LGR - Radio Shack Computer Keyboard Calculator
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- In the early 1990s Radio Shack sold what they called "keyboard calculators." These were really just an electronic calculator like any other, but with a form factor built for PC keyboards!
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This feels like a the physical embodiment of bloatware
It was actually very handy when using a plotter. Messing about with the on screen calculator was too much if a hindrance.
like a the
@@F0nkyNinja What?
@@aidancommenting Was critizising Thesinfultictac's grammar
@@F0nkyNinja Ohh. Didn't see that the first time
I'm sitting inside as it's pouring rain, sipping coffee with my lunch and watching LGR. Life is perfect at this moment.
Only way to make it better would be to be accompanied by the warm sound of the crt of a Macintosh :)
Coziness approved
I've been binge watching LGR videos for the past few days
@@alistairblaire6001 as for me it's been months now
Little moments like that make life worth living
LGR. Where even the filler episodes are worth watching.
The truth as been spoken!!!
This is filler? I thought this was just the show, honestly.
And re-watching, too
The battery today costs the same ($5.99) as the device did back then. That's how they get ya!
To be fair, 6 bucks in 92 is equivalent to 11 bucks nowadays.
@@ShinoSarna That's how they get ya!
Or you could buy 10 of them for less than a dollar on Ebay.
+rlarsen76 That's how ya get them!
They do the same with inkjet printers today. Replacement ink costs as much, if not more than the freaking printer!
I worked at the Shack from 1990-1992. Never sold a single one of these. Sold the hell out of Remote Controlled cars and Police Scanners.
I still got my late dad's RadioShack scanner from the mid-'90s. I rarely use it. I use to use it as a weather radio until I got an automatic digital one. The last time I used it was to tune into the frequency that controls the weather sirens in the area. Our Whelen sirens use a touchtone code likely left over from when they were upgraded back in the mid-1980s. It's kind of interesting to hear the touchtones break the radio silence briefly and hear the sirens go off just after. The city has been upgrading to the new 2910s, but they seem to use the same touchtone codes.
Thank you Clint, for giving small things like this a big stage like yours. Your sonor voice, your nonchalant phrasing and yet exiting narrative style always keeps me bound to your lips and will now softly drag my german mind into a land of dream where I rest and indulge myself on modern/retro computer poetry.
I salute you!
Only you could make such an interesting video about an OEM calculator to stick on keyboards! Rock on man! (typing this on my Model M)
Well said.
I came to write exactly that. Quality channel. The timing of the vo at 4:46 is perfect
Now lets make a calculator that attaches to your smart phone.
This calculator + duct tape = profit.
Just found a calculator case for iPhone on Aliexpress
**SMACK** I like your comment though...
I need a calculator that attaches to my calculator because reasons...
Boy have I got news for you
There are some vintage mechanical keyboards out there with built-in calculators. Focus in particular was known for doing this. They would have a small LCD display on the top bezel and used the numpad keys for calculator functions. The user would enter calculator mode and then those numpad inputs would go straight to the built-in calculator rather than the computer the keyboard was connected to. Of course there would be a standard mode too in which it would work like a normal numpad. Some of the more advanced models were even capable of letting you paste the calculator output into an application on your PC.
I've seen a lot of times that "LCD missing segments", usually the LCD crystal is connected to the data lines through a conductive rubber band, usually this is a bad contact in that rubber band. If this uses it, then sepparating the LCD and the data lines from the rubber band, cleaning it and repositioning it on place solves the problem. Also a conductive Z-axis double-sided tape for modern LCD's can solve the problem, something like this: www.adafruit.com/product/1656
This^^^ was just going to say this but in a less helpful way. Good post!
Ty ^^
Just put a sticky note on the ribbon in place where it joins the PCB and try to iron it with an iron for a 20 seconds. That's all. It should work as new.
That's on the PCB side if the LCD has a ribbon, I was talking on the LCD side, where the crystal is connected to the ribbon or PCB. Something like this: www.alibaba.com/product-detail/LCD-Zebra-Rubber-Strip-Silicone-Conductive_60569689583.html
Soldering iron on the contacts sometimes works
Totally remember these. My buddy worked at RadioShack for years and believe it or not, some of these stayed in the stock room for years as well. I was reminded of this just a couple years ago when purchasing a Logitech MX5500 which despite being a modern keyboard, still has a built-in calculator that you can use independently from the computer. Will this concept continue to live on?
