Seeking a timeline of feature introductions by HP

[EdS2]

(I have an ulterior motive: I'd like to figure out what calculator innovations came out from HP since 2002.) But of more general interest, I would think, would be a timeline from the beginning. I'm not thinking only of features where HP was first, but also HP's first offering of a given feature.

Off the top of my head, I would guess at these features in very approximately this order, for handheld calculators and pocket computers, but I welcome all corrections, additions, and details of model and introduction year:

- first handheld calculator, first consumer product (1972, HP-35)

- first programmable handheld
- first continuous memory (1976, HP-25C)

- first magnetic card storage

- first financial/business offering (1973, HP-80)

- first wristwatch (1977, HP-01)

- first LCD display

- first alphanumeric capable (1979, HP 41)
- first with pluggable ROMs
- first with ability to interface with lab instruments (1979, HP 41)

- first RPL

- first landscape format
- first to offer complex arithmetic
- first to offer matrix operations

- first re-offering of a model with higher performance

- first model labelled to celebrate an anniversary

- first Basic
- first Forth

- first flip-open clamshell model

- first Limited Edition celebration model (2011, HP-15c Limited Edition)

- first CAS (1987, HP-28C)
- first graphing calculator (1987, HP-28C)

- first colour display

- first USB connectivity

- first reprogrammable with user firmware

Having written all that, I see there's an official timeline up to 1990. Which notes these ideas I'd missed:

- first solver (1979, HP-34C)

Edit: see for reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_calculators
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison...alculators

[Vincent Weber]

First programmable (and mag card) was the HP-65 (1974).
First with indirect addressing was the TI SR-52 (1975).
First with PAUSE and merged steps was the HP-25 (1975).
First with continuous memory was the HP-25C (1976).
First with hardware modules was the TI-59 (1977).
First (Yellow) LCD was the Casio fx-501p/502p (1978, one year before the HP-41C). They had been some LCD attempts circa 1972/1973 but nothing really worth of note.
First with alphanumerics could be the HP-41C (July 1979) but also the Sharp EL-5100 (1979, I could never find out with month). In any case the EL-5100 is the very first one with natural formula, preceding the first BASIC (Sharp PC-1211) by one year.
The HP-34C (1979) had the first built-in SOLVE but also INTEGRATE.
The HP-15C (1982) is the first with built-in complex numbers and matrices.
First graphic calculator is not the HP-28C (1987) but the Casio fx-7000g (1985). The HP-28C remains the first symbolic calculator.
The first one with soft keys could be the HP-18C or the TI-95 PROCALC, both from 1986.
The HP-42S(1988) is the first with 2-line display and polar complex entry.
The HP-48SX (1990) is the first with a natural equation writer, and the first with a real PC connection.
The first CAS in the TI-92 (1995).
The TI-89 (1998) is the first one with flash memory.

[rprosperi]

Suggest you get a copy of this:

http://www.hpcalculatorguide.com/

It not only contains those items and more, it's also a fun read, and includes lots of unique content and history you'll find interesting.

[Didier Lachieze]

First Forth could be the Panasonic HHC with the SnapFORTH ROM (1982).

(06-17-2020 10:48 AM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  First with alphanumerics could be the HP-41C (July 1979) but also the Sharp EL-5100 (1979, I could never find out with month).

The Sharp EL-5100 was announced in June 1979, one month before the 41C, according to Electronic Design.
But before the Sharp EL-5100 there was in 1978 the Sharp PC-1300 with a beautiful Alphanumeric VFD display, magnetic cards and an integrated printer. It was followed in 1979 by the Sharp PC-1300S, an almost identical model with more memory (42 memory registers instead of 26 and 640 steps of program memory instead of 256).

The soft keys origin can be found on the Sharp EL-5001 in 1977 with the top key functions being selected by a rotary switch between 6 function sets.

In the 70's and 80's Sharp brought a lot of innovations in the calculator and pocket computer area with also a lot of firsts.

[Andres]

The following comments are just from memory, so some may be inaccurate or incomplete, I apologize in advance for any mistake or error. Please take them just as hints, possible additions to the previous lists. I omitted most "firsts" already mentioned in previous posts.

HP 35 was the first pocket *scientific* calculator (not first pocket calculator).

