But can your calculator run Linux? | Hacker News

A Hacker News post praises the engineering and build quality of HP48, HP49G, and HP50 graphing calculators.

But it argues that phones, laptops, and connected tools now cover most of the same use cases, making dedicated calculators largely unnecessary.

Even in restricted or field settings, including SCIF and EMSEC contexts, general-purpose devices can handle many engineering calculation needs.

The broader point is that well-made specialized hardware can become functionally obsolete as portable computing keeps advancing.