PC Keyboard with Scientific Calculator Buttons

May 22, 2007 17 Replies

I still like using my scientific calculator for electronics calculations.



I misplaced my calculator one day and decided to try out Windows Xp built in calculator.. What a pita moving the mouse around to each button.



How come there's no PC keyboards with scientific buttons like handheld calculators?? (I didn't notice any at Future shop .)



Heck...My PC works with multiple keyboards... Anybody seen a scientific keyboard + software..? I want SIN COS and TAN buttons damn it! :)



I do use Mathematica and Excel on occasion but I'm lazy to learn hot keys and don't like gaming style mousing for little calculations. D from BC


Optimus Maximus will be able to have that functionality, if it ever actually ships and if anyone actually wants to spend 1200 on a keyboard. (I do, I do!!!)

Wow!!! Each button is a color display.. Arrfff! Arfff! :)

I can just imagine all the CAD icons or electronic symbols on the keyboard buttons..SIN COS and TAN buttons too in calculator mode.

I liked the Half Life keyboard demo on

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And best of all..There will be an ANY key!!

So expensive :(... D from BC

I use the excellent HP48 emulator from I-can't-remember-where, that has pretty much all calc the keys mapped to keyboard ones (as labelled on the calculator image).

Cheers, mvdw

Get a real calculator again, they cost next to nothing, you'll sleep better at night, and you'll be able to take it into the lab or wherever. Infinitely better than any PC calculator.

Dave.

On a sunny day (Tue, 22 May 2007 02:50:38 GMT) it happened D from BC wrote in :

Typing sin(something) in C was never very difficult. If C is too complicated get an old BASIC somewhere. But I often write small C programs to do some number crunching. printf() is your friend.

How utterly horrid!

Google has a calculator too, type "sin(1)" and there's your answer, never have to leave your bowser. Google calculator even gets the correct answer to the ultimate question:

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Dave.

On a sunny day (22 May 2007 04:58:35 -0700) it happened "David L. Jones" wrote in :

Browser? Linux has things like scilab, google for: scilab-4.1.bin.linux-i686.tar.gz and/or read:

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I usually have about 8 xterms (or rxvt) open with all sorts of stuff, browser too. No KDE crap here... fvwm, just 9 virtual desktops (enough really).

42 huh? ;-)

scilab:

-->sin(%pi / 2) ans = 1.

-->sin(%pi ) ans = 1.225E-16

Oh well, nothing is perfect :-)

So, you want to calculate sin(15)-- key in (on the numeric keypad) "1", "5" then "S" (or "s"). Three keystrokes, how hard is that?

One should always eschew the lowly desk rodent and "la boule roulante" for key commands triggering frequently-used functions.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

S is for Sin? Wow...only a bunch of other hot keys to slowly learn over time.. Like the @...

Huhhh...I found the XP calculator hot keys. I've listed some below..

ln n log l

+/- F9 M+ CTRL+P MC CTRL+L MR CTRL+R MS CTRL+M n! ! pi p Radians F3 C ESC CE DEL sin s cos o sqrt @ Degrees F2 tan t Exp x x^2 @ F-E v x^3 # x^y y

I have an idea.. Since my PC can use multiple keyboards..I'm going to buy another keyboard and stick notes on the buttons.

SIN on the S button COS on the C button EXP on the X button PI on the P button Sqrt on the @ button

It was a joke, pointing out that most people these days don't have to leave their browser to do anything.

I didn't understand a word of that!, but I suspect you might need to get outside more :->

I'll happily continue to use my *real* calculator for most tasks, thanks. I can take it with me in my pocket, it's got zero boot time, never crashes, requires minimal keystrokes, and does not need to burn 100W of power. The best tool for the job is always purpose designed.

Dave.

Anybody using a scientific calculator with a USB connection?

Wouldn't it be cool to do this...

Make a calculation on the USB calculator...

1.34*10E-4 Amps squared * 4.87ohms = blah (Format for 2 decimal places) Then press one button (on the handheld calculator) which pastes from the clipboard into a schematic program or sim program.

So I click on each part..punch in some calculations...paste.. Next part..calc calc calc ..paste Next part ...calc calc calc ..paste D from BC

Yeah, cool, but where are you going to source the 4.87ohm resistor from? And how does the program know you are dealing in ohms?

Dave.

Yeah, cool, but where are you going to source the 4.87ohm resistor from? And how does the program know you are dealing in ohms?

Dave.

Normally I grab my handheld calculator, make some calculations and then I have to type the result in LTSpice for each resistor. It would be nice just to transfer the result with a button.

Later on I change all the values to closest production values.

Ohms is the default in LTSpice

D from BC

You'll just have to retype them all again anyway when you re-layout the circuit in a proper schematic editor so you can make your board.

Dave.

Cough... :P Yup...For now.. I just had some trouble with Mulitsim. (Models and some learning difficulties with the program.) So I often prefer to do spice with SwitcherCADIII... Then I do the ridiculous thing of redoing the schematic in Mulitsim not for spice but just for capture because it's nicely linked to Ultiboard for PCB layout. Linear Tech can quote me on that :)

Either I'll get Multisim working for me or I'll learn to format LTSpices netlist for Ultiboard.

Regardless...I still would like to have a dedicated keyboard in some fashion to do scientific calculations at any time with results that transfer to the clipboard. I did a little googling and only found USB numeric keypads.. No user defined keys on a blank keypad yet. D from BC

Late at night, by candle light, Jan Panteltje penned this immortal opus:

Do a search for Console Calculator (ccalc.exe). It's freeware, quite small and you just copy it over to wherever, no install needed.

- YD.

Remove HAT if replying by mail.

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