An HP-42SII...Would HP go for it?

[anetzer]

(04-24-2014 06:32 AM)walter b Wrote:  but not pocketable.

Methinks at its time - starting 1979! - the 41 was an optimal compromise. Leaving the card reader out seems to have been the key, allowing for change in mass storage to newer technologies.

Given the technological progress: Could the 42S possibly have been perfectly portable, even with adequate I/O and a larger display?

[walter b]

(04-24-2014 08:15 AM)anetzer Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 06:32 AM)walter b Wrote:  but not pocketable.

Methinks at its time - starting 1979! - the 41 was an optimal compromise.

Agreed. At its time.

Quote:Could the 42S possibly have been perfectly portable, even with adequate I/O and a larger display?

Yes. Possibly.

d:-)

[Jake Schwartz]

Quote: yet the hardware enhancements were limited to a saturn architecture and a second line on the display... while removing all the I/O capabilities.

What were they thinking, who knows....

There are some folks out there who actually saw an HP person (at a PPC Puget Sound meeting?) show off a prototype 42S with full I/O "kludged" in somehow. Supposedly, they got to a fork in the road with the aging 41CX + RPN versus the 28C/28S + early RPL and management suggested that they would back only one calc line with full I/O. And of course, they chose the RPL path with the 48SX, so the 42S got it's IR and nothing else.

How crazy would it be if the Prime could be re-purposed as a "Super-42s"? Surely, the length and width are large, but the thickness rivals the 20b/30b/34S.

Jake

[Matt Agajanian]

Well, with the tech marvels I've seen from the 20b/30b To WP-34S Project, I believe repurposing the Prime into an HP-41C/42S System is very possible.

[walter b]

(04-24-2014 06:11 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  How crazy would it be if the Prime could be re-purposed as a "Super-42s"?

Very crazy. Volume = thickness * length * width falls in the battleship class.

d:-(

[Didier Lachieze]

(04-24-2014 08:16 PM)walter b Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 06:11 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  How crazy would it be if the Prime could be re-purposed as a "Super-42s"?

Very crazy. Volume = thickness * length * width falls in the battleship class.

d:-(

Well, according to the datasheets, the Prime is closer volume-wise to the 30b than to the 50g:
HP 50g : 404.8 cm^3 (2.5 cm x 18.4 cm x 8.8 cm)
HP Prime : 219.1 cm^3 (1.4 cm x 18.2 cm x 8.6 cm)
HP 30b : 183.6 cm^3 (1.6 cm x 14.9 cm x 7.7 cm)

From the 30b to the Prime the volume is just increased by 19%, while from the Prime to the 50g the volume increase is 85%.

[Les Bell]

(04-24-2014 06:06 AM)anetzer Wrote:  Which is why the functionality of the USB-port - or in some weird dream: bluetooth module - on the 43S will be crucial! We will never again see card readers and other calc-centric peripherals. They will use smartphone accessories or be deaf blind and numb...

Agreed; while HP-IL could do some amazing stuff, it never caught on in the wider market in the way that USB has done. It potentially allows for charging and PC connectivity, which in turn can provide mass storage, etc. and with OTG (and a USB hub?) all kinds of interesting peripherals become available.

I'm not so sure about Bluetooth; in fact, if wireless connectivity were an option, I'd leap to 802.11. Imagine a hand-held, pocketable device with access to cloud-based services like Mathematica or a Sage notebook server.

Then again, the complexity, the potential for bugs and the security issues are scary. Better to stick by the KISS principle. A do-everything calculator would be a nightmare, imho - it's better to have a relatively simple, reliable device with an orthogonal feature set that one can build on, than an over-complicated mess of special tricks that one can never remember.

[Steve Simpkin]

(04-24-2014 11:27 PM)Les Bell Wrote:  Imagine a hand-held, pocketable device with access to cloud-based services like Mathematica or a Sage notebook server.

Sounds like most modern smartphones to me.

[Les Bell]

(04-24-2014 11:35 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  Sounds like most modern smartphones to me.

Exactly - and what would be the point of that? I want proper keys! I love go41cx on my Nexus tablet, but I still prefer the form factor, weight, desk-top stability and clickiness of the real 41's.

Sigh . . .

[John R]

(04-24-2014 07:26 AM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  ... but regardless, with the source code thrown away ...

Did HP actually lose (or worse, purposefully destroy) the source code for the HP-42S?

[walter b]

Oui, oui, mais you won't carry it naked, will you? So the first impression is slamming it with its case on the table -> battleship!

d;-)

[Didier Lachieze]

(04-25-2014 05:07 AM)walter b Wrote:  Oui, oui, mais you won't carry it naked, will you? So the first impression is slamming it with its case on the table -> battleship!

d;-)

Well, if I measure my own units with their case (including the pocket reference guide for 30b/34S) the Prime occupies a smaller volume than the WP 34S:

With case:
HP 50g : 614.5 cm³ (3.3 cm x 19 cm x 9.8 cm)
HP Prime : 270.8 cm³ (1.6 cm x 18.4 cm x 9.2 cm)
HP 30b/WP 34S : 290.1 cm³ (2.4 cm x 15.3 cm x 7.9 cm)

For a calculator to classify to the battleship class, surface may be more important than volume:
   
   
   

[anetzer]

(04-25-2014 12:04 AM)Les Bell Wrote:  I want proper keys!

Aye!

I suggested to add a heavy duty HP style keyboard - nothing else! - to a performant smartphone or phablet which runs somehing along the lines of i41cx+ and would act as processor, display, memory and I/O of the calc.

Something seems to be wrong with that suggestion cause nobody ever answered it...