HP Prime - Buzzer

[M0R33z]

Isn't it about time to roll out a new hardware revision with a tone generator (Buzzer) ?

A buzzer like that is not a big problem.

[toml_12953]

(05-05-2023 06:13 AM)M0R33z Wrote:  Isn't it about time to roll out a new hardware revision with a tone generator (Buzzer) ?

A buzzer like that is not a big problem.

Especially since the connection for a buzzer is probably already on the circuit board.

[Steve Simpkin]

I don’t know why HP/Moravia would do that as it would be frowned upon in a classroom environment, the primary market for the Prime. That is why sound beepers are missing from TI and Casio graphing calculators.

[TheLastMillennial]

Calculators that make any sort of sound are explicitly prohibited on most standardized tests in the US. Adding such hardware, although cool, would significantly shrink the Prime's potential audience.

[Eddie W. Shore]

An unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on your point of view) consequence of tests, there are no longer buzzers on any calculators. I enjoy that legacy HP calculator had full range beeps.

[M0R33z]

(05-05-2023 11:27 AM)toml_12953 Wrote:  

(05-05-2023 06:13 AM)M0R33z Wrote:  Isn't it about time to roll out a new hardware revision with a tone generator (Buzzer) ?

A buzzer like that is not a big problem.

Especially since the connection for a buzzer is probably already on the circuit board.

Ok, I didn't know that. Is the buzzer supported by PrimeOS ? Something like Beep ?

[RobbiOne]

(05-05-2023 01:13 PM)TheLastMillennial Wrote:  ... Adding such hardware, although cool, would significantly shrink the Prime's potential audience.

Prime has the exam mode. The teacher could disable specific features of the calculator so the buzzer could be forced to be off in exam mode.

[TheLastMillennial]

(05-05-2023 11:23 PM)RobbiOne Wrote:  

(05-05-2023 01:13 PM)TheLastMillennial Wrote:  ... Adding such hardware, although cool, would significantly shrink the Prime's potential audience.

Prime has the exam mode. The teacher could disable specific features of the calculator so the buzzer could be forced to be off in exam mode.

Yes, there are plenty of things teachers could do to make the Prime accepted on more tests. Unfortunately they are woefully uninformed and hardly any teachers know about Exam Mode. Hence, anything that's available in the default state is what's judged to be either complient or non-compliant with exams.

[Eric Rechlin]

Interestingly, the earlier HP calculators (the RPL models and the high-end scientifics) are generally allowed on standardized exams despite the beeper. Just have the beep turned off. For example, the SAT explicitly still allows the 28/38/39/40/48/49/50 even though they have beepers.

[Kevin Ouellet]

If everyone had older, beeping HP calculators in high school over here, then there would have been several extra hundreds of students in detention at the end of every school day.