HP-48 FRAM Cards

[JDW]

Thank you for your reply, Ron.

Yes, I do remember your recommendation of the 48G over the 48GX. But after much thought and comparisons I nevertheless decided upon that GX. A lot of the prices I was seeing on eBay showed the 48G to be rather high. So if I paid a little bit more I would get more RAM and an expandable calculator too. That's why I ultimately went with the GX. I also purchased a refurbished 50g at the same time, and of course the 50g is superior in many ways to the 48GX. But to me it's not a waste because I can keep one at home and the other at the office.

Now let's get back to the question I asked in my previous post which so far no one has answered.

A previous poster spoke of adding 128k to the existing 128k in a 48GX. How does that affect usage of cards in Slot 1? Is Slot 1 still restricted to 128k even after you have 256k of onboard RAM? And can a 128k card in Slot 1 still be merged with System RAM, which in that case would theoretically yield 384k?

Why even talk about 48GX upgrades? Because, from what I see, many people still like the 48GX, and many surveying engineers apparently still use them too, keeping prices of cards high due to that demand. As such, I don't see FRAM cards being a worthless discussion that would benefit only 10 to 12 people. Sure, it wouldn't be "thousands upon thousands" potential buyers either, but FRAM card demand would probably be enough to warrant development as evidenced by the EBAY seller who spent time and money to develop his FRAM cards for the 48GX. He should have his 128k cards back on sale soon, but he doesn't sell large cards like 1MB to 4MB, nor is the design protected from static or accidental damage due to drops, hence the FRAM card "concept" presented by Matthias.

Because of its expandability, you can do more with the GX than with the G. We all know the HP48 is slow versus the 50g, but the full versions of Meta Kernel or Speed UI can make the 48GX into a very snappy machine, but only if you have the RAM. And that is yet another reason this FRAM card thread has merit. Sure you could just buy an SRAM card, but for me, I am getting older and less mindful of things with each passing year, such that I'd rather not have to remember to swap batteries on a card inside a calculator to avoid losing all its contents. An FRAM card using the latest technology chips solves that problem. And of course there's the "awesomeness factor" as well.

Some guys like to tinker with old cars. That never has been me. I'm a nerd. I love to tinker with vintage Macs, even using RetroBright to deyellow plastics. (Here are my Flickr photos. Here is my GCC Hyperdrive Mac 512k video.) And my love of the 28S led me a couple months ago to enter the world of the HP48 and 50g simultaneously. To me, FRAM cards make the 48GX exciting just as newRPL makes the 50g exciting. That's also why I love this forum, seeing my fellow geeks share the same excitement with me. It's great to see so many people love these old machines and keep them not only alive but kicking strong too.

Best wishes,

James W.