34theletterbetweenB&D Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Unbelievable, my Pa's Casio fx-1000 what I bought quite recently for at least thirty notes for his 50th birthday gift (thus I reckon 1977) has just had the keypad surround fall off. What a rip! But seriously, I would never have expected this neat shirt pocket sized item to have lasted this long, and still in perfect working order. He used it constantly when in health up to late 2015, for accounts and his electronics hobby: the latter the reason why the plastic casing is fairly generously scarred with soldering iron contact and little blobs of melted in solder. It's neat size has seen it displace my own larger fx-110, an even earlier purchase, still working perfectly despite once falling into a river with me. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 I still have a Casio printing calculator (it uses thermal paper rolls) from the early 1980s. Its party trick was its ability to print out calendars up to the year 2035.... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 Whilst not very old in the grand scale of things, I use a ten quid clam-shell style mobile. No camera, no internet, no fancy screen. Phone calls - yes. Texts - yes. Alarm Clock - yes. One game. Battery lasts the best part of two weeks. Drop it - it still works. Been thru' a 60 degree wash (I wondered what the clunking sound was....) and after a dry out has suffered no ill effects. Try that with a four hundred quid jobbie. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 If you are referring to what is called a flip phone here, I agree though mine does have a camera! Brian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Emily Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Still using a Casio fx-85v every time I need the use of a calculator. It was new in 1990 when I started secondary school, and still has teeth marks on the case where the bored far younger version of me used to chew on it in maths classes. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 (edited) My 1976 Casio fx108 (edit - 102) (? IIRC - one of the first 'scientific' calculators) only died in recent history as I stupidly left some leaky cells in it. Edited March 3, 2018 by New Haven Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 3, 2018 I've still got a calculator on the work bench that my daughter had at school in 1987 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 (edited) I use a Charles Babbage difference engine. Very compact, requiring just one spare bedroom, and doesn't require batteries. Edited March 4, 2018 by Baby Deltic 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kylestrome Posted March 4, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 4, 2018 Here's my Casio museum piece. Bought in 1985, credit card sized, solar powered and still going strong. It sits on my workbench and is mostly used for working out scale measurements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted March 4, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 4, 2018 I use a Charles Babbage difference engine. Very compact, requiring just one spare bedroom, and doesn't require batteries. Difference_engine_plate_1853.jpg Where's the 'yeah, sure mate' button? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 I had a Casio scientific calculator that lasted 20 years (bought in 85 when I got sick of buying batteries for my previous Texas Instruments LED one) and only fell out of use because the battery went flat and I couldn't be bothered to replace it because I'd "inherited" a working Brother one, of apparently similar vintage, that I found in a disused desk at work. I didn't like the Brother's logic much though. I've still got both of them should I ever feel the urge to use something other than my phone's calculator app. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Whilst not very old in the grand scale of things, I use a ten quid clam-shell style mobile. No camera, no internet, no fancy screen. Phone calls - yes. Texts - yes. Alarm Clock - yes. One game. Battery lasts the best part of two weeks. Drop it - it still works. Been thru' a 60 degree wash (I wondered what the clunking sound was....) and after a dry out has suffered no ill effects. Try that with a four hundred quid jobbie.£400 isn't even the expensive end of the market these days.You won't get much more than a fish and chip dinner with the change from £1000 if you buy the latest iPhone. And the latest top of the range androids are not much less. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted March 4, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 4, 2018 (edited) £400 isn't even the expensive end of the market these days. You won't get much more than a fish and chip dinner with the change from £1000 if you buy the latest iPhone. And the latest top of the range androids are not much less. I can buy a lot of pigeons for that sort of money. Mike. Edited March 4, 2018 by Enterprisingwestern Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted March 4, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 4, 2018 £400 isn't even the expensive end of the market these days. You won't get much more than a fish and chip dinner with the change from £1000 if you buy the latest iPhone. And the latest top of the range androids are not much less. Jeez...you can buy a car for that..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted March 4, 2018 Author Share Posted March 4, 2018 Jeez...you can buy a car for that..... But it won't be a car that automatically links to your whizzy I-phodroid, and then sends garbled text to everyone in your contacts list, without the in-car vocalist being aware of it. One of the early efforts was quite funny, a spirited rendition of that well known ballad 'Her art herpes, sneeze knock be other', but the joke soon outlived its welcome. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted March 4, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 4, 2018 These days we take calculators for granted but they were quite a revolutionary innovation. These days the number crunching capabilities of computers allows us to do things that were in the realms of sci-fi not that long ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 My Sharp scientific calculator from about 1981 remains alive and well some 37 years later. It gets used often, but not every day. We should not expect modern electronics to last nearly as long. Semiconductors are subject to 'ageing effects' that will change electron mobility over time and smaller geometries will likely make them more short-lived. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 My Sharp scientific calculator from about 1981 remains alive and well some 37 years later. It gets used often, but not every day...... Still going, from 1984, Casio's stab at a touch-sensitive calculator watch..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted March 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 5, 2018 Watches must be one of the better examples of how perceived value can be completely divorced from product performance. An inexpensive electronic watch with radio time reception and solar or kinetic charging will be vastly more accurate and superior in just about every way than hideously expensive Swiss chronometers yet people still want the expensive stuff. I have an Omega Speedmaster Professional moon watch which was a very expensive indulgence but my modest Casio G Shock is a far better watch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 I have a radio connected time piece which which also acts as a calculator, basic camera, internet browser, shop... I can also make and receive phone calls on it. Doesn't fit on my wrist though, I have to keep it in my pocket. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted March 5, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2018 I have a radio connected time piece which which also acts as a calculator, basic camera, internet browser, shop... I can also make and receive phone calls on it. Doesn't fit on my wrist though, I have to keep it in my pocket. But you can get an interface to operate it which fits on your wrist! Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Not for the cheap POS I have... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted March 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 5, 2018 These days we take calculators for granted but they were quite a revolutionary innovation. These days the number crunching capabilities of computers allows us to do things that were in the realms of sci-fi not that long ago. A former work colleague told me of his friend, who when calculators first came out, purchased a kit from the USA. It cost $US400 back in about 1970. Serious money indeed, back then. Assembled OK and only did the 4 basic functions. My first calculator was purchased about 1976 and was the first of the cheap ones. This one in fact https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/vintage-sheen-calculator/183097084055?hash=item2aa16fc897:g:IRAAAOSwUwFaSOx7 From memory it cost about $AU30 and I only stopped using it, because of the short battery life. Not sure what happened to it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted March 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 5, 2018 Still going, from 1984, Casio's stab at a touch-sensitive calculator watch..... image.jpeg I had one of them, I kept breaking the straps on them, so gave up as they cost more than a new one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium dhjgreen Posted March 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 5, 2018 Anyone remember the TI watches that had the yellow rose of bl00dy texas as their extremely irritating alarm? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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