About DM32

[EdS2]

I do like these snippets of history. And there's something similar about the pricing of the original iBM PC: IBM forecast lowish volumes, so their procedure set a correspondingly higher price, so when the volumes became much greater, they made much more profit than they would normally have done.

There's certainly always a potential mismatch between business considerations and perceived value. And there will always be a spread of perceived value. And the business considerations are a mish-mash of imponderables too, because predicting the future is hard.

For me, any new product from SM is a Fabergé egg: there's only one place we can buy them, they have an attractiveness all of their own, and the price that was set, for whatever combination of reasons, is the price that I'd need to pay.

And if the price is higher than I would prefer, so be it.

What I don't feel, in this case, is any idea that there is an exploitation of a captive market. For some combination of reasons, I feel sure SM have made an honest set of guesses about demand and future costs, and come up with a number which makes sense to them.

If the DM42 had been priced at 299 and the DM32 came out at today's 249, it would be very much the same offering, but the reception might have been different. We tend to fixate on what has gone before, as if it sets some kind of benchmark of fair and reasonable. (There's even a term for it: "The anchoring bias is a cognitive bias well-known in pricing, negotiation and other contexts")

The other thing (while I'm here!) is that we've gone through an exceptionally long period of low inflation. Some of us will remember annual inflation of 15% or more, and others won't. Until rather recently, we haven't needed to update our ideas of what things will cost us.

[Haplochromis]

Today my new DM32 is arrived, i'm very happy!
   

[ctrclckws]

(05-23-2023 11:22 AM)Haplochromis Wrote:  Today my new DM32 is arrived, i'm very happy!

Local shipping!
Congratulations.

[Vincent Weber]

(05-23-2023 11:22 AM)Haplochromis Wrote:  Today my new DM32 is arrived, i'm very happy!

Can you tell us if the firmware already has some of the considered improvements, e.g. local labels, double number of global labels and registers, improved equation editor...?

Many thanks and best regards,

Vincent

[thenozone]

I looks like the marking on the key plate is recessed for the ink like the DM41x, could you please confirm this ; thanks

[Steve Simpkin]

The preliminary HTML manual for the DM32 is up at the SwissMicros site. Apparently enhancements to the basic HP-32SII functionality will be added to the manual as they are added to future firmware updates.

https://technical.swissmicros.com/dm32/d...anual.html

[rprosperi]

(05-23-2023 03:08 PM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  Can you tell us if the firmware already has some of the considered improvements, e.g. local labels, double number of global labels and registers, improved equation editor...?

No, many enhancements are not completed yet, however the complete 32Sii feature set is implemented, quite stable and extremely fast!

Enhancements will be coming soon, in metered releases which will also contain fixes, if needed, to any reported bugs.

But two key enhancements, State Files and USB Comm. are available, so you can save and easily exchange State Files. This will also make it easy for users to submit state files for unusual bugs or similar problems, thus avoiding having to write incredibly long, tedious key-by-key descriptions of how to recreate problems.

[Vincent Weber]

Many thanks Bob, much appreciated.

I think DM32 has the potential over time to become what the 35S should have been, while retaining full compatibility with the 32SII. This would require:
-Local labels as described in your video;
-increased (800+?) number of registers through indirection (although 26 is enough for most computations, except for matrices, but matrix handling has never been a strong point of the 32 series, the 42s is way better for that) ;
-Better equation editing, navigate with left and right arrows rather than having to delete steps down to the error, and automatic double parenthesis generation like in SIN() ;
-Support for STOring in intermediate variables in equations;
-Support for read access of REGX, REGY, REGZ and REGT in equations;
-Support for one-line complex numbers, so that you can write programs that operate seamlessly on complex or real numbers... while keeping the extraction of real and imaginary parts (unlike the 35S) and retaining the 32SII 2-level way, for compatibility;
-Support for vectors? Maybe not, they are so poorly done on the 35S...

Best regards

[rprosperi]

(05-23-2023 09:59 PM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  I think DM32 has the potential over time to become what the 35S should have been, while retaining full compatibility with the 32SII. This would require:
[...snip...]

