Do I dare to use my 41?

[berserkerbernhard]

Greetings, programs.

I finally got my 41CV working with my card reader. It's so amazing to watch it work. IT is truely a small computer system.

I dream of retirering my HP Prime and go for the 41. But what if it breaks? I can easily get a replacement Prime, but a 41 would be expensive.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you use the 41 for daily stuff?

/Bernhard, OZ9WTN, Denmark

[Leviset]

There’s always the new DM41L from SwissMicro

[Zaphod]

(10-24-2018 06:21 PM)berserkerbernhard Wrote:  But what if it breaks? I can easily get a replacement Prime, but a 41 would be expensive.

[Craig Bladow]

(10-24-2018 06:21 PM)berserkerbernhard Wrote:  But what if it breaks? I can easily get a replacement Prime, but a 41 would be expensive.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you use the 41 for daily stuff?

It depends on what you gain by not using it, I would rather use mine daily than let it sit in a box. Granted I have a backup, or two or three, but I have yet to have a working 41 die on me.

[Garth Wilson]

I've been using mine daily for 32 years. The only problems are very minor, that a couple of the keys have to be pressed harder than the others. They're ones I don't use that much though, suggesting that regular use is better. I hope my 41 lasts my lifetime. I just got a new Clonix-D module for it last year from Diego, and I have five ROM module images in it including a couple of new ones from Angel Martin, the 41z which gives it a native complex-number stack and over a hundred complex-number operations written in MCode for maximum performance, and the Warp_Core which has a bazillion functions to improve efficiency in every discipline. Altogether, it's like I have a dozen modules in the 41 all at once, all accessible at once. The Prime does not have HPIL, something I think was foolish for HP to discontinue.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(10-25-2018 01:00 AM)Craig Bladow Wrote:  

(10-24-2018 06:21 PM)berserkerbernhard Wrote:  But what if it breaks? I can easily get a replacement Prime, but a 41 would be expensive.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you use the 41 for daily stuff?

It depends on what you gain by not using it, I would rather use mine daily than let it sit in a box. Granted I have a backup, or two or three, :) but I have yet to have a working 41 die on me.

I got some extras, just in case... :)
Hope that those 20 C* will outlast me.

[Dave Britten]

I say use it! The funny thing about the 41 is that often the stuff in the expansion ports is where most of the money is tied up. If, heaven forbid, my 41CV were to give out, I could find a new one, and move the Advantage, X-Func, and Math/Stat modules.

Also, the DM41L is great to have if you either want to lighten your 41's load a bit, or get access to the functionality of a stock 41CX without forking out the money for one of those or Time and X-Func modules for a CV.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(10-25-2018 12:41 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Also, the DM41L is great to have if you either want to lighten your 41's load a bit,

Given that you can adjust to that awkward keyboard configuration. :)

[Jake Schwartz]

If only the 41CL could handle a "module" containing a micro SD-card slot, we'd have a perfect modern analog to the card reader :-)

Jake

[burkhard]

(10-25-2018 01:53 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 12:41 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Also, the DM41L is great to have if you either want to lighten your 41's load a bit,

Given that you can adjust to that awkward keyboard configuration.

I love both the HP-41 and the Voyager layout. As such, I assuredly would have purchased a DM-41L if not for the fact that the math operators (–, +, ×, ÷) are in a weird spot. Obviously, when you switch the whole format to horizontal something has to give, but it was judged more important to keep the original relationship of Alpha Letter to underlying key than to (my opinion) do what made sense for the basic usability of the general layout.

Perhaps SM made the right choice for compatibility with HP41 software, but the math operators in the middle of everything would still just drive me nuts I think. I would rather have them in Voyager position on the rightmost column and in Voyager order (top→bottom = ÷, ×, –, +) .

[hth]

(10-24-2018 06:21 PM)berserkerbernhard Wrote:  Greetings, programs.

I finally got my 41CV working with my card reader. It's so amazing to watch it work. IT is truely a small computer system.

I dream of retirering my HP Prime and go for the 41. But what if it breaks? I can easily get a replacement Prime, but a 41 would be expensive.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you use the 41 for daily stuff?

/Bernhard, OZ9WTN, Denmark

I can understand your feeling. I had an early CV and a later CX and used the CX but was so worried that it would break. I could not imagine being without one, so I did not use it so much. This was my situation around 1995.

A few years later a bunch of NOS 41 came on market and I immediately got a backup. Totally unused (it even had the scent of a new HP), so nice, now I dared to use my beloved HP-41CX again!

That feeling did not last long however (like a couple of days). I realized that if I now used my HP-41CX and if it broke I had a backup, but then I would be in the same situation as in the first place, afraid to use the backup because it could break too.

The solution? Simple. Get a backup for the backup! So I bought one more of those NOS HP-41CXs. Now I am not afraid anymore, I will be able to use the HP-41 for the rest of my life!

A couple of years ago I took out one of the backups and started using it. I was no good having it in a drawer and I realized that I could very well have two with slightly different setups. Happy days!

