Re: 48/49: User interface redesign? Message #4 Posted by Vieira, Luiz C. (Brazil) on 19 Dec 2001, 2:33 p.m., in response to message #1 by Ernie Malaga
Hi, Ernie;
I'm mostly a 48/49 fan, cause they simply added almost everything I wanted my dearest 41 to have. I agree with the cluttered 67's kbd (the HP97 showed a better solution... in a somewhat more space) and the spelling feature in the 41, but I sometimes prefer pressing [alpha] twice and spell as many commands (+ [SPC]) as needed when I cannot remember which menu offers them. And this procedure is faster than pressing [XEQ][ALPHA] name [ALPHA] for each 41 function that was not available at the keyboard. PROMPT, HMS+, D-R, among many others, should be assigned to a key OR spelled out (and despite the differences, assignments are allowed in the 48/49 kbds). And in some applications/programs, they are often used, so often I was able to spell PROMPT, HMS, HR by heart, without looking at the keyboard. O.K., there are many, many more commands/functions available in the 48/49, and consequently, many more stuff to remember (?). Using menus was the solution HewPack found as the best... for us? For them?
The HP41 was really a breakthrough, a new concept.
Ernie wrote: For what it's worth, I believe that calculators have reached a plateau beyond which further enhancements will not mean further improvement. What's needed is a totally new concept -- something radical, some breakthrough -- the way the 41 did with spelled-out names.. That's great truth. Could not agree more. Maybe the (sob!) Xpander was the answer for this concept. Maybe HewPack will no longer answer to this question. Maybe...
Time will tell. I read one post (here?) mentioning that the TI83 has a software that emulates RPN operation. Anything more to say?
Cheers.
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