Calq is a free, lightweight, shortcut-key accessible calculator for both Mac OS X 10.4+ and Windows 2000/XP. The idea is to give you quick access to math functions without launching another program just to do simple calculations.Calq can run in your Mac menubar or Windows tray, but you can just have the program run in the background with no icons. You can select a hotkey to launch the calculator, and when you press that hotkey, the Calq window displays for you to enter your calculations.
The program has a few customizable options besides the hotkey combination like screen location of the calculator window, fade effect, and transparency.
[Via MacUpdate]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-19-2008 @ 10:18AM
Max said...
FWIW, in Leopard you can accomplish this with Spotlight alone. Just type in your operands.
Reply
3-19-2008 @ 10:27AM
Todd Ritter said...
Thanks Max. That is a great tip!
3-20-2008 @ 1:48AM
julian said...
my thought exactly spotlight!
3-19-2008 @ 10:38AM
robotrock said...
You can always enter a simple equation into your Google search bar as well.
Reply
3-19-2008 @ 10:47AM
Jordan Running said...
Definitely a good stand-alone tool, but Launchy has the same functionality, and if you're smart you're already using Launchy anyway. ;)
Reply
3-19-2008 @ 11:14AM
chandler3224 said...
But if you're smart, you won't need a calculator tool ;)
3-19-2008 @ 11:12AM
DigitalOldschool said...
The idea is to give you quick access to math functions without launching another program just to do simple calculations.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Calq a program that is already running just to do simple calculations?
I have a hotkey already set up to run the built-in Windows calculator (Start -> 'R' -> 'CALC')
Reply
3-19-2008 @ 11:34AM
Todd Ritter said...
The part you quoted was to imply that calc.exe and calculator.app do many more things than most need on a day-to-day basis. So rather than launch a full-featured scientific calculator, one could use Calq to do quick things like add a few numbers since it's already running in the background.
Many of our readers use things like Launchy, Quicksilver, Spotlight to get fingertip access to services, so Calq may be a natural fit for them.
Obviously not 100% of computer users will find this application useful.
3-19-2008 @ 11:43AM
Alex M said...
This is complementary to Jordan Running's comment.
If you are using humanized.com's (free!) Enso Launcher (for Windows only, for now), you already have this functionality.
Reply
3-19-2008 @ 4:00PM
Mike said...
You can do that in windows using launchy.
Reply
3-19-2008 @ 8:09PM
edward said...
I have a microsoft keyboard that has a calculator hotkey built in. Problem is there is no quick and simple way to close it. Hafta use alt-f4 id rathar hit the calc key again.
Reply