Marky Shaw They’re kinda useful but definitely difficult to use since most have very small buttons
I know you can buy external numpads that double as a calculator, even allowing you to send the result to the computer
Wow, Marky... that Logitech keyboard's pretty awesome...
download01.logitech.com/support/24540.1.0.jpg
I found a pic of the same model of keyboard that I'm using right now, HP's 5308 Internet/Multimedia ... a vintage 'pretty awesome' keyboard. ... no calculator, though... oh well... :-)
i.ebayimg.com/images/g/hp0AAOSw8w1X-Wzu/s-l1600.jpg
The display is fine. You just have a model that was supposed to be sold to Predators rather than humans. Shit like this is why Radioshack went out of business.
That would be nice to have today still! Having the cal app on a PC is cumbersome with swapping apps back and forth, and a stand alone calc takes up room.
I use the "always on top"-function, so the app stays in the foreground.
I mean phones have calculator apps, too, but I get what you're saying
@@the-shork I still prefer my ~30 yr old TI-35 plus to my smartphone calculator app.
@@draketungsten74 Oh definitely, I think anyone who ever used a calculator for more complex math prefers those. I personally use the search (in Windows and macOS it'll tell you the result of a calculation you type in) or WolframAlpha if I need something more complicated, because I can never find my calculator when I need it
Zoning Violation Maybe they forgot that alt-tabbing is a more or less universal thing? I don't know if it is a thing on Macs, but it is a thing on the Linux distros I have used (and have actually alt-tabbed on).
If my parents had a computer when I was growing up they would definitely have had this. Their collection of calculators was staggering
billions of videos about sega, nintendo, atari and sony - hell Im glad you put up unfamiliar stuff like this. Enjoying it every time
I love the style of this calculator!
A brief LGR thing is better than no LGR thing! Lol. Another awesome video ☺️👍🏼
and super thorough! loved seeing it on all the keyboards as they shrank through the years
Someone working on a DOS computer and with a desk space problem would have gotten use out of this.
As soon as I saw this title, I realized how much I miss Radio Shack....
We still have RadioShack in Latin America. For some reason
From wht I remember it was an Indian guy trying to sell me $100 zip cars
indeed. It had a place.
I've seen "authorized dealers", but it's definitely not the same.
Jose Ruiz Radio Shack sold off its international operations in the 70s, so your Latin American ones are likely a separate company that was licenses the name.
We had those in Canada, too, until the local operation got bought by Circuit City in an attempt to expand here. Radio Shack objected to their competitor owning stores under the Radio Shack name, so the Canadian stores were forced to change. They became "The Source by Circuit City", until Circuit City went under. Then they just became "The Source", because the "by”part would have given away that the stores are now owned by the hated monopoly telco, with a primary focus on pushing their cell phone plans instead of the competitions. They still carry some gadgetry but nothing like the old Radio Shack days.
The only reason I would think this calculator was useful was in DOS non-multitask days when office people were doing office things with their DOS lotus suites and whatnot, this probably served a chunk of 80's not-that-PC-savvy people that had to double check a calculation in their spreadsheet or calculate and check a number for their documents.
Personally, I would prefer a desktop calculator over having to use the one in MS Windows 3.1.
SumeaBizarro Almost right, except your accusation of "not tech savvy" . It was the computer lacking the function, not the user. Back in those days, I tried multiple pop-up keyboard add-ons and found them lacking, including a classic version of Sidekick, PC tools and at least one independent creation. It's different now with multitasking OSes, even on modern phones like the Nokia Communicators.
For that purpose we used a TSR called Borland "SideKick".
Same! I dislike having too much cluttering up my screen. If it's more than a calculation or two I usually prefer to pull out my phone or a regular old calculator. Honestly having one attached to my keyboard doesn't seem like that bad of an idea.
Kinda reminds me of the mouse pads that have built-in calculators, which I've seen for sale back in the 90s and maybe even 2000s.
Ducky still sells one.
Thank you for the fleeting bit of entertainment, Clint! I love seeing add-ons like this.
I actually had one of these back in the day. I actually used it all the time, because back then I was running DOS and we didn't have task-switching like we do now. Eventually, it died an untimely death just like yours.
Speaking of keyboard add-ons, there was that primitive "joystick" back in the day that was attached on the arrow keys...
That battery measurement thing is awesome. Never seen one before.
Yup! I had some of these. In fact, I had at least a dozen of them!
(Not all at once, mind you lol)
Fact is, they were just given to me, they'd break in a month, got another one, and then I switched schools and never got another, oh well, no big loss to me. Thanks for yet another !Nostalgia trip!
Clint, the things you do to sate my fleeting entertainment never ceases to amaze. Keep up the lovely work you amazing man!
