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JLanTheMan t1_iwvslhx wrote

I always used 80085 instead of 60065.

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XCypher73 t1_iwvz5ca wrote

Texas knows how to make an instrument.

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elixir_choice t1_iwvzfld wrote

I have this same one. Still works great!

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UnclDav t1_iwvzgw2 wrote

True story: two football players who lived on my dorm floor were waiting for the elevator, on their way to a night math exam. One pulls a new calculator out to show his buddy: "It's solar. Now I don't have to worry about the battery going dead during a test."

His buddy puzzled on it for a minute then said "Yeah? But what if the lights go out?"

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jimwade6 t1_iww05u5 wrote

I have a Casio calculator from the same era and it works great

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intervested t1_iww0tcx wrote

Looks like it just works because of OPs particular calculator. Most would add the bar across the top of the 6 and it wouldn't look like a lower case b.

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bookemdanno t1_iww1jyo wrote

I love how "boobs" is still used in calculators.

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Lieuwe2019 t1_iww4o17 wrote

I bought one days after starting my first job out of college…….33 years later when I retired, I was still using it daily.

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the_clash_is_back t1_iww54wc wrote

Replace the battery, will brighten the screen up.

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Gnie99 t1_iww8ft1 wrote

I have this calculator, and it still works. Does that make me vintage

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MyGradesWereAverage t1_iwwfzo3 wrote

I have the same one, used for my Computer Sci classes in the early 90’s.

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XS4Me t1_iwwip0a wrote

Back in the day I used to sport my HP 48GX, but by the love of god I just can’t figure why would anybody cling to older devices having a regular calculator on your phone or having access to wolfram alpha on it.

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DryArmPits t1_iwwjrj2 wrote

I'm more of a HP RPN person, but I love old calculators of all kind.

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_DigitalHunk_ t1_iwwo6q8 wrote

just replace the aged plastic slide over the solar cells .. or better, just remove the old plastic slide

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_DirkMcGurk_ t1_iwwp601 wrote

It's an old code, but it checks out.

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Yasashii_Akuma156 t1_iwwr7wq wrote

Cool, I inherited my late father's TI-36, along with all his engineering tools, and it still works.

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Kitchberg t1_iwx4tnw wrote

Kind of upset about how you've misspelled 80085 there

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DMMMOM t1_iwx8ff8 wrote

I clicked this just to see boobs and fucking belly laughed for a full minute.

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nono66 t1_iwx9xef wrote

Do you intentionally mess up 80085 just to piss people off?

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AngeyB t1_iwxgfow wrote

Ahh my mom had this calc.

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catofthe9worlds t1_iwxh205 wrote

My dad has had these in his class since he started working

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Gernafax t1_iwxiu0a wrote

“Even in hexadecimal” 😂

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cbk00 t1_iwxj2bp wrote

I need something next to it for scale. Is this one of those things that's about the size of a refrigerator and the buttons are big enough you can punch them with your fist?

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Mwahaha_790 t1_iwxjdlc wrote

OG Texas Instruments is undefeated

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jimonabike t1_iwxjv92 wrote

This was our porn.....before the internet.

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BeerNTacos t1_iwxkf0w wrote

As a calculator nerd, I know the exact model this is.

It's not the original TI-36 SOLAR but the 1989 revision, the second model.

The solar cells on that calculator are smaller than the original version, plus the "ANYLITE SOLAR" language wasn't used until the 1989 revision, and ONLY for that revision. The bottom text said "SCIENTIFIC" for every model before and after, The depending on the year's revision the text was either lower center or lower right.

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vampyire t1_iwxofk0 wrote

Back when 35007 was funny..

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Scottybt50 t1_iwxtzxx wrote

Still got the TI30 my dad bought me in 1978, works great.

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[deleted] t1_iwxwtcp wrote

I have a battery powered TI from 1994 and it still works flawlessly, despite the numerous times I tried blaming my test grades on it. Even the 58008 buttons still work (IYKYK)

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TheAmazingHumanTorus t1_iwxx3ze wrote

Your TI has cataracts I'm afraid.

Source: I'm a calculator doctor. (MD-HP Berkeley '94)

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AeroZep t1_iwy1ytj wrote

The cost to make a TI-89 in 1999 was probably $100. The cost to make one now is probably $5-10. Let's not give them too much credit here. It's not like they have made any improvements to their product.