So the answer is, just enjoy it and use it. But try to pick up a backup or two, you will most likely have ample time to do that while you are using your current one.

I do not really use the HP-41 daily, more like a couple of times or hours per week, so it is light use these days. Still, it is what I use when I need a calculator.

[Sylvain Cote]

(10-25-2018 04:47 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  If only the 41CL could handle a "module" containing a micro SD-card slot, we'd have a perfect modern analog to the card reader :-)

Hello Jake,
Your dream may not be that far away !!!
Look at page 25 & 26 in Monte HHC2018 presentation.
Sylvain

[Hans Brueggemann]

(10-24-2018 06:21 PM)berserkerbernhard Wrote:  Greetings, programs.

I finally got my 41CV working with my card reader. It's so amazing to watch it work. IT is truely a small computer system.

I dream of retirering my HP Prime and go for the 41. But what if it breaks? I can easily get a replacement Prime, but a 41 would be expensive.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you use the 41 for daily stuff?

/Bernhard, OZ9WTN, Denmark

my 41CX is my daily driver since mid-eighties (i.e., over 30 years), and it never let me down. out of the same paranoia as yours, i have a bunch of 41C in reserve, but these get just the regular TLC to prevent their flex-pcb from starting to corrode. i'm going to sell them sooner or later, as i have no real pratical use for them, and collecting them isn't really my cup of tea.
on top of it, community's support for this fabulous machine is simply beyond awesome, thinking of all the paraphernalia from Monte's 41CL, Diego's Clonix and flex-pcb, Angel's SW contributions, Meindert's MLDL, Nate's 3D-printed mechanical parts to (insert favorite contributors here),.... the HP-41C never had a greater and more vivid support than today.
you '41ers are really living in the golden age!

that said: use it.

[Garth Wilson]

(10-25-2018 05:27 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 04:47 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  If only the 41CL could handle a "module" containing a micro SD-card slot, we'd have a perfect modern analog to the card reader :-)

Hello Jake,
Your dream may not be that far away !!!
Look at page 25 & 26 in Monte HHC2018 presentation.
Sylvain

Wow, some of those would be absolutely wonderful to have!! I'm especially thinking of the microSD card slot (with the accompanying file functions), SPI, and I²C. I have others there, or the capability to get there, like the HPIL-to-RS232 and HPIL-to-parallel interface converters. I only have 4K of address space left in my cx though, so any more would have to be accessed by way of banking in that 4K. Here's my CATALOG 2, as shown with the HP92198 80-column video interface:
   

[burkhard]

(10-25-2018 05:27 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 04:47 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  If only the 41CL could handle a "module" containing a micro SD-card slot, we'd have a perfect modern analog to the card reader :-)

Hello Jake,
Your dream may not be that far away !!!
Look at page 25 & 26 in Monte HHC2018 presentation.
Sylvain

Wow! There must be at least half a dozen Montes out there working in his basement to make all this happen.

A couple of dumb questions:
In the phrase on pg 4 where it is referring the the FPGA, it says:
"2048 LUTs + 2048 FFs in a 48-QFN package"
Now I know that 48-QFN refers to the package of the chip... 48 pins (although they aren't really pins here in the sense of leads that stick out), Quad layout, Flat, No-leads.
But what are LUTs and FFs?
•I've seen LUT used for "look up table", but I'm not sure that is right here.
•Not sure about FF -- In the old days maybe a flip flop?

[Zaphod]

(10-25-2018 08:45 PM)burkhard Wrote:  But what are LUTs and FFs?
•I've seen LUT used for "look up table", but I'm not sure that is right here.
•Not sure about FF -- In the old days maybe a flip flop?

You are absolutely right with Look up tables - just a way of creating or assembling logic of your choice within the FPGA .... and you’re right about the Flip Flop’s too

This might help: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technic...lip-flops/

[aurelio]

(10-25-2018 04:47 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  If only the 41CL could handle a "module" containing a micro SD-card slot, we'd have a perfect modern analog to the card reader :-)

Jake

+1

[BruceH]

(10-24-2018 06:21 PM)berserkerbernhard Wrote:  What are your thoughts on this? Do you use the 41 for daily stuff?

The HP42S was HP's replacement for the 41. It is mostly compatible, aside from ROMS and other physical peripherals.

And a SwissMicros DM42 means that you can have a daily calc that is replaceable should it break or be stolen.

[Dave Britten]

(10-26-2018 10:28 PM)BruceH Wrote:  

(10-24-2018 06:21 PM)berserkerbernhard Wrote:  What are your thoughts on this? Do you use the 41 for daily stuff?

The HP42S was HP's replacement for the 41. It is mostly compatible, aside from ROMS and other physical peripherals.

And a SwissMicros DM42 means that you can have a daily calc that is replaceable should it break or be stolen.

Strictly speaking, the 42S was HP's replacement for the 15C. It just happened to be largely compatible with 41C keystroke programs. The 48SX was the replacement for the 41C.

[Garth Wilson]

Quote:The 48SX was the replacement for the 41C.

It doesn't have the power of HPIL I/O though. Only the 41, 71, and 75 did.