Any good DOS calculators that provide a Casio-pocket-computer-like BASIC?

[Dave Britten]

Has anybody ever found a good scientific calculator and/or programming environment suitable for the 200LX? The thing I really like about the Casio pocket computers is that they reflect their calculator heritage by allowing manual calculations in run mode, and having multiple program spaces so you can keep several programs in memory with hotkeys to run them. They feel more like programmable calculators that happen to run BASIC, which I think is a better fit for their form factor than how Sharp approached it.

The 200LX can run GW-BASIC, QBasic, TurboPascal, etc. with ease, but none of those are really good for a calculator-like workflow. I'd like to find something that allows you to do manual calculations, quickly call up a program or routine to calculate something, then continue on and maybe run some other programs, without having to use PRINT, LOAD, and RUN for everything you do.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(08-28-2018 01:03 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Has anybody ever found a good scientific calculator and/or programming environment suitable for the 200LX? The thing I really like about the Casio pocket computers is that they reflect their calculator heritage by allowing manual calculations in run mode, and having multiple program spaces so you can keep several programs in memory with hotkeys to run them. They feel more like programmable calculators that happen to run BASIC, which I think is a better fit for their form factor than how Sharp approached it.

The 200LX can run GW-BASIC, QBasic, TurboPascal, etc. with ease, but none of those are really good for a calculator-like workflow. I'd like to find something that allows you to do manual calculations, quickly call up a program or routine to calculate something, then continue on and maybe run some other programs, without having to use PRINT, LOAD, and RUN for everything you do.

Have you ever tried Borland's Eureka or Mercury?
Or, maybe, this one (never used it though)...

[jwhsu]

(08-28-2018 08:19 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Have you ever tried Borland's Eureka or Mercury?
Or, maybe, this one (never used it though)...

Looking at the readme file for Mercury, it looks like it requires a math coprocessor. IIRC, the HP 200LX does not have a math coprocessor.

[TomC]

I had used a DOS program called BIGCALC. As I recall, it was RPN, visible stack and selectable precision.

TomC

(08-28-2018 01:03 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Has anybody ever found a good scientific calculator and/or programming environment suitable for the 200LX? The thing I really like about the Casio pocket computers is that they reflect their calculator heritage by allowing manual calculations in run mode, and having multiple program spaces so you can keep several programs in memory with hotkeys to run them. They feel more like programmable calculators that happen to run BASIC, which I think is a better fit for their form factor than how Sharp approached it.

The 200LX can run GW-BASIC, QBasic, TurboPascal, etc. with ease, but none of those are really good for a calculator-like workflow. I'd like to find something that allows you to do manual calculations, quickly call up a program or routine to calculate something, then continue on and maybe run some other programs, without having to use PRINT, LOAD, and RUN for everything you do.

[Dave Britten]

(08-28-2018 08:19 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Have you ever tried Borland's Eureka or Mercury?
Or, maybe, this one (never used it though)...

Eureka sounds interesting. It turns out the author released version 2.11 as freeware:

http://www.spinstop.com/roger/eureka.htm

The manual says it recommends - but does not require - a math coprocessor. Also you can build external functions with Turbo C++ or assembly. I might have to give this a try.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(08-28-2018 11:13 PM)jwhsu Wrote:  

(08-28-2018 08:19 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Have you ever tried Borland's Eureka or Mercury?
Or, maybe, this one (never used it though)...

Looking at the readme file for Mercury, it looks like it requires a math coprocessor. IIRC, the HP 200LX does not have a math coprocessor.

Not exactly:

Quote:If a math coprocessor is available, it will be used. A math
coprocessor is recommended for serious number crunchers.
(...)
Mercury automatically detects the math coprocessor, but
occasionally Mercury fails because the chip is defective. It can
be turned off with

set 87=N

at the DOS prompt.

[Albert Chan]

I like E(xplore) calculator for Window: interactive, solver, programming, exact math, symbolic differentiation, graphing ...
DOS version also available.

http://userwww.sfsu.edu/meredith/X(PLORE)/xplorepg.html

[jwhsu]

(08-29-2018 01:41 AM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Eureka sounds interesting. It turns out the author released version 2.11 as freeware:

http://www.spinstop.com/roger/eureka.htm

The manual says it recommends - but does not require - a math coprocessor. Also you can build external functions with Turbo C++ or assembly. I might have to give this a try.

My mistake. Thanks for the correction.

[Sukiari]

There’s a nice HP 71b emulator for MS-DOS.