33S Alternatives

[Matt Agajanian]

Hi all.

Okay. So, between the 35S and 33S, the latter gets much gruff. From its quirky chevron keyboard to its limitations of 26 single use labels. What other HP would you recommend? Which HP would you find more useful?

[John Garza (3665)]

I find the Swiss Micros DM32 a good fit for that second-tier programmable niche.

-J

[Thomas Radtke]

There is no alternative. The series ended with the 35s, and it's the only calculator in this series that allows for more than 26 labels. A pity that it has never been debugged.

[Matt Agajanian]

(01-03-2024 07:19 AM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:  There is no alternative. The series ended with the 35s, and it's the only calculator in this series that allows for more than 26 labels. A pity that it has never been debugged.

More than 26? How can I implement these extra labels?

[Eddie W. Shore]

Swiss Micros DM32. Yes, there is still a limit of 26 labels, but different state files can be made. A state file operates like a separate virtual copy of the 32SII.

https://www.swissmicros.com/product/model-dm32

[Steve Simpkin]

(01-03-2024 10:22 PM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 07:19 AM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:  There is no alternative. The series ended with the 35s, and it's the only calculator in this series that allows for more than 26 labels. A pity that it has never been debugged.

More than 26? How can I implement these extra labels?

The HP 35S features "Line-number addressing". The 35s allows for line number GTOs and XEQs within the still limited 26 global labels. Please see The HP 35s by Gene Wright for more details on this feature.

[Nigel (UK)]

The WP34S is well worth considering if you are really into RPN programming, need more labels, and love discovering the existence of commands you would never have thought of in your wildest dreams! It may not say “HP” on it (once the overlay and stickers are applied), but it is surely HP in spirit. It does lack the ability to solve or integrate an algebraic expression, and only has 2k of RAM and about 8k of flash memory, but in all other respects it is fantastic. The only problem is the availability of the HP-30b hardware needed to make one, but emulators exist for Windows, Macs, iPads, and even the DM42.

Having said that, I do like the HP-33S a lot despite its strange appearance. What it does it does well.

Nigel (UK)

[Peet]

(01-03-2024 07:19 AM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:  A pity that it has never been debugged.

It bothered me more that the wrong arrow on the blue shift key was never fixed. It always gave me the impression that the designer had no idea about HP calculators.

[Steve Simpkin]

(01-04-2024 11:56 AM)Peet Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 07:19 AM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:  A pity that it has never been debugged.

It bothered me more that the wrong arrow on the blue shift key was never fixed. It always gave me the impression that the designer had no idea about HP calculators.

Well to be fair, HP did not *design* the HP 35s calculator. HP provided a detailed set of specifications for the functionality of the HP 35s and its form factor to Kinpo Electronics. Kinpo then designed the calculator circuitry, hardware and wrote the software for it. They also manufactured the HP 35s for HP. The HP 33s went through a similar design process.

[John Garza (3665)]

(01-04-2024 01:16 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  Well to be fair, HP did not *design* the HP 35s calculator. HP provided a detailed set of specifications for the functionality of the HP 35s and its form factor to Kinpo Electronics. Kinpo then designed the calculator circuitry, hardware and wrote the software for it. They also manufactured the HP 35s for HP. The HP 33s went through a similar design process.

Well, to be brutally fair, some may say HP is 100% to blame for poor vendor control. Yet another reason I prefer the HP designed and built older machines.

-J

[Peet]

(01-04-2024 01:16 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  Well to be fair, HP did not *design* the HP 35s calculator.

Did I say something like that somewhere? The HP 35s has the HP logo and the HP name and was sold that way for about 15 years. If HP had had even a little interest in the product then this shouldn't have happened.

[David Hayden]

For programmers, the great thing about the WP34 is local registers. Programs can allocate their own storage registers. They are automatically deallocated when the program returns. There's no more worrying whether R07 (or whatever) of some program conflicts with some other program, or your current usage of the register.

The DM32 has similar functionality in state files. You can call a program in one state file from another. I don't recall the details, but there is a combination of local and global registers in the state files.

The line-number addressing on the 35s is helpful when branching backwards, but if you're going forwards, you need to guess at the line number, continue programming, then go back and replace the branch. Maybe I just didn't get the hang of it, but I've always found it frustrating. It would have been great if you could program with labels and then just delete the labels to have the branches replaced with line-number branches instead, but it doesn't work that way. Line number branches adjust when you edit your program, but only for branches with in the current label.

Dave