First Month with 50g

[MarkMason]

(04-09-2015 03:49 AM)Han Wrote:  I don't remember, but does the USB port also charge the batteries?

Quote:Storing a variable seems to take me more steps than in the User’s Guide. My keystrokes are normally: [tick] [alpha] [alpha] name chars [K] [Backspace ()] [alpha] [Enter] [STO]. With a little more practice my goal is to reduce this by at least three!! :~)

If the variable does not exist yet, then you can simply type its name (no tic marks needed) and the name is automatically parsed to have the tic marks. If the variable does exist, then it will likely appear in the variable menu, accessible via the VAR key. You can then store to an existing variable using a shift key followed by the corresponding F? key (1 through 6). The other shift key + the corresponding soft key will recall the contents of that variable (I forget which shift does which). One thing to watch out for is the "long hold" feature (which I personally hate) for keypresses. You may also want to read up on the ->KEYTIME command if you type really fast (I set mine to about 100 since I am a "two-thumb-typer" when using calculators).

Han,

Thanks for the input. When reading your message it occurred to me that not using the tick marks is actually a test to see if the variable exists in the current directory path. This looks like a good practice.

That particular paragraph of my first post was mainly to relate that even after 5 weeks I still can't remember to cancel the alpha key before using a function. I've decided that if I get into the habit of using [Enter] after typing in the variable name the alpha mode automatically cancels, and [STO] works (without going through the letter K unintended entry).

When working with programs I find the right/left shift + variable keys quite handy. I do pause every time to remember that the white key (left shift) is the one that replaces the variable contents with level 1 of the stack. So far I've only overwritten one program unintentionally by getting this wrong. Being able to save and recall this way really facilitates writing programs in stages and debugging.

This past weekend I was visiting my son when the low battery warning icon came on. I plugged the 50g into the laptop's hot USB port and left it all night. The next morning the low battery warning was still on, so I concluded that the USB cable does not charge the batteries, which is good with NiMH as they need a 'smart' charger.

Thanks for the input,

Mark