HP Forum Archive 19

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

OT: The uCalc is born Message #1 Posted by DaveJ on 6 Jan 2010, 6:11 a.m. Don't get excited though, it doesn't actually work yet, I just wanted to tease (myself, because I don't have the time to work on it ATM). Before anyone asks, the bit on the side is a temporary programming header. Dave.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #2 Posted by Katie Wasserman on 6 Jan 2010, 10:50 a.m., in response to message #1 by DaveJ Dave WOW! I think that you managed to incorporate virtually everyone's comments on keyboard layout in the final design. Even if you never get the time to finish the hardware, this alone was a successful project. -Katie p.s. How would you like a job putting the US health care system fixes together? :)

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #3 Posted by Walter B on 6 Jan 2010, 1:06 p.m., in response to message #1 by DaveJ Good work! Though some labels could have been saved by placing the digits A ... F on the same keys where these letters are located. But I see this now and didn't discover it earlier, so I won't criticize. BTW, what shall the label WORD do? Next to the bit you explained ;)

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #4 Posted by Mark Henderson on 6 Jan 2010, 1:16 p.m., in response to message #3 by Walter B Love it! Excited to see what happens next! Well done.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #5 Posted by Mark Henderson on 6 Jan 2010, 1:17 p.m., in response to message #4 by Mark Henderson Would also love to see uCalc next to something for size reference!

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #6 Posted by DaveJ on 6 Jan 2010, 3:07 p.m., in response to message #5 by Mark Henderson Quote: Would also love to see uCalc next to something for size reference! It's the exact same dimensions as a credit card. Dave.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #7 Posted by Geir Isene on 6 Jan 2010, 1:27 p.m., in response to message #1 by DaveJ /me WANT!

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #8 Posted by hugh steers on 6 Jan 2010, 2:03 p.m., in response to message #7 by Geir Isene the unusually prominent bit operations would make this a handy pocket sized 16C. I often need hex and oct when debugging code and this might serve as a handy device for calculating with this. to answer the "WORD" question, i presume this is to set the word size for the bit operations.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #9 Posted by Bruce Bergman on 6 Jan 2010, 1:49 p.m., in response to message #1 by DaveJ When are you going to start taking pre-orders? ;-) thanks, bruce

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #10 Posted by DaveJ on 6 Jan 2010, 6:53 p.m., in response to message #9 by Bruce Bergman Quote: When are you going to start taking pre-orders? ;-) When I actually have them ready to send! Dave.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #11 Posted by Paul Dale on 6 Jan 2010, 8:12 p.m., in response to message #10 by DaveJ Put me down for one regardless :-) - Pauli

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #12 Posted by Sancerre (Phoenix) on 6 Jan 2010, 8:49 p.m., in response to message #1 by DaveJ Me too, sign me up for one whenever it is available. --Tod

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #13 Posted by Patrick Rendulic on 7 Jan 2010, 2:04 a.m., in response to message #12 by Sancerre (Phoenix) I will buy one. Question: When a single person can produce such an interesting pre-prototype in such a short type, then why can't HP produce "the dream calculator"?

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #14 Posted by Walter B on 7 Jan 2010, 2:58 a.m., in response to message #13 by Patrick Rendulic Many forumers ask and have asked this question. Maybe the reason is a single person is free to do what (s)he wants, more persons need to synchronize and agree on their tasks, taking some fraction of their work capacity away, and persons in big companies ... :(

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #15 Posted by DaveJ on 7 Jan 2010, 3:16 a.m., in response to message #14 by Walter B Quote: Maybe the reason is a single person is free to do what (s)he wants And indeed that is the case with the uCalc. I've had many people tell me I'm wasting my time on the uCalc as no one would want it. But they forget the most important thing - *I* want a credit card calc, and that's always enough reason for the midnight engineer! Dave.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #16 Posted by DaveJ on 7 Jan 2010, 3:11 a.m., in response to message #13 by Patrick Rendulic Quote: When a single person can produce such an interesting pre-prototype in such a short type, then why can't HP produce "the dream calculator"? Well, for starters there is no such thing as a single "dream calculator", everyone has (often vastly) different dreams. Second problem is that HP (like most companies) are marketing driven, they will only produce products that they think have the best chance of making them the largest financial return. That is not always the "best" possible product, in fact a lot of the time it's simply figment of some marketing or management fools imagination! The 35S, and recent open platform calcs show HP still actually people with a clue who at least make some of the decisions, it's encouraging. Thirdly, they are big, and design by committee doesn't work well at all. I can turn around a product from concept to pre-production in weeks, but it takes a big company like HP weeks just to do the paper work and have the meetings just to get to the planing stage. If you've worked in a big engineering company you'll know that Dilbert is REAL! Dave.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #17 Posted by Martin Pinckney on 7 Jan 2010, 2:50 p.m., in response to message #16 by DaveJ Just excuses. If someone in authority wanted it done, it would get done.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #18 Posted by Mike T on 16 Jan 2010, 4:28 p.m., in response to message #17 by Martin Pinckney But they won't because unless they are CERTAIN that they can sell 30K+ they are not going to risk making a loss on the production costs. Mike T.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #19 Posted by Steve S on 7 Jan 2010, 7:21 p.m., in response to message #12 by Sancerre (Phoenix) ...You can definitely put me down for one, too...

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #20 Posted by DaveJ on 7 Jan 2010, 6:41 a.m., in response to message #1 by DaveJ For those keen to see a bit more hardware, you get a glimpse in my latest BLOG Dave.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #21 Posted by Paul Dale on 7 Jan 2010, 7:11 a.m., in response to message #20 by DaveJ Lovely blog. We've had more than a few run ins with silicon problems. "Device doesn't always initialise" i.e. it doesn't boot or do anything. The work around -- fit a watchdog timer device and let that kick it until it does boot -- eventually. And the ongoing conservations of the form: "It is really cheap" "But it doesn't work" "But it is really cheap" ... - Pauli Edited: 7 Jan 2010, 7:11 a.m.

Re: OT: The uCalc is born Message #22 Posted by Michael Plant on 7 Jan 2010, 3:25 p.m., in response to message #21 by Paul Dale Looks fantastic, Dave! Thank you for sharing this with us.

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

Go back to the main exhibit hall