On the surface , whoop a busted computer to serve as aBluetooth ‘ keyboard’for a calculator app on a smartphone seems likehacking for hacking ’s sake . But we all know how thwarting a touchscreen keyboard can be for anything but short message , so for engineers or mathematicians crunching phone number all day , this machine politician might actually be genius ?
Instructablesuserepostkastldoesn’t go into the farinaceous detail of how this Hewlett Packard 48 G scientific figurer ’s living came to an final stage , but it was beyond repair , and quick to be incline of — or better yet — repurposed . Physically the calculator work on just alright ( it clearly had n’t been course over by a motortruck or caught in a Bruckheimer - esque detonation ) soepostkastldecided it could still be used as a calculator so long as learn muscle memories tailored to its key layout would n’t go to wastefulness , but in a more devious style
The reckoner ’s guts were upgraded with anAdafruit Feather nRF52 Bluefruitboard which sum wireless Bluetooth connectivity but not without the addition of a hair-raising web of wiring and bonding to link up the board to the calculator ’s clit matrix pin .

It still looks cleaner than the web of wires you’ll find behind my entertainment center.Photo: (Instructables)
On the smartphone side of thing , the HP 48 G was repair using Sébastien Carlier ’s open - source Emu48 calculator aper which allows keyboard presses to be custom - represent to each of the software system buttons . Programming each push to file clicks from its real - spirit opposite number was doubtless a metre - run through process , but the result is arguably a vastly improved emulated computer experience for someone who can enter equations on one of these blindfold .
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It still looks cleaner than the web of wires you’ll find behind my entertainment center.Photo: (Instructables)















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