HP 48G with 128K RAM?

[Siegfried]

When deciding which of my two HP 48Gs to sell after getting a GX and a G+ I found that one of them indicates 128K RAM. I bought it used a couple of years ago and don't have a contact for the seller. I can't remember it being advertised with extra RAM. It shows no signs of having been opened. It has 48G and "32K RAM" printed above the screen. Its serial number is ID74002727, ROM Rev. R.

While the 128K would make the decision which one to keep easy (and make my purchase of a G+ rather unneccessary) it does raise some questions:

• Is there any way the memory indication (MEMORY menu, SIZE) can be faked/wrong?
• should I assume the calc has been "user modified" (hacked)?
• are there other known 48Gs with more than 32K RAM?
  

Thanks for any hints.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(01-24-2014 08:16 PM)Siegfried Wrote:  

• Is there any way the memory indication (MEMORY menu, SIZE) can be faked/wrong?
• should I assume the calc has been "user modified" (hacked)?
• are there other known 48Gs with more than 32K RAM?
  

Thanks for any hints.

1. Not that I know of
2. Yes or, rather, professionally modified. Several german companies sold them.
3. I have one 48G with 1280Kb RAM
   

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Many 48G units have been upgraded to 128 or 256 K , some to 512, 768 or even more K of RAM.
I had several of them, and a few with 768K and 1.2M, and one with 2.3MB of RAM.

There were at least two or three companies in Germany who offered the upgrade.
In the early years one or two companies dismantled the unit by pulling off the keyboard overlay and drilling out or cutting the heat stakes. These units are easily recognized because of their slightly "wavy" overlay. The other method was/is to take off the back case half (see Han's nice description on that)

If done well, you won't see any damage from opening the unit.

The last company in germany who offered the upgrade service was Dynatech, where I bought a new HP 48G+ with speedup and 1.2MB of RAM .
The actual upgrades were done by Mr. Kemper from Miketech.

[Siegfried]

So it's just my bad luck I only got 128K and not 2,3 MB ;-)

Thanks for your help!

[Raymond Del Tondo]

I'd not see this as "bad luck", since 128K are better than only 32K ;-)
With 128K you can install some of the heavier applications. You could also try the base components of SpeedUI, which will accelerate the whole user interface.

[Siegfried]

(01-26-2014 01:48 AM)Raymond Del Tondo Wrote:  With 128K you can install some of the heavier applications. You could also try the base components of SpeedUI, which will accelerate the whole user interface.

That's on my list. I got the cable already but still have to figure out what to use on the Mac OS X side of it to get data through.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

(01-27-2014 11:33 PM)Siegfried Wrote:  That's on my list. I got the cable already but still have to figure out what to use on the Mac OS X side of it to get data through.

Maybe SyncTERM could be sufficient?

[pdo]

(01-27-2014 11:33 PM)Siegfried Wrote:  That's on my list. I got the cable already but still have to figure out what to use on the Mac OS X side of it to get data through.

Hi Siegfried,

You might like to try my Hoppi application for the Mac. It uses kermit to transfer all files, and works for me with my HP48GX.

http://bitbucket.org/cloudycat/hoppi/

Regards,
Paul Onions

[ArcaneDraconum]

Hi Paul,
that's a very nice and small Tool. I see your post and test it with my HP-48SX (Rev. B). And it do all I need.
Very good tip.
Thomas

[pdo]

(02-03-2014 04:31 PM)ArcaneDraconum Wrote:  ... I see your post and test it with my HP-48SX (Rev. B). And it do all I need.

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad it works with the 48S series too (I hoped it would).

Paul Onions

[HP67]

(01-24-2014 09:00 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  [*]Yes or, rather, professionally modified. Several german companies sold them.
[*]I have one 48G with 1280Kb RAM

Are there any companies still doing this? I realize this is not all they do or they would be very broke and lonely right now. But is anybody alive still capable of doing a reliable job with this? I have a few HP48 that would be happy with a meg of RAM...

Any thread highjacking was unintentional. I have not been around on this board to know whether people would prefer to start a new thread or just let things go. I had some very unusual experiences on another forum recently...

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(02-11-2014 08:44 PM)HP67 Wrote:  

(01-24-2014 09:00 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  [*]Yes or, rather, professionally modified. Several german companies sold them.
[*]I have one 48G with 1280Kb RAM

Are there any companies still doing this? I realize this is not all they do or they would be very broke and lonely right now. But is anybody alive still capable of doing a reliable job with this? I have a few HP48 that would be happy with a meg of RAM...

Any thread highjacking was unintentional. I have not been around on this board to know whether people would prefer to start a new thread or just let things go. I had some very unusual experiences on another forum recently...

They were all german vendors, one of them was Dynatech.
Maybe some of our friends will chime in and say if they still (if they ever did) offer an upgrade service (since no new units are available, of course).

[Siegfried]

@pdo: Thanks for the link and sorry for the late reply d/t vacation.