The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story • Hacker News Board

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#21

Post by madengr » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:19 AM UTC

FullyFunctional wrote: post #19

fermienrico wrote: post #4

Unfortunately, consumer electronics are not the same as the days of Braun. 70’s was the golden era. I was extremely pleased with my DM42 from SwissMicros. All of their models either have a Titanium or Steel case. The heft and quality is just absolutely beautiful. I spoke to Michael Steinmann and he seems to be a great guy passionate about what he does. I enjoyed our conversation about old school electronics. Check ou…

INTERESTING, thanks for sharing. Please, how is the keyboard? To me, more than anything, what made the HP calc fantastic was the great keyboard - which really matters when you start using them in anger. My HP-15C survived all but the last of many drops. The HP-11C that replaced it still powers on on its original batteries!

I dropped my 32Sii from 3 stories onto concrete. It was scuffed but fine.

I have 4 of the 32Sii unopened in clamshell.

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#22

Post by madengr » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:21 AM UTC

Lio wrote: post #5

pjmorris wrote: post #2

How can you not love this: > HP typically priced their equipment at the cost of the material list × π (or in an especially competitive market, list × e)

The founders of HP were just so much cooler than the business school goons like Fiorina who practically drove it into the ground. That pricing formula is so playful, as is "well I want one and so do my engineers". Chapeau Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard.

Ha ha, practically? She did. Keysight is what’s left of the original HP.

HP is now known for garbage computers and shitty printers.

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#23

Post by madengr » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:25 AM UTC

poyu wrote: post #7

I really really like HP calculators. The only one I have now is the HP-35s, a new version of HP-35. Once you go RPN, you can never go back! I have PCalc (another piece of amazing software) on my phone for RPN. It feels really stupid for others to see that I can't operate a normal calculator.

Yeah, PCalc is the best one out there, but still no substitute for a real one.

I can’t bring my phone into work, so still heavily rely on the real ones.

My ultimate one would be some sort of OLED display for each key, so they could be programmed. There still isn’t one yet that has my ideal key layout.

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#24

Post by [deleted] » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:32 AM UTC

madengr wrote: post #21

FullyFunctional wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

INTERESTING, thanks for sharing. Please, how is the keyboard? To me, more than anything, what made the HP calc fantastic was the great keyboard - which really matters when you start using them in anger. My HP-15C survived all but the last of many drops. The HP-11C that replaced it still powers on on its original batteries!

I dropped my 32Sii from 3 stories onto concrete. It was scuffed but fine. I have 4 of the 32Sii unopened in clamshell.

[deleted]

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#25

Post by gh02t » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:36 AM UTC

fermienrico wrote: post #4

Unfortunately, consumer electronics are not the same as the days of Braun. 70’s was the golden era. I was extremely pleased with my DM42 from SwissMicros. All of their models either have a Titanium or Steel case. The heft and quality is just absolutely beautiful. I spoke to Michael Steinmann and he seems to be a great guy passionate about what he does. I enjoyed our conversation about old school electronics. Check ou…

I've been eyeing one for a long time. I use an original HP-42S I stole from my father that's older than I am, but I almost spilled coffee on it the other day, which made me realize it's probably time to invest in the SwissMicro just based on the value of the 42.

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#26

Post by dfox » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:44 AM UTC

madengr wrote: post #22

Lio wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The founders of HP were just so much cooler than the business school goons like Fiorina who practically drove it into the ground. That pricing formula is so playful, as is "well I want one and so do my engineers". Chapeau Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard.

Ha ha, practically? She did. Keysight is what’s left of the original HP. HP is now known for garbage computers and shitty printers.

And the ironic part of that is that the original HP was spun-off two times (at first Agilent, then Keysight).

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#27

Post by apricot » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:45 AM UTC

madengr wrote: post #21

FullyFunctional wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

INTERESTING, thanks for sharing. Please, how is the keyboard? To me, more than anything, what made the HP calc fantastic was the great keyboard - which really matters when you start using them in anger. My HP-15C survived all but the last of many drops. The HP-11C that replaced it still powers on on its original batteries!

I dropped my 32Sii from 3 stories onto concrete. It was scuffed but fine. I have 4 of the 32Sii unopened in clamshell.

Greetings, fellow 32Sii lover. I also have enough spares to outlast me, and it's a good feeling. That said, perhaps I'm being overcautious as my first 32Sii (bought in the early 1990s) is still in great shape.

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#28

Post by opencl » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:45 AM UTC

gcb0 wrote: post #13

> battery for 3 hours Wow. How often people would replace batteries on this?

It uses a pack of rechargable AAs, I have an HP-45 (the immediate successor, with the same battery pack) and replaced the original NiCD cells with NiMH. When I got it the batteries were clearly already a few decades old. AAs NiCDs were pretty common back then, I have an old TI and Soviet-made Electronika calculator that also use them.

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#29

Post by dfox » Sat, May 12, 2018, 1:49 AM UTC

kps wrote: post #20

gcb0 wrote: post #13

> battery for 3 hours Wow. How often people would replace batteries on this?

About as often as people today replace batteries on their phones.

To add some context: essentially all scientific calculators with LED or VFD displays had rechargable NiCd batteries and plug packs. Typical engineer mostly used them plugged into wall. (And then there was my dad who used his IIRC Sharp VFD scientific calculator as charger for AA NiCd cells well into late 90's)

Re: The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

#30

Post by dfox » Sat, May 12, 2018, 2:07 AM UTC

pjmorris wrote: post #2

How can you not love this: > HP typically priced their equipment at the cost of the material list × π (or in an especially competitive market, list × e)

OTOH, if you are engineer faced with the problem of picking some number between the respective economical constraints (ie. pick a number not much higher than 2.25 or not much higher than 3, both of which are somewhat well known estimates of manufacturing overhead) you are somewhat likely to come up with these two transcendentals.