Is HP Prime going out of production?

[MattH]

I googled it and it's not being sold in very many places. Does anyone know why? I'm considering buying a backup because I love it.

[pier4r]

I hope not! I mean the last update was Dec 2016!

[Tim Wessman]

Nope.

As to "seems to be sold in fewer places", that is rather surprising because the number of places selling it is basically continually going up and it is now much more available then the 50g or similar.

[MattH]

Glad to hear it. When I google it the only stores that come up for google shopping are Jet.com and completofficeUSA. I guess something is just wrong with the google search because when I search 'HP prime Best Buy" they still carry it, amazon has a page for it as well.

[StephenG1CMZ]

(05-25-2017 03:02 PM)MattH Wrote:  Glad to hear it. When I google it the only stores that come up for google shopping are Jet.com and completofficeUSA. I guess something is just wrong with the google search because when I search 'HP prime Best Buy" they still carry it, amazon has a page for it as well.

I have also spotted it on a Walmart website
https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Prime-Grap...r/39385812
But not at ASDA (which is owned by Walmart in the .uk).

[Anders]

(05-25-2017 02:19 PM)Tim Wessman Wrote:  Nope.

As to "seems to be sold in fewer places", that is rather surprising because the number of places selling it is basically continually going up and it is now much more available then the 50g or similar.

Tim,

I know you cannot comment on future releases, but I think these rumors could be killed through sharing a robust feature/function plan. Does not have to be stated as a firm commitment but merely directional road map say at the yearly level.

We have had some really good suggestions from the people on the forum and beyond here: http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-1817.html and http://www.tricider.com/brainstorming/2eKfifdjarx .

Those suggestions aside we also have the CAS platform in Prime that is behind the XCAS/Giac current version 1.2.3 vs. 1.1.2 in Prime = about 2.5 years of improvements and bug fixes (maybe something could be done to close the gap there).

Then back it up by great advanced documentation like we had with the HP50g AUR etc.

That would show commitment and kill any rumors that Prime is dying.

Maybe something to consider ...

[compsystems]

Between the version 1.1.2 (Cas kernel hp-prime) and the current ( 1.2.3-43 Xcas kernel), at least upgrade to an intermediate version on the hp-prime

[toml_12953]

(05-26-2017 12:37 PM)compsystems Wrote:  Between the version 1.1.2 (Cas kernel hp-prime) and the current ( 1.2.3-43 Xcas kernel), at least upgrade to an intermediate version on the hp-prime

Is the firmware on the Prime written modularly so the CAS could be updated without requiring a whole lot of testing with the non-CAS firmware? If so, it would be great if the CAS could be updated regularly.

Tom L

[Tim Wessman]

Basically, you can ignore the "CAS version" number in most cases. Bernard tends to only update that when a major "re sync" happens. However, all fixes and ongoing changes are integrated directly when they happen. The CAS is not 2.5 years out of date. It was up to date at the time the software was last updated. New "features" may not make it in, but that is normally because we are still testing and figuring out how to best integrate them.

[parisse]

I confirm, the version number in the Prime is not updated automatically when I change the giac version number in configure.in (and debian/changelog), and is therefore not meaningful.

[Tim Wessman]

And I will confirm that I will try to make sure we do better at updating the number!

[compsystems]

But in some post where suggestions are made or problems are shown, Bernard says that the changes are only made in the PC version GIAC, because for example a library (Floating point) is not incorporated in hp-prime, then the CAS version of hp-prime is partially updated.

[Anders]

Over the years, I also saw Bernard several times writing he fixed reported bugs in the PC version. I am not sure what is really in the current Prime version or what's coming next (latest published f/w version is from August 2016).

The thing is that the HP Prime CAS platform is very rich and powerful, given the form factor. I mean it can do Gröbner basis and Galois field and other advanced level or grad school stuff most engineering undergrads never heard of, never mind really using it. Very useful stuff for the advanced university student Do they know it's there?

