tbertels@cipc1.Dayton.NCR.COM (Tom Bertelson) (11/14/89)
frank@zen.co.uk (Frank Wales) writes: >In article <2148@leah.Albany.Edu> bv3456@leah.albany.edu > (Victor @ The Concrete Museum) writes: >>Are there any companies, other than HP, that currently make RPN calculators? >>Where could I find information about them? I dimly recall one, but that was >>many years ago... >- and lastly, the Cambridge Programmable, with 36 steps of programmability > and a hump on the back of the old Cambridge style case to hold the > larger battery it needed to power its NatSemi single-chip micro (1978). >I'm not aware of any other purely RPN machines after this, but I'd be >interested in finding out if there were (or are) any. I have a National Semiconductor RPN calculator that I still occasionally use. It's the only calculator I know that will float (with the battery removed). 5 cubed would equal, after about two second's thought, 124.9999999. I think it was called the "Scientific". Does anyone else remember this thing? -- Tom Bertelson DISCLAIMER: My opinions are my own and Tom.Bertelson@Dayton.NCR.COM in no way reflect those of my employer. ...!uunet!ncrlnk!cipc1!tbertels
ken@argus.UUCP (Kenneth Ng) (11/14/89)
In article <2039@zen.co.uk>, frank@zen.co.uk (Frank Wales) writes: : In article <2148@leah.Albany.Edu> bv3456@leah.albany.edu : (Victor @ The Concrete Museum) writes: : >Are there any companies, other than HP, that currently make RPN calculators? : >Where could I find information about them? I dimly recall one, but that was : >many years ago... : : Strictly speaking, all of them. Any calculator which requires you : to calculate, say, a square root or a trig function by first entering : the number to which the operation will be applied, then pressing the : operator key, is an RPN calculator. The fact that most of them use : infix entry of simple arithmetic doesn't change this. With the Sharp 1500 you enter the equation exactly as you write it. ie "2 * sin 45" you press "2", "*", "SIN", "4", "5", "=". I always liked this calculator because if you see the equation on the display, and you can go back and edit the equation if you get an answer that looks "funny". This feature is also present in the Sharp 5100, or the Radio Shack PC-2 (pc for Pocket Computer) line. Kenneth Ng: Post office: NJIT - CCCC, Newark New Jersey 07102 uucp rutgers!andromeda!galaxy!argus!ken bitnet(prefered) ken@orion.bitnet -- Kenneth Ng: Post office: NJIT - CCCC, Newark New Jersey 07102 uucp !andromeda!argus!ken *** NOT ken@bellcore.uucp *** bitnet(prefered) ken@orion.bitnet
hacker@isadora.ikp.liu.se (Goran Larsson [Hacker of Hackefors]) (11/16/89)
In article <1505@cipc1.Dayton.NCR.COM> tbertels@cipc1.Dayton.NCR.COM (Tom Bertelson) writes: >I have a National Semiconductor RPN calculator that I still >occasionally use. It's the only calculator I know that will float >(with the battery removed). 5 cubed would equal, after about two >second's thought, 124.9999999. I think it was called the >"Scientific". Does anyone else remember this thing? Yes! They had two versions: INFIX and RPN. The CPU was a weird one-bit controller. You could buy the CPU and also two ROM chips with the code for the two calculators. A special version of the CPU did not drive the keyboard and display, it had a BCD port. It was supposed to be used as a floating point chip! It was S-L-O-W.... ! _ ! ! Goran Larsson [The Hacker of Hackefors] --+-! Hackefors, Linkoping, SWEDEN (See) +46 13-155535 (Hear) !-+-- ...!uunet!sunic!liuida!prodix!isadora!hacker (UUCP) ! ! hacker@isadora.ikp.liu.se (Internet) ! Mmh, Yes
gmt@cs.arizona.edu (Gregg Townsend) (11/18/89)
National Semiconductor sold a line of RPN calculators in the mid-70s. I bought
my first one -- the "Mathematician" -- after watching its price drop from $80
to $20 in less than a year. I bought another one when they added tactile
feedback keys; that one cost $10, and I still use it.
Gregg Townsend / Computer Science Dept / Univ of Arizona / Tucson, AZ 85721
+1 602 621 4325 gmt@cs.arizona.edu 110 57 16 W / 32 13 45 N / +761mtomm@voodoo.UUCP (Tom Mackey) (11/20/89)
Seems to me Rockwell Int. made an RPN calc also circa 1974. Looked like a piece of junk next to my HP. -- Tom Mackey (206) 234-7767 (wk) Boeing Computer Services ....uw-beaver!ssc-vax!voodoo!tomm M/S 6M-17, P.O. Box 24346, Seattle, WA 98124-0346