HP41 plus Nov64d or DM41x

[highfell]

I am a longtime lurker but may have posted in the old Forums.

I was a high level coder in my youth and started my interest in calculators with the (“superb”) Commodore PR100. In those school days I could never afford a machine like the HP41 and in fact I had never heard of it until I stumbled across the excellent I41CX for IOS. I fell in love with the concept of the HP41 and managed to get a halfnut CV in VG condition together with a working card reader, printer, XFunctions and Time modules. I also have a loose leaf PPC rom manual - but no PPC rom, but to be honest I didn’t really use it, but now some five years later and with more time to kill, I have decided to have some fun with it.

I fancy writing the odd programme and doing geeky things with the Calculator like synthetic programming and making it do some silly things. So just kind of noobing versus doing anything serious.

So my dilemma is should I get a Nov64d (I have been in touch with Diego, who was very helpful) or for a similar price get a DM41X.

My gut says it will be more fun with the real thing and given I have the i41cx - i already have an emulated version of the machine. But am I just being nostalgic, and the DM41 is really the way forward ?

Is there something to be said for having the “real” keyboard of the DM41. Is the 4 line screenbig advantage? Is loading Roms onto the Dm41 much easier than using a Nov64d ?


I would welcome some views of those who are in the know.


I also have some questions about using the Nov64d.

1. It appears that with Hepax preloaded , you have room for 8 other roms ? Do I or can I keep the XFunction and Time modules in place with the Nov64 installed ?
2. I have an old Mac Book pro on which I can run XP on Virtual Box, so I assume I could load Roms via these route ? I do not have any window based PCs.
3. With the Hepax , I can save my programs via that route or use my card reader.
4. My card reader seems to chew my battery life ! Does the Nov64 suffer from the same problem?

Anyway, all comments & views welcomed.