Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates (calculator edition)

On Fri, Jun 2, 2023 at 11:34 PM Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote: > On 01/06/2023 12.22, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote: > > > > [...]all calculators made bozo errors. ... > > This makes me very wary of random-brand calculators. > > I understand that concern. And while I should be all "take

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates (calculator edition)

On 01/06/2023 12.22, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote: In that talk, [Kahan] showed that all calculators made bozo errors, many unique to a calculator. As a consultant to Victor, he got their errors fixed. I don't remember whether HP and TI listened to him. This makes me very wary of

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates (slide rule edition)

On 01/06/2023 12.32, James Knott via talk wrote: BTW, as I mentioned the other day, I still have a slide rule from my high school days.  It's a Pickett Microline 120 and it still works 56 years later! No batteries to give out! Even though I've never had to use them for school or work, I

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On Thu, 1 Jun 2023 15:24:56 -0400 Scott Allen via talk wrote: > On Thu, 1 Jun 2023 at 15:05, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk > wrote: > > Pickett was a good brand. I really didn't like plastic slide rules > > because they were jerky to operate: stiction.\

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

When I was a motorcycle mechanic I had a circular slide rule, with a permanent mark at the coefficient for computing a catenoid, as I did a lot of 2-stroke exhaust systems. Some hilariously wrong, some which got me a reputation as a wizard. --dave On 6/1/23 18:08, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

| From: Scott Allen via talk | I thought the circular ones were an interesting idea but I only had a | cheap plastic straight one. | https://www.sliderule.tokyo/products/detail.php?product_id=8 Yeah, I had a cheap one from Coles Book Store discount bin. With a regular slide rule, you had to

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On 2023-06-01 15:30, James Knott wrote: I still have the 2nd one.  It's a Sharp EL-545, which also still works.  I guess it's pushing 25 years old or so and it also still works.  It came with a thick instruction book. Correction, 35 years. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On 2023-06-01 12:32, James Knott wrote: then a couple of Sharp calculators, the first of which used batteries and the 2nd light powered. I still have the 2nd one.  It's a Sharp EL-545, which also still works.  I guess it's pushing 25 years old or so and it also still works.  It came with a

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On Thu, 1 Jun 2023 at 15:05, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote: > Pickett was a good brand. I really didn't like plastic slide rules > because they were jerky to operate: stiction. I thought the circular ones were an interesting idea but I only had a cheap plastic straight one.

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On 2023-06-01 15:05, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote: I remember seeing the initial ad campaign. A big price drop from other calculators. But it only had 4 functions. I had been given a scientific calculator by then, if I remember correctly. Oddity: floating point but no scientific

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

| From: James Knott via talk | My first calculator was a Rapidman 800, which sold for about $100 at Eaton's, | IIRC. Interesting vignette: I remember seeing the initial ad campaign. A big price drop from

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On 2023-06-01 12:22, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote: I loved calculators but I actually rarely need them. I've stopped buying them. But not before I bought too many. The first calculator I bought was a used Sinclair. You, Stewart, will know of those. Amazing but very cheaply built. It

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

| From: Stewart C. Russell via talk | Easier said than done. Remember that the entire HS maths curriculum in the US | is effectively owned by TI calculators, and their lock-in allows them to sell | a 1980s-tech 'approved' calculator for ~$100. Aren't "moats" great (Warren Buffet's term, I

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On 29/05/2023 18.15, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote: So fix the testing facilities requirements. Easier said than done. Remember that the entire HS maths curriculum in the US is effectively owned by TI calculators, and their lock-in allows them to sell a 1980s-tech 'approved' calculator

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On 2023-05-29 18:15, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote: Computers were not in classrooms until long after my time. A very few school boards had a very few computers near the end. I admired the Curta Calculators advertised in Scientific American -- the only hand held digital calculators at that

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

| From: Stewart Russell via talk Thanks for all the legwork! Interesting. | On Sun, May 28, 2023 at 10:25 PM James Knott via talk | wrote: | In summary, for us, as Linux users, | Chromebooks don't hard-"brick", as I suggested they might. But it seems | that, in a school exam situation,

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

I have an early Samsung from *a while* ago, it started showing "this product won't receive more upgrades" a couple years ago but it still works just fine. ChromeOS hasn't been updated in a while, and it's just plugged in the TV as my Youtube app for a dumb TV. I have a Lenovo too, it's receiving

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On Sun, May 28, 2023 at 10:25 PM James Knott via talk wrote: > > Do they actually "brick"? On Mon, May 29, 2023 at 11:20 AM D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk < talk@gtalug.org> wrote: > > So: I would think that this is stupid reporting but a useful but partial > Public Service Announcement. > > So

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

Google support page listing AUE dates for every make/model: https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366 Surprisingly some of them get updates up until 2032. > On May 29, 2023, at 11:19, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk > wrote: > > | From: Stewart C. Russell via talk > | > | TIL that

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

| From: Stewart C. Russell via talk | | TIL that Chromebooks brick themselves when they hit a hard-coded date: the | date when Google stops providing updates: | https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/26/colorado-schools-chromebooks-churn-outdated/ | | The article's about Denver Public School

Re: [GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

On 2023-05-28 21:41, Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote: TIL that Chromebooks brick themselves when they hit a hard-coded date: the date when Google stops providing updates: https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/26/colorado-schools-chromebooks-churn-outdated/ The article's about Denver Public

[GTALUG] Chromebook death dates

TIL that Chromebooks brick themselves when they hit a hard-coded date: the date when Google stops providing updates: https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/26/colorado-schools-chromebooks-churn-outdated/ The article's about Denver Public School District, who are finding a whole lot of their