HP Forum Archive 21

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What didn't you do last year ? Message #1 Posted by Michael de Estrada on 5 Jan 2013, 12:00 p.m. I didn't buy a single calculator, vintage or new, with the Hewlett-Packard brand name on it. I did buy six RPN calculators, but they were all non-HP. The last HP calc I bought was an HP 15C LE in December, 2011, and there has been nothing that I fancy since then. I own all the vintage HP calcs that I want, all RPN, and few of the current ones are interesting to me. It seems that HP has reached the end of the road with quality calculators, and about the only thing new is different color schemes. Edited: 5 Jan 2013, 12:01 p.m.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #2 Posted by Mike Morrow on 5 Jan 2013, 2:42 p.m., in response to message #1 by Michael de Estrada You must not be familiar with the 2012 HP 39gII. It's quite a capable and intriguing device. It has a distinctive programming model that is not at all related to RPN or RPL. It's very fast and attractive, though rather large. The thing I miss most is the lack of the clock and calendar functions that have long been expected in a machine of this class. Unfortunately it is not sold in the US. In another 2012 sphere, the DM-10CC though DM-16CC make a nice set of Voyager mini-clones. The DM-15CC emulation of the HP-15C seems to be both more faithful to the original and more capable, compared to the emulation that showed up in the official HP 15C-LE clones. However, the keyboard issues of the DM-series make them questionable for real day-to-day usage. Edited: 5 Jan 2013, 2:51 p.m.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #3 Posted by Michael de Estrada on 5 Jan 2013, 4:01 p.m., in response to message #2 by Mike Morrow Three of the six calculators I did buy last year were the Swiss clones of the original HP 15C. One of them has the MEM80 extended memory firmware, which makes it vastly more useful for matrix operations. They are considerably faster than the original HP 15C, especially when running at 48MHz, although not nearly as fast as the HP 15C LE.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #4 Posted by Doug (NYC) on 5 Jan 2013, 7:57 p.m., in response to message #3 by Michael de Estrada Would you please provide names/models/makes and URLs of these interesting Swiss Clones of the HP 15C? Intrigued. Thanks! (I know about the DM-15CC, I'll be getting one soon, but I probably erroneously guess you mean something else?)

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #5 Posted by Michael de Estrada on 5 Jan 2013, 9:39 p.m., in response to message #4 by Doug (NYC) I mean the same thing. SwissMicros.com

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #6 Posted by Thomas Radtke on 6 Jan 2013, 5:26 a.m., in response to message #1 by Michael de Estrada 2012 was the first year I didn't bought any used calculators from TAS, but a couple of new calculators (like the new 10BII+) and two Pioneers from a colleague. Early this year I removed the batteries of most of my calculators to store the calcs in cardboard boxes. The ones with build-in batteries (like Commodores R-models) are awaiting this treatment. Left are a brown bezel 32SII, 15C LE, 48G, 19B, 30b and 10BII+. Much more than enough. Somehow I lost interest beyond using them where appropriate. This year, I'll try to reduce the number of stand-by calculators further. Maybe only a 32SII and the new 10BII+ will be left, allthough I'd miss the matrix capabilities of the 15C LE.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #7 Posted by Mike Morrow on 6 Jan 2013, 12:06 p.m., in response to message #6 by Thomas Radtke Quote: Maybe only a 32SII and the new 10BII+ will be left, allthough I'd miss the matrix capabilities of the 15C LE. You need a HP-42S!! More than 25 years after introduction, it's still the best (though not perfect) HP RPN scientific machine of all time.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #8 Posted by Thomas Radtke on 7 Jan 2013, 1:30 a.m., in response to message #7 by Mike Morrow You're surely right. TAS prices (over here in germany it's almost impossible to get hold of it any other way) along with the prospect of a zebra connection getting bad prevent obtaining one ;-(.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #9 Posted by aurelio on 7 Jan 2013, 3:17 p.m., in response to message #8 by Thomas Radtke Quote: You're surely right. TAS prices (over here in germany it's almost impossible to get hold of it any other way) along with the prospect of a zebra connection getting bad prevent obtaining one ;-(. Excuse me for my (maybe elementary) question, but what does "TAS" mean?

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #10 Posted by Walter B on 7 Jan 2013, 3:31 p.m., in response to message #9 by aurelio TAS = That Auction Site in analogy to TOS. Find more about searching the archives. d:-I

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #11 Posted by aurelio on 7 Jan 2013, 3:38 p.m., in response to message #10 by Walter B Thank-you, Walter, grazie!

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #12 Posted by Mike Morrow on 7 Jan 2013, 6:10 p.m., in response to message #9 by aurelio The explicit use of "eBay" is fine on this forum...the cryptic "TAS" is no longer needed. It has recently been pointed out that the citation of a specific eBay item should be also contain the eBay ID of the one making the post. But a generic and general reference to eBay requires no special cautions or notes.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #13 Posted by Mike Morrow on 7 Jan 2013, 6:32 p.m., in response to message #8 by Thomas Radtke Quote: You're surely right. TAS prices (over here in germany it's almost impossible to get hold of it any other way) That's certainly seems true everywhere in the world for the past 18 years. It took me two years to find two new-in-box (NIB) ROM version C units after it was discontinued in 1995. However, I have found two other HP-42S units, ROM version A ($100 for one NIB, and $50 for one calculator only, well used) at amateur radio shows ("hamfests") in the US in just the past 18 months. I've also found a HP-15C for $10, and a HP-9820A (non-working) for $20, and many other lesser items as well. Quote: along with the prospect of a zebra connection getting bad prevent obtaining one ;-(. I've been using one almost daily since 1997. It still looks like new, and it still works perfectly. I have several 400-step programs that reside in it and I have never lost anything in memory...once I stopped playing around with its internal debugger. It has held up much better than my 28 year old HP-15C, even though like all Pioneers, it is butt-ugly in color scheme. :-)

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #14 Posted by Maximilian Hohmann on 6 Jan 2013, 12:16 p.m., in response to message #1 by Michael de Estrada I think I didn't use a calcualtor all year - at least I really can't remember. But I bought a few new (old) ones. Without using them, because I really have no idea what to use them for.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #15 Posted by Eddie W. Shore on 6 Jan 2013, 10:46 p.m., in response to message #1 by Michael de Estrada I didn't buy HP's QuickCalc of replace the HP 10S.

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #16 Posted by Jim Horn on 7 Jan 2013, 6:07 p.m., in response to message #1 by Michael de Estrada I didn't make it to HHC2012. I *am* looking forward to attending one again!

Re: What didn't you do last year ? Message #17 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 9 Jan 2013, 1:45 p.m., in response to message #16 by Jim Horn Jim, same here. :( As en "excuse" I made it to Paris to meet a group of French calculator enthusiasts.

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