Keyboard Colors Update

[Craig]

I'm a semiretired engineer who purchased a Prime several years back. I've decided to learn to program it, finally, and forgot how difficult it was for me to see all the orange keyboard legends. With reading glasses on, and tilting the unit under a strong light, I can make them out.

I now understand a new keyboard has arrived?

Does HP do any kind of exchange for older units? Has anyone actually changed keyboards? etc.

I ask as budgets are tight and I can't casually buy a new one and simply dispose of the one I purchased.

Thanks for any or all thoughts.

[ijabbott]

You might find it less stressful on the eyes to use the virtual calculator and connectivity kit, then transfer programs to the real calculator.

[Steve Simpkin]

As far as I know, there is no exchange program or any reasonable way to upgrade the older keyboard (except for stickers, see below). You could sell yours to help pay for a newer version. I would definitely look at an example of the newer version in person first (NOT a photograph!) before you did anything. Although the key color contrast is improved on the newer Prime production versions (and the G2), I find it is not all that much better for *my* aging eyes.

There was a big discussion on this topic five years ago:
http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/showthread...00#pid1200

On Page 2 of that discussion Joe Horn even went to the trouble of applying stickers to the Prime keys. The results were very good but that was a lot of work.

[StephenG1CMZ]

There is a new, faster, version coming out - the G2.
That has the advantage that you are not just shelling out to get an improved keyboard - and also you can be sure that it has the new keyboard, since it has a new model number.
Whereas buying the old version, the model number didn't change when the keyboard did, so some suppliers might sell what you already have.

[grsbanks]

Good call regarding the Virtual Prime and the ConnKit. That's a good place to start.

The G2 is already out in Europe and it has the higher contrast keyboard introduced with later Prime revisions (Rev. B or C? I never remember).

Before doing anything else, I would advise you to make sure that your Prime's firmware is up to date. There have been some great additions and bugfixes for it in recent months. The latest version is stamped 2018-07-06 and has revision nr. 13865.

[Craig]

Thank you everyone. Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. The notion of writing programs on the pc and transferring them to the calculator is a good one.

I was hoping to start programming the actual handheld 'on location' so to speak but learning on the pc emulator is a good idea....

Just before I checked here I was writing a simple program, peering carefully, reading glasses, lamp etc. lol The orange IS terrible, but I suppose I'll eventually have everything memorized.

Ps;

I still wish HP would come out with a new $15 version of the hp21 that worked in exactly the same way without any 'tweaks' to the RPN.

[Steve Simpkin]

(09-11-2018 11:15 PM)Craig Wrote:  Ps;

I still wish HP would come out with a new $15 version of the hp21 that worked in exactly the same way without any 'tweaks' to the RPN.

The "closest" HP comes to that now is the HP 35s RPN calculator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_35s

[Craig]

(09-12-2018 02:10 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  

(09-11-2018 11:15 PM)Craig Wrote:  Ps;

I still wish HP would come out with a new $15 version of the hp21 that worked in exactly the same way without any 'tweaks' to the RPN.

The "closest" HP comes to that now is the HP 35s RPN calculator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_35s

Thanks Steve. Got one, wanted to like it, it sits on the shelf. It's got quirks I didn't like. Great looking calculator! If only the prime had it's keys like the 35s......