What should I know about the 30B?

[TheKaneB]

Hi there!

I just bought a brand new HP 30B that I plan on converting to a WP 34S. Is there anything I should know about it before doing the mod?

I don't care so much about the financial stuff, but is it possible to revert it back to factory firmware, just in case anything happens?

What about bricking the calculator if the flash update fails? is there any risk there?

About the financial calculator itself, how does it compare to my 12C and 17BII?

Sorry for that load of questions but I am very excited by my new calc and I grabbed it for just 42 Euros still sealed in the box!

As a side note, on the 34S even the basic trig functions are under a shift key, but the WP 31S (which in my opinion have a nicer keyboard layout) lacks RPN programming, so I am not sure which firmware to use, I might try both.

Any suggestions are very welcome!

[Dave Frederickson]

(12-27-2017 12:29 PM)TheKaneB Wrote:  I just bought a brand new HP 30B that I plan on converting to a WP 34S. Is there anything I should know about it before doing the mod?

Do you have a programming adapter or are you installing a USB board? If you made a programming adapter I recommend making a connector as well, rather than simply poking the wires into the back of the calc.

Yes, the original firmware can be reinstalled. You may PM me for a copy.

Dave

[TheKaneB]

Good to know, thanks!
I have yet to study all the options, at first I think I will go for a straight serial cable with a custom connector, but tell me if you know of a better alternative.

I have an old laptop with a real RS-232 port and full compatibility with Windows 9x and XP, that I use for those kind of projects (mainly to download stuff into old Commodore machines, but it's useful for uC programming too), so I don't have to fiddle around with USB adapters and crappy drivers.

[Dave Frederickson]

Very good.

Documentation on a serial interface can be found here.

http://hhuc.us/2008/Interfacing%20to%20t...b%20V3.pdf

One method of building a connector, with minimal soldering, can be found here.

http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-609.html
http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-251...l#pid23831

Dave

[TheKaneB]

Thank you for the HUGE help my friend!

Cheers!

[TheKaneB]

I just got my 30B today and it's really good!
The financial part is so advanced that I wish I knew how to use all that stuff. I don't know if I want to convert it to a 34S or just leave it as-is and learn how to use it

[Gene]

These learning modules were commissioned by HP for the HP 30b.

learning modules

Although the link is not an HP link, it does have a .zip of all 40 of these.

Here's a review of the 30b that was published in datafile a few years ago:

review in datafile


Sadly, HP has not kept the PDFs of the learning modules accessible on their webpages, which seem to shift and change faster than the TI defense of AOS. ;-)

[TheKaneB]

Thank you Gene!

I thought the manuals were a bit short for HP's standards. These modules surely help with that