Back to RPL ! (HP50G)

[pinkman]

Just received my HP50G in perfect condition, clean and fully working.
I'm really happy to get back to RPL after all these years far from my 28S/48GX.

I still love my RPN calcs, and also the Prime, but using RPL on such a good platform is really exciting me.

If you have any advices to give me, don't hesitate: the kind of mojo I should not miss, including apps, programming, CAS, etc.

Thanks.

[grsbanks]

Just enjoy it

Did you get the black one or the blue (fairly rare) one?

[pinkman]

Standard black, mint condition except a few dust around the screen.

[Pjwum]

Congratulations! How exciting it is to meet an old love!

My advice is to be aware of and enjoy the beauty of the RPL design. It is not just a language. It is a calculator operating system with a closed concept and consequent pursuit of object orienting. Everything is an object and can be treated as such. You operate it and feel it was cast in one pour. Something that can't be said of later designs.

[John Keith]

Congratulations on your fine acquisition. Note firstly that the 50g has many more functions and commands than the 48G. Keep the AUR by your side as you explore. If you have a Windows PC and/or an Android phone, the excellent EMU48 will run your programs 40 to 50 times faster than the physical calculator. No substitute for a calculator with real keys but very handy if you have the need for speed.

If you are planning to do serious programming it can be very helpful to read the many programs you can find in the Software- General forum and at hpcalc.org.

[Marco Polo]

(07-03-2020 06:14 PM)pinkman Wrote:  Just received my HP50G in perfect condition, clean and fully working.
I'm really happy to get back to RPL after all these years far from my 28S/48GX.

I still love my RPN calcs, and also the Prime, but using RPL on such a good platform is really exciting me.

If you have any advices to give me, don't hesitate: the kind of mojo I should not miss, including apps, programming, CAS, etc.

Thanks.

Congratulations!
You got, IMHO, the last and the best calculator for serious professional engineering. Still unpaired....
Except for the keyboard layout: I feel the 48 series' much better

[pinkman]

Yes, the “Enter” key is located in the place of the “+” key, and the “÷” is on a small key. Strange.

[Steve Simpkin]

(07-04-2020 04:45 PM)pinkman Wrote:  Yes, the “Enter” key is located in the place of the “+” key, and the “÷” is on a small key. Strange.

Yes when the engineer and scientist markets for calculators went away in the late 90s, HP had to focus on the educational market that was left. The HP 49G tried to look more like the algebraic TI graphing models which included moving the Enter key to the bottom-right corner.

[pinkman]

Sure, the place of an Equals key.

[DanO]

(07-03-2020 06:14 PM)pinkman Wrote:  Just received my HP50G in perfect condition, clean and fully working.
I'm really happy to get back to RPL after all these years far from my 28S/48GX.

I still love my RPN calcs, and also the Prime, but using RPL on such a good platform is really exciting me.

If you have any advices to give me, don't hesitate: the kind of mojo I should not miss, including apps, programming, CAS, etc.

Thanks.

Congratulations on getting a 50g.

I'd recommend Prof. Wolfgang Rautenberg "Keyman+" app. Many others by him are really good apps. And for programming on PC, "HPUserEdit" by Roger Broncano Reyes, it's almost unbelievable that this program is free of charge.

I also like a lot the "save unlimited command line entries" programs by the late John H. Meyers:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search...TENN22GC8J

Also this post by John is relevant about ASCII import/export:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/...oZFVECTxpY

BTMON for battery monitoring.

HLP49 for commands help when you are away from paper / digital manual or AUR.

[Marco Polo]

(07-04-2020 06:43 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  

(07-04-2020 04:45 PM)pinkman Wrote:  Yes, the “Enter” key is located in the place of the “+” key, and the “÷” is on a small key. Strange.

Yes when the engineer and scientist markets for calculators went away in the late 90s, HP had to focus on the educational market that was left. The HP 49G tried to look more like the algebraic TI graphing models which included moving the Enter key to the bottom-right corner.

