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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: wellington1869 on Thu, 16 September 2010, 23:46:42

Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: wellington1869 on Thu, 16 September 2010, 23:46:42: apparently collecting, trading, buying, selling, sliderules is BIG business.

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/sruniverse.html (http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/sruniverse.html)

Thats just one site of 2 dozen sliderule sites i found. More sliderule sites out there than keyboard sites.

The rare ones sell for thousands of dollars on ebay...

btw, how do i know this? Found an old sliderule among the stamp collection. Was about to chuck it, then out of curiosity I looked it up on ebay. Guess how much its worth? :) Its worth more than all the damned stamps put together.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: wellington1869 on Thu, 16 September 2010, 23:51:02: here's (http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-vintage-slide-rule-collector-mike-konshak/) a guy explaining why he collects sliderules.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Lanx on Fri, 17 September 2010, 02:25:35: wow, been a while since i've seen a website that reminds me of geocities, and i kinda surf for a living.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 17 September 2010, 06:02:34: You know what?

That web site loaded perfectly in Windows 3.1. Know what that means?
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Fri, 17 September 2010, 06:13:40: Quote from: microsoft windows;224117
You know what?

That web site loaded perfectly in Windows 3.1.

Still not as unlikely as working in IE6.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Necroleachate on Fri, 17 September 2010, 06:25:25: That is a really ugly website. Must have been done on days of Windows 3.1.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Fri, 17 September 2010, 06:53:13: ThinkGeek is selling a sliderule now: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/be12/
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Rajagra on Fri, 17 September 2010, 07:07:26: One of my watches has a rotating bezel that works like a sliderule. If I ever find myself alone on a plane in the middle of the ocean I'll have no trouble working out how much fuel I'll need to travel back to land, and how long it'll take. Shame I can't fly a plane.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: wellington1869 on Fri, 17 September 2010, 09:04:22: i dont even know how to use a sliderule. I remember a very long time ago my dad showed me some simple things on it, but seemed pretty complicated to me, lol.

I admit its a very neat little device and fun to use, but I dont see myself becoming a sliderule geek right now. Ima sell it. But yea, its neat. Apparently the one I have is "capable of solving 2-variable equations", somehow.

Damn. I also have a very old watch and a very old camera inherited from grandpa. Cant help but wonder how much they're worth too.

Let this be a lesson to the kids out there. Never throw anything away! ;) Its absolutely true that one person's junk is another person's treasure. And people get obsessed about collecting the wackiest things.

Makes keyboards seem pretty normal by comparison ;)
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: quadibloc on Fri, 17 September 2010, 09:37:45: Quote from: wellington1869;224093
apparently collecting, trading, buying, selling, sliderules is BIG business.

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/sruniverse.html (http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/sruniverse.html)
Do they still have the .PDF files of slide rules I created to be hosted on that site?

Why, yes, they still do:

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/build.html

in "Part 2" on that page.

So I guess in my case, it can't get any worse.

Quote from: wellington1869;224141
i dont even know how to use a sliderule.
Well, you're in luck!

On my own web page (which looks terrible, and loads perfectly in Windows 3.1 too), at

http://www.quadibloc.com/math/slrint.htm

I have a very simple and clear description, I think, of how a slide rule works and how to use it.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: kriminal on Fri, 17 September 2010, 09:55:03: hee hee
i feel better now.. :)
*secretly checks quadibloc's links*
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Ekaros on Fri, 17 September 2010, 10:46:17: Quote from: ripster;224152
I'm still trying to figure out my son's Ti-84 Plus calculator.

It's pretty simple and messed same time, everything is in menus... Still using that, hmm now I have to get something which allows me to use mathematica/matlab over telnet or something ;D
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: quadibloc on Fri, 17 September 2010, 10:47:52: Quote from: Shawn Stanford;224125
ThinkGeek is selling a sliderule now: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/be12/
There was a Japanese company still selling slide rules the last time I looked, so I'm surprised to hear that this is the only slide rule anyone is making.

