Calculator Construction on Classic Macs #VintageComputing #Apple
Did you know there are several ways in which calculators have been implemented on Macs over the years? Here are some facts that you may not have heard:
Designing the calculator for the original Mac – documented through an excellent story about Chris Espinosa’s work at Apple documenting various software. After iterating various calculators and always having Jobs state he wanted changes, Espinosa developed software which allowed changes to the calculator in real time, dubbed the “the Steve Jobs Roll Your Own Calculator Construction Set”. After about 10 minutes of fiddling, Jobs found an acceptable calculator design and that was shipped on the original Mac. More at Folklore
Calculator Construction Set – this was an app by Dubl-Click Software in 1989, which ran on System 6.x as noted by Joe Groff on Twitter last month.
Modern versions?? – There is interest in reviving some of the beautiful, clean lines of all the classic Apple calculators. Richard Sterling on Twitter posted that he would consider creating physical calculators. My how clean design is favored through the years.
(My birthday 🥳 wish) If I get 1000 likes to this Tweet I’m going to Crowdfund PHYSICAL calculators from Apple software history…
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Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
