Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

Before clicky mechanical keyboards in the office were controversial, Toshiba was stirring things up about clicky mechanical calculators to sell their electronic alternative.

So I made some progress with refurbishing the Comptometer this weekend. I freed up many stuck registers, but that revealed an issue with the carry mechanism on a few digits I will have to investigate further.

This evening I'm cleaning, repairing and refurbishing a Comptometer model 3D11 from the 1950s. This was the last Comptometer the company made and has its final speed and accuracy improvements before the world moved to electronic calculators.

Check out this giant electric accounting machine! It's a combination typewriter and adding machine that is basically the electromechanical Excel of its day.

I'm speaking ⁨at LinuxFest Northwest⁩ this weekend on Saturday and Sunday:

https://lfnw.org/conferences/2022/program/proposals/652
https://lfnw.org/conferences/2022/program/proposals/653

It's being done virtually and I don't know if there will be video, but if so and you are wondering what all that stuff is in my background, here's a better picture.

I finished my handwoven overshot napkins! They are ready just in time to (maybe) use for Easter dinner. I learned a lot about weaving complex patterns and was able to make all of my mistakes in a project where they didn't matter much. We're wiping our mouths with these after all!

This weekend I finally started work on the mechanical calculator museum in my office! I plan on hanging more memorabilia on the walls and will type out placards for the calculators on display.

Estate sales are the way to go for quality yarn if you know what to look for. I just bought this collection of yarn (mostly wool and cotton) for the price of a single small skein of the yarn you see in front, if it were new. ⁨#weaving⁩ ⁨#yarn

The fabric is off the loom! The next step is to do a quick zigzag stitch across the end of each napkin to keep the ends from fraying when I separate them later. Then I'll wash/dry/iron the fabric, clean up loose threads, then separate and hem the napkins.

Yesterday my Comptometer Model 3D11 arrived! This last Comptometer model was made in the 1950s-60s and has all the final refinements they made to what was the fastest calculator for accounting before digital calculators dominated. I'll clean and refurbish it this weekend.

Here you can see the yards of fabric as it wraps around the cloth beam. In between each napkin is two or more passes of another yarn so I can more easily separate them later.

Last night I finished ⁨#weaving⁩ the 8th (and final) overshot napkin! I *barely* had enough warp left for it. Now to take them off the loom and hem the edges.

I found a gold-plated Stahly "live blade" vibrating safety razor with case that matches the vintage ad hanging next to my sink! It cleaned up really well with some metal polish and cotton swabs. ⁨#shaving

I found a mint condition vintage mechanical pocket calculator (with a vintage insensitive name) along with part of the box and instructions at a local thrift store for $5. Only missing a stylus.

I realized I'm bad at estimating how much time ⁨#weaving⁩ will take. First I estimated a napkin took about 3 hours, then after weaving 2 hours this morning and not finishing I figured it would take 9. Another hour and now it's done. So maybe 5 hours?

Weaving napkins is like making pancakes. The first one doesn't count. The second one is better but not quite there. But by the third one you finally got it down. ⁨#weaving⁩

I'm practicing ⁨#weaving⁩ doubleshot patterns by making a full set of napkins with free and cheap yarn I already had. I'm learning a lot about weaving complex patterns with this project. It will be hard to wipe my mouth with these napkins when I'm done.

Since the Librem 5 runs the same OS as Librem laptops, it has the same software. I recently got an SDR (Software Defined Radio) dongle, and I can connect it to the Librem 5 and use the same tools (gqrx) as on a laptop. Gqrx isn't adaptive, so I just dock the Librem 5. Pretty fun.

Update: I finished threading the heddles. It took me about 5 hours total. This is why I'm making a set of 8 napkins, not just one at a time--the up front work to "dress the loom" is the same regardless of how long the warp is.

I'm warping the loom to weave a set of patterned cloth napkins. A 20" napkin x 24 ends/in = 480 individual threads. These are threaded through metal heddles in a particular order to make the pattern. Imagine threading 480 needles but which needle you pick next *really* matters.