19 Oct
2011
19 Oct
'11
10:32 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-
bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Eric Smith
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 11:22 PM
To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: hp calculators
Ian King wrote:
[snip]
Indeed, "serious" calculators just don't seem to be a market, when everyone
has a laptop, smart phone, etc. For instance, I have a very cool emulation of a HP 16C on
my Android phone - the form factor is just a bit smaller, but nearly correct! Although I
really like playing with my 48SX, I do so seldom enough that I have to go back to the
manuals for anything beyond simple math functions. And I'm always carrying my
phone....
But your project does sound very cool. -- Ian
I recently picked up a 41-CV and, while I think
it's very cool,
I like the 'tall' display of the 48-SX that lets me see four registers
at a time.
You'd probably like the DIY4 that I showed at the HHC conference last
month. It's the latest in a series of prototype calculators Richard
Ottosen and I have developed. The DIY4 is fully compatible with the
HP-41CX (including synthetic programming, microcode, etc.), but has a
few extensions. It has a high-resolution LCD display (400x240, 173dpi),
so I expanded the flags available to the user, adding flags 56 though
255 (though of course 100-255 are only accessible indirectly). Turning
on flag 56 causes the calculator to display all four stack levels at any
time that the calculator would normally display the X register. In
other words, not in program or alpha mode, or when a VIEW, AVIEW,
PROMPT, etc. is in effect.
The calculator electronics and firmware are nearing completion. The part
that is problematic is figuring out how to get it into production. In
low volume the retail price would have to be well over $200. In high
volume it could be much lower, but I'm not convinced that it would sell
in high volume at any price.