Will HP Make Real Calculator Again?

[Rolief_Rechner]

So I try the Prime.
Unworthy of HP label.
It rests unused.

Owners of HP calculators appear in stasis.
I cannot be only in this thought.
Will HP make a real calculator again?

(In meantime, thank you Swiss Micros)

Please, those who know, respond.
Hopefully with good news I don't know.

regards - RR

[Jeff_Birt]

I think the calculator market is now for education thus they will make whatever schools will buy. 'Power users' are a distant second...

[Mark H. Shin]

Hope as I may

Swiss Micros misses the mark

With their LCD displays

Only if they could accomplish

What was done 40 years ago...

[ctrclckws]

(12-07-2022 01:23 AM)Mark H. Shin Wrote:  Hope as I may

Swiss Micros misses the mark

With their LCD displays

Only if they could accomplish

What was done 40 years ago...

And I wish Nikon and Minolta had managed to make as good LCD displays for there F4 and Maxxum 7000 cameras.
Old HP displays are still beautiful, the camera displays have bleed issues and are only partially usable in the cameras I have.

[carey]

(12-07-2022 12:46 AM)Rolief_Rechner Wrote:  So I try the Prime.
Unworthy of HP label.

Hmm...the Prime has real issues, but I wonder if the claim that the Prime is not "HP worthy" may be overlooking the Prime's industry leading features and also overglorifying the past (i.e., the myth of the "good ole days").

Just to clarify, is a touchscreen graphical calculator with thin brushed metal case, great keys, running at >500 MHz, adaptive plotting that can reveal dynamics overlooked by fixed-step algorithms, modern full-featured CAS, clear programming language, well-tested numerical algorithms, customizable features for power users, and much more, "unworthy of HP label”?

Perhaps the "unworthy" Prime is being compared to past "worthy" HP calculators, like the 28S, with its self-destructive springed battery compartment, or the 48, with its lcd connections maintained by foam strip pressure (while the foam lasts) or its Rev. A-E equation writer bug, or the...

Everyone's entitled to their opinion (which makes this forum fun), but most calculator criticisms boil down to use case and personal preference. So, if RPN is an absolute necessity, or if CAS isn't a priority, or if one assumes (mistakenly) that calculators w/aplets are only suitable in education, then the Prime may be disappointing. But if one has use for the Prime's high-level functionality and computing power, it's unlikely to disappoint...too much.

[Thomas Klemm]

(12-07-2022 01:17 AM)Jeff_Birt Wrote:  I think the calculator market is now for education …

I find the HP Series 10 Marketing Training interesting and wonder if something similar exists for the Prime.

(12-07-2022 12:46 AM)Rolief_Rechner Wrote:  Will HP make a real calculator again?

If with this you mean calculators for real professionals the answer is probably: no.
They use computers instead.

[Thomas_Sch]

(12-07-2022 12:46 AM)Rolief_Rechner Wrote:  So I try the Prime. Unworthy of HP label. It rests unused.
Owners of HP calculators appear in stasis.
I cannot be only in this thought. Will HP make a real calculator again?
...

Short answer: No, never.
HP handed over their calculator business to Moravia and Royal.
Please do a search for their names here.
PS. you are at the "The Museum of HP Calculators", not at an HP site ;-)

[Allen]

A better question would be whether anyone will make a real calculator ever again.

Having recently purchased a TI-84 series calculator for a student, I can tell the TI calculators haven't much changed in the past 20 years.

My students agree, the HP prime is way better than any TI-XX, but (sadly) several of their textbooks are written for the TI family. However limited they are in other regards, TI had the genius idea to co-opt the textbook publishing, standardized testing and education sectors-- all three sectors with very little disruptive change.

HP focused more on the financial and engineering sectors. (The former being the main reason for the long production run of the venerable HP-12C.) But both of these sectors have seen tremendous changes in the past 20 years.

Even though I adore my single-use mathematical hand tools, the future is not there.

[floppy]

Cheap alternative:
- second hand raspberry pi3 & touchscreen 5"" (or bigger) in a case
- V41 on it (with ILPER etc. the whole stuff for possible exchange with an HP41C connected with pilbox)
You have your full power calculator :-)
(with a powerbank or connected to 220v)

[Allen]

Speaking of cheaper alternatives, I have several older Amazon kindle Fires (new ones are discounted sale now for $45 ) with Tomas Okken's Free42 on them.

They are reasonably fast, and it is much easier to read the program printouts than on my phone screen.

Although sometimes, I still pull out the IR printer and print a paper program from my physical 42s- as nostalgia calls me to do.

[Jlouis]

(12-08-2022 05:41 PM)floppy Wrote:  Cheap alternative:
- second hand raspberry pi3 & touchscreen 5"" (or bigger) in a case
- V41 on it (with ILPER etc. the whole stuff for possible exchange with an HP41C connected with pilbox)
You have your full power calculator :-)
(with a powerbank or connected to 220v)

Hmmm, that's very interesting....is there any place that I can learn how to make it?

I mean, step by step?

