Franken-classic

[burkhard]

(11-16-2019 06:03 AM)Paul Dale Wrote:  One of the questions poised to me at last month's gathering in Germany was about re-purposing a classic based on a new CPU board. Walter and I briefly discussed a Woodstock re-purposing some years ago but there were too many limitations to consider proceeding.

As far as LED calculators go, the classics are as good as they get -- lots of nicely controllable display digits and plenty of (really nice) keys. Most of the classics have keys that don't have a front face which would permit three shift keys (yellow, blue and ARC) but the overlay could get complicated.

The 65 and 67 are the odd ones and they have four shift keys combined (f, f^-1, g and h). Their available front key faces do impose a substantial limitation.

Something using an HP-80 as a donor would be great. Those tend to be plentiful and cheap. If that's no good for some reason, the 45 is also typically a bargain. The other Classics are usually on the pricey side.

I'm really interested to hear about what you are scheming. The LED calculators, especially the Classics, have a certain nostalgic lure for me... fond memories of playing with my dad's HP-35 (which I still have) as a young lad.