61–70 of 140 posts
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hp48 is still on Android for free, as HP released the ROMs to public domain while they were still an awesome company. The unit converter is still very handy. =3 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ab.x48&hl=...
Most of the point is the button-feel, though. If I'm just gonna use a computer, I might as well use a full REPL.
This is an HP licensee, not HP itself. Still nice to see, though the SwissMicros calculators are also very good and will be tough to compete with.
I'm a lifelong fan of HP calculators. I have a 15c in front of me right now that I've had since the mid-ish 80s. Still works perfectly. But the 15c 'Collector's Edition' had some issues, and I wonder about the build quality and reliability of this new one, too. Plus: my guess is you can get an original working 16c on eBay for less than this is going to cost. Honestly, it pains me to say it but I'd recommend a SwissMi…
I had the Hp15c (and still have) but always deeply longed for the hp28s, which was the first to implement a lisp-like programming language in a calculator. Had I bought that one, who knows how different my computing life would have been…
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The originals (I still have my 1987 HP-15C) used silicon-on-sapphire technology, normally used for space, that ensured the amazing battery life. The keyboard domes had a complicated fabrication process to ensure optimum feel. The keycaps were double shot for durability. No modern calculator is going to be made to that standard, it would cost at least $1000.
I loved the keyboard on my HP-48G. It had such a nice crisp tactile feel to the key presses - a bit of snap - that I got to where it could usually operate it by touch without looking. (These days it's stored safely away with batteries removed, so I don't use it that much anymore. For convenience, I usually just use either Droid48 on my phone, or Emacs Calc at my computers.)
I used a 33C in HS and college. Finally in med school during my diversion into the lab, something happened to the little bubble display. And had to upgrade to an 11C. The beauty of an RPN calculator was that nobody asked to borrow it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
hp48 is still on Android for free, as HP released the ROMs to public domain while they were still an awesome company. The unit converter is still very handy. =3 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ab.x48&hl=...
Most of the point is the button-feel, though. If I'm just gonna use a computer, I might as well use a full REPL.
Obviously it does not have the tactile feedback of the original. But it’s a far cry from using on a desktop with a mouse.
Using a REPL as a replacement does not mimic the experience, I don’t think. Not for me at least.
Mind, I’m talking a generic REPL. Like a CL REPL or similar, obviously not some custom calculator REPL.
First off, you’re missing the stack, which is significant. CL can almost mimic this with , *, and *. But while it provides a free, handy value store, it’s not the same. You’d end up with contrivances like:
(* * **)
So, for me, a calculator and its hand held form factor, especially something like the high end HPs, go hand in hand.
No doubt someone could (and likely has) code up a dedicated calculating experience, but a generic REPL I find to be unsuccessful in that role.
I had the Hp15c (and still have) but always deeply longed for the hp28s, which was the first to implement a lisp-like programming language in a calculator. Had I bought that one, who knows how different my computing life would have been…
I still have my 28s from the late 80s. Also really rugged except for the achilles heel of a battery door.
(Edited) Actually it's not so much the door but the housing.
I'm a lifelong fan of HP calculators. I have a 15c in front of me right now that I've had since the mid-ish 80s. Still works perfectly. But the 15c 'Collector's Edition' had some issues, and I wonder about the build quality and reliability of this new one, too. Plus: my guess is you can get an original working 16c on eBay for less than this is going to cost. Honestly, it pains me to say it but I'd recommend a SwissMi…
The prices for all kinds of vintage electronics have shot out like crazy. Calculators, computers, cameras and other stuff are super expensive.
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RPN felt so weird and alien to me, and then one day I felt my brain pivot, and now it's the only method I can bear. RPN isn't just more efficient for the calculator to process. I mean, it is , but that's not the selling point. It's way more efficient to use . It requires the least number of keystrokes necessary to enter a formula, and never requires parentheses for grouping. You can start at the innermost nested, hai…
Yeah I understand. For me I just never could get my head around it. My brain doesn't work that way, and I'm the kind of person that always needs to bend their tools to them rather than absorb a new way of working. For example, I deeply hate opinionated software where you have to learn the workflow the developer intended. It can be powerful but I don't work that way. I have my own ideas how something should work and I…