that my father bought for his senior year of high school in 1974. He showed it to me when I was four and I remember being amazed that a little box could add and subtract, captivated by the tiny red numbers. It was a few months later that he brought home our first computer, a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, and I was again smitten. So much of the trajectory of my life can be traced back to those two objects.
When I opened the unit up I was not too terribly surprised to see a set of four AA batteries from the late 80's still installed, but I was very lucky that they hadn't leaked. I popped a new set in and it powered on with no issues. I played with it for a moment, the first time I had ever pushed the buttons on it, and placed it in the closet. I know it will be the perfect phylactery when I become a lich.
Calculatable
Originally posted by @[email protected] to [email protected]
That is a beauty! I have the fx-115W from about the same era, and it is a lovely looking machine. I think that if we're going off of pure aesthetics, I'd have to put the fx-9750GIII at the top of my list for Casios.
I'll have to see if there's a deep dive on that somewhere. It sounds fascinating!
That's a whole line of pretty calculators there! Is the magnetic reader on the top of the unit?
That's a great looking machine!
You got written up in The Register! That is amazing, wonderful, and awesome! Congratulations! https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/21/hp_12c_calculator_mystery
That definitely works for me!
New Casio Graphing Calculator Incoming
I just got an email from Casio Education saying that the next graphing calculator is coming next summer, and that prototypes will be shown off at the National Council of Teachers of Match Expo. I'm in the Chicago area, but tickets for non-members are way outside of my discretionary budget. If anybody is going, you'll have to fill us in!
Texas Instruments TI-nspire CX CAS
The TI-nspire CX CAS was my first calculator with in integrated CAS, and it was a revelation! I was amazed that a handheld calculator could do symbolic logic, even though the technology goes back to the late '90s. I just never knew that it was a thing. The UI and software for the CX is almost identical to the CX II, though the CX II is more than twice as fast. The touchpad in the middle of the directional button was also improved quite a bit on the CX II. I still use this guy quite a bit, just because it is a special calculator to me. The CAS is not as full-featured as that on either the HP Prime or the Casio fx-CG500, but still powerful as hell. The CX also does not have the third-party support that the TI-89 Titanium has, but is many times faster than it and has the benefit of using a UI that was designed for its form factor.
The pen is an Asvine V200 Titanium M.
Casio BN-20
Sorry the angle is a little funky, but this is one of my two workhorses, the Casio BN-20. This guy gets used almost every day, and is my primary source of truth for my calendar and contacts. It was released in 1998 and has 2 MB of user memory. The spreadsheet function is pretty rudimentary, and the only function that I don't have a lot of experience with. The expense function is the best expense tool I've ever seen on an electronic organizer. I run Xubuntu on modern hardware and can sync the data using Casio PC Sync through Wine and with a USB to serial converter.
Casio fx-CG500
I've had this guy for about a 18 months and it is one of my favorites. It is slower than the HP Prime and the TI-nspire CX II CAS, but still blows the TI-89 Titanium out of the water as far as speed goes. The huge touchscreen gives it a unique UI that is easier to navigate than the TIs. I've found that this is the best of my collection for linear algebra, and it is the easiest of my CAS calculators to use.
Why is this in Geometry mode?
Does anybody else find it odd that the HP Prime stashes the vector field plots in the Geometry app instead of the Advanced Graphing app?
The only thing on my Christmas list when I was 14
My 30+ year-old Casio fx-7700G is the oldest calculator in my collection. It's a little worn, but still works and gets used! It's been a wonderful companion over the years.
NPD and NID!
Several new inks and two new pens over the last few days! The Pilot Metro I've had for a couple of weeks now, but had been using the stock black cartridge that came with it while the Diamine Emerald got lost in the mail for a few days. While waiting for the Emerald, I got impatient and bought a three-pack of Diamine Green/Black, Writer's Blood, and Midnight.
I also wanted to try a Japanese fine nib, so I ordered the Pilot Lightive. I'd been getting really curious about Chinese pens as well, and at $11 USD, the HongDian 525 seemed like a great experiment.
First, the inks. All four of them are beautiful, but after seeing the Emerald, the Green/Black seems a little lifeless. Green/Black is still a lovely color and fits in very well with the rest of the trio, but the Emerald is exactly what I was looking for in a green for right now. It's an added bonus that it matches the color of that Retro Pop so well! The Midnight and Writer's Blood are also stellar inks. I can see why the Wr
Sharp EL-W516T - A Beautiful Disaster
I absolutely love this calculator, with one important caveat: I will never do integrations with this machine except as a test. Its integration algorithm tips over at ridiculously low speeds when it comes to edge cases. I find that it adds to the Sharp's charm, but it definitely affects its usefulness. Aside from that, this nifty little guy has a few features that you can't find on other calculators, and is arguably the best one out there for statistics and tables.
