HP 41 PPC ROM Production Run Total

[aurelio]

(10-06-2022 03:49 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  [Omissis]
@vervalin - why are you looking for this information? - merely curious

I''m curious too...

[vervalin]

Ok, so WHY does this thread exist and WHY did I ask this question to begin with? :-)

I bought my first HP 41 in 1981 when I was in college and have loved this handheld "computer" ever since. Back then, I was into Synthetic Programming mostly for fun and experimenting and that is when the PPC ROM came out. I wanted one of these ROMS so bad but I could not afford it. Recently, I purchased a Card Reader and "resurrected" some of my old programs from magnetic cards that actually were still good after 38 years of storage and began having fun again.

Back in September (last month), I saw a PPC ROM on ebay and just decide to get it. It is a piece of history if nothing else :-)

Anyway, to answer the question, I'm basically just a curious person. Were there a 1,000,000 PPC ROMs made? 20,000? I think any antiquity can have an interesting story behind it and knowing how many were made just adds to the story. If I know how many were made and maybe can even identify "when" it was made, I can even go back in time and say "Oh, that ROM was made when I was working at such and such company..." Really just fun stuff to know :-)

And now, I have been overwhelmed by the support and interest that remains to this day!!! What a testament to impact this technology has had on so many people.

So, I WONDER how many HP 41s were produced? Anyone know????????

Paul

[aurelio]

Thank-you , Paul.
I made myself the same question, and never I asked for, thank you for that.

[rprosperi]

(10-09-2022 07:39 AM)poul_den Wrote:  My PPC ROM bought about 35 years ago has 2148 on one side and P1 engraved on the other.

yours, Poul Kaarup, Denmark

Poul - Nice to see you're visiting!

Do you recall where/how you bought that? I assume it was from EduCalc as I don't believe it was any longer available from PPC at this time.

[Didier Lachieze]

(10-09-2022 03:55 PM)vervalin Wrote:  So, I WONDER how many HP 41s were produced? Anyone know????????

I don’t know for sure but the closest number I’ve seen was on vintagecalculators.org:

Quote:The HP-41 series calculators were very successful. The HP-41C was produced from 1979 to 1985, the HP-41CV was produced from 1980 to 1990, and the HP-41CX was produced from 1983 to 1990.

"At least 1.5 million HP-41 units of all types were sold - perhaps more"[1]

[…]

Reference:

Meir-Jedrzejowicz, W.A.C., (2007), "A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers", 5th ed., Wilson/Barnett Publishing, Tustin, ISBN: 978-1-888840-40-7, p78.

[vervalin]

Wow, good to know. Thanks!! Seems like there would have been more but I guess they were fairly high priced and did have "some" competition.

[poul_den]

(10-09-2022 05:49 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(10-09-2022 07:39 AM)poul_den Wrote:  My PPC ROM bought about 35 years ago has 2148 on one side and P1 engraved on the other.

yours, Poul Kaarup, Denmark

Poul - Nice to see you're visiting!

Do you recall where/how you bought that? I assume it was from EduCalc as I don't believe it was any longer available from PPC at this time.

Thanks Bob,

Finding the module and taking the picture, I asked myself the same question.
At first I thought W&W as I bought quite a lot from them at the time, but then I settled for Educalc.
When you asked I had to find the old receipts :-) that was quite a trip down Memory Lane.
I bought it june 1983 from "Polyteknisk Boghandel" which is a bookshop still located at DTU in Lyngby, Denmark.
http://www.polyteknisk.dk
Price in 1983 1925,- DKR which in 2022 would be 600,- USD.

/Poul

[hth]

(10-07-2022 10:56 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Oohhh, what a delicious theory, that this "P18" unit is in fact one of the Prototype modules.

Gotta check on that... though I don't recall ever hearing that prototypes were in fact delivered. The eventual schedule obviously slipped and of course no MCODE routines ultimately were included, so things clearly did not go as planned.

My PPC ROM has P61 engraved on top and date code 2147.

The original PPC ROM that I bought was after the initial run, as I only got one. It died a year or so after I received it, drawing high current and prevented the HP-41 from waking up.

So I complained to PPC and returned the ROM for proof. I got a replacement back, which is this P61 one I had ever since.

[vervalin]

Ok, well this seems to confirm that the Pxx ROMS are indeed the "overrun" spares that were given to cover any "failures" to the serial numbered A/B ROMs. Given there really is no other way to interpret these ROMs. Date code is in the right time frame and you were give one to replace a bad ROM.

But why "P"? - trying to figure out the significance of choosing that letter.