TI SR 50: first angular mode selection switch.

HP 80: first financial menu for TVM, first gold shift key on a HP calculator

HP 45: first storage arithmetic, first polar/rectangular conversion, first summation and statistics, first unit conversions, first with "more than one" memory registers.

HP 65: first programmable, first magnetic card reader, first "sort of softkeys" (labels A-E and the slot to use a magnetic card to substitute key legends), first octal conversions, first looping construct (DSZ), first use of flags.

HP 55: first timer (not taking the HP 45 unofficial timer into account)

HP 25: first "engineering" notation display

HP 67: first interactive PAUSE allowing for data entry during program execution, first magnetic card MERGE function, first support for data in magnetic cards.

TI 58/59: First ROM modules as kind of application packs, first alphanumeric capability using an attached printer

HP 41: First optical wand, first "beeper", first programmable ON/OFF functions, first autoexecute flag, first flag indicators on the display, first "error ignore" flag, first display formatting (radix mark and thousands separators), first user definable keyboard mapping and support for keyboard overlays, first non-rechargeable batteries, first extended memory and functions, first time functions (HP 41 CX or Time Module) first HP-IL interface.

HP 11 and other Voyagers: First contrast adjustment, first self test on board.

HP 16: First programmers calculator with logic functions, signed integers support, word size specificatiom, etc.

HP 75: First handpulled magnetic card reader, first acoustically coupled modem.

HP 71: First IEEE 754 support for floating-point numbers.

HP 28: First graphic cursor on screen.

HP 28, 42 and/or others introduced more or less at the same time period: First infrarred printer support.

[Vincent Weber]

(06-17-2020 01:15 PM)Didier Lachieze Wrote:  First Forth could be the Panasonic HHC with the SnapFORTH ROM (1982).

(06-17-2020 10:48 AM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  First with alphanumerics could be the HP-41C (July 1979) but also the Sharp EL-5100 (1979, I could never find out with month).

The Sharp EL-5100 was announced in June 1979, one month before the 41C, according to Electronic Design.
But before the Sharp EL-5100 there was in 1978 the Sharp PC-1300 with a beautiful Alphanumeric VFD display, magnetic cards and an integrated printer. It was followed in 1979 by the Sharp PC-1300S, an almost identical model with more memory (42 memory registers instead of 26 and 640 steps of program memory instead of 256).

The soft keys origin can be found on the Sharp EL-5001 in 1977 with the top key functions being selected by a rotary switch between 6 function sets.

In the 70's and 80's Sharp brought a lot of innovations in the calculator and pocket computer area with also a lot of firsts.

Thanks for the info about the EL-5100.
About the PC-1300(S), yes it is a beautiful machine, but the topic was pocket machines, and this one doesn't fit in any pocket By this standard, we could say that the first programmable calculator is not the legendary HP-65, but the Compucorp 324G, from 1972, programmable but not pocketable

[ijabbott]

(06-17-2020 10:48 AM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  First (Yellow) LCD was the Casio fx-501p/502p (1978, one year before the HP-41C). They had been some LCD attempts circa 1972/1973 but nothing really worth of note.

The first with a Twisted Nematic (TN) LCD (rather than the early Dynamic Scattering Mode (DSM) LCD) was the Casio Pocket-LC from 1975, at least according to http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/c...et-lc.html. It's just a four-banger though.

[rprosperi]

(06-17-2020 02:07 PM)Andres Wrote:  HP 11 and other Voyagers: First contrast adjustment, first self test on board.

The Spice series, more than 3-years earlier, had built-in diagnostics; Press [STO] [ENTER] and the display would light all LED segments to confirm "all OK".

[pinkman]

Even if it is interesting to give TI, Casio and Sharp innovations, I think the OP wanted to keep focus only on HP:

Quote:I'm not thinking only of features where HP was first, but also HP's first offering of a given feature.

Edit:
In fact I already regret my comment! Have the HP features illustrated with the competitors is really a good idea.

[EdS2]

Thanks everyone.

Yes indeed, I was originally thinking of a list of HP's first introductions of a given feature, but it is interesting to see where they missed out on being first.

