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Nick · 12-30-2016, 03:08 AM

I enjoy my HP-48G... RPL... keyboard feels nice... screen/keyboard connection is still ok but I'll fix it if it fails... not the high contrast screen but doesn't bother me any... IR.... serial...

Perhaps the only thing it's lacking is flash. GX cards.. 2MB? $200? (and I don't have a 48GX) SD card... 2GB? 20 cents?.... hmm... CAS? IR?.... built-in flash?... library of software.... HP-50g to the rescue... found one for $10 below market used one midnight as it was listed.

Wow... this thing is fast... long (really long) integers... ok, that's cool. No double-precision float. (would have preferred that) Enough combined memory to carry datasets on-board (if somehow this became the last computer on the planet and I had to use it for that). Celestial Navigation... more likely. Enhanced equation editor -- oh, yes.. bring it!

The enter key... didn't bother me (wasn't sure until I tried it)... for me I hit it just like + or E+... but RPL / programming... it feels like every (or at least the ones I use) common programming / management function of the 48G is now shifted one additional key or menu deep. Combine that with keys that require more effort to press and it gets literally tiring.

Examples:

LEFT_SHIFT MEMORY DIR CRDIR

is now

LEFT_SHIFT PRG MEM DIR CRDIR (5 presses to create a DIR before I even begin to do something.. seriously? Please tell me I overlooked a shortcut somewhere.)

CST becomes LEFT_SHIFT CUSTOM and so on...

As one engineer put it, it was all over when MODE was moved to be a primary function. TOOL doesn't compensate (it's a bit random) and I don't enjoy having to memorize what's in there when I'd rather have what I had. I'm primarily an HP-15C user so can see where I'm coming from.

* shakes head * I prefer the UI of the 48G and like the extended features of the 50G. I've created some custom mappings and menus but cleared them out. I don't want to spend more time writing UI than I do casual programming. Grrr.

HP-50g, you're the last of your kind. Why do you do this to me?