I have seen cheap calculators inside mousepads. More than one. So it seems there actually was a market for calculators that didn't take up more deskspace.
Hey Mr LGR, Ive been subbed now for a few years. Keep up the great work. Im really enjoying your videos.
Really enjoying this golden age of LGR creativity, may it long continue (until your next well deserved vacation!)
Anyone else noticed that the original price of calculator and the current price for the battery is the same - 5,99$. Coincidence?
Thanks Clint, I was fleetingly entertained, just as you promised!
Ha ha, that's a really good comedic, and rather informative video you've got there! It's crazy what computer products sold in the 1990's; people seemingly bought just about anything advertised for computer use back then!
Getting little oddities to learn about are some of my favorite videos from you.
You know, when it comes to those button cell batteries, I was always amazed that they were cheap enough to come with cheap kids' toys, yet cost a fortune when you actually try to buy one yourself.
Clint, I hope you stay safe during hurricane Florence! If you aren't far from the coast I hope you can make it out safely and easily. East TN welcomes you anytime!
I think he's in North Carolina, isn't he? Be safe, LGR!
Frazzle Face He’s in the Asheville area I think. I would understand if there is a break in uploads, this is way more important.
Your delivery is impeccable. You make the boring, interesting. The mundane, unique. The keyboard calculator, a calculator... you stick to your keyboard.
This was exceptionally funny. I like your writing style. Thanks for this.
Oh wow there was one of these in a drawer at my dad’s workplace when I was a kid in the early 90s. I legitimately had no idea it fit on a keyboard- I was allowed to play with it so I wouldn’t waste the paper on his big accounting one!
Man that’s tiny and cute I LOVE IT!
That's what she said...lololololololol 😅 😅 😅
@@anthonyjohnson9088 DAMNIT, YOU BEAT ME TO IT!
@@unlimitedbitsgaming
Lolololololol 😂 😂 😂 unfortunately I know from experience...lololololololol 😅
I had one of these, very helpful when you were in DOS and needed to do some simple math.
As you were showing smaller and smaller keyboard, i was really hoping that you would put the calculator on a keyboard so small it would fall on the desk... And you did !
Thank you very much for that :)
A calculator. To put on the keyboard. Of what is essentially a calculation device.
thedungeondelver A VERY EXPENSIVE calculation device.
i use calculators
when using calculators...
Maybe it was for early Pentium processor owners :-)
Above the _numeric keypad_, in its box art.
When this came out, a lot of computers were still running DOS. So no access to Windows 3.1 calculator. On the other hand, everyone had a huge desktop calculator (at least the engineers and accounting) in front of them.
I believe I tried Windows first in 1994, and our office took quite a while longer before we went GUI.
There's a small window in which this thing might have been useful.
Dude, this may have been one of your best videos. I love how you got all existential at the end. (note: The Barbie Carnival Detective Game is still the greatest ever.)
I had one of these on my 386. I had totally forgotten about it. Thanks for the video.
Had one of these in the day, on a Tandy 1000. It actually was kinda useful on a DOS machine since switching tasks meant exiting your application.
The red background is fantastic, really seems like a commercial from the time or something.
That really is strange that Radio Shack sold this for so long while constantly selling it at below suggested retail price. It makes you wonder what they thought they had to gain from this? Aside from what couldn't have been a large profit per unit sold I can't imagine many people would have bought this in the first place for the same reasons it's odd, most OSes had a calculator built in and if they didn't you probably had a far superior calculator that makes this obsolete before you even know it exists.
Who knows, could have been a horrible miscommunication gone uncorrected for years, or perhaps a conspiracy of some kind at Radio Shack corporate? We may never know.
Great video Clint, short and simple, a nice way of changing things up. :)
You just talked for over 5 minutes about a broken 90s calculator, and I loved every second of it. From that angle you're kinda continuing the spirit of CGR before that show went.......
It's a blessing, to make a review about a plain old broken calculator that is indeed interesting. Only you can do that
The screen issue is caused by a loose connection between the flat cable and the LCD itself. There is a small ribbon thingy that connect the flat cable to the LCD screen, maybe it's just misaligned or a little bit loose
upvote so he sees
3:19
Subtle...
A Player 69 indeed, hadn't noticed 😆 too bad the Calc's screen is borked, works better on segments...
Well done!
Good catch!
It's just not the same...
But why put the 5 first? You didn't need to write it "upside-down". 80085 would work just fine.
