Sharp EL-5510/PC-1421 manual or reference

[Dave Britten]

Does anybody happen to have any sort of manual or function reference for the EL-5510 or PC-1421? I finally tracked down an EL-5510, and it seems to work like most any other Sharp pocket computer of the era, but I could use a little more info on some of the financial functions.

For example, I've worked out how to do TVM calculations, and also days-between-dates, but I'm not sure if there's any way to calculate a past/future date a given number of days before/after another date, or to determine the day of the week for a date. I'll need to be able to do that if this is going to dethrone the Casio FC-200 as my favorite financial calculator.

[robve]

I have one NIB with the English manual and like it a lot!

The PC-1421 is essentially a PC-1401 with all of the PC-1401 S-BASIC features. It has financial keys and BASIC functions built-in without compromising the PC-1401. The PC-1421 TVM and CF functions are included in BASIC. Quite impressive that they managed to squeeze this into the ROM.

I noticed that the TVM and CF keys and functions are identical to the EL-733 calculator's key presses. So for key operation the EL-733 manual can help (the EL-733 manual is quite good with lots of examples from simple to advanced). The keys and key layout is intuitive and should be easy to understand, if you've used financial calculators before.

There is a German PC-1421 user manual on the web, but no English version. PockEmul does not include an English manual either. Remy always includes the latest manual scans so I doubt there is an English version PDF on the web.

See also Valentin's post: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-10...#pid112951

- Rob

[Dave Britten]

Oh nice! Thanks for the tip. The German manual might be enough to get me by - I mostly need to see some examples of the various financial functions usable from BASIC. I'll see where I can get with that, and bug you if I need you to clarify something using the English version.

[acg]

I have been able to do a decent job of working through the German manual (even though I can't read German) for the financial operations, as the base operations are the same as the PC-1401.

But, does anyone know if the statistical functions can be accessed in Run or Program mode? (I believe this is possible on the PC-1401, but have to find mine to check.)

While loyal to the HP 12C and HP 41 financial modules, a have always considered this to be an amazing financial calculator.

Lastly, have to ask, any new leads on a English version of the manual?

Thanks!

[Dave Britten]

Oh hey, forgot about this thread. I actually do have a copy of the EL-5510 English manual now. I'll leave it sitting out to remind me I need to scan it.

Regarding your question about statistics, I don't see anything in the BASIC reference regarding statistical calculations. But stat mode stores the summation registers into variables U-Z, so you can at least access those to do calculations within a program.

EDIT: Oh, and I have the "Dollars and Cents Computing" book that covers a bunch of EL-5510/PC-1421-specific applications, with some sample programs. I'll have to get that one on the scanner too.

[acg]

Thanks for coming back to this thread and for the info / tips on the statistical calculations!

No need to do all that scanning on my account... but the pocket computer community may thank you

Thanks again for the reply.

[Jlouis]

(04-13-2023 02:37 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Oh hey, forgot about this thread. I actually do have a copy of the EL-5510 English manual now. I'll leave it sitting out to remind me I need to scan it.

Regarding your question about statistics, I don't see anything in the BASIC reference regarding statistical calculations. But stat mode stores the summation registers into variables U-Z, so you can at least access those to do calculations within a program.

EDIT: Oh, and I have the "Dollars and Cents Computing" book that covers a bunch of EL-5510/PC-1421-specific applications, with some sample programs. I'll have to get that one on the scanner too.

Hi Dave,

I've searched the book you mentioned and found nothing in the net.

I'm very interested in this book, as I have the 1421 and would like to play with it with this book.

Can you give us the author's name?

If you can scan it, it would be super too.

TIA

Cheers

JL

[Dave Britten]

Here's a photo of the books I have. Sounds like the weather will be pretty lousy here this weekend, so I'll try to make a little time for the scanner! For reference, "Dollars and Cents Computing" is approximately 109 pages, compared to 210 pages for the manual.

https://i.imgur.com/Szff99P.jpg

[rprosperi]

(04-27-2023 01:56 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Here's a photo of the books I have. Sounds like the weather will be pretty lousy here this weekend, so I'll try to make a little time for the scanner! For reference, "Dollars and Cents Computing" is approximately 109 pages, compared to 210 pages for the manual.

