"Gerald Miller" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 04:38:46 GMT, "Martin H. Eastburn"
wrote:

Greg O wrote:

"Spehro Pefhany" wrote in message


Those earlier ones *were* battery hungry. The 15C lasts a very
long time, except when a piece of heavy equipment holds some buttons
depressed for a month or two. :-)

The later ones, like the HP48 series, are much worse on batteries than
the earlier C ones. Probably 50 times worse in terms of current. They
go through a set of 3 AAA cells in no time. The others use much lower
capacity button cells and seem to last forever. I think HP must have
switched from their own ASICs to cheaper off-the-shelf technology.




My first calculator I bought for college was a TI-55, the old style,
brown
door stop looking model. I bought batteries by the case! That sucker,
(literally), could eat a battery in one day of heavy use. That is when
I
bought the HP. Best investment I ever made, as far as calculators go. I
remember buying the HP and tosing the TI-55 in the trash can during a
class.
Two or three guys dug it out and were fighting over it!
Greg

Gosh - a Calculator in college - what a dream!

Bought my first plug in the wall 4 banger + memory mind you Nixie tube 12
digits, Cannon IIRC
in '70. Bought a SR-50 a few years later. The first one was $600.00
and the SR-50 was 150?

Then I got to put down the docs on calculation of logs with a 4 banner
that was in EDN or Electronics
at the time. Those were the days, engineering...

Martin
In 1972 I was using a hand cranked Monroe "Educator" when I saw a
Rapidman 800 on sale for $99.99, typical 8 digit four banger that ran
on four AA batteries with no memory function. The other day I saw the
little "credit card" four function plus memory powered by a watch
battery for $0.19. you can't even buy the battery for that.
My favourite though was the TI-59 programmable, just wish they were a
little more durable. I developed a lot of programs for that while
working in the field. once I got moved to regional office, I only used
it about twice per year and it died of old age and neglect.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

About time someone mentioned the TI-59. Mine got me through engineering,
replacing a lot of calculus that I didn't enjoy at the time with many loops
through some little programmed iteration ... ah the memories.