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Matt Agajanian · 05-13-2018, 09:03 PM

Hi all,

Could you provide me with some links of the various articles from such magazines as Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Omni, Byte, etc. which featured programmable calculator articles, please? Thanks.

**rprosperi** · 05-13-2018, 09:09 PM

(05-13-2018 09:03 PM)Matt Agajanian Wrote: Hi all,

Could you provide me with some links of the various articles from such magazines as Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Omni, Byte, etc. which featured programmable calculator articles, please? Thanks.

Matt - Rather than asking other folks to look for links for you, you can easily find plenty by simply searching this very site for pages with those publications mentioned in prior posts; for example, search with google using:

"Popular Science site:hpmuseum.org"
"Popular Mechanics site:hpmuseum.org"
etc.

Zaphod · 05-13-2018, 09:13 PM

You can search Byte yourself (I've narrowed it down slightly, but you could use slightly different search terms):
https://archive.org/details/byte-magazin...ackard&sin=

Dan · 05-14-2018, 03:06 AM

(05-13-2018 09:03 PM)Matt Agajanian Wrote: Hi all,

Could you provide me with some links of the various articles from such magazines as Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Omni, Byte, etc. which featured programmable calculator articles, please? Thanks.

Check out the HP journal articles at http://hparchive.com/hp_journals

Matt Agajanian · (This post was last modified: 05-14-2018 12:48 PM by Matt Agajanian.)

(05-13-2018 09:09 PM)rprosperi Wrote:
(05-13-2018 09:03 PM)Matt Agajanian Wrote: Hi all,

Could you provide me with some links of the various articles from such magazines as Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Omni, Byte, etc. which featured programmable calculator articles, please? Thanks.

Matt - Rather than asking other folks to look for links for you, you can easily find plenty by simply searching this very site for pages with those publications mentioned in prior posts; for example, search with google using:

"Popular Science site:hpmuseum.org"
"Popular Mechanics site:hpmuseum.org"
etc.

Yes. Thank you. I have already hand-searched with my own search wording, but the results were repetitive from monthly searches. I was asking in hopes that members here would have unique search phrases that were more resourceful than my search words.

So, thanks.

hibiki · 05-14-2018, 06:04 PM

Matt, you can find some calculators articles in the issues after year 1974:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Popu...-Guide.htm

Didier Lachieze · 05-14-2018, 06:23 PM

(05-14-2018 12:46 PM)Matt Agajanian Wrote: I have already hand-searched with my own search wording, but the results were repetitive from monthly searches.

Maybe you can share with the community what you've found so far.

SlideRule · 05-14-2018, 10:31 PM

Try …
BYTE Magazine 1970's
BYTE Magazine 1980's
BYTE Magazine 1990's
… be sure to scroll down for COMPLETE coverage.

BEST!
SlideRule

ps: these are FTP url's

Matt Agajanian · (This post was last modified: 05-15-2018 02:38 AM by Matt Agajanian.)

Hi all.

For starters, here’s one of the Feb 77 Popular Science articles I remember reading:

Those Work Saving, Time Saving Programmable Calculators

In the page navigator, go to page 64 for the article.

Dan · 05-15-2018, 02:45 AM

(05-15-2018 02:37 AM)Matt Agajanian Wrote: Hi all.

For starters, here’s one of the Feb 77 Popular Science articles I remember reading:

Those Work Saving, Time Saving Programmable Calculators

In the page navigator, go to page 64 for the article.

That giant slide rule in the marines ad rocks.

mfleming · 05-15-2018, 02:50 AM

Don't pass up the calculator & calculator kit ads in the back of Popular Electronics/Radio Electronics style magazines from that early era. Before people started building their own microcomputers they were building their own calcs. Watch how the functions and features evolved before they became a mass consumable item...

~Mark

Accutron · 05-15-2018, 12:09 PM

(05-15-2018 02:45 AM)Dan Wrote: That giant slide rule in the marines ad rocks.

Classroom instruction slide rules are awesome. I found this one a few weeks ago at an antique store...

[Image: n1010esc.jpg]

(05-15-2018 02:50 AM)mfleming Wrote: Watch how the functions and features evolved before they became a mass consumable item...

