#Friden calculator npr android#

So, mostly, we had to use the old вЂњslip stickвЂќ slide ruler. The 1107, as I recall, filled an entire room, had a (small) register stack composed of вЂњThin Film MemoryвЂќ devices, 32K 36-bit words of Core Memory, and two FH-880 (Flying Head) Drum units. As I recall, the price of these units was somewhere in the $15-20K range, and thatвЂ™s in real (1960вЂ™s) dollars! The only other way to calculate electronically at Case at that time was to write an Algol (the language of the future?) program for the Univac 1107 computer, but we did not have access to it until second year. It was amazing technology for that time period! Never knew that they had the Acoustic Delay Line Memory, but I suppose the only alternative would have been more expensive Core Memory. There were two of the Friden 132 calculators in a common lab area, one with the Square Root key, and one without. Remember starting my freshman year at Case Institute of Technology (now part of CWRU in Cleveland) in the fall of 1965. And, while I appreciate both algebraic and RPN, for what I currently use the calculator for вЂ“ exploratory calculations вЂ“ RPN works better. Sometimes I think about picking up the HP35SвЂ¦Д«TW, HP is much more open than TI: they basically allow the use of their ROMs, but TI doesnвЂ™t (but then again, TI still has a significant calculator business, while HP doesnвЂ™t).

#Friden calculator npr android#

IвЂ™ve also had a HP32S II, TI 89 (donated to a worthy nephew for high school), and am currently down to a couple cheap scientifics plus a HP48G and a HP41C that needs some TLC (contact cleaning), plus I use the HP42/HP48 Android apps on my phone - but I still love the feedback of mechanical keys (which is why I use a Blackberry Priv Android slider phone - even good haptics canвЂ™t mimic that mechanical feel вЂ“ and IвЂ™ve tried out piezo haptics). HPвЂ™s definitely had better mechanical quality. At the time, the big techie вЂњwarвЂќ was HP vs TI, RPN vs Algebraic. Unfortunately, it was stolen, but I was able to move on to a HP-41C. My first calculator was the HP34C - I learned to program on it. He had a HP45 from work, and we had fun with the вЂњeaster eggвЂќ timer mode. Two appear to be banknotes, but I didnвЂ™t recognize them or any of the other faces.Д«TW, I remember my dad buying a VFD calculator back in the 1970вЂ™s вЂ“ canвЂ™t remember the brand (Rockwell maybe, or some Japanese brand). Wow, from transistors on the Friedan to the HP35 in less than 10 years- technology changed fast, even then.ДЇinally, did you notice the pictures hanging on CliffвЂ™s wall? I paused it at 8:05 and zoomed in. It couldnвЂ™t detect a divide by zero on would go into an infinite loop with the numbers changing wildly on the LED display.

Instead it had an exposed PCB with 16 pads and a stylus attached to a wire and a вЂњkeystrokeвЂќ consisted of touching the stylus to a pad. I remember in 1970 a friend of mine bought a calculator. Mr (Dr./Prof.?) Stoll must have been living in a backwater because in 1972, when he claims to have been astounded by the square root capability of the Friedan, the HP35 was widely available. I seems more like a delay line than real memory and it really was dynamic RAM. I am struggling to understand the memory. Several comments though (what else is new?) How about you? Do you long for the retro look and feel of these old calculators, or are you just happy you donвЂ™t have to use one yourself? I would love to have one of these little beauties in my own humble collection. In reality, this was a coil of piano wire into which pulses/vibrations were inserted in one end and read out of the other you have to see it to believe it! And, speaking of memory, the video shows the Friden EC-132вЂ™s main storage, which was implemented using something called recirculating audio acoustic memory. Watching this video provides a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division occur almost instantly, but performing a square root operation takes about a second (you may laugh, but this is a lot faster than doing it by hand). ThereвЂ™s also the use of Reverse Polish Notation (RPN), which greatly eased the task of performing operations when you had limited memory and processing power. At first, you think there are four (strangely thick) boards, but then you discover that each of these four assemblies comprises two boards вЂњfolded overвЂќ resulting in a sort of 4-layer board.ДЄnd then thereвЂ™s the cathode ray tube (CRT) thatвЂ™s used to display the input values and the results. I love seeing the circuit boards populated with individual transistors, diodes, resistors, and capacitors. This was one of the very early commercially-available solid-state desktop electronic calculators. Created in the early 1960s, the Friden EC-132 is a thing of beauty and a wonder to behold.