Swiss Micros announces DM42L

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(02-23-2016 02:06 AM)Dave Britten Wrote:  In any case, having the operator keys to the left of the digits should appeal to the 41 fans!

Besides having them "L" shaped (!), their central position is one of the things I mostly dislike in the DM41/41L.

[Ángel Martin]

(02-23-2016 06:41 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  

(02-23-2016 02:06 AM)Dave Britten Wrote:  In any case, having the operator keys to the left of the digits should appeal to the 41 fans!

Besides having them "L" shaped (!), their central position is one of the things I mostly dislike in the DM41/41L.

But that is "left" - at least of the numeric keypad, right? That should be of your liking according to your tagline signature...

of course the difference is that there's another half of the keyboard at the left of the operators column... but such is life in the landscape world; you can't have it all.

[Ángel Martin]

(02-23-2016 12:25 AM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  Take a small piano hinge and attach a DM12L and a DM41L and voila a clamshell all RPN. Best of the financial and scientific RPNs!

:-)

Yes but, will it play in tune???

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(02-23-2016 07:28 AM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  

(02-23-2016 06:41 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Besides having them "L" shaped (!), their central position is one of the things I mostly dislike in the DM41/41L.

But that is "left" - at least of the numeric keypad, right? That should be of your liking according to your tagline signature...

of course the difference is that there's another half of the keyboard at the left of the operators column... but such is life in the landscape world; you can't have it all.

I already specified (elsewhere) that my liking is relative to a portrait frame.
And I don't want to have a landscape world (again, repeated ad nauseam), so...

;)

That position is silly in such an arrangement.

[Jlouis]

(02-22-2016 09:35 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  

(02-22-2016 08:15 PM)Jlouis Wrote:  HP-28s surpasses the next generations for one reason, at least:

Dedicated alpha keyboard.

It's a really pleasure to use them

That one might be debatable. You still have to toggle in and out of cursor movement vs. soft menus, and having the alpha keyboard on the left isn't the best setup for righties. It could have been the killer feature, but in its current state, it's only a minor convenience at best. And the 48 has the distinct advantage of an alpha keyboard that's easily usable while actually holding the calculator.

Agreed.

I remember in the early 80's a Sharp that equally folds but have the alpha keyboard on the right side. That's the way it should be in the hp clamshells. Forgive me, lefties.

[Dave Britten]

(02-23-2016 07:58 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  

(02-23-2016 07:28 AM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  But that is "left" - at least of the numeric keypad, right? That should be of your liking according to your tagline signature...

of course the difference is that there's another half of the keyboard at the left of the operators column... but such is life in the landscape world; you can't have it all.

I already specified (elsewhere) that my liking is relative to a portrait frame.
And I don't want to have a landscape world (again, repeated ad nauseam), so...



That position is silly in such an arrangement.

It would mostly be out of necessity if you want to have the menu keys aligned with the LCD, unless you want to do horrifying things with the position of the digits, or do something truly awful like swapping XEQ and division, and overloading the division key to activate the 6th menu item.

Anyway, there's still plenty of time for prototyping and playing with the design, and it's certainly not infeasible to sell more than one variation if the compromises just become too polarizing. They'd have to mess it up pretty badly for me to not want one, though.

[Ángel Martin]

I propose using a random key layout generator - that'd produce an output not attached to anyone's preferences - the ultimate impartiality!

[Dave Britten]

(02-23-2016 01:55 PM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  I propose using a random key layout generator - that'd produce an output not attached to anyone's preferences - the ultimate impartiality!

Perfect! Plus there's all that unused space on the back of the unit. I'll bet we could fit at least another two dozen keys there.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(02-23-2016 02:52 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  

(02-23-2016 01:55 PM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  I propose using a random key layout generator - that'd produce an output not attached to anyone's preferences - the ultimate impartiality!

Perfect! Plus there's all that unused space on the back of the unit. I'll bet we could fit at least another two dozen keys there.

Ditto!
And what about aligning menu keys along the top border?
Front, rear and around keys!

Ok, Michael told me they are working also on a portrait layout so I'm fine: I'll wait until then.

[Dave Britten]

(02-23-2016 03:37 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Ok, Michael told me they are working also on a portrait layout so I'm fine: I'll wait until then.

Sweet! I can keep two landscape 42Ls on my desks, and a 42P in my computer bag for on-the-go.

