This Calculator Has the Most Fascinating Electromechanical Display You’ll Ever See
Digital displays are so darn affordable today that we take them for granted. But just 50 years ago, even a few LEDs would have been too luxurious for some products. As Michał "lcamtuf" Zalewski explains, that was a big problem for early digital calculators. So, as a fun exercise, Zalewski built his own calculator with a fascinating electromechanical display that would have been feasible in the days before cheap LCDs and seven-segment displays.
As far as calculators go, the Calcumator 2000 is very basic. It features addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division operations, but nothing beyond that. It does, however, have a nice enclosure made of maple, with a nifty display faceplate made from a sheet of painted acrylic with CNC-milled graphics. And, most importantly, the Calcumator 2000 can handle floating point math — including displaying the results in a very satisfying way.
That display is the big draw here and...
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