HP Forum Archive 15

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heads up to Australia Message #1 Posted by db (martinez, ca.) on 21 Nov 2005, 5:49 p.m. There is a rare non hp rpn programmable on ebay that is located in Oz. It's not mine. Mine is prettier and not for sale. I just thought that someone might want it and no one has found it. Shipping makes it not worthwhile for the rest of us. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5831974835&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1

Re: heads up to Australia Message #2 Posted by Hal on 21 Nov 2005, 8:22 p.m., in response to message #1 by db (martinez, ca.) Interesting. I used to have a National Semiconductor RPN calculator, but I've never heard of a Qualitron. Looks pretty rough cosmetically, and I couldn't see an Enter Exponent key...could this be so...a scientific that won't handle really big or really little numbers?

Re: heads up to Australia Message #3 Posted by db (martinez, ca.) on 21 Nov 2005, 10:09 p.m., in response to message #2 by Hal It's so. It uses the nat semi / novus mathematician rom that might have been in yours but a slightly clicky keyboard and a typical curvacious qualitron body. Victor toth wrote the definitive description at http://www.rskey.org/detail.asp?manufacturer=Qualitron&model=1421+Programmable+Scientific Even concidering it's rought shape and limited usefullness i still think that some Ausie ought to rescue it since the shipping would be cheap. Whoever wants it ought to call dibs though. This unit isn't worth winning a feeding frenzy to get. Edited: 21 Nov 2005, 10:12 p.m.

Re: heads up to Australia Message #4 Posted by Hal on 21 Nov 2005, 11:43 p.m., in response to message #3 by db (martinez, ca.) As I recall my old Novus did have exponential capability but was not programable. Maybe I'll make a bid on this thing...for old time's sake......

Re: heads up to Australia Message #5 Posted by Namir on 22 Nov 2005, 1:55 a.m., in response to message #4 by Hal I remember buying one in France in 1978. I could not resist the fact that it was a non-HP RPN calculator. Unfortunately it was a half-designed RPN calculator: 3-register stack, 1-mem register, poor accuracy. I had seen non-HP clones of the HP-45 made by several manufacturers, but the Novus was not one of them. I bought a few on eBay recently, just to remind myself of the toy-like state of the calculators. I guess we have a weakness for RPN.

Re: heads up to Australia Message #6 Posted by Hal on 22 Nov 2005, 12:28 p.m., in response to message #5 by Namir I bought the Novus in '76 from the college bookstore...to a young freshman (me) it looked like it had lots of buttons and did lots of stuff, and was cheap as well (I think about $39). It's shortcomings soon became obvious, however...lack of memory, poor accuracy, rubber buttons, and worst of all, to use the trig functions, all angles had to be transposed to positive 180 degrees or less! A few months later, a classmate handed me his HP25 to try out, and suggested I get a real calculator. The Novus was forever relagated to toy status thereafter. I'll probably pick one up (a Novus) on e-bay just for old times sake... Hal

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