Stuttgart HP Meeting 2024 (replacement Allschwil)

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello,

as I have suggested a "flashing service" for the meeting in Stuttgart with the purpose of
a) modifiying HP-20b and HP-30b calculators into either WP-34S or WP-31S and
b) helping attendees to install the latest firmware onto their HP-15C CE units,
I want to provide some more information.

Additionally to the flashing itself, I can offer to perform the hardware "hacks" on the HP-20/30b which will enable them to run their clocks more accurately and communicate with infrared printers. I would do that in a corner of the room during the meeting whilst subjects are discussed (e.g. HP-48 related) to which I can not contribute anything.

For that purpose I have already ordered (and received) crystals, capacitors, IR diodes and resistors for 10 (IR printing) and 20 (clock) calculator modifications. I need two of these for myself and one for Pascal, so there are plenty of parts remaining. As they are dirt cheap I will just give them away and/or install them for free, but at the calculator owners risk ;-)

Next, for the WP-3xS modification, keyboard overlays will be required. I have experimented a little with my printer, but got inconsistent results. Therefore I decided to order these overlays from forum member "spiff72". He also provides overlays for Swiss Micros modifications and New RPL (see here: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-20113.html) so other attendees might be interested to join in a group order as well. He asks between 5 and 7 dollars per set of stickers plus shipping and import duties, in any case well below 10$ if we order sufficient quantities.

Because of the time it can take to order things in the USA, I would like to place the order as soon as possible and therefore kindly ask, who would be intersted in which of these keyboard overlays (see the link above about what is avilable)!

So far I have prepared an old Windows laptop with the software and disk images required to provide the "flashing service". I also have the cable for flashing the new calculators (HP-15C CE and some variants of the HP-12C). But I am still searching for my flashing cable for the HP-20/30b - I know it is somewhere, but I am progressing slowly through my heaps of boxes. It is like the "towers of Hanoi" only that there is no space left for the third "LIFO" tower. In case I don't find the cable until the meeting date it would be helpful if one of the attendees could bring one along.

And one more thing: Unfortunately, german calculator shop "Dynatech" seems to have ended their HP-20b sale (at 9 Euros a piece). But they still list them for 20 Euros, which is a good price, in case anyone need a donor to be flashed into a WP calculator.

Regards
Max

NB: I can be reached either by PN through this forum or by mail hohmannmax#at#bombie.de