Nonetheless, there are several extremely useful functions implemented in XCAS/giac with much broader appeal that I cannot find on the HP Prime so I assume it's a versioning thing, a MB size thing or me unable to correctly search the help file thing, e.g. I cannot find Simplex (which btw would be extremely useful to a very broad group of engineering university students).

But my main point is that perhaps HP is underselling HP Prime given all the power it has in CAS.

- The advanced stuff is not very well documented or presented in marketing material
- There is no multi year road map marketed

Since I am writing I might as well put Tensor calculus on the wish list (but that is not in giac either I think) - still I could not resist wishing for it
With that functionality GR, AI students would rush to buy one.

The platform still have so much potential but I am not sure students know.

[thomas]

(05-27-2017 01:19 AM)Anders Wrote:  The thing is that the HP Prime CAS platform is very rich and powerful, [...] Gröbner basis and Galois field [...] Do they know it's there?

Nonetheless, there are several extremely useful functions implemented in XCAS/giac with much broader appeal that I cannot find on the HP Prime [...], a MB size thing or me unable to correctly search the help file thing, e.g. I cannot find Simplex [...]

The platform still have so much potential but I am not sure students know.

I did not consider the HP Prime for computational algebra. But now I do have to ask what kind of functions would I miss compared to the full version of XCAS?

[Anders]

(05-27-2017 04:18 PM)thomas Wrote:  

(05-27-2017 01:19 AM)Anders Wrote:  The thing is that the HP Prime CAS platform is very rich and powerful, [...] Gröbner basis and Galois field [...] Do they know it's there?

Nonetheless, there are several extremely useful functions implemented in XCAS/giac with much broader appeal that I cannot find on the HP Prime [...], a MB size thing or me unable to correctly search the help file thing, e.g. I cannot find Simplex [...]

The platform still have so much potential but I am not sure students know.

I did not consider the HP Prime for computational algebra. But now I do have to ask what kind of functions would I miss compared to the full version of XCAS?

I do not think you need to worry Prime does not have powerful CAS system, it does. You should get one immediately I really mean that. There is nothing that is remotely as powerful as HP Prime out there (same form factor) and CAS is maybe the best reason to buy one today (even with current version).

However, what I am saying is:
- they can include even more from XCAS/giac to make it even better and more up-to-date and it is unclear what is in and what is not in from XCAS/giac 1.2.3.
- The advanced stuff in HP Prime is not very well documented or presented in marketing material (by reading existing User Guide and in calculator help file, how many really know to use CAS and all it's functions - examples from above)
- There is no multi year road map marketed to explain what's coming next to hype up the longevity of HP Prime - publishing such a document would kill all rumors of HP Prime going out of Production.

Again HP Prime is the best you can get so get one

[compsystems]

The version of Xcas on TI-nspire calculators (KhiCAS) is more complete than in hp-prime?



Source
https://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=14800

[Luigi Vampa]

Although quite happy with my really-little collection so far, I do feel tempted to buy one HP Prime before going for a DM42L, if any such model is launched in the mid term. Prime's FW is much more polished now, and its PASCAL-like programming language looks fine by me.

It seems interest on HP Prime looks quite healthy, according to Google Trends.

I am just curious about those bumps located in Nov. 2013 and Nov. 2016 in the Google Trends' graph. Any clue about what happened by then?

[EDIT] It seems Black Friday's offers were 'very very very' attractive in the US last year.

[Manolo Sobrino]

(05-28-2017 04:46 PM)Luigi Vampa Wrote:  It seems interest on HP Prime looks quite healthy, according to Google Trends.

I'd try text strings.

[Luigi Vampa]

I certainly did, but I found the latter less representative. I guess most people are searching these terms in Google with no quotes.

[Manolo Sobrino]

(05-28-2017 07:30 PM)Luigi Vampa Wrote:  I certainly did, but I found the latter less representative. I guess most people are searching these terms in Google with no quotes.

It might look better -beauty is in the eye of the beholder -, but the results without quotes are heavily weighted with what looks like a remarkable interest in the price of the Samsung Grand Prime in Indonesia (and really don't make much sense, the ups and downs for the whole string match school terms nicely). You have to be careful with Big Data, I guess.