Which manual for HP-48SX?

[Giuseppe Donnini]

(11-20-2019 10:07 PM)Jlouis Wrote:  I think the two volumes for the HP 48s/sx was a second thought

No, it's actually the other way round.

(11-20-2019 11:29 PM)Kaliuzhkin Wrote:  So, the question is: is the HP48 Owner's Manual (one volume) the same as the HP48SX Owner's Manual (two volumes)?

No, they are not the same.

When the HP-48SX first came out, it was shipped with the two-volume version, which, at least on the surface, kept the old HP tradition alive: the volumes were spiral-bound and typeset in an easy-to-read typeface with a generous font weight. But there was much criticism about the contents, people were not happy with the way new concepts, like RPL, were introduced, especially if they had skipped the HP-28C/S and came directly from the HP-41. The index was unsatisfactory to such a degree that Jake Schwartz decided to compile an improved one on his own: https://www.hpcalc.org/details/3562. Important information was also lacking, e.g. the special use of the "@" character, allowing comments to be inserted within programs, wasn't mentioned anywhere.

HP eventually reacted to the criticism, and the result was the one-volume version of the HP-48SX manual, for which they (slightly) rewrote almost every single chapter, greatly improved the index, and added new information here and there, like two paragraphs on the use of the "@" character, a complete menu map, or a whole new chapter on how to make the transition from the HP-41 to the HP-48. Unfortunately, the volume was not spiral-bound and was typeset in a much thinner and fainter font. What's more: I don't think that the reworked chapters are always better written; quite often, the older versions are clearer and slightly more developed.

So my advice would be to get the later manual in paper format and to always counter-check with a digital version of the older one—unless you want to have both.