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MaggieL · 08-02-2002, 11:59 PM

Now, my Secret Lust From The Past was this puppy from Hwelett-Packard back in 1977. I actually met somebody who owned one, and died of envy for many days thereafter.

I'm subject to the same "immediate name erasure" syndrome as Tony is...but to make matters worse I can't do mental artithmetic to save my life. (And since I'm a private pilot I can imagine situations in which being able to do mental arithmetic might save my life.) Oh, well.

So I eventually owned a series of Casio "Data Bank" watches until I actualy got a Palm Pilot. None of which had the pure sex appeal of this (admittedly very butch-looking) bit of mid-Seventies high-tech. My first computer (first one I owned as opposed to first one I programmed) was of the same vintage..an 8-bit Z-80 at 2MHz with 16k of memory.

A lot of folks are gonna say "Calculator watch, big deal." But
read about the tricks this "primitive" gadget was able to do...especially date arithmetic and dynamic calculations. Six chips and three batteries in there. This technology only sucked because it was insanely expensive.

08-02-2002, 11:59 PM	#14
MaggieL in the Hour of Scampering Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Jeffersonville PA (15 mi NW of Philadelphia) Posts: 4,060	Now, <b>my</b> Secret Lust From The Past was this puppy from Hwelett-Packard back in 1977. I actually met somebody who owned one, and died of envy for many days thereafter. I'm subject to the same "immediate name erasure" syndrome as Tony is...but to make matters worse I can't do mental artithmetic to save my life. (And since I'm a private pilot I can imagine situations in which being able to do mental arithmetic <i> might</i> save my life.) Oh, well. So I eventually owned a series of Casio "Data Bank" watches until I actualy got a Palm Pilot. None of which had the pure sex appeal of this (admittedly very butch-looking) bit of mid-Seventies high-tech. My first computer (first one I <i>owned</i> as opposed to first one I <i>programmed</i>) was of the same vintage..an 8-bit Z-80 at 2MHz with 16k of memory. A lot of folks are gonna say "Calculator watch, big deal." But read about the tricks this "primitive" gadget was able to do...especially date arithmetic and dynamic calculations. Six chips and three batteries in there. This technology only sucked because it was insanely expensive. __________________ "Neither can his Mind be thought to be in Tune,whose words do jarre; nor his reason In frame, whose sentence is preposterous..."