[ale] OT - Portable Drive

[Mike Harrison]

> though, my first device was a Trash-80. I understand the basic
> principles of slide-rule function, but I've no practical experience.

My advanced chemistry teacher was a slide rule nut.
He allowed their use in class, and if used, you only
had to be right to 3 significant digits.

If you used a calculator, you had to be right to 7
(not 8, he was reasonable), and yet, as people 'trusted'
the calculator, they made mistakes and got the answers
wrong due to cumulative error.

I used the slide rule, and often did hard manual math
to 4 or 5 places to double check I was using it right.
I got good grades, because I understood it was easier
to be right at 3 significant digits.

--And to be on Linux: Am I one of the few users of 'bc' left?

What a powerful tool, especially when doing weird math.

apt-get install bc
bc
128^128

Is a good example of why it's useful. Lots of display room. :)