LGR - Radio Shack Computer Keyboard Calculator
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
greggv8
I'd like to see you put together an AMD 5x86 133. The ADW version, IIRC that had a lower TDP than the ADZ version. I had a few of those, always wire modded to force 4x multiplier, and at 40Mhz bus speed for 160 Mhz overclock on any board that could handle it. I did have one Micron board where it -would- have run at 200 Mhz on 50 Mhz bus. The problem was it had 20ns cache chips and I needed (but couldn't afford) 15 ns or better yet 10 ns L2 chips. It would run fine at 200 Mhz with L2 disabled, except it also ran like crap without the L2. Dunno if a CPU voltage regulator interposer would have done anything for it. I just ran them at standard 486 voltages and put on a good cooler. Still ran cooler than the Cyrix 5x86. I barely brushed one of those once and got a tiny 2nd degree burn on a fingertip. Painful blister.
So there's a goal, building a stable 200 Mhz AMD 5x86.
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I'd like to see you put together an AMD 5x86 133. The ADW version, IIRC that had a lower TDP than the ADZ version. I had a few of those, always wire modded to force 4x multiplier, and at 40Mhz bus speed for 160 Mhz overclock on any board that could handle it. I did have one Micron board where it -would- have run at 200 Mhz on 50 Mhz bus. The problem was it had 20ns cache chips and I needed (but couldn't afford) 15 ns or better yet 10 ns L2 chips. It would run fine at 200 Mhz with L2 disabled, except it also ran like crap without the L2. Dunno if a CPU voltage regulator interposer would have done anything for it. I just ran them at standard 486 voltages and put on a good cooler. Still ran cooler than the Cyrix 5x86. I barely brushed one of those once and got a tiny 2nd degree burn on a fingertip. Painful blister.
So there's a goal, building a stable 200 Mhz AMD 5x86.
reply
fanjoy
I'm surprised someone hasn't made a keyboard with a small 9 character LED on a modern keyboard so even if your computer is off, you could quickly punch in some calculations on the number pad. Of course it would have to have a way to register key presses but most keyboards these days are wireless anyway so they are receiving power or can be woken up from sleep mode by pressing a button.
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I'm surprised someone hasn't made a keyboard with a small 9 character LED on a modern keyboard so even if your computer is off, you could quickly punch in some calculations on the number pad. Of course it would have to have a way to register key presses but most keyboards these days are wireless anyway so they are receiving power or can be woken up from sleep mode by pressing a button.
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Jason
They had a version that could do hexadecimal. I had one back in the day, been hunting for one now for around five or six years. Was nice as it had better buttons and a bigger display, but was weird as it was the full width of a model M, the buttons arranged as a single row across the top.
Haven't been able to find even a picture of it, even in the old RS catalogs.
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They had a version that could do hexadecimal. I had one back in the day, been hunting for one now for around five or six years. Was nice as it had better buttons and a bigger display, but was weird as it was the full width of a model M, the buttons arranged as a single row across the top.
Haven't been able to find even a picture of it, even in the old RS catalogs.
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ciTatic
I realized why someone would want one of these when I recalled using a calculator on a dual-screen setup. Pre-dual-screen was an actual timeframe in computing, right? I'm having a hard time picturing a personal computer without a convient second monitor hookup. However, I'm also having trouble picturing a command-line OS running dual screen. I think I need a minute.
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I realized why someone would want one of these when I recalled using a calculator on a dual-screen setup. Pre-dual-screen was an actual timeframe in computing, right? I'm having a hard time picturing a personal computer without a convient second monitor hookup. However, I'm also having trouble picturing a command-line OS running dual screen. I think I need a minute.
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ESCObeato
I see this useful in a setting where, as a last resort, your regular calculator has disappeared or been borrowed by someone and the computer your working on is so outdated that it would be faster to just use this calculator that never leaves your keyboard. And if you're someone who can't for some reason pull out your smartphone. Though rare, these people exist.
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I see this useful in a setting where, as a last resort, your regular calculator has disappeared or been borrowed by someone and the computer your working on is so outdated that it would be faster to just use this calculator that never leaves your keyboard. And if you're someone who can't for some reason pull out your smartphone. Though rare, these people exist.
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buggsyspam
I had a promotional calculator mouse pad from some medical company around the mid 2000's. I was about to throw it out, but my mom wanted it. I couldn't understand it, but I guess a woman in her 60's really wanted a calculator on her desk that she couldn't lose. I found the target demographic for the stick-on calculator.
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I had a promotional calculator mouse pad from some medical company around the mid 2000's. I was about to throw it out, but my mom wanted it. I couldn't understand it, but I guess a woman in her 60's really wanted a calculator on her desk that she couldn't lose. I found the target demographic for the stick-on calculator.
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Eric
Old computers could really only do one thing at a time. I would have bought this if I had limited desk space and an 8 or 16 bit computer. It probably would have sold better if it was released earlier. By the time this was in stores I was already on windows 3. 1 which could multitask better than almost everything in the 80s.
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Old computers could really only do one thing at a time. I would have bought this if I had limited desk space and an 8 or 16 bit computer. It probably would have sold better if it was released earlier. By the time this was in stores I was already on windows 3. 1 which could multitask better than almost everything in the 80s.
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Tom
The first keyboard I got at my first job (20+ years ago) had a built in calculator. Yes, an 8 digit display above the numpad. You turned it on with a -calculator- icon button (which caused the numpad to stop sending keystrokes to the computer, IIRC. Sadly, I don't remember the make.
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The first keyboard I got at my first job (20+ years ago) had a built in calculator. Yes, an 8 digit display above the numpad. You turned it on with a -calculator- icon button (which caused the numpad to stop sending keystrokes to the computer, IIRC. Sadly, I don't remember the make.
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TheFriendlyHacker
While the use of something like that is limited as you mentioned, I can totally see why it exists. It's one of those things you don't go out of your way to buy, but rather just another novel/obscure gadget that would appeal to some people. Plenty of it's kind
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While the use of something like that is limited as you mentioned, I can totally see why it exists. It's one of those things you don't go out of your way to buy, but rather just another novel/obscure gadget that would appeal to some people. Plenty of it's kind
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Sammy
You laugh but I'd totally use that on an old keyboard. I'm in the middle of a game or application or I'm just chatting and I need to make a calculation and I don't want to start the calculator program on windows? Keyboard calculator right at the tip of my fingers!
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You laugh but I'd totally use that on an old keyboard. I'm in the middle of a game or application or I'm just chatting and I need to make a calculation and I don't want to start the calculator program on windows? Keyboard calculator right at the tip of my fingers!
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