Due to its price, size, and capabilities, I can still remember the graphing calculator I used in high school, even though I haven't needed to graph a parabola in ages. The Internet Archive just made it easier to relive those days by launching a series of online calculator emulations that you can click.
Announced Sunday, The Calculator Drawer includes 14 calculators. Most are from Texas Instruments, including my old TI-83 Plus and the handheld console-looking Texas Instruments TI92 from 1995. But there are also some options from HP. The oldest calculator is 1989's VTech Electronic Number Muncher toy.
In addition to supporting keyboard input, the calculators let you click the on-screen buttons for input, which makes for an even more realistic experience if you're using the emulation on a touchscreen. Some of the calculators even have power buttons and sound effects.
The calculators use the Multi-purpose Emulation Framework (MAME) Team emulator, which has emulated thousands of vintage platforms and gadgets, like computers and arcade machines, for 25 years.
And for those who need to brush up on their calculator skills, Internet Archive also uploaded manuals for the calculators.
The Internet Archive's blog post announcing The Calculator Drawer goes into some detail about the emulation process. It noted the challenges of emulating a small set of LED lights or LCD numbers while incorporating the rest of the gadget, which is mostly an unchanging chassis.
To "render an emulated device that needs 'additional' drawing to augment the part of itself that’s reflecting the screen or lights of the device," as Internet Archive put it, they called in MAME's Artwork feature, which is how these calculators are clickable. MAME Artwork enables The Calculator Drawer to have an image of the calculator on screen while supporting interactivity. It also doesn't require "a deep lore of programming." This method was selected over MAME's ability to make vector-based drawings and seeks volunteers to provide high-quality photos of old-school tech.
The Calculator Drawer is a fun way for math nerds to relive some memorable gadgets, despite being smaller than Internet Archive's other collections. It can also provide a free way to use a highly capable calculator, which can cost around $100 or more.
Below is a full list of the emulations currently available in The Calculator Drawer:
- Hewlett-Packard HP 38G (1995)
- Hewlett-Packard HP 48G+ (1998)
- Hewlett-Packard HP 48GX (1993)
- Hewlett-Packard HP 49G (1999)
- Texas Instruments TI-73 Explorer (2003)
- Texas Instruments TI-81 (1990)
- Texas Instruments TI-82 (1993)
- Texas Instruments TI-85 (1992)
- Texas Instruments TI-86 (1996)
- Texas Instruments TI-89 (1998)
- Texas Instruments TI-92 (1995)
- Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus (1999)
- Texas Instruments Voyage 200 (2002)
- VTech Electronic Number Muncher (1989)
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