HP-50gII Discussion (split from 15c CE thread)

[johnb]

(08-28-2023 05:38 PM)John Keith Wrote:  

(08-28-2023 04:52 PM)johnb Wrote:  ... Do we need to accomodate 48-style pluggable modules? If so, more than 2 of them?]

No, because the 1990's RAM/ROM cards run at much slower speeds than modern hardware and accommodating them would be an interfacing nightmare, and would add significant cost. Most if not all modules are available in binary form, and all of them would fit on a Micro SD card with room to spare.

Good point! So, yeah, we want a slimmer form factor than the 48gx/sx. Maybe also save some length by having a much smaller border around the screen.

(08-28-2023 05:38 PM)John Keith Wrote:  If the modern 48/50 is going to appeal to more than a handful of hard-core collectors, it will need to be much faster and have much larger memory. I would consider the specs of the Prime G2 to be a floor in terms of performance and memory capacity.

We are in "violent agreement" here, LOL. :-D

(08-28-2023 05:38 PM)John Keith Wrote:  On the software side, I would like to see it run both NewRPL and a "compatibility mode" that can use standard HP 50 ROMs, similar to Emu48. NewRPL is much faster than "old RPL" but there are a huge number of programs and libraries out there which are written in System RPL and/or assembly, which we do not want to lose access to.

I hadn't thought of two modes, but this makes perfect sense. If HP wants to sell a good number of these, it needs both NewRPL and HP-50-RPL. I want a 50gII specifically so I can run all the existing 50g software. Others might not care about that at all and would want NewRPL.