19 Aug 2009, 11:21 am
pakled wrote:
The 'pepper mill'? Sounds like a sort of ball with switches and dials, etc., that they made in Switzerland. Dr. Who reputably used one once. I saw one of them in 'The Final Whole Earth Catalog' (now I'm really dating myself...
. Even then (70s) they were a couple hundred.
I know what a slide rule is, just have no idea how they work. I know there's some web sites that explain it.
. Even then (70s) they were a couple hundred.I know what a slide rule is, just have no idea how they work. I know there's some web sites that explain it.
Slide rulers are adders (think about it). What a technical slide rule does is add logarithms hence it is performing multiplication and division. That is what the A, B, C, D scales do for a living.
ruveyn
21 Aug 2009, 8:16 am
I remember the C64 in elementary school. Apparently the school couldn't afford those fancy IBM multimedia computers. Once in a blue moon the class would go to the computer lab. There was also one in every classroom. If you finished your work in-class early you got to play with the computer. I never finished my work early. 
I remember when loading a program it always required " ,8 ,1". I always wanted to know what that means (I haven't bothered googling it). The only program I remember is one called Treasure Chest. It was some reading comprehension program. You read what seemed like a huge passage and then had to answer questions at the end or something.
