John GruberThis HP calculator from 1970 looks like some imagined computer from Midjourney. https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp9830.htm
sayrer@gruber I tried to buy a DEC VT-100 on eBay, who would want those? Well... my plan did not seem to be unique.
Jiří Fiala Total Landscaping
Sam Burkhard@gruber this IG has some great retro inspired AI generated tech (usually cameras and cars)
https://instagram.com/an_improbable_future?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
@samburkhard Amazing. Love it. Thanks!
Mike Rodriquez@gruber After school, I learned to program on an HP 9825, which is very similar to the 9830.
Fun machine. It was hooked up to a bank of telecomm test equip (HP naturally) and what power!
I could type on this this keyboard, and those machines would do what I told them!
That was circa 45 years ago at the long defunct GTE Lenkurt plant in San Carlos.
Penguin@gruber I guess it’s true that everything old is new again 🙂 but I don’t remember this machine. But I do remember using a Monroe calculator to calculate 3,000 mortgage payments at a summer job at my father’s mortgage company.
Charles Choi 최 민수@gruber For today's thinkpiece, let's compare and contrast today's HP with that of its past… https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/the-printers-that-require-ink-to-scan-and-fax/
@kickingvegas Tragic, truly.
Darryl Ramm@kickingvegas @gruber The closest to a real HP is Keysight, they should demand their name back.
Kirk McElhearn@gruber Hey, I remember that. They had one in my high school, I used it in “computer math” classes in the early 70s.
Christopher Mims@gruber holy cow this museum of old calculators, please bring back whatever this is
Trading Places Research
Albert Kinng
raytraced@gruber hp hardware was so choice. dieter rams would approve.
Olle Gladsø@gruber when Hewlett-Packard made good stuff.
David Wheeler@gruber Perfect for your innie tho
boxspring@gruber It’s slightly more than a calculator—the HP 9830 had BASIC in ROM and a cassette for storage. You could view one line of your program on the LED screen. First computer I ever used—our school system had one that got passed around. Ours had the thermal printer pictured and a card reader—I still have some of the cards.
Dave Fischer@boxspring @gruber There was an optional hard drive as well, with a fixed & removable disk - 2.4 meg each.
@davefischer @gruber Mind blown. I’m guessing my school district didn’t want to spring for the HDD so I didn’t know it existed until now. Now I wanna know how many C60s this could replace. :-)
alister@gruber looks like it would be used by the people in Macrodata Refinement
Matt Round@gruber See also: https://www.holdcomputers.com (terrible page, but wonderful pics if you scroll down)
David Anasco@davidanasco I owned the exact same calculator! I loved it at first, but soon grew to hate it, because it wasn't really a calculator, but instead a math quiz machine. I kept using my dad's real calculator, which was a real beauty. Orange plastic, great buttons, green LED display.
@gruber I am starting to think we are the same age! Gee whiz I’m as old as John Gruber!
xenolon@gruber Don’t give Midjourney that much credit, John.
Dag Øien@gruber I remember this HP RPN calculator fondly. Got me through high school and university. Now shares a drawer with my original iPhone and a 1996 Nokia 8110.
@dagoien I love it. That's a beautiful device. I wish I still had my TI calculator from high school/college. (Might be in a box somewhere in my basement, but I don't think so.)
Peter Cohen@gruber Set dressing for Silo too.
Angry Centrist@gruber If an IBM Selectric and an HP-67 had a love child...