HP 15c CE - New firmware update officially available!

[tommi60]

(08-06-2024 12:15 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Okay, I got mine updated (that was a bit of an ordeal), but the debouncing is way too aggressive. It's basically unusable like this. Try quickly typing in 1000, and there's a good chance it will only register 100. Is there a specific byte/word in the firmware binary I can change to adjust the debounce interval? 120 ms is much too high - I suspect it needs to be about half that.

For me it's the opposite, 120 ms seems to be just perfect. I have extensively tested my calculator after updating it. It just works now. Every time. As it should.

From not being able to use my HP-15CE that much because of the ridiculous amount of key bounces I now have a perfectly functional calculator. That I can trust also for sensitive calculations.

[eisbaer]

(09-04-2024 10:56 AM)tommi60 Wrote:  For me it's the opposite, 120 ms seems to be just perfect. I have extensively tested my calculator after updating it. It just works now. Every time. As it should.

From not being able to use my HP-15CE that much because of the ridiculous amount of key bounces I now have a perfectly functional calculator. That I can trust also for sensitive calculations.

Same thing here. My 15c was useless until I ordered the cable and did the update. Haven't had a key bounce since. Quite happy with this solution.

[ajay_m]

I can confirm that - fingers crossed - after the firmware update the keybounce issue appears to be resolved. Previously the 7 and 9 keys would reasonably often bounce, though when I first got the calculator the problem was evident pretty much on every key. So far I have been unable to provoke the problem after the firmware update.

What is annoying is that I had to effectively fork out an extra £34 to get the calculator I thought I'd paid for, but I do get the dilemma; sometimes these things don't come up in testing. I'd have been more impressed if it had been possible (a) to purchase the cable directly from Amazon in the UK (b) I therefore didn't have to pay a fair bit effectively on top of the nominal 20 euro price for delivery and (c) better yet there was a mechanism by which locally purchased calculators could have the firmware upgraded by return mail in the UK. Because right now Moravia are racking up quite a few reviews on Amazon pointing out this issue. This is going to annoy local stockists unless they can easily upgrade units in their pipeline.

Of course if I saw the HP16 overlay pop up on Amazon UK for a really good price (as a kind of compensation for all this) that would go a long way to assuaging my grievance here. Still and all, it is a lovely piece of kit, once patched, and I guess it is handy having the ability to update the firmware in the future, if any new functionality gets added.

[ajay_m]

Sorry about that, ended up with duplicate post

[AnnoyedOne]

(10-28-2024 04:34 PM)ajay_m Wrote:  ...I guess it is handy having the ability to update the firmware in the future, if any new functionality gets added.

And/or saving memory with Voyagersave

https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-22...#pid193243

A1

[battlecoder]

I stumbled upon this thread while looking for information regarding a different HP calculator (I'm relatively new to the HP calculator party, but I'm in love with every HP calc I've used so far) but since I got myself this calculator a couple of months ago I was *absolutely* ecstatic when I found this thread.

I'm in Chile, though, and my country is not in the list of selected shipping locations for the programming cable, so I'd love to know what my options are.
Thanks in advance.

[rprosperi]

(10-29-2024 02:24 AM)battlecoder Wrote:  I stumbled upon this thread while looking for information regarding a different HP calculator (I'm relatively new to the HP calculator party, but I'm in love with every HP calc I've used so far) but since I got myself this calculator a couple of months ago I was *absolutely* ecstatic when I found this thread.

I'm in Chile, though, and my country is not in the list of selected shipping locations for the programming cable, so I'd love to know what my options are.
Thanks in advance.

Try these, I think both will ship to Chile:

https://www.thecalculatorstore.com in Spain (the creator of the 15c CE cables)

https://commerce.hpcalc.org/

[battlecoder]

(10-29-2024 12:59 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Try these, I think both will ship to Chile:

https://www.thecalculatorstore.com in Spain (the creator of the 15c CE cables)

https://commerce.hpcalc.org/

Thanks! Bought one from hpcalc.org, so now comes the hard part (waiting!)

[ajay_m]

Well, I've spent several hours since the firmware upgrade working through the manual and the advanced features - just matrices I think I haven't yet quite got my head around in terms of memorising the keystrokes, clearly HP kind of pushed things to the edge of what they could do with the existing keyboard. Using the g key to invoke an f function is pretty weird, but as the manual states, it's the only exception, so I guess that was the unavoidable tradeoff. Just gotta remember the keystrokes now.....

I have to say the example I found in a forum elsewhere, where e is calculated to extended precision, is extraordinarily clever, using matrices to do extended precision arithmetic. Also using the random seed as an extra register (only works for numbers in range 0 < x < 1 but, still a nifty trick.

But the brilliant thing is that the keybounce problem is definitely fixed with the firmware update and of course as someone else pointed out, I can now save programs using the programming cable, haven't tried this yet but it looks pretty straightforward. It's kind of a shame that the port wasn't brought out as micro USB, which would have made things a lot more straightforward, but, hey, we have a working solution at least. [kinda wonder whether a special 3d printed back cover and POGO plug wouldn't make this possible, I have to say....]

The main thing is, it looks like build quality is superb - I really love the keyboard, which is much better than the OG 11C I also own (which works fine, but doesn't have much of a 'click') and clearly all the bugs with the LE edition are fixed. Thanks everyone for all your hard work making this device possible and then fixing the issues - I really appreciate it!.

[rprosperi]

(10-30-2024 09:58 AM)ajay_m Wrote:  Well, I've spent several hours since the firmware upgrade working through the manual and the advanced features - just matrices I think I haven't yet quite got my head around in terms of memorising the keystrokes, clearly HP kind of pushed things to the edge of what they could do with the existing keyboard. Using the g key to invoke an f function is pretty weird, but as the manual states, it's the only exception, so I guess that was the unavoidable tradeoff. Just gotta remember the keystrokes now.....

