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HP Forum Archive 19

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So I got the printed HP35 manual
Message #1 Posted by Dimitri Simitas on 9 Feb 2010, 6:55 p.m.

I asked and got one pretty quick, Friday after lunch and it came today with UPS.

Since there was talk about HP's spiral bound manuals used in the past. I thought you may be interest to know the value of the manual is apparently 1.88$ printed in China.

Which makes me wonder why HP choises to ship them on request. Time on a 800 number, the call takers wage, the UPS shipping, must add up unless really few ask for the manuals?

Dimitri

      
Re: So I got the printed HP35 manual
Message #2 Posted by Thomas Radtke on 10 Feb 2010, 4:38 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Dimitri Simitas

You're talking about the 35s.

Time on a 800 number, the call takers wage, the UPS shipping, must add up unless really few ask for the manuals?
... which is probably the case.

The green argument doesn't count as long as the product ships in a plastic blister instead of a cardboard box.

      
Re: And how about the 50g!
Message #3 Posted by Maarten Ambaum (Reading, UK) on 10 Feb 2010, 5:55 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Dimitri Simitas

Not bad. I just got a 50g and they still include a short paper manual with a more extensive manual on a CD. However, both these manuals are practically USELESS if you are interested in programming RPL, or want to use any of the more advanced features (USB connecting to a Mac, for example; how advanced is that?). Thankfully, there are many active users who have posted their own programs, manuals and tutorials - the short HPMuseum RPL tutorial is more informative than the corresponding chapter in the user manual. Perhaps HP should be straightforward about it and just provide a command reference (including system RPL) and refer to the web community for advanced manuals.

The 50g also came in a plastic shell which requires heavy machinery and protective clothing to open it (this time I am not joking!). It took me about 20 minutes, opening the shell trying not to damage the calculator. I have heard that they changed this ridiculous packaging for the new models. Does anyone have evidence of this?

They also packaged with it some el cheapo MP3 player. Do they really believe that more people will buy the calculator if they include some not asked for cheap gimmick? It hardly advertises this calculator as a "serious piece of kit". The marketing guys at HP really must go on a basic marketing course.

            
Re: And how about the 50g!
Message #4 Posted by Thomas Radtke on 10 Feb 2010, 6:12 a.m.,
in response to message #3 by Maarten Ambaum (Reading, UK)

They also packaged with it some el cheapo MP3 player.

Interesting. Should be at least an iPod Shuffle to reach the target audience (students). Otherwise, it is more distracting than attracting since you have to dispose ist somehow ;-).

            
Cheap Gimmick?
Message #5 Posted by Frank Boehm (Germany) on 10 Feb 2010, 7:03 a.m.,
in response to message #3 by Maarten Ambaum (Reading, UK)

I think MPEGLA etc. royalties are probably more expensive than a printed manual.
Nice set of priorities on HPs' side :)

            
Re: And how about the 50g!
Message #6 Posted by Martin Pinckney on 10 Feb 2010, 10:21 a.m.,
in response to message #3 by Maarten Ambaum (Reading, UK)

Quote:
They also packaged with it some el cheapo MP3 player. Do they really believe that more people will buy the calculator if they include some not asked for cheap gimmick? It hardly advertises this calculator as a "serious piece of kit". The marketing guys at HP really must go on a basic marketing course.
Agreed. And perhaps more to the point? - The marketing guys are running the program rather than the product development guys?
            
Re: And how about the 50g!
Message #7 Posted by Egan Ford on 10 Feb 2010, 3:54 p.m.,
in response to message #3 by Maarten Ambaum (Reading, UK)

Perhpas you purchased the MP3 player and the 50g was the freebee. :-)

                  
Re: And how about the 50g!
Message #8 Posted by Maarten Ambaum (Reading, UK) on 11 Feb 2010, 5:56 a.m.,
in response to message #7 by Egan Ford

Perhaps I can use the MP3 player to store your hpgcc stuff: with the size of the binaries it produces I can easily fill the 1gig on the MP3 player ...

                        
Re: And how about the 50g!
Message #9 Posted by David Hayden on 11 Feb 2010, 8:00 a.m.,
in response to message #8 by Maarten Ambaum (Reading, UK)

Quote:
Perhaps I can use the MP3 player to store your hpgcc stuff: with the size of the binaries it produces I can easily fill the 1gig on the MP3 player ...


I know that you made the comment in jest, I'll still point out that even if your HPGCC binaries were 100k each (a big over estimate), a 1GB card will hold 10,000 of them. They load very quickly from SD, so to me, the large binary size is a non-issue on the 50g.
            
Re: 50g RPL programming manual (was: Re: And how about the 50g!)
Message #10 Posted by Bart (UK) on 11 Feb 2010, 8:27 a.m.,
in response to message #3 by Maarten Ambaum (Reading, UK)

Quote:
both these manuals are practically USELESS if you are interested in programming RPL
Yes, for some stupid reason HP do not include the necessary manual on CD. It is available on the website: HP 48gII and 50g Graphing Calculator Advanced User's Reference Manual (V2). It has only recently been updated to include references to the 50G, it used to only refer to the 48GII / 49G+ !!! This manual provides instruction and examples for RPL programming and a complete command and function reference.
                  
Re: 50g RPL programming manual (was: Re: And how about the 50g!)
Message #11 Posted by Walter B on 11 Feb 2010, 8:48 a.m.,
in response to message #10 by Bart (UK)

Thanks for that link!

                        
Re: 50g RPL programming manual (was: Re: And how about the 50g!)
Message #12 Posted by Ed Look on 11 Feb 2010, 2:33 p.m.,
in response to message #11 by Walter B

I thank you, too.

I had been using the 50g and 49g+ on the basis of what I remember from the 48g/g+ and THEIR AUR, which was a pretty good manual, but I suspect there are things specific to the 49g+/50g series that not in there.

                              
Re: 50g RPL programming manual (was: Re: And how about the 50g!)
Message #13 Posted by David Hayden on 12 Feb 2010, 11:00 a.m.,
in response to message #12 by Ed Look

Walter and Ed, note that the 49G Advanced User Reference PDF includes hyperlinks in the document while the 50G version does not. This makes the 49G version a lot easier to navigate through. I have both documents on my computer but I always go to the 49G manual first.

You probably know this already, but get HPUserEdit or Debug4x so you can develop your code on a PC. It's vastly easier than trying to develop and debug directly on the calculator.

                                    
Re: 50g RPL programming manual (was: Re: And how about the 50g!)
Message #14 Posted by Ed Look on 12 Feb 2010, 9:19 p.m.,
in response to message #13 by David Hayden

Actually, stepping through a program with the "SST" softkey isn't so bad if you can put up with a long program. I'm not good enough with RPL that I could print or display a program and spot what's wrong just by reading through it.

But you're right, HPUserEdit has been invaluable to me, even if more for converting 50g programs to 48g or vice versa. Next time I need to program any of the 50/49 or 48's I'll use HPUserEdit before I waste battery power tapping it out on the calcs.

As for hyperlinks, eh... I'm old-fashioned enough that they don't do much for me. I am sort of upset that for the 49g and 50g, the AUR really can only read onscreen (this is why I first reach for the 48G AUR).


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