HP Forum Archive 20

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Crossing my fingers Message #1 Posted by David Ramsey on 21 Sept 2011, 10:57 a.m. Ran through my SR-60 presentation with the wife last night; tweaked a few things. Fired up the SR-60 and loaded the "Threez" program, which calculates all three digit numbers equal to the sums of the cubes of their digits. (This takes a 15C LE about 10 seconds, total, and takes the SR-60 about 15-20 minutes. But at least it can print out each one!) The program should print "THREEZ", then 153, 370, 371, 407, and then "DONE". Came back about half an hour later and found it had printed up through "407" and was sitting there with no display. Turned it off and left it for an hour, but it still wouldn't turn back on. Opened it up, reseated every socketed chip, sprayed display connector and cable with contact cleaner, turned it on again...PROMPTING DESIRED? Verified operation of printer and card reader, etc. Let's just hope it holds together over the next few days. There's visible corrosion on the legs of some of the socketed ICs. This has happened once before; I suspect some chip or two is getting slightly warm and losing contact with its socket...but it's just a guess. In any case I'll be bringing the tools I need to open it up, contact cleaner, and a wrist strap. 'cause you never know.

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #2 Posted by Namir on 21 Sept 2011, 11:17 a.m., in response to message #1 by David Ramsey I hate to be the village idiot, but what is an SR60 exactly? Sounds to me like an old Texas Instrument calculator model.

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #3 Posted by Katie Wasserman on 21 Sept 2011, 12:00 p.m., in response to message #2 by Namir That it is. It's a big desktop machine and quite nice.

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #4 Posted by hpnut on 21 Sept 2011, 12:20 p.m., in response to message #3 by Katie Wasserman this is heresy! the article should not be here ;-) hpnut in Malaysia

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #5 Posted by Steve Simpkin on 21 Sept 2011, 12:19 p.m., in response to message #2 by Namir Here is some information about the SR60. It was very advanced for 1976! http://oldcalculatormuseum.com/tisr-60.html

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #6 Posted by hpnut on 21 Sept 2011, 12:23 p.m., in response to message #5 by Steve Simpkin it's horrible! there's a big = key and it's in sickly yellow too! it's an HP 97 wannabe!

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #7 Posted by David Ramsey on 21 Sept 2011, 12:42 p.m., in response to message #6 by hpnut Quote: it's an HP 97 wannabe! ...with a full alphanumeric display. The 97 couldn't even print alpha. But I confess I like my 97s better. I don't, for example, have to worry about them dying if I look at them cross-eyed. Edited: 21 Sept 2011, 12:43 p.m.

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #8 Posted by Namir on 21 Sept 2011, 1:28 p.m., in response to message #5 by Steve Simpkin Thanks for the link! The machine is beautiful!!

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #9 Posted by Martin Pinckney on 21 Sept 2011, 1:34 p.m., in response to message #5 by Steve Simpkin From the article we know it displays alpha characters, and at least question marks. Does anyone know if it displays the parentheses?

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #10 Posted by David Ramsey on 21 Sept 2011, 2:07 p.m., in response to message #9 by Martin Pinckney Sure, it displays parentheses...

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #11 Posted by David Ramsey on 21 Sept 2011, 12:21 p.m., in response to message #2 by Namir Namir, it's a big desktop programmable calculator from T.I. AFAIK it's the only desktop programmable they ever made. Unlike the rugged HP desktops of the era, the SR-60 is delicate, like a butterfly's wing. Why am I bringing it to HHC? It was Gene's idea. He swears you'll all be fascinated. Edited: 21 Sept 2011, 12:43 p.m. after one or more responses were posted

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #12 Posted by hpnut on 21 Sept 2011, 12:25 p.m., in response to message #11 by David Ramsey Yes! pls bring it to HHC at San Diego and donate it to the speaker who exceeds his/her time limit! Gene would be happy :-)

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #13 Posted by gene wright on 21 Sept 2011, 1:32 p.m., in response to message #12 by hpnut If so, when I get up to speak, I may never quit! :-)

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #14 Posted by Namir on 21 Sept 2011, 1:26 p.m., in response to message #11 by David Ramsey Thanks for the clarification! It looks [bold]VERY NICE[/bold\. Too bad Joerg Werner (Mr TI DataMath web site) won't be at the meeting. I look forward to seeing it!! I thought it was a little handheld calculator!!! :-) Namir

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #15 Posted by Howard Owen on 21 Sept 2011, 1:28 p.m., in response to message #11 by David Ramsey I'm looking forward to seeing this thing. From the writeup you linked to, it sounds like a highly capable programmable calculator. Quote: A fully-optioned SR-60A could hold programs up to 5760 steps in length, and offered 430 memory registers. Alphanumerics are a big differentiator too. So is reliability, apparently. I love the HP-97. It's my third favorite old calculator behind the 41C and 42S, but it's not in the same class as this machine. The SR-60 is a full size desktop calculator. I think a comparison with HP's desktop calculators of the time would be more fair.

Re: Crossing my fingers Message #16 Posted by David Ramsey on 21 Sept 2011, 2:07 p.m., in response to message #15 by Howard Owen Quote: I think a comparison with HP's desktop calculators of the time would be more fair. I'll cover some of this in my presentation.

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