A HP-50GX would have been incredible

[Matt Agajanian]

Hi all.

We have the 48SX, 48GX, with all the library modules.

Since the 50G was superior to the 48 series, why wasn’t there a 50GX with new modules and perhaps even compatibility with 48GX modules?

[Gjermund Skailand]

Hi
It has a SD card, so unlimited storage.
Can be programmed in C (HPGCC3) which speeds up more time consuming tasks about 100 times.
In-built sys-rpl and assembly programming.
Reasonable price.
What more could you ask for, and still be sort of compatible with other models?
BR Gjermund

[Bill Triplett]

An open letter to Swiss Micro,

Please create a 50gx. Give it a display with greater pixel density. Otherwise, eliminate the bug that was introduced in ROM 2.15 where IFTE fails to work when graphing functions.

Bug:
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-15710.html

This bug was never fixed. The main reason is the 2.15 ROM uses every available byte. There is no room to apply the simple patch which would eliminate the bug. So, SM would make a version of the machine with more memory, and create a ROM 2.16. The new ROM would not fit into a traditional HP-50g.

For practical problem solving, the user interface design in the 50g is difficult to beat. It keeps the number of user actions needed to a minimum. It is well worth fixing the remaining small bugs.

Make it physically thinner, and easier to carry. Do not under any circumstances give it a battery-eating backlit display. For what it does, it really does not need a touch screen. There is no need to make it into another Prime. Keep the user interface style as it is, much as the DM-42 kept the style of the HP-42S. If we want a touch screen, we will buy a Prime.

Bill

PS: I know SM does not have the source code, but that could change.

[ijabbott]

(08-26-2022 02:27 PM)Bill Triplett Wrote:  Please create a 50gx. Give it a display with greater pixel density. Otherwise, eliminate the bug that was introduced in ROM 2.15 where IFTE fails to work when graphing functions.

Bug:
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-15710.html

This bug was never fixed. The main reason is the 2.15 ROM uses every available byte. There is no room to apply the simple patch which would eliminate the bug.

I know it will never get fixed, but removing the little used DataStreamer code would probably have freed up enough bytes to implement a bug fix!

[Bill Triplett]

Good point.

Another thing to wish for:

With complex mode enabled (flag 103 is set) and while in ALG mode, input SINH(X+i*Y) and press ENTER. If no contents are defined for X and Y, the result should be this:

sinh(x)*cos(y)+cosh(x)*sin(y)*i

Notice how the desired response would have no complex arguments in any of the trig functions. Instead, the current version responds with SINH(X+i*Y). This is nothing more than an echo of the input.

At least make this happen when using the EVAL() function as a wrapper around the SINH() function.

[Eric Rechlin]

The lack of space isn't in total (there's plenty of room in the ROM overall), but in the area where the code has to reside. Removing the data streamer code unfortunately wouldn't help.

The 49 series ROM is broken up into 128 KB banks (the StreamSmart support resides in a different bank from this code), and even within those banks there are many entry points that can't be moved, further restricting expansion of code within areas of those banks.

So there is no easy way to fix this, unfortunately.

[Bill Triplett]

Eric,

The simplest way for now is to maintain a separate "Mini Me" HP-50g emulator configured with the version 2.09 ROM. That ROM does not have the IFTE bug. See the attached.

For 99% of all real work, especially when using a touch screen PC, I use the big wonderful skin shown in the attached picture, running ROM 2.15.

As an aside, I really appreciated the big HP-50g skin so much I edited it slightly to remove one or two dust particles from the image. I then reduce the size of it by exactly a factor of three. This allows it to fit as shown on a standard FHD display, 1920x1080 pixels.

Bill