For firsts since 2002, I think I can find firsts for these:

First Sunplus 6502-based (2003, HP 12C Platinum)
First field-upgradable, first repurposable (2008, HP 20b)
First ARM based (2008, HP 20b or 12C+)
First limited edition , first anniversary model by popular demand, (2011, HP 15c Limited Edition)
First touchscreen, app store, exam mode (2013, HP Prime)

I'm not sure about the HP 35s - any ideas for HP firsts here?
(2007, HP 35s)


Ref: HP 12C models thread https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-5180.html

[grsbanks]

(06-18-2020 08:17 AM)EdS2 Wrote:  I'm not sure about the HP 35s - any ideas for HP firsts here?
(2007, HP 35s)

First really buggy POS maybe? Probably not what HP would want it to be remembered for...

[Jake Schwartz]

(06-18-2020 08:17 AM)EdS2 Wrote:  For firsts since 2002, I think I can find firsts for these:

First ARM based (2008, HP 20b or 12C+)

Did I misunderstand, or doesn't the 50g count as ARM based? It came out in 2006.

Jake

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-18-2020 07:09 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  

(06-18-2020 08:17 AM)EdS2 Wrote:  For firsts since 2002, I think I can find firsts for these:

First ARM based (2008, HP 20b or 12C+)

Did I misunderstand, or doesn't the 50g count as ARM based? It came out in 2006.

Jake

And the 49g+?

[EdS2]

Good points...
First ARM based (2003, HP 49g+ runs a Saturn emulation)
First native ARM based (? 2008, HP 20b maybe?)

Still wondering about
First anniversary tribute machine (2007, HP 35s)
which is to say, it was intended to celebrate the anniversary of the HP-35 but was in so many ways not a re-offering of the same function.

The HP 35s does offer high precision and great range but I doubt it was a first for HP. The FDISP options for fractions, and the unit conversion offerings, seem notable but again I don't suppose this was a first. Is it the first to combine fractions and conversions, so ​3 15⁄16 inches is a valid input?

Was the HP 35s the first to have two index memories (I and J)? I feel like I'm clutching at straws...

[grsbanks]

(06-19-2020 08:34 AM)EdS2 Wrote:  Was the HP 35s the first to have two index memories (I and J)? I feel like I'm clutching at straws...

Depends how you define an index register. The HP-15C used R0 and R1 to index the element of a matrix currently pointed to and would auto-increment them as needed while recalling/storing data from/in the matrix when in USER mode.

[Andres]

(06-17-2020 08:44 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(06-17-2020 02:07 PM)Andres Wrote:  HP 11 and other Voyagers: First contrast adjustment, first self test on board.

The Spice series, more than 3-years earlier, had built-in diagnostics; Press [STO] [ENTER] and the display would light all LED segments to confirm "all OK".

Thank you for the clarification. I think Voyagers self tests were more complete and specific, but Spices were first indeed.

[Didier Lachieze]

A few more:

- First "do everything" calculator (math, stat, business) - HP-27, 1976
- First HP Algebraic calculator - HP-18C, 1986
- First "do everything" calculator (math, stat, business) with solver - HP-27S, 1988
- First Business calculator with statistical and cash-flow graphics capabilities - HP 19B, 1988
- First HP Scientific calculator with built-in Equation Library - HP-22S, 1988
- First Algebraic and RPN calculators - HP-17BII/19BII, 1990

[jonese]

(06-17-2020 02:07 PM)Andres Wrote:  HP 11 and other Voyagers: First contrast adjustment, first self test on board.

There's no LCD contrast adjustment on Voyagers.

[Andres]

(06-19-2020 05:40 PM)jonese Wrote:  

(06-17-2020 02:07 PM)Andres Wrote:  HP 11 and other Voyagers: First contrast adjustment, first self test on board.

There's no LCD contrast adjustment on Voyagers.

Thank you for the clarification. As I said, my comments came from around 40 year-old memories. My apologies.

[Joe Horn]

It seems that we've now established that "The New Accuracy: Making 2^3=8" was created for the HP-91, but since the HP-91 took longer than the HP-22 to develop, the first model to actually implement the new accuracy was the HP-22. Therefore, "The New Accuracy: Making 2^3=8" should be listed as a feature introduced with the HP-22 (September 1975).