Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

People subtracted on adding machines w/ a neat trick: the complements method. Convert a number to its complement, add it, and discard the extra "1" on the left. Many calculators with subtraction functions use this method under the hood: https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/subtraction-by-addition.html

Of course if you can add repeatedly you can multiply, so this machine has a "repeat" button in the bottom right corner. Once pressed, any number you enter stays pressed down after you pull the addition lever, so you can add over and over just by pulling the lever.

The Burroughs is a true adding machine--it can only *add* numbers. Notice the limited buttons on the keyboard. If you ever heard someone refer to a modern calculator as an "adding machine" it derives from the fact that originally that's all they could do back in 1908.

This adding machine has a carriage at the back so you can add a paper spool or even a sheet of typing or ledger paper, with tab stops you can set to speed the process of filling out forms.

This is my Burroughs Class 1, Model 7 Adder/Lister made in 1908. The glass sides and front let you watch the mechanisms as it's adding.

These antique calculators have a funny way of multiplying...

There is something special about the first phase of a new hobby. So much to learn, new skills to master, deep rabbit holes full of discoveries around every corner.

If only you could take this carbon capture tech, make it solar powered, shrink it so it fits it in your back yard, self-replicating so it could cover thousands of acres of land, and have it double as wildlife habitat, and you would have invented trees. https://gizmodo.com/the-world-s-biggest-plant-to-suck-carbon-dioxide-from-t-1847636362

@trregeagle Wow look at those!

@trregeagle Pity shipping would probably be cost prohibitive, because I'd be happy to take them off your hands...

@aral Must be a hardware-specific thing because my last two Librem laptops here (just tested with this Librem 14) continue to provide power over USB ports when suspended.

Who would have thought that a tech company would use a feature marketed as being for security to exert remote control on their customer's computers instead? https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/09/riot-games-anti-cheat-software-will-require-tpm-secure-boot-on-windows-11/

You may be laughing now, but after the zombie apocalypse wipes out the grid and you are calculating cryptocurrency with pencil and paper, I'll be laughing (and cranking) all the way to the (probably by then barter-based) bank!

I dusted off my limited Python skills and modified Nitrokey's "Qubes OEM" installer to add support in anaconda for changing your LUKS passphrase at first boot. With that in place, we can now offer Qubes as a preinstall option: https://puri.sm/posts/qubes-now-a-preinstall-option-for-librem-14-and-mini/

In addition to calculating dozens, the rightmost wheels were apparently primarily intended for adding/subtracting feet/inches/fractions of an inch.

New addition to the mechanical calculator collection! This Addometer by Reliable Typewriter and Adding Machine Co not only does basic arithmetic, the far right dial does simple fractions and the dial next to it that literally goes to eleven calculates by the dozen!

@terryenglish Yeah the wide range of supported standards on USB-C without any visual difference (maybe apart from cable thickness), and the challenge with being able to tell which cables support which standards makes it a bigger problem than I ever had with USB-A.

USB-C is annoying. I thought my laptop dock was failing--the screen blanked out whenever it moved on the hinge and it kept getting worse. I initially blamed a weak wire between the screen and base but on a whim replaced the USB-C cable with a new, higher quality version and all the instability went away instantly.