HP Forum Archive 14

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Voyager speedup Message #1 Posted by Eric Smith on 27 Jan 2004, 6:50 p.m. Ken Sumrall's instructions for speeding up Voyager calculators (e.g. HP-16C), as promised in the ROM-dumping thread, are now available at http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/hpcalc/voyager_speedup/.

Re: Voyager speedup Message #2 Posted by Karl W. Schneider on 27 Jan 2004, 11:29 p.m., in response to message #1 by Eric Smith Eric -- Many thanks for the link! I've always wondered what was responsible for the slow speed of Voyagers: - Low-power-draw CMOS technology? - Decision to optimize for long battery life? - Decision not to outshine the 41C series? It looks as though maybe an older unit (e.g., my 1983 15C) could be made twice as fast without complications, but it might not be worth doing. Pioneers are at least 4x as fast. On a somewhat-related note, has anyone else noticed a certain "sluggishness" about the 16C? There is a discernible delayed response after entering each digit in integer mode (HEX/DEC/OCT/BIN) that is not present in the Pioneers. Validating each digit for available space and shifting the display takes some time, but still... Another subtle thing: Return to original display from "MEM" is slower on the 12C and 16C than on the 15C, too. The 12C and 16C "blink" before returning. Do any hardware/firmware experts answer know the answer to those questions? -- Karl

Re: Voyager speedup Message #3 Posted by Ken Sumrall on 28 Jan 2004, 5:56 p.m., in response to message #2 by Karl W. Schneider >On a somewhat-related note, has anyone else noticed a certain "sluggishness" about the 16C? There is a discernible delayed response after entering each digit in integer mode (HEX/DEC/OCT/BIN) that is not present in the Pioneers. Validating each digit for available space and shifting the display takes some time, but still... The sluggishness you mention is why I decided to figure out how to speed up my 16C oh so long ago. With enough caffeine, I could enter numbers faster than the 16C could take them. :-) I still keep my sped up 16C in my desk drawer at work. It's still a very useful machine, 20 years later.

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