PX41CX

[toml_12953]

(10-31-2024 02:20 AM)carey Wrote:  

(10-31-2024 01:40 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  It's never wise to say never, so I'll say it is very unlikely there will be a DM41xn for a long, long time, for a variety of reasons, but the main one is why bother? Anyone wanting a new platform for super high speeds is probably better off with a DM42n, and having more memory does not improve a 41X as it already has more RAM than any 41 could ever use. Just wanted you to know, so you aren't waiting for something that isn't likely coming...

Thanks Bob! I appreciate your thoughtful explanation!
Just to play Devil’s advocate, is there a counter argument that even if an enhanced hardware DM41X would not be of much greater value to the consumer, it might still be likely because it would benefit the manufacturer to consolidate production on one hardware platform for their top 3 flagship models?

The reason SM came out with the DM42n is that the CPU in the DM42 is obsolete and almost impossible to get now. Their hand was forced. When the hardware the PX41CX based on is old enough, they'll have to either upgrade or go out of business.

[LinusSch]

(11-01-2024 06:33 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:  

(10-31-2024 02:20 AM)carey Wrote:  Thanks Bob! I appreciate your thoughtful explanation!
Just to play Devil’s advocate, is there a counter argument that even if an enhanced hardware DM41X would not be of much greater value to the consumer, it might still be likely because it would benefit the manufacturer to consolidate production on one hardware platform for their top 3 flagship models?

The reason SM came out with the DM42n is that the CPU in the DM42 is obsolete and almost impossible to get now. Their hand was forced. When the hardware the PX41CX based on is old enough, they'll have to either upgrade or go out of business.

The same goes for everything, when the supply runs out you need to come up with a replacement. But there is a stockpile and a demand to consider. I suspect the "old flagship" assembled PCB stockpile, or possibly the CPU stockpile, at SM can serve the DM41x demand for a long long time - but would have ran out much more quickly had the DM42 stayed on that platform for longer.

As for the AVR128DA28 in the PX41CX, it is in production and to my eyes it does not seem to have a high risk of being outdated and out of production anytime soon - but the latter part of that statement is rather dangerous speculation, really. If you need your business to continuously have something to sell, keep a stockpile big enough that you have time to redesign if you at any moment find yourself suddenly unable to get anymore. Then again, most of the time warning signs can be early or extra stock can be found from some distributor or other.

[LinusSch]

(11-01-2024 07:11 AM)carey Wrote:  Sure, firmware development is yet another reason hardware consolidation benefits manufacturers. But isn't hardware consolidation its own advantage to manufacturers (fewer parts to order and being able to order more parts of the same type at volume discount)?

Sure, hardware consolidation is a helpful thing from that standpoint. I just don't expect it to have any impact in this case. For what is relatively small runs of PCBs with relative mass availability of the components anyway, the impact is most likely very small. Not to mention the old and the new SM flagship are quite close to the same thing except for the SoC, so very very small. And finally, my above comments about stock and demand.

But if I were to expect a new calculator from agarza, I'd expect one with the same hardware as the PX41CX except for faceplate labelling and firmware. Because it's easy. Or... something entirely different, because it's a challenge, and these are relatively small quantities of generally available parts with very little in-house hardware work anyway.

[krischik]

(10-30-2024 10:14 PM)Jase Wrote:  To those with a PX calculator...
How painful is it in adjusting to the keys?
I love the idea; but those keys

They might look strange but they are otherwise just fine.

Regards

Martin

[agarza]

I'm working on designing a new font for the PX-41CX.
Trying to recreate the 14-segment style of the original HP-41C.

Any ideas or suggestions?



---

[krischik]

(Yesterday 03:25 PM)agarza Wrote:  I'm working on designing a new font for the PX-41CX.
Trying to recreate the 14-segment style of the original HP-41C.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Is True-Type and option — if only as a starting point to create an pixel font? I have this one which I use for my HP45 Emulator.

https://sourceforge.net/p/uiq3/git/ci/ma...tended.ttf

I used a different one before but that was not as nice.

PS:

[agarza]

(Yesterday 03:45 PM)krischik Wrote:  Is True-Type and option — if only as a starting point to create an pixel font? I have this one which I use for my HP45 Emulator.

https://sourceforge.net/p/uiq3/git/ci/ma...tended.ttf

Thank's, that will help me create the lower case characters.

[Mark H. Shin]

Hello Alex,

I have the starburst segments in .ai, .psd, and .svg formats which should aid you in the creation of bitmap fonts.

I extracted the outlines from the same font posted by @krischik.

The file is just a bit too large to add as an attachment to this post.

External link (updated): https://uploadnow.io/f/T2lR74L

   

[krischik]

(Yesterday 04:33 PM)agarza Wrote:  Thank's, that will help me create the lower case characters.

Glad to be of aid. Have you seen my dump decoder tool I announced in this post?

[agarza]

(Yesterday 05:03 PM)Mark H. Shin Wrote:  External link: https://file.io/X3R3nO8HnEOk

The external link gives this error: "The transfer you requested has been deleted."

[agarza]

(Yesterday 05:40 PM)krischik Wrote:  

Have you seen my dump decoder tool I announced in this post?

Yes, I plan to test it this weekend.

I still need to learn Ada and figure out how to run it on a Mac.

[Mark H. Shin]

(Yesterday 05:56 PM)agarza Wrote:  The external link gives this error: "The transfer you requested has been deleted."

Please try now...

[krischik]

(Yesterday 05:56 PM)agarza Wrote:  The external link gives this error: "The transfer you requested has been deleted."

I downloaded it just fine. Was it a single download and I snatched it aways? Anyway, here are more resilient download link:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/calcula...Documents/

(Yesterday 06:01 PM)agarza Wrote:  Yes, I plan to test it this weekend.

I still need to learn Ada and figure out how to run it on a Mac.

I provided binaries for Window, (x86) macOS and (SuSE) Linux. But if that doesn't work for you with the new Ada package manager compiling from source has become very easy. The package manager will download the compiler and all needed libraries and then build the executable for you.