It's a bit of a PITA, but you can get much better scans from the thin paper Sharp used for these manuals (which typically bleeds through) by putting a black sheet behind each page. Seriously better quality, but also serious PITA to do that for 200 pages! This also greatly improves the accuracy of OCR on the finished product.

I too appreciate your doing this Dave, and I am also still looking for an original manual for this machine, if anyone knows a source.

[Dave Britten]

I'll probably try playing around with the bit depth and/or brightness/contrast in NAPS2 first, as I seem to recall getting pretty good results scanning some Sharp stuff in the past. But I'll try the black paper trick if that doesn't turn out good enough.

[Dave Britten]

Here's "Dollars and Cents Computing" fresh off the scanner:

https://archive.org/details/dollars-and-cents-computing

It took some fiddling to find the ideal settings in NAPS2, but it turned out really good, with pretty much no bleed-through. It's actually nicer to look at than the real thing. The full manual is still pending (it's about twice as long as this book, so maybe in the next couple of days), but this is a really good self-teaching textbook that covers a lot of aspects of the computer. Rather unexpectedly for a finance text, it even covers a bit of integration and Simpson's rule.

[Jlouis]

(04-30-2023 03:10 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Here's "Dollars and Cents Computing" fresh off the scanner:

https://archive.org/details/dollars-and-cents-computing

Can't thank you enough Dave, amazing job!

[acg]

Thanks so much!
I’ve only skimmed it, but agree it looks like a great text. The scan is fantastic! Really appreciate it and I’ll be extremely grateful when the manual rolls off your scanner. (I feel like I’ve been looking for years now.)
Thanks again!

[rprosperi]

Thanks Dave, nice scan too.

[Dave Britten]

Thanks guys! I'm always happy to preserve relatively unknown materials like this. My trick for minimizing the bleed was to adjust the scan profile in NAPS2 to greyscale, crank contrast all the way up to 1000 (the max), and tinker slightly with the brightness (I think I had it around 50). Didn't really have to do any post-processing, other than rotating half of the pages to the correct orientation. This was with an OfficeJet 6500 scanner, for reference.

Not sure if I'm going to have a chance to do the full manual before this weekend, unless I get lucky with some unexpected downtime. I've got it sitting next to the scanner though.

[Dave Britten]

Whew, that was tedious!

This one turned out very nice too. Again, it's nicer to look at than the real thing with all the bleed-through squelched out!

https://archive.org/details/sharp-el-551...ion-manual

Has Sharp's "Computing the Sciences" application book been scanned and archived anywhere yet? I think I have that one laying around too...

[acg]

Thanks!! Amazing work and I appreciate all of the effort it took to scan this in. I am sure it isn't easy!

I am thrilled to have this manual and I have already noticed a few things that I would not have figured out.

Aren't there "Computing the Sciences" for several models? I thought I had one for a EL-5500, but can't seem to find it. I did a quick online search and do not see to a copy posted anywhere.

Thank you again!!

[Dave Britten]

(05-09-2023 07:49 PM)acg Wrote:  Thanks!! Amazing work and I appreciate all of the effort it took to scan this in. I am sure it isn't easy!

I am thrilled to have this manual and I have already noticed a few things that I would not have figured out.

Aren't there "Computing the Sciences" for several models? I thought I had one for a EL-5500, but can't seem to find it. I did a quick online search and do not see to a copy posted anywhere.

Thank you again!!

Yeah, I think they published a few different versions of "Computing the Sciences", but I don't know if the content is any different, or only the model showcased on the cover. I only have the EL-5500III version, so nothing to compare to. Most of those EL-5500/PC-1400-series models had largely the same basic functionality, so it may have been content applicable to all of them (and to the EL-5510/PC-1421 in many cases).

[Jeff_Birt]

(05-09-2023 07:49 PM)acg Wrote:  Thanks!! Amazing work and I appreciate all of the effort it took to scan this in. I am sure it isn't easy!

I am thrilled to have this manual and I have already noticed a few things that I would not have figured out.

Aren't there "Computing the Sciences" for several models? I thought I had one for a EL-5500, but can't seem to find it. I did a quick online search and do not see to a copy posted anywhere.

Thank you again!!

I just scanned the EL-5100 III version which is on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/@jeff_birt

[Dave Britten]

(05-09-2023 08:30 PM)Jeff_Birt Wrote:  I just scanned the EL-5100 III version which is on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/@jeff_birt

Cool! That saves me the trouble.