The Museum of HP Calculators

We're back. Server moved Wednesday Feb 26

02/26/25

This is the new server. Hopefully, the only differences are more bandwidth and disk space, which means larger attachment quotas for forum users and fewer overage bills for me. Please let me know what I might have missed.

Server move Wednesday Feb 26

02/25/25

The hosting company's move expert was sick on Monday. Move is now planned for Wednesday. The forum will shut down around 6:30AM PST / 2:30PM GMT.

Server move starting Monday Feb 24

02/22/25

The Museum will be moving on Monday to a new server which has more disk space and allows more bandwidth. The forum will shut down around 6:30AM PST / 2:30PM GMT on Monday, before copying begins. Then I will need to check what works and doesn't on the new server and fix things. (Different file structure, different OS, different language levels - I've tried to prepare for everything I can think of.)

Once most things are working reasonably well, then I will update the DNS. I see reports of DNS propagation taking anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. Static web pages should remain available the entire time, so the forum opening back up should indicate that the DNS changes have made it to you.

01/29/25

Added the Forum News page to help people keep track of the status of the forum.

01/23/25

We continue to have trouble with too many bots (9700 at once), so when the bots are hyperactive, the forum is set so only registered users can use it.

The forum is still there, you just need to log in to see it. If you don't have an account, please contact me (not via a VPN, please) and tell me a little about yourself and your interest.

01/11/25

The forum is back on line with updated software.

01/09/25

I have been able to update the database to the latest version on a local Linux machine, and then upload that back into the webserver. So I now have a new format database and new software. There are still issues, but at least there is some light at the end of the tunnel and it doesn't sound like a train.

01/08/25

I've been trying to upgrade to the latest and greatest myBB in hopes of getting some "credit" for at least running up-to-date code with the web host people. I've been trying to get the update process to complete successfully for over a day. So far...nope. Each time, I've run a process and received a connection error after 5 minutes. Running it again or pressing Try Again never fixed it. (The Upgrade script is "generally" designed to pickup where it left off.) Then last night I got an actual myBB upgrade script error message - wonderful!! However, I eventually realized that the error message was caused by trying to update so many times before, because the upgrade script kept adding a key until it had added too many keys. So, my "progress" was that it had failed earlier than before. So, I removed all those keys, then did some other stuff that a myBB guy suggested, and ended up in the same place I ended up in before - sits for 5 minutes - times out with a connection error.

I'm now toying with the idea of copying the DB backup and the software to a local machine and attempting to upgrade there, then export and bring it back to the web server. Seems like it can't go worse. I think something is just timing out due to some webhost-enforced limit.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the emails over the last couple of days. The first day and a half, I realized that around 90% of my time was responding to emails, so I decided to spend some time doing only "code" (although in hindsight it feels more like banging my head against a wall.) I see that quite a few people have emailed and I will get to them!

01/06/25

Sorry about the forum!!

The forum has been down since yesterday. The web host people blocked it, due to what they called "insane load spikes", then resumed it but with a few IP addresses blocked - they said it was then doing fine - but in the time it took for me to receive and open that email - about 40 minutes, it was back to being down. So I sent an email asking about that, and it took 7 hours for them to respond.

I've had around 30 emails total with the Webhost and I keep getting different people responding and some are suggesting I need to fix "my" software (which is not actually mine) to relieve those "insane load spikes" (this is off-the-shelf software that hasn't changed recently) and others are saying I'm a victim of bots and integrating with Cloudflare could "help mitigate that". (Oh and I've also been informed that tools that let you determine the load have been disabled to protect privacy and security of other users.)

But either way, they are deflecting anything that suggests that they could do anything to help and telling me that after I fix the "insane load spikes" (that's all I get for details) that they will re-enable the forum.