[Csaba Tizedes]

"Again"?
It means it is exists. So, how possible to make something perfect again, if perfect is made before.
My opinion, there is more perfect calculator is available, than perfect calculator users.
So, I just choose which is perfect for me, I'm sure I can find one, and I use it.

Cs.

[floppy]

(12-09-2022 04:59 AM)Jlouis Wrote:  

(12-08-2022 05:41 PM)floppy Wrote:  Cheap alternative:
- second hand raspberry pi3 & touchscreen 5"" (or bigger) in a case
- V41 on it (with ILPER etc. the whole stuff for possible exchange with an HP41C connected with pilbox)
You have your full power calculator :-)
(with a powerbank or connected to 220v)

Hmmm, that's very interesting....is there any place that I can learn how to make it?

I mean, step by step?

yes. see PM. At me. Or with a bit more digging due to a new screen I dont have.

[EugeneNine]

(12-08-2022 05:41 PM)floppy Wrote:  Cheap alternative:
- second hand raspberry pi3 & touchscreen 5"" (or bigger) in a case
- V41 on it (with ILPER etc. the whole stuff for possible exchange with an HP41C connected with pilbox)
You have your full power calculator :-)
(with a powerbank or connected to 220v)

The old x48 will make on the pi, works just fine.

[John Keith]

(12-10-2022 05:06 PM)EugeneNine Wrote:  The old x48 will make on the pi, works just fine.

I tried to get X49GP running on the Pi but it seemed to need an older version of QT plus some other problems that I'm too much of a Linux noob to figure out.

I would really like to see a Raspberry Pi version of EMU48 but I don't even know where to begin with such things.

[burkhard]

(12-07-2022 01:23 AM)Mark H. Shin Wrote:  Hope as I may

Swiss Micros misses the mark

With their LCD displays

Only if they could accomplish

What was done 40 years ago...

Really? What mark are they missing and what vintage HP had a better LCD display than the DM-42 / DM-41X‽‽

I've got a bunch of vintage HPs and none have an LCD display anywhere near as nice as my DM-42. It really is quite remarkable, frankly quite overkill on the DM42 (simulating a 30 year old HP-42 with a simple UI constrained by the display capability of the day). When the DM-42 is reflashed to a WP43 or C43, though it truly shines. The many modes and multiple-level softkeys ably take advantage of the display capability.

[floppy]

(12-10-2022 10:32 PM)John Keith Wrote:  I would really like to see a Raspberry Pi version of EMU48 but I don't even know where to begin with such things.

EMU48 on a PI?
I guess it will work since V41 and EMU71 works. http://www.hp-collection.org/Meeting2022..._drive.pdf
Few commands in that thread (screen setup commands not there; only headless was disclosed; should be an additional easy task). https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-19053.html

[Marco Polo]

(12-11-2022 04:51 AM)burkhard Wrote:  

(12-07-2022 01:23 AM)Mark H. Shin Wrote:  Hope as I may

Swiss Micros misses the mark

With their LCD displays

Only if they could accomplish

What was done 40 years ago...

Really? What mark are they missing and what vintage HP had a better LCD display than the DM-42 / DM-41X‽‽

I've got a bunch of vintage HPs and none have an LCD display anywhere near as nice as my DM-42. It really is quite remarkable, frankly quite overkill on the DM42 (simulating a 30 year old HP-42 with a simple UI constrained by the display capability of the day). When the DM-42 is reflashed to a WP43 or C43, though it truly shines. The many modes and multiple-level softkeys ably take advantage of the display capability.

Imho the killer calcolator, considering the available hardware and software, would be the port of Plus42 to DM42 platform.
Imho Plus42 needs some more features (for example a multiple equation solver), bit right now it is an out standing calculator

[Matt Agajanian]

(12-11-2022 12:19 PM)Marco Polo Wrote:  

(12-11-2022 04:51 AM)burkhard Wrote:  Really? What mark are they missing and what vintage HP had a better LCD display than the DM-42 / DM-41X‽‽

I've got a bunch of vintage HPs and none have an LCD display anywhere near as nice as my DM-42. It really is quite remarkable, frankly quite overkill on the DM42 (simulating a 30 year old HP-42 with a simple UI constrained by the display capability of the day). When the DM-42 is reflashed to a WP43 or C43, though it truly shines. The many modes and multiple-level softkeys ably take advantage of the display capability.

Imho the killer calcolator, considering the available hardware and software, would be the port of Plus42 to DM42 platform.
Imho Plus42 needs some more features (for example a multiple equation solver), but right now it is an out standing calculator

As I have upgraded from Fre42 to Plus42, I’m in awe of what the Plus42 features and can accomplish!

[Eddie W. Shore]

(12-08-2022 04:05 AM)carey Wrote:  Just to clarify, is a touchscreen graphical calculator with thin brushed metal case, great keys, running at >500 MHz, adaptive plotting that can reveal dynamics overlooked by fixed-step algorithms, modern full-featured CAS, clear programming language, well-tested numerical algorithms, customizable features for power users, and much more, "unworthy of HP label”?

I agree with your point, Carey. The Prime is never going to be the same as the HP 48 family. I don't get why it has to be exactly the same calculator every time or else.