Ah, here we are:

http://www.concise.co.jp/eng0731/slide.html

their web site is still up.

Of course, I'll forgive them for not counting North Korea. China was making slide rules longer than anyone else, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if North Korea still uses them.

But if it is the last slide rule on Earth, I'm dismayed it doesn't have log-log scales.

Quote from: Ekaros;224162
It's pretty simple and messed same time, everything is in menus... Still using that, hmm now I have to get something which allows me to use mathematica/matlab over telnet or something ;D

There's a free program called Maxima you might consider. If you use andLinux, you can get Xmaxima and TEXmacs working together for you, to get nice-looking output.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: wellington1869 on Fri, 17 September 2010, 12:01:31: wow quad, you are a true geek ;)
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: ricercar on Fri, 17 September 2010, 12:03:33: Quote from: ripster;224152
I'm still trying to figure out my son's Ti-84 Plus calculator.

When I was in high school, Pickett sent me a free slide rule when I mentioned that someone had stolen my Pickett pocket rule, and I missed it greatly, despite my HP 33e calculator.

Seems only one of my rules showed up for a photo shoot ... and even then the photo isn't loading. Silly Internet.

There we go.

(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=12536&stc=1&d=1284743273)
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Konrad on Fri, 17 September 2010, 13:37:41: +1 geek worship @ quad
+1 head shaking @ sliderule nerds

I've got a set of slides from early high-school (c. 374 BCE) ... uh, the math teacher just made them out of photocopies glued onto cardboard, lol I doubt they're worth anything. Issued to everyone to keep things fair because those new-fangled calculators were ridiculously expensive. My parents wouldn't buy me one (though my mom used one of these (http://oldcalculatormuseum.com/d61a4.jpg) at home for accounting), though just a handful of years later I was using a decent Sharp scientific, then eventually of course a TI programmable.

So now my post-apocalypse survival kit includes a mechanical wristwatch and a sliderule. Yippee.

Here (http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2009/07/10/lego-calculator_WKnk8_1292.jpg)'s one for rip, before he pollutes this fine topic with impure spandex videos.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Ekaros on Fri, 17 September 2010, 14:30:31: I have always wanted one of these:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Curta01.JPG/468px-Curta01.JPG) Also EMP/atomic war proof... :D
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Konrad on Fri, 17 September 2010, 14:41:42: Always wanted? There's a bunch on eBay, they're awfully expensive. They even cost more than slide rules.

TI-83+ does it for me ... though I'll confess my terrible sin, I actually like the Win7 Calculator applet (for the most part).
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: wellington1869 on Fri, 17 September 2010, 14:59:41: Quote from: Ekaros;224219
I have always wanted one of these:
Show Image
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Curta01.JPG/468px-Curta01.JPG)
Also EMP/atomic war proof... :D

what the hell is that? circular slide rule? or pencil sharpener?
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Fri, 17 September 2010, 15:10:00: Those things are completely smothered in awesomesauce...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: wellington1869 on Fri, 17 September 2010, 15:16:27: Quote from: Shawn Stanford;224225
Those things are completely smothered in awesomesauce...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta

very cool. now if someone would build a cell phone into the side of it, i'd keep one in my pocket ;)
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Konrad on Fri, 17 September 2010, 15:20:57: lol, I looked it up (and read the same link) as well.

My immediate thought was that it was one of these
(http://home.comcast.net/~l-whiting/attbi/CylinderSlidingTiles_183x250.jpg)
(I had one as a kid, though mine had five rows instead of three ... stupidly simple puzzle though, you can only play with so many variations on the solution/patterns before it gets really boring.)
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Konrad on Fri, 17 September 2010, 15:25:16: Quote from: wellington1869;224227
very cool. now if someone would build a cell phone into the side of it, i'd keep one in my pocket ;)

A mechanical cellphone ... just boggles the mind.

