HP Forum Archive 14

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Another OpenRPN Update Message #1 Posted by Hugh Evans on 22 Sept 2004, 11:53 a.m. Just a few short news items to mention: Guests have read/write access to the forums. A discussion is underway at the OpenRPN forums to define the actual hardware to be used for the first form factor (voyager style). It can be found in General Discussion under the topic Definition Time. The *fix command reference is being written in the wiki and I'm working on a *fix Command Definition Standard to help new contributors get started. Last but not least: the OpenRPN site will be relaunched before the weekend. As always, questions, comments, suggestions are welcome. Best Regards, HDE

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #2 Posted by Bill Wiese on 22 Sept 2004, 3:08 p.m., in response to message #1 by Hugh Evans Hugh, I applaud OpenRPN folks for thinking of making nice calculators but in my limited perusal I see lots of efforts in the feautures, & firware area and not really much in manufacturing a real calc. I really think you guys need to work on manufacturability. Do you have any money pooled???? First figure out who will make a calc for you (at a reasonable-for-fanatics price) - incl. case, keyboard legends & keycaps. Otherwise the firmware effort will be for an ungainly tin box with wires hanging out of it which no one wants. You might be able to find some small mfgr that will even talk to you given for around $60/calc and warp an existing product for you with a big ENTER key. Putting a PCB w/LCD and flash uC CPU is relatively trivial. And you can figure out the firmware as you go - you can always take an Classic/Nut emulator, add an I/O escape layer, and run HP firmware on it. Firmware & electronics is the easiest part. Bill Wiese San Jose

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #3 Posted by Chris Woodhouse on 22 Sept 2004, 5:29 p.m., in response to message #2 by Bill Wiese Quote: in my limited perusal I see lots of efforts in the feautures, & firware area and not really much in manufacturing a real calc. Yon need to look closer, there is significant discussion on that topic. Chris W Bring Back the HP 15C

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #4 Posted by Hugh Evans on 23 Sept 2004, 8:57 a.m., in response to message #2 by Bill Wiese Manufacturability has been an important issue since the very beginning. Before bringing up the project here at MoHPC I made sure that it would be feasible to manufacture calculator hardware at a relatively low cost. If you wade through the forums a bit more you will find that a good deal of discussion has taken place on this topic. I have been doing even more work behind the scenes obtaining quotes, etc. As it stands right now, Chad and I are going to register an LLC to function as the business half OpenRPN. We plan to cover the majority of production costs through grants and investors. Unfortunately I can't elaborate on investors other than to say that discussions are taking place. So the short answer is: We're on it. But we're doing the tedious stuff ourselves.

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #5 Posted by Bill Wiese on 23 Sept 2004, 1:23 p.m., in response to message #4 by Hugh Evans Hi Hugh I trolled thru, maybe I missed it. Wasn't trying to 'dis' the effort. It just seemed like you guys were more worried about which CPU to use, when that is almost immaterial - you could make a nice calc, even a 42S+ with any 8 bitter CMOS job. Everyone focuses on what they like to do best ("when you have a hammer, everything's a nail") which for folks here is probably to write calc software or test features or write embedded firmware or emulators, and to do the nice keyboard layout artwork, CAD design, etc. It just seems far harder to deal with injection molders, keycap mfgrs, etc. esp for small runs. That's hard work esp as there's likely a language gap. Finding an existing commodity calc mfgr in Far East that does small custom production runs of stylized promotional items might be one thing I'd investigate. BTW please DON'T use rubberized keys. They don't last - esp if logos on 'em. Bill Wiese San Jose

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #6 Posted by Hugh Evans on 24 Sept 2004, 1:00 a.m., in response to message #5 by Bill Wiese No offense taken at all, Bill. We have spent a good deal of effort on choosing components (and we're finally about to decide on exact hardware so we can move that department into the prototyping stage). I've been taking on the less glamorous stuff myself. Putting all of the UserRPL commands into a wiki page was no fun at all! For the most part I'm not looking at companies in the far east. Yes it would be cheaper, but I would like to keep the majority of the production in the US. There won't be a language barrier with people in QC and it will be good for the economy. Keytops are one area Chad and I are going to take on personally. We plan to lease a commercial laser cutter/etching machine to make custom sets a standard option and a cheap upgrade. BTW: Keys will be hinged and made from plastic. Labels will be as good as double shot injection molded. Tactile feedback *will* be the best anyone has ever experienced on a calculator. I'll stop before this turns into a full out rant. :^) Best Regards, Hugh

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #7 Posted by Ren on 24 Sept 2004, 4:42 p.m., in response to message #6 by Hugh Evans On the subject of calculator keys... I finally noticed the "chevron" design of the -33S. I had imagined it to have the uppermost key in the middle of the keyboard, or left of center. That way it would correspond to the longest finger on the right hand.

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #8 Posted by abc on 27 Sept 2004, 8:01 a.m., in response to message #6 by Hugh Evans Good for whose economy?

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #9 Posted by Bill Wiese on 27 Sept 2004, 2:13 p.m., in response to message #8 by abc abc wrote Quote: >>Good for whose economy? As long as it's not helping Red China, it's fine with me.

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #10 Posted by Garth Wilson on 27 Sept 2004, 6:25 p.m., in response to message #9 by Bill Wiese > As long as it's not helping Red China, it's fine with me. Ditto here. We're still mostly able to (and do) avoid Chinese products.

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #11 Posted by Ren on 27 Sept 2004, 6:44 p.m., in response to message #8 by abc abc, If you're replying to my post, I meant in the sense of ergonomics, a chevron keyboard with the middle keys higher on the Y-axis than the outer keys would probably be easier and more comfortable to use. I haven't held a 33S in my hands, but if its "V" shaped chevron is opposite of this, what were the designers possibly thinking? Fashion over function?

Re: Another OpenRPN Update Message #12 Posted by Sam Hughes on 27 Sept 2004, 7:06 p.m., in response to message #11 by Ren I would say they were considering people who hold the calculator on the sides in both hands, using their thumbs.

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