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HP Calcs Live On Under PalmOS
philipsblows writes "Emulators for HP Calcs have been around for a while, but HP is actually getting behind this one, allowing ROM images to be included to support emulation of 48sx, 48gx and 49g (all separately and at the same time) on your PalmOS device. Unfortunately, it has to be a color device, but this is great news anyone who would otherwise miss out on using an HP calc. Check out Power48 here." And unlike a calculator, the software is free (and Free).
Now if only console manufacturers would get behind emulation development for vintage consoles. Sure, you can still buy games for the SNES on eBay or your local odds and ends store but none of that money will be going back to Nintendo or the developers.
Actually on thinking about it much of the nintendo GBA catalogue...
played Minesweeper was on a 48SX. Now I'm an MCSE.
"And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman." "Hello." "Good boy."
For the price of ONE of those you can have a pocket full of REAL HP's...
But for those that have one already, its damned cool.
Though you cant really replace a *real* keyboard for lots of number crunching..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I've only got an m515, looks like this sucker will only work on a Tungsten or Clie.
Drat.
--Fesh
Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.
TI calculators may have had better toy value than HP's, but they were never even close to HP's as calculators.
Sure, they were popular with highschool and college kids, but people who do real work with calculators are pretty much unanimously in favour of HP's. Of course, this is a small and shrinking group of people, which is why HP is out of the calc business.
One of my HP's is over 15 years old, has been dropped from a third story, has been in a lake, and still works perfectly. Try that with a TI (I have, and they didn't cut it).
HP also made the best programmers calc ever. Limited market for those, these days too.
I never realized that HP calculators died? Have they stopped selling them? Granted I've had my 48gx since 1995 and never looked at another calculator since then. What do people use these days? I've actually seen fewer calculators used as they get replaced with Matlab or Maple or Mathematica being more and more at hand for people, but I still find myself reaching for my 48gx even when I am near a computer just because they're so convenient.
The 48GX and SX roms have been freely available (courtesy HP, of course) from www.hpcalc.org, and probably other enthusiast sites. It is interesting that HP is actually backing an emulator, though. Hey, where's that RPN troll when you need him???
I am a bit disappointed that it does not work on monochrome devices like the good old Palm Vx, which I'm happily using for a long while now. The original HP48 display was monochrome and would perfectly look on my Palm. Now only if those keys weren't color :)
This is cool, but it's not new. There has been a HP 48/49G emulator for Windows CE for some time now. It even runs at an acceptable speed on the newer Pocket PCs. There has also been a Psion version.
t tp://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/</a>
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HPQ sells pocket PC devices. This emulator runs on PalmOs.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the relevant bit of the HP marketing dept. Is this the start of something new? Is HP going to start bringing out PalmOs devices or Linux PDAs?
So few questions, so many answers.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
As far as I know, the unique feature of HP calculators is that they use reverse polish notation by default so I expect that is what this one uses.
RPN is similar to stacking languages where the variables are pushed onto the stack first and then the operators are applied to the appropriate stack entries. So, a + b x c should be entered as b c x a + and (a + b) x c should be entered as a b + c x
Similar to other stacking languages like Postscript and SmallTalk.
Note that this should be the same as the desktop "dc" command on linux except that dc is only good for integers (and you need to enter "=" to see the result). I routinely add a few extra significant digits when using dc so that I can deal with fractional values. Works nicely occasionally when doing command line scripting.
but also with the new high definition screens (320x320 or higher) so people who have a IIIc (like myself) are SOL.
-- the cake is a lie
The 48g was a godsend for me in university. This was before the masses knew anything about being able to store and retrieve any decent amount of text from a calculator. All my biochem formulas got neatly stored in a little app called YONPY or something like that (I think it stood for Ye old notepad). People supervising the exams had no clue -- prolly just thought I was a big geek with a calculator at least twice the size of others. I dont think you can get away with this now though.
They also make one of the best corp pc lines around (the Vectra line is one of the most supportable pc's ever, remote management include BIOS updates etc, motherboards that can be removed and replaced in less than a minute on some models etc). Their workstations aren't all that bad either (if a bit expensive).
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Is it possible to use this on the Sharp Zaurus? Is it worth trying?
There is no patch for stupidity
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I completely agree. I love my HP48G. I wouldn't trade if for any other calculator. (Well, maybe for a 48GX ;) ). I love RPN. In fact, I've become so accustomed to it, I have difficulty using a TI-pile-of-shit when I'm forced to.
I also love the equation library. It's very useful, especially with the pictures.
neurostarPC HP calc emus:
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/
Or check out all the other emu goodies at that site:
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/
Or just search http://www.handango.com for "HP 48" for more emus for all portable computing platforms.
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I tried installing it on my colour palm, and it requires a High-res Palm device. This is pretty much a Clié-only application. Pity it doesn't work on my i300, since most palm-based calculator apps out there are fscking worthless.