I have to say the example I found in a forum elsewhere, where e is calculated to extended precision, is extraordinarily clever, using matrices to do extended precision arithmetic. Also using the random seed as an extra register (only works for numbers in range 0 < x < 1 but, still a nifty trick.

But the brilliant thing is that the keybounce problem is definitely fixed with the firmware update and of course as someone else pointed out, I can now save programs using the programming cable, haven't tried this yet but it looks pretty straightforward. It's kind of a shame that the port wasn't brought out as micro USB, which would have made things a lot more straightforward, but, hey, we have a working solution at least. [kinda wonder whether a special 3d printed back cover and POGO plug wouldn't make this possible, I have to say....]

The main thing is, it looks like build quality is superb - I really love the keyboard, which is much better than the OG 11C I also own (which works fine, but doesn't have much of a 'click') and clearly all the bugs with the LE edition are fixed. Thanks everyone for all your hard work making this device possible and then fixing the issues - I really appreciate it!.

Look at Dan's new universal Voyager stand, which lets you use the 15c CE with the cable connected, so no awkward handling, cable insertion, etc. It really is a game changer, as you really can easily use this without hassles; most people really won't use it, regularly, the other way, it's just too awkward and inconvenient.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1801507882/...ager-stand

It also holds DM1x Voyager models from SwissMicros (which have a mini-USB port on the front side) and lets you use them without similar (but easier here) cable flailing.

Together with Torsten Manz' multi-platform HP-15C high-fidelity simulator for program entry and backup/restore, it completely changes the way you will use your 15c CE or DM15L.

[Divasson]

Very clever! I am red of envy....

[battlecoder]

(10-30-2024 12:45 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Look at Dan's new universal Voyager stand, which lets you use the 15c CE with the cable connected, so no awkward handling, cable insertion, etc. It really is a game changer, as you really can easily use this without hassles; most people really won't use it, regularly, the other way, it's just too awkward and inconvenient.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1801507882/...ager-stand

It also holds DM1x Voyager models from SwissMicros (which have a mini-USB port on the front side) and lets you use them without similar (but easier here) cable flailing.

It holds the calculator, a keyboard overlay, the transfer cable AND a Rotring mechanical pencil? That's absolute perfection.

[naddy]

(10-30-2024 09:58 AM)ajay_m Wrote:  But the brilliant thing is that the keybounce problem is definitely fixed with the firmware update

Now if only the firmware upgrade wasn't tied to a proprietary Windows program.

Anybody in the EU offering a reflash service?

[Divasson]

(10-30-2024 03:26 PM)naddy Wrote:  

(10-30-2024 09:58 AM)ajay_m Wrote:  But the brilliant thing is that the keybounce problem is definitely fixed with the firmware update

Now if only the firmware upgrade wasn't tied to a proprietary Windows program.

Anybody in the EU offering a reflash service?

Flashing Service for Voyagers

(+ shipping !!)

[rprosperi]

(10-30-2024 03:26 PM)naddy Wrote:  

(10-30-2024 09:58 AM)ajay_m Wrote:  But the brilliant thing is that the keybounce problem is definitely fixed with the firmware update

Now if only the firmware upgrade wasn't tied to a proprietary Windows program.

Anybody in the EU offering a reflash service?

For the SwissMicros DM1x Voyager calculators, I previewed a web portal at HHC 24 for f/w upgrades, no longer requiring a Windows program, however you do still need to have the drivers for USB comms with the chipset installed on the PC you use to do the upgrade (Win, macOS, and Linux available).

No date available yet for this, busy on some other things that will eventually need this...

[naddy]

(10-30-2024 04:01 PM)Divasson Wrote:  Flashing Service for Voyagers

(+ shipping !!)

Oops, I missed this because it isn't linked from the Accessories page.

When I put "Firmware Flashing service for HP12c, HP15c" into the shopping basket, it says "Free Delivery". So how do I pay for the shipping?

[Divasson]

(10-30-2024 03:26 PM)naddy Wrote:  

(10-30-2024 09:58 AM)ajay_m Wrote:  But the brilliant thing is that the keybounce problem is definitely fixed with the firmware update

Now if only the firmware upgrade wasn't tied to a proprietary Windows program.

Anybody in the EU offering a reflash service?

Flashing Service for Voyagers

(+ shipping !!)

[cdmackay]

(10-30-2024 06:42 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  For the SwissMicros DM1x Voyager calculators, I previewed a web portal at HHC 24 for f/w upgrades, no longer requiring a Windows program, however you do still need to have the drivers for USB comms with the chipset installed on the PC you use to do the upgrade (Win, macOS, and Linux available).

No date available yet for this, busy on some other things that will eventually need this...

Thank you!

But will this also work for the 15C CE?

I thought that the DM Voyager calcs don't need a Windows program to update firmware: you can do it on Linux/Mac using the lpc21isp utility (no special drivers needed).

[rprosperi]

No, can't be done with the 15c CE, at least not via this portal. I'd guess such a thing is feasible (recreating the SAMBA protocol, etc.) but that's a lot of work for something that is rarely used, unlike the memory dump/load activities for loading and exporting programs.

macOS and Linux don't require a dedicated program, (and drivers are built-in to most recent builds) but they do involve installing non-default components and using awkward and un-memorable command sequences (I know, I delight to most Linus users).

But the web portal is universal (for Chrome-based browsers) and less hassle for an only occasionally needed task.

[cdmackay]

thanks Bob.