Dear #FreeSoftware developers...

[rsabourin@pdx.social]

@Perspective I certainly remember the big, motor driven cash registers with rows of buttons on the front.

[rupertreynolds@hachyderm.io]

@rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic This is smaller, but it won't boot Linux, so what's the point?

[rsabourin@pdx.social]

@RupertReynolds The pinnacle of mechanical computer design IMHO. But does it run Crysis?

[quadrivial@beige.party]

@RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic I bet it runs DOOM though

[alterelefant@mastodontech.de]

@quadrivial
It would need the help of a human operator.
@RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic

[tth@pleroma.interhacker.space]

@RupertReynolds@hachyderm.io @rsabourin@pdx.social @RuiSeabra@mastodon.social @pluralistic@mamot.fr Can you run Doom on it ?

[bweller@mstdn.social]

@rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic

[chuckthewriter@mstdn.social]

@rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic

At this rate, I'm ready to go find a Chinese abacus.

[blort@social.tchncs.de]

@RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic

Pretty sure I saw a video of it running Doom.

[knapjack@snac.gruntle.cc]

@RupertReynolds@hachyderm.io But will play Doom, yeah?

[chaos95@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic yay! My typewriter collection is worthwhile after all!

[mcrocker@indieweb.social]

@RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic I own one of these Curta Calculators. The same model. I drag it out from time to time, when I need to do simple calculations.

The square root algorithm is enough of a PITA that I only used it once after learning it.

[rupertreynolds@hachyderm.io]

@mcrocker @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic I never tried square root. That was bad enough on my first electronic calculator, which only had +-*/ and a memory register.

I like the way that if I subtracted one time too many, I could go into reverse and 'undo' the mistake

[jupiter@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic
Yeah I've seen a lot of exploits for this one, with physical access any user can access and execute calc.exe

[wolfinpdx@pdx.social]

@RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic

Do not threaten William Gibson with a good time.

[redundantbloke@mastodon.me.uk]

@RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic @GreatDismal
Oh my. One of my favourite novels, Pattern Recognition had these as a side plot point and I always thought these were an invention… is this a derivation from the book or do these really exist and have done so prior to the 21st century?
And can I buy a Buzz Ricksens flight jacket as well?

[di4na@hachyderm.io]

@redundantbloke @RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic @GreatDismal they exist. There are even 2 version. Be aware, they are pretty expensive second hand and are pretty hard to reproduce at this scale

[bovaz@misskey.social]

@RupertReynolds@hachyderm.io @rsabourin@pdx.social @RuiSeabra@mastodon.social @pluralistic@mamot.fr it can probably run Doom

[fuzed@newsie.social]

@RupertReynolds @rsabourin @RuiSeabra @pluralistic but will it play Doom??