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Liambp t1_iwy4xhy wrote

I actually think the mid 1980s was when calculators peaked. You could get scientific calculators like the above that were packed with every function you actually needed (note the calculator above had stats, hex and even complex) but none of the bullshit that later became popular like direct arithmetic entry and calculators that give you answers as fractions. The thing is that computers were not ubiquitous yet so real life professionals like engineers and scientists actually used calculators every day and they had to be functional. Nowadays calculators only seem to be used by students.

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ectish t1_iwy5l6e wrote

Wow that reminds me of the 32s-2 key layout

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After-Cell t1_iwy9n3r wrote

Would be nice to replace the battery

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real_with_myself t1_iwyi51s wrote

I have to ask, because it was emphasized, why would calculating in hexadecimal be anything different for the calculator.

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lake_huron OP t1_iwywbjj wrote

Yeah, even small features helped.

There is an Engineering setting where all scientific notation was in exponents that were multiples of 3. Perfect in grad school when I wanted stuff only in nano, micro, milli, etc.

I agree. The calc app I use is pretty similar to this TI

1

Liambp t1_iwyywgu wrote

That is such a useful feature. I had a Casio calculator with a button called "Eng" which did something similar. It was incredibly useful for converting an answer to k. M, G etc.

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SnowblindAlbino t1_iwz42pe wrote

Calculators in general were pretty damned well made in the 1970s/1980s because they were relatively expensive. Or actually expensive, in the 1970s at least. I "collect" (read pile in the closet) old calculators and about 90% of the ones I find work just fine after decades of sitting around. I prefer the LED models from the 70s (esp the blue ones) but have probably three dozen <1990 calculators and they all work great with fresh batteries. Including the programmable Sharp model I bought originally in 1983.

Not so sure many calcs purchased new today would still be working in 30+ years.

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SnowblindAlbino t1_iwz495h wrote

>A new TI-89 cost $130 in 1999. A new TI-89 costs $130 today, too!

Luckily you can thrift them for <$5 pretty commonly. In fact, I have a $2 one sitting on the desk next to me right now. So many high school kids buy them new then leave them sitting around until their parents donate them it's silly. I've probably purchased at least two dozen over the years...for my kids, for their friends, and then quite a few I flipped on Ebay for $50-60.

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b1ack1323 t1_iwz6ti6 wrote

It’s got binary too! Neat.

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TenTonneMackerel t1_iwzd83z wrote

Because 99.9% of my calculations at work don't require anything nearly as complex as Wolfram Alpha, and the ergonomics of a calculator are leagues beyond that of a software calculator on a phone or computer.

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DoneisDone45 t1_iwzg509 wrote

calculators can really last practically forever. i still have my ti 89 from high school. i bought it used to because i was poor and wanted to cheap out a little. i should've bought it new. some things can last forever and it's worth it getting it new.

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290077 t1_iwzj8kz wrote

Where's the i button?

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VulfSki t1_iwzpg0u wrote

This is really cool actually. And I don't care how much of a nerd I sound like saying an old calculator is cool.

Is that Rnd button a random number generator?

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bink_y t1_iwzs9j0 wrote

Got mine from my aunt, that she used in school in the 70ies

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LazloNibble t1_iwzz78k wrote

I check the bins hoping for an RPN HP every time I hit the thrift stores. No luck yet, and until I finally make that score my daily is still going to be pCalc on my phone, but in the meantime I’ve picked up quite a few nice clean ‘70s and early-‘80s models for a few bucks each.

My two Radio Shack-rebadged Casios from high school (early-Reagan-era) also still work just fine. I think I’ve replaced the batteries on them maybe twice since they were new.

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TheMcWhopper t1_ix0plxs wrote

Damn, the solar cells on that thing are incredible

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BeerNTacos t1_ixb0g5h wrote

Okay, I did a little digging around and contacting some old folks who knew people back in TI's earlier days.

The records back then are not great but it seems this model is definitely the second model, but there seems to have been some earlier models of this version made, possibly as early as 1986. Original version came out ~1985 but used the TI-35's solar cells. This version specifically used the ANYLITE SOLAR designation to differentiate between the two models. It wasn't until ~1989 that TI advertised this version. Even then, outside of this naming convention they were using the packed in 1985 materials come out like the original manual.

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avipars t1_ixgay6i wrote

You can probably replace the battery

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