Most underrated programmables

[Claudio L.]

(01-29-2015 03:14 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  

(01-29-2015 02:22 PM)Dwight Sturrock Wrote:  Main drawback is its battleship (Walter B) or perhaps aircraft carrier size, not pocketable. Very inconvenient for many venues.

I wonder if a 50g could be made as thin as the Prime now. Agreed that it would still be considered enormous in the other two dimensions, as compared to the 20b/30b/34S form factor.

Jake

Here's an idea to do the opposite:
Odroid-C1 w/3.2" color touchscreen (US $64, similar to a Raspberry Pi but faster) + an HP 50g w/special firmware that all it does is read the keyboard and send keystrokes via serial port to the Odroid-C1. (alternatively, just tear the 50g apart and connect the keyboard matrix to GPIO on the main board). Or if you like any other keyboard, simply choose your favorite HP and hook up the key matrix.
The width is about the same as the 50g, thickness is a lot more. It will be bigger, thicker, heavier, will require external power or a huge battery, but it can be an excellent boat-size calculator with great connectivity (even Ethernet) and an HP-original keyboard.
Still, it will be only slightly more expensive than a Prime but much more powerful (assuming a new 50g is used for keyboard, could be cheaper with other keyboards).
Smaller calcs would compete with the WP34S, so it has to be big and bulky to have its own market, more or less like this device... (this article will bring memories to some people in this forum...)