Re: OT - Dot Matrix Display Message #4 Posted by Antonio Maschio (Italy) on 1 Sept 2007, 11:07 a.m., in response to message #3 by Giancarlo (Italy)
Wow! I too used a PC-1401 as a calculation companion during my high school (final years of the liceo scientifico) and the first years of my Civil Engineering years (the most involved with math). It still works perfectly, and it's one the non-HP calculators I use more.
Think: I tried to substitute it with a Sharp PC-E500 during my job first year, but its gum keys tended not to respond correctly, so I reverted to my (limited) PC-1401, which has a fine keyboard, though not comparable to the one of my HP-15C.
I used to keep the 1401 full of BASIC programs, which performed quite everything, from beam calculation to easter day determination, from statistical (short) programs to the calculation of stars magnitudo.
Once I bought the HP-32SII in 1998, it fell into oblivion, for a while, until I discovered the programs got lost because batteries ran out. No leaking, though, so it's perfect still today.
I've got a little nostalgia for old BASIC calculators: they were both calculators and small computers.
-- Antonio
P.S. can you report its Serial Number, and the year you bought it, if you remember?
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