While recently looking at HP's online store, I noticed the HP-48GX was listed as a "closeout" item. It appears that once the existing inventory of HP calculators are sold, HP will be out of the calculator business. Carly sucks.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
In all, I'm highly impressed with this, though it will take a few weeks to see if I treat it like a toy or a real calc.
Cat, the other, tastier white meat.
Since reading the article isn't hard at all, you may notice that the article says;
The HP48/49 ROM images distributed with this emulator are the property of and copyrighted by Hewlett-Packard. Their inclusion in this package is for the convenience of the end-user only. If you (the end-user) are not legally permitted to use a particular ROM image you must not install that ROM image to the VFS storage mechanism.
What part of that did you fail to understand?
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
I love my TI85. It's still going strong, sitting next to my monitor right now. Totally sentimental value.
I learnt to program on this thing for hell's sake! It still has the same programs i typed into it when i was 16... fractal generators, data calculation routines, inbuilt poly solver!, i even made a 2 player game with a friend via the commumication cable!!!
I never tried a HP, so can't compare, but damn I live my TI, it released my geekness, never harnessed, so will be forever grateful to TI.
Not sure I'd like an emulator though, the physical thing, the difficulty in typing, the display pitch... It was all in the package, give me 100 emulators and I'll still prefer my TI85.
I had many HP calculators. Lved them all. Loved RPN.
Power48 is an impressive emulator... BUT:
1.- Start time is too long. Screen is too crowded and plain complicated for a PDA LCD.
2.- If you need a very good calculator use EasyCalc and you'll be happier at any resolution. http://easycalc.sourceforge.net/. Fast startup and
decent interface. Clearly not as programable nor a large library of tools, still very usable.
Now, here is the irony: HP should have been a king of the PDA arena using their experience in the calculator group... but somehow they become WinCE clone makers. Very sad. What happened?
I don't think you've been properly introduced to the better of the TI calcs... I've got 'em both:
;P
A TI-83 which is overclocked... (!) Still works like a charm after having its guts ripped out repeatedly. Now, I didn't drop it in a lake, but it's been in the shower... so... hehe
And then, the workhorse, my beloved TI-89. Let me just say to all the HP holier-than-thou people out there: AOS ownz.
So it doesn't have RPN (but I remember seeing a few packages on ticalc.org)... but it does everything else. I mean jesus, it's a frickin' 68010.
I get real work done with it too... my main folder has about a hundred functions and programs sittin around; i forget what half of them do.
Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
If all you want is a good scientific/graphing calculator for your Palm, get EasyCalc. :) )
(It appears to be in English now, too.
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
First of all, anyone running a science class who thinks that forcing a bunch of rote formula memorization is "learning" isn't doing very much teaching.
Second of all, everybody that actually makes a living with math and science cheats every day, by referring to reference books, studies, conferring with others, and so on.
We should be teaching people how to *learn* by using reference materials, not waste storage neurons on things that are already written down.
FWIW, when I was in college (circa 1985), the physics teacher allowed us to bring in a 3x5 card with anything we want written on it. We got the guy with the best penmanship in our study group to write ALL the formulas we could think of, complete with notes, examples and so on on a 8x11 sheet of paper which we then reduced on a photocopier to 3x5.
Again, you could call this cheating, or you could give us credit for innovation.
Check out the HP 41 emulator
There is a lot of software available here as well.
There are more HP calculator emulators for different platforms here.
Humorous signatures are over-rated.
I've had an HP-11c since about 1983 that I still dote on. And a HP-15c (the 11c's big brother, identical except with more memory) that I got at a swapmeet for ten bucks. For years I ran it on these smaller around but the same thickness hearing aid batteries I got as free samples at work.
It unnerves me how much people are willing to pay for 11s and 15s on eBay.
Sure, they were popular with highschool and college kids, but people who do real work with calculators are pretty much unanimously in favour of HP's.
Not "were", but "is" (at least in Texas, unfortunately). TI has a sweetheart deal with the state: Their TI-83+ is the prerequisite calc for all schools administering the state-standardized exams (and that's basically every public school in Texas). Hundreds of thousands of dollars, per school district, flow into TI's coffers as a result.
Having been raised on HPs, I find the TI's EOS (algebraic entry system) extremely tedious to use. No intermediate answers (well, you can access the previous answer), just keep typing in numbers and parens until you're through, hit the enter key, and keep your fingers crossed you didn't make a mistake.
I shudder to think what colleges are requiring their engineering students to use (when I was in engineering school, the 41CX was a necessity to survive).
Sure, they were popular with highschool and college kids, but people who do real work with calculators are pretty much unanimously in favour of HP's. Of course, this is a small and shrinking group of people, which is why HP is out of the calc business.
No, TI is more popular with incoming people than with dinosaurs precisely because HPs used to be more popular globally, fell out of popularity, and now all the younger people are using TIs. HP lost the market themselves, not because of a bunch of people who don't "do real work with calculators".
May we never see th