My first HP-35 and a happy end

[aurelio]

(09-26-2014 12:43 PM)jebem Wrote:  

(09-24-2014 07:32 PM)aurelio Wrote:  Certainly, comparing these 35's boards, keyboard, circuits and connections to the ones of just a few years later (spice series I mean), it's practically unpossible for me: like to compare sky and earth

Maybe the spices represents the low cost project for scientific calculators (31c), but if Ithink to the 34c I can't believe that was made using ribbon connectors and unsoldered connection with all the related problems we quite well know.

It seems actually that the classics (expecially the 35A) were made to live forever while the others not.....

1+
To me, the technology used by HP in their products during the 70's was superior to most of the other manufacturers.
Ok, maybe Tektronix lab equipment was superior to the equivalent HP ones, but not by much.
Apparently economics and calculator market shrinking dictate that a calculator must be cheap to manufacture in order to be able to sell it...

But at least HP has retained the good click feel on most of their calculator's keyboards, and I salute HP for doing so.
Just look the the other calculator manufacturers... they look "cheap" to me when I put their products side by side with HP machines.

For me HP is "the calculator".
Then when you drink wine, an excellent wine, water is nothing if compared.
And what you expect from a DOC (*) wine is a unique taste and the excellence that others haven't.
From it you expect always the best, but we know for wines the are good and bad seasons, but this is not under our control I think.

Never I personal opened, before joining our forum a few years ago, a calculator to see what's inside and how it works,
My father did it with the 25c, he had not schemas but he was able to test ICs and the electronics inside and his great experience with electronics at that time was helpful. I used also the spices (31 and 33) availble in mostly the radio-electronics laboratories at that time and I enjoyed them alot (expecially the 33) like my 25c but prettier (cause of the dark one colour case) and the more readable display, never I thought at their internals or at their future life....

But maybe these are all considerations of a middle age man nowadays, with homesick for the past, never in peace with himself


(*) term signifying that a wine is of a certain origin and quality