Do you have any examples? I can't think of any 1970s calculator kits which surpassed what was commercially available at the time. Most of them utilized single-chip or small chipset solutions equivalent to contemporaneous production models.

mfleming · 05-15-2018, 02:57 PM

Accutron:

Quote:The functionality of calculator ICs increased at a rapid pace and Roberts was designing and producing new models. The MITS 7400 scientific and engineering calculator was introduced in December 1972. It featured trigonometric functions, polar to rectangular conversion, two memories, and up to a seven-level stack. A kit with a three-level stack was $299.95 and an assembled unit with a seven-level stack was $419.95.[29] The next month the Series 1200 four-function pocket calculators were announced. The six-digit model was $59.95 and the twelve-digit model was $99.95.

See Wikipedia article on MITS here

The key phrase of course was "before they became a mass consumable item" not "exceeding anything commercially available at the time." Two entirely different claims Smile

~Mark

Accutron · 05-15-2018, 04:29 PM

Even if we assume all of the pre-1973 mass-produced desktops from HP and Wang don't count as "mass consumable items" because of their corporate-sized MSRPs, the Compucorp 324G Scientist had a similar list price to an assembled MITS 7400, it was programmable, and it beat the 7400 to market by about a year. The 324G was also a much more successful product than the 7400. Without niggling over each machine's exact feature set, I'd say that the 7400 was pretty much in line with everything else in the $400 price range at the time.

Matt Agajanian · 05-16-2018, 12:37 AM

(05-15-2018 02:57 PM)mfleming Wrote: Accutron:

Quote:The functionality of calculator ICs increased at a rapid pace and Roberts was designing and producing new models. The MITS 7400 scientific and engineering calculator was introduced in December 1972. It featured trigonometric functions, polar to rectangular conversion, two memories, and up to a seven-level stack. A kit with a three-level stack was $299.95 and an assembled unit with a seven-level stack was $419.95.[29] The next month the Series 1200 four-function pocket calculators were announced. The six-digit model was $59.95 and the twelve-digit model was $99.95.

See Wikipedia article on MITS here

The key phrase of course was "before they became a mass consumable item" not "exceeding anything commercially available at the time." Two entirely different claims

~Mark

DANG! That Four-Banger ( https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...sement.jpg ) is bulky! If it’s lightweight, I’m shocked!

mfleming · 05-16-2018, 01:27 AM

As opposed to?

[Image: motorola-dynatac.jpg]

I hear the subsequent flip model was a pound and a half lighter...

Matt Agajanian · 05-16-2018, 03:34 AM

(05-16-2018 01:27 AM)mfleming Wrote: As opposed to?

I hear the subsequent flip model was a pound and a half lighter...

Yes, another of those quite the pocket-sized techno wonders, AKA ‘the brick.’ Thanks for the memory recall.

Dan · 05-16-2018, 07:37 AM

(05-15-2018 12:09 PM)Accutron Wrote:
(05-15-2018 02:45 AM)Dan Wrote: That giant slide rule in the marines ad rocks.

Classroom instruction slide rules are awesome. I found this one a few weeks ago at an antique store...

Very nice find. As a teacher I think the sliderule should make a comeback.

Matt Agajanian · 05-18-2018, 08:54 PM

(05-16-2018 07:37 AM)Dan Wrote:
(05-15-2018 12:09 PM)Accutron Wrote: Classroom instruction slide rules are awesome. I found this one a few weeks ago at an antique store...

Very nice find. As a teacher I think the sliderule should make a comeback.

Or at least have a lesson plan on how to use the slide rule and there should be a test on them after the lesson is finished.

brickviking · (This post was last modified: 05-19-2018 12:06 AM by brickviking.)

(05-18-2018 08:54 PM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:
(05-16-2018 07:37 AM)Dan Wrote: Very nice find. As a teacher I think the sliderule should make a comeback.

Or at least have a lesson plan on how to use the slide rule and there should be a test on them after the lesson is finished.

Even better, perhaps the lesson could be how to make the sliderule. Now that would be a challenge and a half. I know, I'm an evil genius. If they want technical merit as well, they could embed a little 10-digit LCD display that shows the current number to two D.P. for one of four scales. That exercises the tech geniuses among them.

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