HP97 questions

[Valentin Albillo]

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Hi, Tony:

(12-22-2018 12:01 PM)teenix Wrote:  Also, not sure if the PIK chip key buffer still receives a key press while printing. If it does, then after pressing (say) 'the 1 2 and 3' keys, that number would appear on the display when printing completes

It's been many decades since I last used an HP-97 but if my memory serves me right, yes, you could type a number while printing, no problem at all and it was quite useful, this capability of typing ahead.

Indeed, kesytroke buffering while printing was utterly needed because there was one printing mode ("Trace", probably) which had the HP-97 immediately printing every number you entered and every function/operation you executed (for trace purposes, of course) and this would require buffering or else it would mean having to wait all the time for the printer to finish, thus completely disrupting the flow of the computation.

Alas, I don't remember exactly how many keystrokes would be accepted before the keyboard buffer filled up.

V.
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