My HP Calculators...

[calcphil12c11c]

I've had a few HP calculators over the years. I suspect some of you have had more. Here is what I have had.

Got my first HP 45 in 1973. That's right, 1973 because I worked in the summer at HP in Palo Alto, CA building their signal generators before I went to college. Good deal too, only $200 with the HP discount. Received it in the mail I think around September time frame and it was the hit of the school. Nobody had ever seen anything like this.

I was the first person in the college to test out of the slide rule class with a calculator. Normally it was a 2 hour test using a slide rule. I finished the entire test in 13 mins. Only got a 93 on it because I didn't know how to use the EEX yet ;-).

During my next few years the HP 25 came out. I sold my HP 45 (never should have done that) and got this one. However it was stolen.

Fast forward to graduation and my first job at HP itself. Worked there for 28 years and retired at age 50 in 2005. During that time HP gave me 16C for most everything since I was a computer engineer. Bought a HP 67 for myself and still have that (card reader does not work). Also got a HP 12C actually 2 of them as HP gave them out a gifts.

I have a HP 48G and a 20S given to me by some HP engineers that fixed them. They were no trouble found units. The 48G is somewhere in the basement.

I have found many free HP calculator emulators for the iPhone that I have downloaded and enjoy using now. Not quite the same thing but it's nice to see them all again.

Anywho, that's my story.

[edryer]

My story isn't so interesting as yours.

Started with a thrift store HP-12C back in 1995 at College, in 2005 swapped an old ThinkPad I had for a colleagues HP-48GX he used whilst doing his Mech Eng Masters at KSU, then purchased a few HP's along the way (traded them) but finally I am happy with my 50G as it does everything I need and much more.

[Steve Simpkin]

I described my history with HP calculators on this site 18 years ago. I'm too lazy to type it again
http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/...gi?read=19

I've bought a few more calculator since then but my 1991 HP-48SX is still my daily driver. My 1977 HP-25 still works as good as the day I bought it too.

[Jake Schwartz]

(12-21-2018 12:19 AM)calcphil12c11c Wrote:  I've had a few HP calculators over the years. I suspect some of you have had more. Here is what I have had.

Got my first HP 45 in 1972. That's right, 1972 because I worked in the summer at HP in Palo Alto, CA building their signal generators before I went to college. Good deal too, only $200 with the HP discount. Received it in the mail I think around September time frame and it was the hit of the school. Nobody had ever seen anything like this.

.
.

Since the HP-45 was introduced May 1st of 1973, are you saying that you had it 8 months prior to its official introduction?

Thanks,
Jake

[calcphil12c11c]

Well let me think again... maybe it was 73. Hang on...

I may have to edit my post... yes... graduated in 77 so 73 was the year. Sorry...

[pinkman]

Antoine was a friend of mine, we were in the same college. He was the gadget boy of the classroom. In 1987 he came with a Casio fx7000G. Interesting. I asked the same for Christmas.
In 1989 he came with a 28s. It was a revelation for me: directories, advanced maths and physics, equations, units, lots of memory, real programming language, and a mysterious door to assembly language with the SYSEVAL instruction. Interesting! I asked the same for Christmas (parents not really happy this time, but I was studying maths, they accepted).
Opening the 28s (a few months after Antoine did it for his) to add input feature was a good idea also, and I could learn how to make electronic circuits.
Later I bought a 48GX but I did not really enjoy it : slow, complicated keyboard, too much menus, and... as I was learning computer science I was more often writing C code than RPL.
The keyboard then stopped working correctly. I put it in the trash, also with the 28s that could not be turned on anymore. It must have been in 2002 +/-2y.
(Today I'm so sorry for having thrown them away.)

I never forgot that HP really helped me to graduate and I was happy to use a 48 emulator when the iPhone app store appeared.
Last year I wanted to use a better emulator, looking in the Google app store for a programmable reverse polish emulator. I found Free42 and then I realized that I missed the main part of HP technology when I was young: RPN and keystroke programming. Another shock with RPN, the same than the one with my first HP (the 28s).
So I learned how to use Free42, and then I bought a DM41 (not working properly but really a good product), and a 15c, 12c, 35s, then 49g+, Prime, 17bii. ?
I use them at work (I beat the guys with Excel), at home (I like to make the math exercises of my children), everyday.

Antoine now leaves in Switzerland (I am still in France), I hope he met Michael of swissmicros. Did not ask him.