I've gotten a new toy! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2016, 06:10:16 am
content: Recently opened my Christmas gift of a HP Prime calculator. I am a large fan of HP's calculators, and I have gotten a bit of a collection going, with the 48G, 50G, and now Prime in my possession.Now that I have it, anybody want a sort of chronological video of mainstream HP graphing calculators? I have a lot of the big players in the series, I think it would be a neat video.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2016, 09:51:14 am
content: In my early teens HP brought out their first 'desktop computer', the 9100.http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?cat=10&class=1They seemed amazing then, to me. Now it would be amazing to find and own one, but for nostalgic/historical reasons.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2016, 08:21:49 pm
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on December 26, 2016, 09:51:14 amThat looks like a pretty cool piece of kit. I wouldn't want to use it, I don't like the prospect of even a 4 line screen, nevermind 1.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2016, 03:06:40 am
content: Go back a bit further and 'computers' have no-line displays, rather a few numbers. In binary, or worse, octal.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2016, 03:20:08 am
content: In my first engineering job there was a multi-line display on the calculator. The Friden had one line for each operand, one of which had the result after grinding through what seemed like minutes of chunking to do a division or multiplication. Or maybe it was a Marchant. I no longer remember. Fortunately, within a couple of years the HP-35 came along.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2016, 05:47:59 am
content: FWIW, I recall HP'a graphing calculators arriving in the following fashion:HP 48SX (last model to be produced in the US AFAIK (FWIW, this is where mine was produced)HP 48GX (non-US production from the first unit)HP 50gHP Prime

author: ivaylo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2016, 07:26:42 am
content: Yeah, do a video please... Saw this lately -http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-HP-CALCULATOR-POSTER-/321017507042

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2016, 07:50:53 am
content: Quote from: nanofrog on December 27, 2016, 05:47:59 amThe SX and GX models were improved models upon the S and G, but you have that correct otherwise.The true progression would be 48S comming out first, followed by the 48G which both had models that allowed memory expansion.Next came the HP 49G series, which was the last reach of real Saturn processors, because the 49G+ ditched the aging Saturn line for a modern ARM processor, although keeping compatibility by using an emulation layer, resulting in the 49G+ being Saturn based, but using ARM instead of Saturn to emulate the Saturn (If this makes any sense)The 50G was an improved 49G, which had a larger screen and hinged buttons among other minor improvements.Then came the HP Prime, the best calculator of the series, and a calculator so powerful, it is exactly 3 times as fast as any of the Ti NSpire calculators (Which are rubbish, every calculator by Ti is useless for calculating compared to HP. Only the 68k models are interesting to me because of homebrew potential)I will make a video soon.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2016, 10:44:57 pm
content: The 48SX is a good calculator that was widely used by me and my EE university friends in the 90's. However, in my experience, it probably suffered from some sort of reliability issue - many of the calculators experienced sudden death (including mine), which were purchased from several different places at different times. Worth mentioning is that these things were extremely expensive in Brazil, thus they were treated with the utmost care. The fact they could only be opened in a destructive way in order to try and fix something didn't help much trying to find a common cause for that - this was before the Internet and YouTube came along with detailed instructions on how to do the least damage possible.Nowadays I have a 48GX used by my wife in her EE course - still a dream to use, but I am always wondering if it has the sudden death syndrome lurking...

author: eugenenine
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2016, 11:22:16 pm
content: I thought the SX and S were released together, the S being the lower cost model. Mine was made in Singapore.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2016, 11:46:07 pm
content: Quote from: eugenenine on December 27, 2016, 11:22:16 pmSX just is the S with the ability to expand the memory.

author: eugenenine
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2016, 12:08:33 am
content: Yes, I know that, but I seem to recall that one didn't come before the other, they released them both at the same time.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2016, 01:53:21 am
content: Quote from: eugenenine on December 28, 2016, 12:08:33 amtbh I never said they didn't.