The Museum of HP Calculators

HP Forum Archive 06

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HP10BII spotted in Nashville, TN
Message #1 Posted by Gene Wright on 29 May 2001, 2:48 p.m.

Found the new HP-10BII in both Office Depot and in a Super Walmart. Price at OD was $29.99, no price on the unit at Super Walmart.

      
Re: HP10BII spotted in Nashville, TN
Message #2 Posted by Nick on 29 May 2001, 11:42 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Gene Wright

I just bought mine in Monterey, CA. Office Depot, same price. Has a nice classic look.

      
Re: HP10BII spotted in Nashville, TN
Message #3 Posted by Paul Brogger on 30 May 2001, 9:12 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Gene Wright

Let me know when the HP-42SII shows up.

Meanwhile (stretch, yawn!) I'll be dozing . . .

ZZZzzzzzz z z z z z z . . .

      
Re: HP10BII spotted in Nashville, TN
Message #4 Posted by Todd Garabedian on 31 May 2001, 9:15 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Gene Wright

Gene,

Was the manual in English? The HP10Bii units I've obtained from France had manuals in French, but the keyboard is in English.

Todd

            
Manual is in english...says an ACO product!
Message #5 Posted by Gene on 31 May 2001, 11:37 a.m.,
in response to message #4 by Todd Garabedian

Not too bad. I hope to write up a review of it soon.

One somewhat stupid thing, IMO, is the introduction of a purple prefix key for nothing other than recalling memories 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (these hold the statistical summations). The same result comes from pressing the RCL key and then 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9.

Unless they plan another calculator with the same layout, this makes no sense at all.

At least the keys are colored properly for reading.

And...at least they are not RUBBER keys! Gene

                  
Re: Manual is in english...says an ACO product!
Message #6 Posted by db(martinez,california) on 31 May 2001, 9:13 p.m.,
in response to message #5 by Gene

gene; what is an "ACO product"?

                        
ACO = Australian Calculator Operation - the HP-49G designers
Message #7 Posted by Gene on 1 June 2001, 7:39 a.m.,
in response to message #6 by db(martinez,california)

If they went to all this trouble to design a new form factor, it makes no sense at all to only use it on one calculator. The 49G "style" has been used by the 39G and 40G.

Perhaps the 10BII will be used by other calcs? Gene

                        
ACO = Appliance & Calculator Operation (was "Australian")
Message #8 Posted by Matt Kernal (US) on 1 June 2001, 11:11 a.m.,
in response to message #6 by db(martinez,california)

.. is the latest incarnation of "ACO". It has been several months now since HP's Jean-Yves Avenard said at comp.sys.hp48 that he (and I'm assuming Cyrille de Brebisson too) wasn't working on the 49G anymore (although JYA still contributes regularly and ROM version 1.19-6 is supposed to be close to release). The next ACO product is rumored to be the "Calypso" Linux-based palm/Jornada device, which is "probably" what they are now working on (since the Windows CE-based "Xpander" is now defunct).

See http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000257.html for more info about Calypso.

Personally, I'd love to see a sub-$30 shirtpocket RPN calc. BTW, does the 10BII fit in your shirtpocket (the original 10B is/was too big)?

Matt

                              
Re: ACO = Appliance & Calculator Operation (was "Australian")
Message #9 Posted by Todd Garabedian on 1 June 2001, 9:24 p.m.,
in response to message #8 by Matt Kernal (US)

Matt,

Yes, my 10Bii fits in my shirt pocket. It's fairly light, too. The light weight gives the unit a feel of disposibility, though... quite unlike the old HP calcs which were instruments you wanted to keep!

Todd

                  
Re: Manual is in english...says an ACO product!
Message #10 Posted by DaveJ on 31 May 2001, 11:37 p.m.,
in response to message #5 by Gene

I picked one up, the manual is pretty good at explaining the calculators operation, a big improvement over the 6 series, 30S, or 49 series. The design is not bad though one of my keys is bad and I'll have to exchange the unit. Most of the keys work well with a good solid click.

                        
Re: Manual is in english...says an ACO product!
Message #11 Posted by Paul Brogger on 1 June 2001, 10:13 a.m.,
in response to message #10 by DaveJ

Good first step on the way back, guys.

Next, make one of the keys a double-width button, and emboss it with "Enter" . . .

                              
Re: Manual is in english...says an ACO product!
Message #12 Posted by Thibaut.be on 2 June 2001, 7:01 a.m.,
in response to message #11 by Paul Brogger

... get rid of the = key and label the calc 42SII...

... don't forget to add a small port that connects through the serial bus of a PC and to devices such as a rom module port, card readers, ...

of course, sub $100 !

      
Re: HP10BII spotted in Nashville, TN
Message #13 Posted by Richard J. Nelson on 8 July 2001, 8:05 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Gene Wright

The HP 10B II is available at Fryes in Palo also for $39.95. It does not look like the photo posted on HP's web page. the top is curved not square and each side has two ribber strips that wrap around the top and bottom of the machine. It has two prefix keys color coded purple and orange. A distinctive keyboard feature is the three "silver" frames. One is around the display, the other around the top six keys and the third around the right most four keya of the second row. The machine is very light - almost too light for a good feel in the hand - but it should feel good in a dhirt pocket. It is "made in China" with the same words in French "Fabrique in Chine". As far as I can tell it has the same functions as the HP 10B it is just a "face lift" to show that HP is still in the business??? It has six more storage registers, perhaps more differences will be discovered. This is a first quick look. The manual is blue and gold like most current machines at 143 pages. A back cover pocket contains the cheap vinyl slip over cover and phone number/internet list for ?? As with most modern documentation it just implies and doesn't actually say much. The manual is in the current style and adaquate.

            
Re: HP10BII spotted in Nashville, TN
Message #14 Posted by Tony Copley on 8 July 2001, 11:32 p.m.,
in response to message #13 by Richard J. Nelson

Last month I purchased the 10bii directly from HP. It took a little doing to get to the proper site. If you go directly to the HP 10bii site at http://www.hp.com/calculators/business/10bii_info.html and try to "Buy Online From HP" you will be taken to a generic hpshopping.com site and not offered an opportunity to purchase the item. The trick is to do a search for the 10bii. You will be taken to the hpshopping.com site and offered the option to "add to cart". From there you can purchase online for $29.99 plus shipping. The calculator arrived in the Chicago area in two days.

            
Re: HP10BII spotted in Nashville, TN
Message #15 Posted by db(martinez,california) on 10 July 2001, 10:08 p.m.,
in response to message #13 by Richard J. Nelson

was that THE richard nelson? ok, any richard nelson would be; but i mean the one that used to work at educalc and answer real dumb questions almost paciently?


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