While there are indeed expected and unexpected enhancements coming, the underlying goals are more about retaining the core simplicity and east to pick-up-and-just-use personality of the 32Sii than bolting on advanced features as those needs are probably better satisfied by the DM42 or even RPL machines.

That said, there is plenty of room for improvement along the lines you've mentioned and you'll be happy with what's coming. For more effective memory use, definitely look at multi-state operations, accessed via F4, which is described in detail in the manual. This allows easy, near-instant swapping among multiple DM32 configurations which can share values via the stack.

But keep all these suggestions handy; it's likely not all will be coming in the initial release, but that's why there are all those other numbers, like release 2, etc.

[Vincent Weber]

Got it, thanks a lot Bob!
Cheers

[Dave Britten]

I'm taking a "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" mentality with any promised DM32 enhancements. There were a number of enhancements and fixes planned for the 41X that never materialized, so I'm waiting to buy a DM32 until I feel what's available is worth the price as-is, and if any new features do end up coming afterward, that's just a bonus. So, still waiting for very in-depth reviews on this one.

[Paul Dale]

I'm feeling the same as Dave. I really want to justify purchasing a DM 32 but it's too much for what's there.

I really like my 32sii and it's limited memory just isn't a problem for day to day use.

[Dave Britten]

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of an updated 32SII/35S, and I want this to turn out awesome, but I'm not counting any chickens before they hatch.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(05-24-2023 12:38 AM)Dave Britten Wrote:  I'm taking a "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" mentality with any promised DM32 enhancements. There were a number of enhancements and fixes planned for the 41X that never materialized, so I'm waiting to buy a DM32 until I feel what's available is worth the price as-is, and if any new features do end up coming afterward, that's just a bonus. So, still waiting for very in-depth reviews on this one.

Ditto!
My 41Xs are waiting for updates since 2.5 years. They are working fine, but... ;)

[Vincent Weber]

I could see in the manual that the available memory (to be shared among states files) is 439K, significantly more than the 128K that were announced. That's great, and Bob you do have a point, you can have many many states files with that memory, each of them with a small set of programs and equations dedicated to a given problem, with a meaningful name, and yes you may wonder why you would want enhancements like local labels in that configuration: the original ressources of the 32SII were a problem to keep many programs in memory, but not too keep one or two, so the states files can be enough to address memory / ressources issues while sticking to the simplicity of the 32SII!

[Steve Simpkin]

I just noticed that SwissMicros now has a seperate forum dedicated to the SM32.
https://forum.swissmicros.com/viewforum.php?f=33

[Dave Britten]

Just spent some time perusing the manual. I like the way the multi-state feature works. I think in terms of features, I'm satisfied with what's there (i.e. just a 32SII with loads more memory and a simple-to-use facility to take advantage of it all). Right now I'm dealing with a car that needs a new rear differential, so it'll be a few months before I buy anything. I can use those few months to check out reviews and reports to make sure it's bug-free to my liking.

[Steve Simpkin]

Joe Horn just posted the following photo of his brand new DM32 next to his DM42. From the HP Calculator Fan Club Facebook Group.
Note the original photo he posted is higher quality. I had to compress it to fit in my remaining forum storage.

   

[Martin Hepperle]

(05-24-2023 11:32 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  Joe Horn just posted the following photo of his brand new DM32 next to his DM42. From the HP Calculator Fan Club Facebook Group.
Note the original photo he posted is higher quality. I had to compress it to fit in my remaining forum storage.

It is interesting to compare the font sizes and styles. I think on the DM-42 some of the labels are too small (e.g. the numbers), whereas on the DM-32 they have overdone it with large characters plus bold.
Put e.g. a HP-35S besides these two - the printing on the HP looks more pleasant to me.

[BruceH]

(05-24-2023 11:32 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  Joe Horn just posted the following photo of his brand new DM32 next to his DM42. From the HP Calculator Fan Club Facebook Group.

Looks like a 28 on steroids!