I love when stuff like this has the original RadioShack price tag on it still 😁
keep it up with these style of video i actually really liked this :)
In the 90s I had an PC-AT keyboard with integrated LCD screen and with the press of a button you could use the numpad to do calculations and there also was a key to make the keyboard "type out" the displayed number. So you could easily transfer the results into applications. It also had 12 programmable keys where you could store 20 keypresses per key.
This is one of those things I used to take for granted and never noticed when they disappeared, and totally forgot they ever existed until now.
Ho wow! I love these novelty items, kinda like the mini PC FM radio...
What a fantastically fantastic piece of computer history tat. I must own one.
People back then still used DOS and it did not have any internal calculator built in. Sure there were extra applications like Sidekick that gave it. When the calculator is fixed to the keyboard it does not get lost.
Okaro X Consider sticking this on the cashier computer at Radio Shack. Good for calculating extra discounts or suggesting alternative component values when 180 ohm 5% 1W is unexpectedly out of stock.
LGR intro sound and looking looks glorious every time i see it. Its just nostalgic.
I ADORE how you take something sooo banal and stupid and make it amazingly interesting! With all its history and everything. Lgr you are the best. Period.
This little video made me smile. Thanks!
It kind of makes sense in the 80s when single-tasking OSes were the norm, so bringing up a calculator on your computer meant closing the application you were currently using, but yeah a "regular" desktop calculator would probably make a lot more sense in most cases. I *could* see these being useful in computer labs though where there's not typically a lot of spare desk space since it would fit in the "spare" space above the keyboard.
MrRadar Consider actual working rooms with as many people crammed in as possible. School isn't life, just more fun.
LGR, I have a blue Curtis Keyboard Calculator. I think they came in various colors, has a solar panel, and also takes a battery. It was attached to a Model M that was what I now consider one of the best condition Model M 1391401 keyboards I have ever seen. I pulled the calculator off and have it laying around. If you want it, let me know, and it's yours!
Wow, that thing seems really convenient and space saving. It's independent from the PC and can improve multitasking. Just as a normal poundland calculator taped to your keyboard.
I had a Focus FK-9000 keyboard that had a built-in calculator (including a liquid crystal display) that you could switch between it and the number pad with a button. It also had diagonal direction keys, too, which was quite the gaming challenge.
Great videos. Stay safe during the storm since I believe that you’re in N.C.
Whoa! You're almost at 1 mil LGR! Back when I subbed you were only at 300k!
Interesting how something so simple and small can still be entertaining to watch about from LGR.
My grandma got me one. My mom may have saved it somewhere but I'd love to have it again. Fond memories. I do still have a RadioShack all stainless pen with digital clock on it.
I’d still buy nowadays... probably wouldn’t end up using it but it’s a pretty cool and unique little thing.
I fondly remember the front case at Radio Shack. It was always full of gimmicky stuff like this to solve all your non-problems. I think I still have a Radio Shack handheld spell checker.
The second I saw this I figured it'd make a great gift for my friend. However, like you said, I can't find one anywhere! Time to generate a watchlist I suppore.
Awesome nostalgia with this one. Thank you!
Another thing I sold at Radio Shack: America's Technology Store. I remember stacking these high when they were on sale in the monthly flyer!
lol that is actually pretty useful and convenient!! Radio Shack is like the best store, we have suffered a great tragedy losing it.
I always wanted one of these. I recall there being aftermarket computer keyboards that had an LCD screen, that you could use the number pad as a calculator, independent of the keyboard. There might have even been a few add-on 10 key pads that allowed you to use them as a calculator. Kensington, and Belkin come to mind. I believe another company made a mouse that had a calculator on it.
The intro was such a nice touch!
I want to comment on that Radio Shack documentation, always with the 2 lines across the top, one thin and one not thin, I was such a geek that I adopted the 2 line scheme on nearly every Excel sheet I wrote in the 90s. Could always tell it was one of mine, no one else took the time to add some pizzazz to their spreadsheets.
That Packard Bell keyboard brought back a ton of memories!
I'd forgotten about these. I had one of the Curtis branded ones back then.
I have one of these, it's corporate branded and from around the same era. I'm sure many companies in the early 90's had these as giveaway/pack in items much like how you get USB sticks etc today.
I used to have one of these Radio shack Keyboard Calculator on my old Compaq Presario.. the nostalgia is neat.
I remember selling those when I worked there back in the late 80's early 90's. That was a rough place to work when it came to Inventory time, lol.
4:56 - Oh wow, Fn-F7 brings up my calculator! Thanks for the life hack, Clint!