So... since I couldn't nudge them to do anything, I tried upgrading to the latest version of the forum software. I had planned to do this last year anyway, but mom and dad's medical problems followed by mom's death last month put all that on hold. So I went for it - figured it couldn't be worse. Only the upgrade process died after several minutes and I don't know what state things are in now. So I'm waiting for any comments from the forum software support forum on how I should proceed. (Basically my life is hurry up and wait right now.)

I'm open to any ideas including web hosts that might be "bullet-proof" or have more "hands on" support. Also if anyone has tried Cloudflare and it was easy and "worked wonders", or any other suggestions, I'll listen to anything.

Recently Added

12/28/24

11/02/24

2/24/24

11/06/23

4/30/23

4/17/23

4/16/23

6/08/21

5/7/21

4/22/21

4/21/21

4/07/21

3/29/21

1/16/20

11/09/19

4/13/19

10/13/16

2/6/2016

12/2/14

11/24/14

12/11/13

05/26/13

05/03/12

02/14/12

11/18/09 4/15/09

7/16/07

7/01/07

6/23/07

08/23/06

12/12/05

8/1/05

6/25/05

6/2/05

2/25/05

12/13/04

7/5/04

1/14/04

11/26/03

9/18/03

9/10/03

8/15/03

6/5/03

2/28/03

2/23/03

1/20/03

1/11/03

12/17/02

12/08/02

10/03/02

06/19/02

06/16/02

06/06/02

06/01/02

04/28/02

04/07/02

02/06/02

12/17/01

12/15/01

12/11/01

10/21/01

09/12/01

08/13/01

06/29/01

03/19/01

02/19/01

12/05/00

11/22/00

10/26/00

7/24/00

7/21/00

7/11/00

5/26/00

4/7/00

4/3/00

3/11/00

1/30/00

1/17/00

1/04/00

12/12/99

12/4/99

10/9/99

10/2/99

7/11/99

7/05/99

5/29/99

4/28/99

4/24/99

4/14/99

3/03/99

1/30/99

1/25/99

12/13/98

11/03/98

10/24/98

10/14/98

9/27/98 Status and upcoming events.

8/1/98

6/10/98
Teleport (my ISP) made additional "improvements" causing all scripts to fail. More work-arounds installed.

5/30/98

4/20/98
Teleport (my ISP) made "improvements" causing all scripts to fail. Work-arounds in place. Please let me know if you have any further problems.

4/12/98

3/27/98

3/6/98

2/17/98

2/7/98

12/7/97

11/17/97

11/3/97

10/26/97

9/5/97

Added HP-25, HP-29C/19C, HP-55, HP-65, and HP-67/97 programming information. Added new programs to the Software Library.

8/20/97

Added a simulation of an HP-16C for Microsoft Windows.

8/6/97

Added the "HP-65 In Space" advertisement to the HP-65 exhibit.

8/2/97

Price ranges were added to the Collector's Corner. Minor updates on pricing and buying where made there and on the frequently asked questions page.)

An article on adding a crystal to the HP-45 was added as was information on HP batteries, and chargers.

Images for the Space War game fixed.

7/20/97

Added new programs to the Software Library.

7/12/97

Added the 50th Anniversary Special and replaced the scan of the HP-91.

6/20/97

Added a link to HP's 25th Anniversary of the HP-35 pages.

6/17/97

Opened the new Software Library.

Sharper scans of many models (HP-10, HP-11C, HP-19C, HP-21, HP-25, HP-28C & S, HP-29C, HP-31E, HP-32E, HP-34C, HP-37E, HP-38C, HP-41C, HP-42S, HP-45, HP-55 HP-65, HP-67, HP-71B, HP-75D, HP-80, HP-92, and HP-97)

5/18/97

Added a picture of a giant HP-33E.

Added another source for battery repairs.

3/15/97

Added more repair information.

3/09/97

1/05/97

Curta stepped drum operation details added. (More detail in the picture.)

Information on disposable batteries added to the Collector's Corner.

Go back to the main exhibit hall