I have Free42 on my iPhone and while I don't use any of the advanced features, it has a level of polish that really makes it stand far from the crowd. Probably the most noticeable feature is the haptic feedback (enabled in the hidden menu under the logo). That feature and the full screen graphics goes a long way to making the calculator feel real.
Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
11–20 of 37 posts
Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#12I had an HP 42S in college. was best calculator I have ever owned, and had used the programmable features in it.
I have used Free42 on Macs and iPhones for years. love it.
Plus42 improves upon it by expanding the display size, suitable for the aspect ratio and size of iPhone screens and Macs
Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#13Am I the only one who think the 41CX totally outclasses the 42 series?
I have the iOS i41CX+ app. I love it.
Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#14This IMHO very important information is buried near the bottom of the page:
The HP-42S represents numbers with a 12-digit decimal mantissa, and an exponent from 10^−499 to 10^499; Free42 Decimal uses a 34-digit decimal mantissa, and an exponent from 10^−6143 to 10^6144; and Free42 Binary uses native binary floating-point, which on all currently supported platforms is IEEE-754 double precision, with a 53-bit binary mantissa which is roughly equivalent to 16 decimal digits, with an exponent from 10^−308 to 10^308.
In other words, results will not be exactly the same as a real HP-42S. For a more authentic HP-42S experience, there's Emu42.
Also, just about every dedicated calculator uses decimal floating point for several reasons, such as simpler circuitry in the ASIC and keeping the human intuition that 0.1 + 0.1 is actually 0.2.
Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#15For anyone that wants a physical version, SwissMicros makes a calculator based off of Free42: https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm42
That page says the HP-42S was "widely regarded as one of the most desired calculators ever made". Was it more "desired" than the HP-41C, with all the accessories that you could get for it?
Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#16For anyone that wants a physical version, SwissMicros makes a calculator based off of Free42: https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm42
That page says the HP-42S was "widely regarded as one of the most desired calculators ever made". Was it more "desired" than the HP-41C, with all the accessories that you could get for it?
The 41C came out about 10 years before the 42S. Each would have their fans. The 42S doesn't have the hardware expand-ability but is generally faster and a bit more refined. If I wanted a nice handheld calculator today, I'd prefer the HP-42S or the Swiss Micro version. However, Swiss Micros have a 41C clone as well, if you prefer that.
Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#17Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
That page says the HP-42S was "widely regarded as one of the most desired calculators ever made". Was it more "desired" than the HP-41C, with all the accessories that you could get for it?
The 41C came out about 10 years before the 42S. Each would have their fans. The 42S doesn't have the hardware expand-ability but is generally faster and a bit more refined. If I wanted a nice handheld calculator today, I'd prefer the HP-42S or the Swiss Micro version. However, Swiss Micros have a 41C clone as well, if you prefer that.
The 42S was also mostly backward compatible with programs written for the 41C, intending to be its modern replacement. It did have an IR connection for some expandability (this was pre-USB era).
I'll also note that, with regards to using an HP42S today, most of their LCD screens have not aged super well and have faded a lot. Other models like the HP15 and HP32S(ii) have LCD screens that seem to age a bit better for whatever reason (potentially the support for the menu and limited graphing behavior of the 42S required some slightly different LCD parts). I have all these models, but wouldn't recommend an original 42S to anyone but a collector due to screen visibility issues - my HP15C and HP32S are plenty usable still though.
I also highly recommend the Swiss Micro replicas if you like RPN calcs. Very solid attempts at reproducing and modernizing some timeless calculators.
Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#19This IMHO very important information is buried near the bottom of the page: The HP-42S represents numbers with a 12-digit decimal mantissa, and an exponent from 10^−499 to 10^499; Free42 Decimal uses a 34-digit decimal mantissa, and an exponent from 10^−6143 to 10^6144; and Free42 Binary uses native binary floating-point, which on all currently supported platforms is IEEE-754 double precision, with a 53-bit binary ma…
The way you're using "decimal floating point" seems to imply there is a "floating point" that is not "decimal".
My understanding is that "decimal", in the context of programming, is a less-precise term to mean floating-point (i.e. encompassing IEEE 754 floats, double- vs single-precision, etc), because they're all binary numbers if you dig deep enough, right?
But apparently I am incorrect/underinformed about this.
What is "decimal", then?
Re: Free42 – An HP-42S Calculator Simulator
#20For anyone that wants a physical version, SwissMicros makes a calculator based off of Free42: https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm42
I can recommend them as I did get one as a gadget.
I don’t have a HUGE use for it, but it’s really well done, feels really sturdy and somewhat premium. It was amusing to learn (and re-learn on rare use) more advanced features and programming it.
Sure, one can do that with emulator but physicality adds to the fun.