For those thinking that this was useful in days of single user DOS, it probably was not as useful as you believe. Many DOS assistant-type TSR programs, like Borland's Sidekick, had a calculator function. Other TSR apps cloned scientific or financial calculators ("Comp. Chron." TSR episode shows an HP-12C clone TSR app). Programs like Sidekick were incredibly popular top sellers. Other programs were made specifically to work with word processing and spreadsheet software. Numbers from app could go right into 1-2-3 spreadsheet, for example.
This was probably most useful for basic calculations when computer was off and you did not feel like getting a real calculator out of a drawer or waiting for your stupid slow DOS/Windows PC to boot. Computers back then took longer than 10 seconds to boot. A lot more. A real calculator, even a tiny junky one, was much more convenient than turning on a PC.
jeff Not sure about sidekick but some of those TSRs were serious memory hogs.
A TSR was for computer geeks. I imagine this thing would be used by the boss’s secretary who just had her typewriter replaced with a pc running a word processor.
Brian Greig Sidekick(R) ate more than 140K on a 640K PC. Many programs could barely run with the machine effectively reduced from 640 back to the original 512 K. Later had to have multiple boot profiles when some network stacks ate too much RAM, while others lacked needed features.
John Francis Doe also remember that not all pcs were optioned out to 640k. That was the huge expesive limit.
PIMs, as they called them, were really popular. Borland alone moved over 1 million units of Sidekick in its first few years and continued selling it until Windows market saturation made such products unnecessary.
The bigger point was that single-user single-task DOS had options that could do more. Sure, it may have crashed your system or made it impossible to input anything, but they have other features as well. Like those tip calculators from Seinfeld.
I bought one of those at a St. Vincent DePaul thrift store a couple of years ago for .59 cents. It works great! I use it in my specialty tool kit since its a nice, small form factor calculator.
Almost lost it when you put the calculator on the modern keyboard. Was not expecting that.
I had an really old keyboard with an inbuilt calculator along with the number pads, had an LCD display with a switch to turn on the number pad to a calculator
I worked at a best buy before radio shack had gone under. I remember the meetings we had where they discussed how effectively we were destroying the competition, mainly radio shack. They were so thrilled at the losses the other folks were suffering we had a party as a congratulatory thank you from our overlords. Truth of the matter is, this is business and that's how business do, but watching these LGR videos that feature cool stuff from Tandy, radio shack, I wish they hadn't tanked. Though I do believe one reopened near us recently.
2:30 Never saw a battery slider like this. Ingenious.
The Apricot PC - a British made MS-DOS machine that wasn't IBM PC compatible - had a LCD display built into the keyboard, and this had a calculator mode. You could even paste the results of a calculation into whatever you were currently editing.
That's pretty cool. I like how it fits in place so well (on the right keyboard that is). I'd totally use this over using an application on the PC, it's right there and ready immediately without having to stop doing what you're doing on the PC.
Too bad those buttons look gummy as hell.
I didn't even realize my own keyboard had a calculator button until you pointed out that modern keyboards have such a thing.
My step-mom owned a Radio Shack franchise from 1988 until sometime in the early 2000s -- I don't remember precisely which year she sold it and retired... But throughout *all* of the 1990s I had *tons* of Radio Shack stuff. I remember these -- I had one in the early '90s. It was cheap crap that failed after a year or so -- the screen did that same thing that yours did.
I find it interesting that the advertising photos show it mounted above the numeric keypad. You know, the numeric keypad you use with your calculator program.
I vaguely remember having one of these at my father's house. But it was just used as a basic household calculator, not as a dedicated PC accessory.
I could see plenty of reasons back in the nineties to use one of these for professional computers if you weren't doing extremely heavy calculations consistently. Multitasking was still not consistently reliable, and out dated hardware is always common in businesses looking to cut a little off the budget.
Honestly a government agency I deal with could probably use something like that to avoid the slow down of opening calc... Like seriously they're given such under powered and locked down rigs that it was a noticable delay when they attempted to open the calculator app...
As I said above, Sidekick and Desqview worked quite well under MS-DOS, and Sidekick was memory efficient.
@@Caseytify and would using such a program be likely to get me an answer to a simple calculation faster than keying it into the dedicated device on the keyboard? I'm sure not going to try task switching a 286 that's already hammering it's memory just to confirm I didn't transpose a few digits in my head while doing simple math.
Sidekick List price $199.95, Desqview List price $129.95.
How much was this calculator again?
First thing I thought of are those Focus keyboards with built in calculators that you control with the numpad.
+LGR Check the Zebra Strip, on the LCD cable . you can sometimes press down on it and get the LCD traces to connect better , it gets old, its held together poorly anyway.