HP50G not so good news?

[Claudio L.]

(03-06-2015 04:44 PM)Tim Wessman Wrote:  The big question as has been pointed out vaguely already is "what constitutes a professional". Unfortunately, that definition is completely different depending on what type of "professional" one is. For example, for one person the serial port might be the most important part of the device. While for a majority of others they never could care once about having it.

Marketing speak however is, and will always be, marketing speak. At least there is one "constant" in the universe that probably will never change... :-|

Hello Tim,
How about the following?
During the next hardware revision of the Prime, expose some additional pads on the PCB for SD/MMC controller, and perhaps the second UART (there's one exposed from pictures I've seen out there, though it would be better on one side of the board), and perhaps a few unused GPIO. Just adding a few tracks to the PCB shouldn't add any cost, but would allow other people ("professionals"?) to mod the calculator, adding an SD card, or an extra serial port.
Since this requires unsanctioned hardware mods and firmware replacement, it shouldn't invalidate its approval for exams (even with a modded calc, the HP firmware won't use it, so they can't use it for cheating).
This way, for nearly zero cost per unit to HP, some groups could modify and repurpose the calculator to be more adapted to their needs. Surveyors need the SD card to store data, electrical engineers use the serial port more often, I'm a structural engineer and like to save my work on an SD card, so if the calc gets fried, I can pull the card and get my data.

Just an idea.

Claudio