Collaborate Disseminate
As the smartphone has eaten ever more of the gatgets with which we once surrounded ourselves, it’s with some sadness that we note the calculator becoming a less common sight. …read more Continue reading A Reverse Polish Calculator For Your Keychain
I have a confession to make. I write about a lot of projects for Hackaday, but there are very few I read about and then go actually build a copy …read more Continue reading Building the DIY HP41C: A Field Report
Why reach for a bland, commercially available calculator when you be using a model that employs RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) in its calculations and be a custom build all at …read more Continue reading An Open-source Scientific RPN Calculator
While most people are satisfied with a calculator application on their smartphone these days, there’s still something to be said for the old fashioned desk calculator. Maybe it’s the fact the batteries last long enough that you can’t remember the last time you changed them, or the feel of physical …read more
Continue reading Review: Calculator Kit is Just a Few Hacks From Greatness
The early HP Reverse Polish Notation calculators have a special place in the hearts of engineers and tinkerers as there are lots of projects involving them. They haven’t been produced in decades, but [Chris Chung] has used some open source code to create DIY hardware version of the HP-41 Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) calculator.
The open source code behind the calculator is the Nonpareil High-Fidelity Calculator Simulator, and [Chris] has used it along with a custom designed readout and PCBs to create a working prototype. The simulator uses the original byte code of the HP-41 so the its behavior is …read more
The best rummage sale purchase I ever made was a piece of hardware that used Reverse Polish Notation. I know what you’re thinking… RPN sounds like a sales gimmick and I got taken for a fool. But I assure you it’s not only real, but a true gem in the evolution of computing.
Sometime in the 1980s when I was a spotty teen, I picked up a calculator at a rummage sale. Protected by a smart plastic case, it was a pretty good condition Sinclair Scientific that turned out when I got it home to have 1975 date codes on …read more
Continue reading Reverse Polish Notation and its Mildly Confusing Elegance
What does a hacker do when he or she wants something but can’t afford it? They hack one together, of course. Or, in the case of [Ramón Calvo], they thoughtfully plan and prototype. [Ramón Calvo] wanted a scientific calculator, but couldn’t afford one, so he designed and built one himself.
[Ramón] started off with Arduino but upgraded initially to Freescale’s Freedom KL25Z development board upgraded to an ARM Cortex-M0+ programmed using mbed. The display is an Electronic Assembly DOGL-128 128×64 pixel LCD. [Ramón] did a couple of iterations on the PCB, going from a large DIY one in order for …read more
Continue reading Hackaday Prize Entry: DIY ARM Scientific Calculator
For [Robert]’s entry into The Hackaday Prize, he’s starting off with some basic questions. What’s better than a Nixie tube? More Nixies. What’s better than a calculator? An RPN calculator. What do you get when you combine the two? A calculator that is absurdly large, even by 1970s desk calculator standards, uses a lot of power, and takes up too much space. Sounds good to us.
Nixies, at least when there are a lot of them, are tricky devices. They only draw about 50mA of current, but they only light up when above 150V. That’s only about seven watts, and …read more
Continue reading Hackaday Prize Entry: A Programmable Calculator With Nixie Tubes