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Found My First Computer

PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 8:42 am
by Bill
I was searching through some old boxes and found my first 'computer'. The Pickett N1010-ES Trig Duplex Slide Rule

Image

10 inches of pure nerd appeal !!

Check out all the cool features...

This ten-inch aluminum linear slide rule has a yellow ("eye saver") coating and a nylon indicator. The front of the base has L, DF, D, and DI scales, with B, ST, T, S, and C scales on the slide. The back of the base has K, A, D, and DI scales, with CF, CIF, CI, and C scales on the slide. A black leather case is lined in pink plastic. The back of the case has a metal ring for attaching to a belt.

You could wear it like a sword !

It was computers like this that put a man on the moon.

Re: Found My First Computer

PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 8:55 am
by Bill
Here's a link to a short intro into what slide rules are used for you young-uns who have never seen or used one.

https://www.math.utah.edu/~pa/sliderules/

Re: Found My First Computer

PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 6:03 pm
by klonk
The other day while cleaning out a closet I found an old Sterling. Fortunately, I had stored the instructions with it. I only vaguely remembered how it worked. It is unsurprising to me that one of the very first commercial successes in microcircuitry consumer electronics was the you-know-what.

Re: Found My First Computer

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:17 am
by Ron Panunto
I still have my Pickett. It was wider than yours, and white, and had all the hyperbolic trig tables that we used for transmission line calc's.

Re: Found My First Computer

PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:34 am
by klonk
I, many moons ago, jotted this in the margin of my slide rule instructions:

IF y is not equal to 0...

x+y = ((x/y) +1) y

x-y = ((x/y) - 1) y