Slides Rule.... The good old slip stick

San Francisco Weekly ^ | July 2, 2003 | SILKE TUDOR

[cinFLA]

With the sliderule, answers were always approximate--always.

Especially when the slide falls out.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

HP-48SX Bump: State of the art, 1990!

[Old Professer]

I surely miss the days when a dollar was worth ten cents.

My daughter wants to move back to California to go to CSUN but she's kind of afraid to make the big leap.

We all left in 1994 after the earthquake, epicenter 1 mile from our house on Leadwell in Winnetka.

Too late for old folk like me to just up and go, I guess.

All in all, it's been a good ride; if I had it to do all over again I'd probably walk a little more of the way.

[RadioAstronomer]

All in all, it's been a good ride; if I had it to do all over again I'd probably walk a little more of the way.

Good to see you here! :-)

[RadioAstronomer]

HP-48SX Bump: State of the art, 1990!

LOL! My most used calculator is the one I carry all the time in my shirt pocket (the TI-36X solar). :-)

[RadioAstronomer]

I'll bet the shirt is long gone, though.

But I still have those skinny ties! hehehehe

[quietolong]

>>> I can barely talk to the software folks anymore, <<<<


Sort of my point.
It’s made so cryptic no one other than a software geek can understand it.
C and it’s likes seem to be the most obtuse languages. Probably the reason for some of the poorly written software I see.
Remember back in the olden days. When 64K RAM was HUGE, 1Mhz uP and 640 DOS barrier. Programmers had to think about what they did. Today most seems just slapped down. I can’t believe the size of some programs to do a simple function. Makes me think back to my old Commodore 64 and what it could do with a few K.
BTW I still use the C64 mostly for game playing. But I still use my C128 for testing new parts and prototyping.

[joanil]

We have one of those precision rules here, superb workmanship, a simple looking but quite complex fine piece of instrumentation. You are right, kids today have no concept of the rule let alone its uses in high technology. Sigh, if only it would help get my MS Win2K loaded PC to operate properly! Fat chance of that! I would have better luck building my own starship with my trusty old slide rule! I wonder if future ventures beyond the stars will carry a good old slide rule next to the captains chair as a 'backup' to the drive computer?

[quietolong]

Sort of what I said.

There using calculators in first grade. Most kids will never learn to do math when they can just push the buttons. I see calculators and slide rules as a aid for teaching math not replacing it.

calculators helped made my day too. But by the time I learned to use a slide rule and by the time handhelds came around. I knew how math worked.
But the first calculator I got to use for my homework was a big black boat anchor type. With rows of buttons and a pull handle on the side. And all it could do was add. If you wanted to X with it you had to keep pulling the handle. 6x6 became 6+ 6 handle pulls.

And put some wax on that slide.

[quietolong]

Technology: Slide rule clings to life in the Internet Age
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b45097118bb.htm

[quietolong]

Theres a good article and pictures in Discover magazine Aug 2003 on Slide Rules.

http://www.discover.com/aug_03/gthere.html?article=featslide.html

The Oughtred Society

http://www.oughtred.org/

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Past time for a bump...I have a circular sliderule somewhere ....