What is the best way to display your calculator collection while ensuring you can enjoy it anytime? If you have a small collection, this question is easy to answer. In the past, I used four drawers of my desk, storing each calculator in a clear case, and voilà! But what do you do when you run out of drawer space? Today, I want to share the solution I created: a calculator wall!

Before I dive into the details, I would like to dedicate this post to Daniel Illel. If you lived in France during the 1980s and were interested in the nascent computer industry, you know who Daniel is and may remember the advertisements he ran in L’Ordinateur de Poche, L’Ordinateur Individuel, or Micro-Systèmes. I fondly recall his picture, a slightly eccentric character with hairy features, sitting in front of a pile of programmable calculators and pocket computers. He was a pioneer in retailing computing devices, offering unique initiatives like buybacks for your old software or calculators. His shops also provided a space to come and play with the machines, allowing you to experience those technological marvels firsthand. In my way, I am recreating that pile of machines on his desk.

Just as vertical gardens make urban gardening possible, creating a wall for your calculators offers the best space utilization I could find. Once I had the concept, the next question was how to make sure the calculators stick to the wall safely while still being able to pick any of them up, plug in batteries, and enjoy using them. I considered 3D-printed brackets, specialty collectible cases, and other options, but none convinced me. That’s when my wife pointed me to the Ikea Mosslanda shelves. These shelves are quite narrow compared to traditional shelving, designed to showcase framed pictures and other small memorabilia. They come in various lengths and are very affordable. However, there was a significant issue; several customer reviews reported that the MDF shelves tend to collapse under weight, leaving your precious items vulnerable to damage. That was a definite no-go.

I then began searching for unobtrusive wall brackets that would allow me to enjoy the floating shelf look while ensuring a secure mount. The final piece of the puzzle was how to arrange my calculators on these shelves. I found a very nice acrylic stand that works perfectly for this purpose.

After installing the shelves, I proceeded to unbox my calculators and pocket computers. As you can see in the pictures, I opted not to organize them in any particular order aside from the sequence in which I unpacked them. Curation will happen later. Some duplicates are included, but they often have different configurations or modules. Indeed, I want to use these calculators spontaneously, so these extra configurations are essential. Of course, not all my calculators and pocket computers fit on the shelves, but the overflow is manageable (just a few boxes).

Initially, and quite delusionally, I attempted to unload my laptop computers onto the shelves as well. Although the solution worked well for those devices too, I quickly realized I could not fit all of them along with the calculators. That’s a project for another day.

For now, I hope you enjoy the wall as much as I do. If you have any other ideas for displaying your collection, please share them with us!

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