You could steampunk your phone, disable the calculator app, and run a Curta simulation (like this (http://www.vcalc.net/curta_simulator_en.htm)).
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Lanx on Fri, 17 September 2010, 16:06:51: my fiance still uses her ti-83 from our college days for work. I say, so your using a 40$ calculator for 10million $ projects?
I'm like shouldn't you get something like higher end? she's like she knows the calculator inside and out, even though it's as big as 3 cell phones lol.

bad thing is, since her work blackberry is locked(admin locks it from the app world) she can't even get a BB graphing calc app, so she'll whip out the ti-83 at a meeting and ppl look at her in awe.
Not for using old technology but b/c no one knows how to use it!
I'm like these ppl w/ masters and R&D ppl don't know how to use a ti-83?
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Konrad on Fri, 17 September 2010, 16:42:13: I've got a TI-83+ myself. Never big on the TI hacking/modding stuff, though I have had to repair it a few times. How you use it definitely matters.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: wellington1869 on Fri, 17 September 2010, 16:56:44: Quote from: Konrad;224229
A mechanical cellphone ... just boggles the mind.

You could steampunk your phone, disable the calculator app, and run a Curta simulation (like this (http://www.vcalc.net/curta_simulator_en.htm)).

lol, where's the iphone app?
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 17 September 2010, 17:16:36: I got some old LED calculators that I use.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: wellington1869 on Fri, 17 September 2010, 17:19:41: Quote from: microsoft windows;224250
I got some old LED calculators that I use.

i use my fingers sometimes.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: audioave10 on Fri, 17 September 2010, 17:38:25: I bought a nice sliderule once (can't remember where) and used it with my first machine-shop job. It was quite useful. I don't know what I did with it.
It was 1983 I think.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: quadibloc on Fri, 17 September 2010, 18:54:43: Quote from: wellington1869;224224
what the hell is that? circular slide rule? or pencil sharpener?
It's a clever miniature adding machine; it can add, subtract, multiply, or divide using much the same principles as an old-style mechanical adding machine, but clever design made it pocketable.

There used to be advertisements for it in Scientific American back in the 1960s... and recently, a year or so ago, there was an article in that magazine about its history. Its inventor actually designed it while he was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Rajagra on Fri, 17 September 2010, 21:26:50: Quote from: Shawn Stanford;224225
Those things are completely smothered in awesomesauce...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta

Yeah. Fighting off the Nazis, the Russians, and evil financiers and coming out on top with a world-beating product certainly counts as awesome.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Konrad on Sat, 18 September 2010, 13:48:33: Quote from: quadibloc
Its inventor actually designed it while he was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp.
That might explain why it sort of resembles a hand-grenade.

NAZI: "Vhere are ZE NUMBERS???"
CURTA: "Back off you Nazi pigs, or I'll multiply 2x1+6x10+3x100 and 8x1+0x10+3x100!"
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Rajagra on Sat, 18 September 2010, 15:34:25: Quote from: ripster;224479
I hear the street cleaners were going to use a The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch on the pope.

More likely to be some Thames trout (http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/thames-trout-trout-tf/).
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: quadibloc on Sat, 18 September 2010, 15:42:34: Quote from: ripster;224479
I hear the street cleaners were going to use a The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch on the pope.
I think they belonged to what was the other side in that conflict...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11356600

since most of them are apparently from Algeria.
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Ekaros on Sat, 18 September 2010, 15:52:05: Quote from: quadibloc;224483
I think they belonged to what was the other side in that conflict...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11356600

since most of them are apparently from Algeria.

Umm, god doesn't protect? Holy hand grenade should be reserved for Vorpal Rat, or the power-armored group which search for it...
Title: could be worse... you could be a sliderule geek
Post by: Konrad on Sat, 18 September 2010, 18:56:48: lol, apparently (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popemobile) there were a number of popemobiles; Mercedes only made one version.
I hear Michael Jackson bought that particular popemobile at an auction. It may or may not have been used as his hearse.

There's an International Slide Rule Museum (http://sliderulemuseum.com/). They have slide rule exhibits, meetings, tournaments, championships. They even supply slide rules to budget-impoverished educators and institutions.