That's why I daily use my 50g enjoying it's power and screen but could never enjoy the keyboard layout.
The keys feeling if far from being a tactile joy, but anyway is pretty decent, except the arrow keys, and in 13 years of use I don't have any complain about keypress reliability.
Now I am slowly preparing a 48gx with SpeedUI and hopefully switch back to it

[Gerald H]

(07-04-2020 04:45 PM)pinkman Wrote:  Yes, the “Enter” key is located in the place of the “+” key, and the “÷” is on a small key. Strange.

“÷” is a full-size key on 49G.

[Steve Simpkin]

(07-06-2020 04:18 AM)Gerald H Wrote:  

(07-04-2020 04:45 PM)pinkman Wrote:  Yes, the “Enter” key is located in the place of the “+” key, and the “÷” is on a small key. Strange.

“÷” is a full-size key on 49G.

Pinkman was talking about the HP 50g where the divide key is smaller in height than the +, - and X operator keys. I mentioned the HP 49g as the first RPL model where HP moved the Enter key to a single-wide key at the bottom-right corner to make it look more like TI graphing models.

[Marco Polo]

(07-06-2020 07:49 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  

(07-06-2020 04:18 AM)Gerald H Wrote:  “÷” is a full-size key on 49G.

Pinkman was talking about the HP 50g where the divide key is smaller in height than the +, - and X operator keys. I mentioned the HP 49g as the first RPL model where HP moved the Enter key to a single-wide key at the bottom-right corner to make it look more like TI graphing models.

I seems that in the move from 49g to 49g+/50g some more ergonomics were lost :-)

[pinkman]

Apart from this “Enter” vs “+” key confusion, the ergonomics are ok after a few days using it. Even the Enter key in the bottom right corner is a good idea, you move your fingers quicker from digits to “Enter” or “On/Cancel”.

Yes I do prefer the old HP style big two keys wide Enter key, but the bottom right has its advantages.

[franz.b]

despite the power, ergonomics are not the best in this series of calculators: the useless "HIST", "TOOL" and "SYMB" keys that could easily be menus, the 4 directional keys that occupy six places, the symbols for the inequalities that occupy a place that could be assigned to menus ...
I spend a lot of time browsing the menus and submenus looking for commands. the 48s / x series was significantly better from this point of view.

[SammysHP]

Who does not use USR mode?

[Marco Polo]

(07-07-2020 08:26 AM)SammysHP Wrote:  Who does not use USR mode?

I am heavily using USR mode, with the help of the awesome "KEYMAN", from prof. Rautemberg.
IMHO using USR mode is a good way to get a better keyboard on 50g.
I completely reconfigured mine, keeping all the original key assignment and taking advantage of "long press" and "keep shift pressed" features

I suggest, for heavy unit of measure users, to try "UNITMAN", again from prof. Rautenberg

[rprosperi]

(07-07-2020 11:08 AM)Marco Polo Wrote:  I am heavily using USR mode, with the help of the awesome "KEYMAN", from prof. Rautemberg.
IMHO using USR mode is a good way to get a better keyboard on 50g.
I completely reconfigured mine, keeping all the original key assignment and taking advantage of "long press" and "keep shift pressed" features

I suggest, for heavy unit of measure users, to try "UNITMAN", again from prof. Rautenberg

I agree with you, KEYMAN and all the other programs from Prof. Rautenberg are among the best and most useful utilities for the 50g, truly innovative and excellent in every way. In particular, check out OT49.

For people that are not familiar with Prof. Rautenberg's tools, please go see this page; everyone will find something useful:

http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/raut/WR49/

You can also find additional background and links to other tools (including some 48 versions) on his memorial homepage here:

http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/raut/

[pinkman]

(07-07-2020 11:08 AM)Marco Polo Wrote:  

(07-07-2020 08:26 AM)SammysHP Wrote:  Who does not use USR mode?

I am heavily using USR mode, with the help of the awesome "KEYMAN", from prof. Rautemberg.
IMHO using USR mode is a good way to get a better keyboard on 50g.
I completely reconfigured mine, keeping all the original key assignment and taking advantage of "long press" and "keep shift pressed" features

I suggest, for heavy unit of measure users, to try "UNITMAN", again from prof. Rautenberg

Could you share your user keyboard layout?