First of all, those buttons labeled D1 through D3 on the top row? Those are this calculator's super power. Programmable Buttons! Let's say that you're in Matrix Mode, and you are doing a whole bunch of stuff with matrices A and B. Typically, to use matrix A it's a three button journey: MATH -> 0 MATRIX -> 0 matA. Instead, you can hit STO D1 and it will let you assign matA to the single button press of D1. Any function from any menu can be mapped to one of those three buttons, saving tons of button presses if you ge
TI-89 Titanium: The end of an era
I found this guy used on shopgoodwill.com for about $20 USD a few months ago. It was on my list of calculators to procure, but the going rate of $130 USD for a new one was way out of my range. I was ecstatic to find one in such great shape for a low price!
This is an amazing calculator with some glaring issues that make it more of a mixed bag than it could have been.
This is the last calculator produced by TI with the OS that was originally designed for the TI-92, TI's first calculator with a built-in CAS. The fact that it was written for a device with a full QWERTY keyboard is glaringly obvious. The UI has been crammed into a standard graphing calculator form factor in such a way that some key combinations can't be silk-screened on the keypad. Base 10 log is Green Diamond + 7, for example.
The other huge problem with it is the speed reflects when it was designed. This calculator was released in 2004, and has had no upgrades since. As such,
Casio fx-991CW
I've spent a couple of months with this guy, buying it just after it was released in the US. I've long been a fan of the 991EX, and the CW is quite a different beast in terms of UI and capabilities.
First off, this thing is an absolute beast! It is the most accurate and precise calculator that I own by far. I knew when I put the fx-115ES Plus 2nd Edition through its paces and watched it soundly beat the 991EX that the CW was going to be a leap in capability, but I had no idea how large that leap would be. Take a look at arcsin(arccos(arctan(tan(cos(sin(9)))))-9 in degree mode, which should equal 0 but never will if your calculator is solving it arithmetically. most calculators will give an answer in the range of 1x10-6 to 1x10-9. The CW's answer is 7.5528x10-18, doubling the number of accurate digits!
Another mind blowing one is it's integration abilities. One of my favorite tests is int(e^-x, 0, A) and finding the value for A where the integration breaks. The
The Island of Misfit Calculators: Catiga CS-121
I've seen these guys floating around on various sites, retailing for around $40 USD, but that was always too expensive for something that I figured would be sub-par. About a month ago, I saw one on eBay for $8, new and in the box. So here we are!
This little guy is delightfully crappy! It is bad in ways that make me giggle and add a little something to my smile. I've seen a lot of people assume that these are clones of the fx-6300G, but they just use the same screen. If it is Casio firmware, it has been modified beyond recognition.
The first thing I found that made me laugh was how much this calculator loves the number 4. It will randomly decide that any button that you pressed was actually a mistake and you meant to press 4. Arrow key? 4. 9? 4. I feel like a two year-old with a jack-in-the-box using this thing. Oh! And don't go typing too quickly, either. Sometimes it will decide not to register key presses that are too close together.
Its speed, accuracy, and precisi
My newest acquisition
This lovely guy is the first HP calculator in my collection. I got it used from a member of the calculator subreddit a week ago, and am still getting used to it.
The speed of the HP Prime when graphing is nothing short of impressive. I was amazed by the 10 frames per second 3D plot rotations on the TI-nspire CX II CAS, but the instantaneous rotations and zooms with the touch screen are seamless and smooth. I'm used to seeing graphs get drawn to the screen from left to right since I've been playing with them since the early 90s. Even the TI-nspire has a bit of a hiccup when showing a simple graph. The Prime, though? Immediately shows the graph without hesitation for simple things. It does bog down when you start to push it, but it is still the fastest graphing calculator I've ever seen by far.
Given that it graphs so quickly, I was surprised at how slow it is when it comes to some things. sum((e^sin(atan(x)))^(1/3), 1, 1000) took three times longer on the HP Prime than it do
Announcing the Calculator Community!
Do you collect calculators, have something cool to show off, or have a question about how to do something with your lovely chunk of plastic that plays with numbers? Feel free to post it here. Welcome, everyone!