I wonder if they'll do a 32S or 32Sii clone in that case. Couldn't hurt to have one of those too, right?

[Jlouis]

(02-23-2016 03:47 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  

(02-23-2016 03:37 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Ok, Michael told me they are working also on a portrait layout so I'm fine: I'll wait until then.

Sweet! I can keep two landscape 42Ls on my desks, and a 42P in my computer bag for on-the-go.

I wonder if they'll do a 32S or 32Sii clone in that case. Couldn't hurt to have one of those too, right?

Ok, now I want a 97 clone!!

Edited: in a landscape format, please...

[Geoff Quickfall]

(02-23-2016 07:30 AM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  

(02-23-2016 12:25 AM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  Take a small piano hinge and attach a DM12L and a DM41L and voila a clamshell all RPN. Best of the financial and scientific RPNs!

:-)

Yes but, will it play in tune???

The DM41L bender is louder than the 41C so yes it will!

:-)

[anetzer]

(02-23-2016 06:46 PM)Jlouis Wrote:  

(02-23-2016 03:47 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Sweet! I can keep two landscape 42Ls on my desks, and a 42P in my computer bag for on-the-go.

I wonder if they'll do a 32S or 32Sii clone in that case. Couldn't hurt to have one of those too, right?

Ok, now I want a 97 clone!!

Edited: in a landscape format, please...

Well, if as we all seem entitled to dream ...

For those who have spent their formative time with an HP-41 a different and a bit more realistic question keeps creeping back into the brain:

The DM42L hardware should also be capable of taking a, well, DM41P. I could not really convince myself to buy a DM41L because that keyboard layout is just too weird. But a DM41P with a display that could be used for displaying all the stack, emulating a printer or displaying graphic and text using all the screen real estate might really be interesting.

Swiss micros did implement the 41 firmware on the Dmxxx hardware so far and now they would have an agreeable hardware layout. Am I overlooking something there?

Thank you for any comment!

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-30-2016 09:33 PM)anetzer Wrote:  

(02-23-2016 06:46 PM)Jlouis Wrote:  Ok, now I want a 97 clone!!

Edited: in a landscape format, please...

Well, if as we all seem entitled to dream ...

For those who have spent their formative time with an HP-41 a different and a bit more realistic question keeps creeping back into the brain:

The DM42L hardware should also be capable of taking a, well, DM41P. I could not really convince myself to buy a DM41L because that keyboard layout is just too weird. But a DM41P with a display that could be used for displaying all the stack, emulating a printer or displaying graphic and text using all the screen real estate might really be interesting.

Swiss micros did implement the 41 firmware on the Dmxxx hardware so far and now they would have an agreeable hardware layout. Am I overlooking something there?

Thank you for any comment!

I already asked Michael about this (of course) on May 14th, once I saw the new hardware for the DM42, since I dont't like the landscape abomination.

Massimo Gnerucci - "Any news about a portrait 41?!? :)
Michael Steinmann - "a 41 will be possible in this housing too and due to several MB flash available any number of ROMs can be loaded.
But first things come first and that'll be the DM42"

[anetzer]

(06-30-2016 10:02 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  I already asked Michael about this (of course)

Thank you, this is great news indeed!

A.

[dave r]

Any updates on when this will be available for the public to purchase?

or did I miss something?

[HP-Collection]

At the Allschwil Meeting 2016 Swiss Micros Michel was a participant and announced that the calculator will probably be available in the first quarter/half of 2017. The price was about 250 €

[dave r]

(11-03-2016 10:51 PM)HP-Collection Wrote:  At the Allschwil Meeting 2016 Swiss Micros Michel was a participant and announced that the calculator will probably be available in the first quarter/half of 2017. The price was about 250 €

how much is that in U.S. dollars?

[BruceH]

(11-03-2016 11:01 PM)dave r Wrote:  

(11-03-2016 10:51 PM)HP-Collection Wrote:  At the Allschwil Meeting 2016 Swiss Micros Michel was a participant and announced that the calculator will probably be available in the first quarter/half of 2017. The price was about 250 €

how much is that in U.S. dollars?

About $277

[Dave Britten]

(11-04-2016 12:08 AM)BruceH Wrote:  

(11-03-2016 11:01 PM)dave r Wrote:  how much is that in U.S. dollars?

About $277

Hmm, that would be about a hundred bucks more than the earlier estimates. I'll probably wait for extremely glowing reviews before dropping that much.