Re: ALTERNATE OPTION Re: 48SX cards in 48GX Message #23 Posted by Antoine M. Couëtte on 1 Mar 2008, 6:36 a.m., in response to message #22 by Egan Ford
Thank you Egan for your reply.
I really do appreciate your reply because it brings up in a very nice way a sturdy and well balanced view-point.
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Many people in this forum and comp.sys.hp48 have the real thing or are trying to get the real thing via eBay.
It is certainly quite understandable to get the " real thing ".
Still, sooner or later real HP41's will become harder to find and to maintain. And getting a similar size - I keep my HP48's in my former HP41 pouches - and more recent handheld calculator which can run exactly like a HP41 is certainly a good fall-back option. When I was most desperately needing it, the mere existence of Emulators running on more recent Handhelds was then totally unknown to me at that time, i.e. in late 2003.
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The keyboard layouts are not the same as real thing, whereas desktop/PDA/phone emulators also emulate the keyboard layout.
This is an excellent and very valid point.
Actually it did take me up to a few weeks to feel comfortable running HP41X/Y/Z onto a HP48GX, especially when having to key in a long program that I could not have saved otherwise. Now, I very rarely use one of my 2 remaining HP41 CX's, and I still need half a day or so to become familiar again with these Very Beautiful Machines.
One clever solution to the keyboard layout differences is the possibility to use custom made keyboard overlays for the HP48GX, which very greatly reduces the learning curve time.
However, these keyboard overlays are no longer easy to find nowadays ... and as for me, I am not using any HP48 Overlay when running Hrast's HP41 Emulator
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Very few actually need a 71B or 41CX
I am just one of the " very few " since a handheld is a " must " for me in my Aircraft, and is also quite convenient - although not a " must " - onboard ships, or even at home.
And the fact that actual HP41's - just to name them - are so much chased everywhere might indicate that maybe more than " very few " people actually need them.
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And finally cost is an issue. Possibly the biggest issue. The emulators are not cheap. I feel that only the hobbyist would be truly interested in them. There is no question in my mind about the quality of the emulators, but I do not think that many hobbyist are interested in paying 100 Euros for each emulator.
This is a very important and valid point and seldom adressed in detail here.
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A great number of very talented " Emulator Designers " have put their Emulators free on the web.
This is excellent for the Community and I have routinely used Emu41 from Jean-François Garnier, V41 from Warren Furlow and Emu48 from Christopher Giesselink.
I would also add that, further to my first visit to him, Jean-François very nicely upgraded his Emu41 into a replica of the wonderful HP41Y ( including RAMBOX II ) from W&W Software GmbH. And the Community freely got the benefit of his new and current upgraded version.
This is an opportunity for me to publicly thank these very nice " Wizards / Pionners " who have made their High Quality Contributions freely available to our Community, and in particular the three Gentlemen I just mentionned.
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Now, when we look at Hrastprogrammer's Emulators, we first see that Hrastprogrammer is a full member of the very same " Wizards / Pionners Commmunity ". Exactly like the other people mentionned earlier, Hrast has made Emulators freely available to the Public, including the HP41 Emulators you rightly mentionned in your response.
Hrast is also selling some other Emulators, most often as " High Grade Improvements " over the " standard ones " he has made available in free access.
In a similar manner to Jean-François's developments, Hrast perfected his HP41 Emulator into a most superb HP41X/Y/Z Emulator far exceeding what even the other most advanced and knowledgeable Magicians thought would be possible or achievable.
I have to confess that, for a price of 100 euros paid some 4 years ago, I have been OVER-REWARDED with what Hrast has delivered : quality of service, willingness to help, utmost professionnalism.
And it even enabled us establishing a new and very friendly mutual relationship :-))
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True ... 100 Euros is not " peanuts " especially in our days with the USD-EURO exchange rate.
However - if you already own either a HP48 GX, or a HP 49G, or a HP49GX or even a HP50G - as a number of us probably do for at least one of these models, for this 100 Euro extra expense you get a fully running Super-Duper HP41CX ...
... running at 3 times the standard speed on HP48GX or 6 times standard speed on HP50,
... and with HUGE Quasi-ROM Memory, i.e. a Memory you can fully programm acording to your own needs. You have access to 3 Pages of 32 000 bytes each, with 2 of them fully switchable, i.e giving you an HP41 with up to 64 000 Bytes of Customs programs instantly available in the course of their automatic execution,
... and with 3 000 + ..... !!!! Programs Registers in RAM, i.e. over 21 000 Bytes of free Programming Space in addition to the above , and - since they reside in RAM - also instantly available in the course of automatic program execution, for a total of over 85 000 bytes of Custom Programming Space instantly available in the course of automatic program execution, + of course the additionnal 32 000 byte third page, for a grand total of ... 117 000 Bytes of Custom Programming Space, ... had you heard of that kind of HUGE memory available some 25 years ago, i.e. a few years after the HP41CX had been introduced, how much money would you have been ready to invest then : 100 Euros, or maybe ... a little more ??? ...
... + virtually all the most important modules ever designed for the HP41,
... + HPIL,
... + the possibility of instantly editing all your progams listings under the " Word " format. This would be a fantastic alternate option if we could have it for all programs which might be pdf'd in a near future, as long as such Programs are already loaded in HP41's .... see here for example.
... + the possibility to transfer Programs to and from EMU41 running on a PC,
... + you can "make" and save your own 4K Modules as HP48 Variables. You can easily store inside an HP48GX well above 1 000 000 bytes of your Custom Programs, should you require or so desire it,
All this Hrast has made it possible, and I could extend the list with the Virtual Program or Status Cards which you can store as variables on your HP48/49/50, and more ...
In comparison with what can be spent just to purchase a physical HP41 from the Web - as I can read here and there on this Forum - a 100 Euro expense for purchasing one of Hrast's Wonderful Emulators is certainly a more than reasonable expense, given everything Hrast includes in his Emulators ...
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Well, Egan, this has been certainly a quite interesting subject to adress. I did appreciate you very valid view points on Emulators, including your comments on the ones which are not free.
Let this Conversation be known to all who might be interested in its content, especially to new comers to this forum, so that they may know that - in addition to the newly / currently developped Software and Hardware designed to improve the " real thing " - there are also very viable fall-back options.
... Had I known 5 years ago about such Emulators, I would have felt
very much better then !!!
Thank You again for your Kind Attention and
Best Regards from
Antoine
Edited: 1 Mar 2008, 7:44 a.m.
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