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HP41 USER mode - HP42 CUSTOM menu - Free42
11-09-2020, 11:05 AM
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HP41 USER mode - HP42 CUSTOM menu - Free42
Hello,

Inspired by an adjacent thread I have a petition:

I think the HP41 USER mode has a big advantage over the HP42S Custom Menu:

When you don't enter or debug a program, you have 14 Keys you don't need:
LBL, GTO, SST, BST, ISG, RTN, x=y?, x<=y?, x>y?, x=0?, SF, CF, FS?, BEEP
If you don't need statistics, you can add another 3: Sigma+, Sigma- and CLSigma

You can reassign all these keys and you still have all the mathematical functions in USER mode.
And you normally don't have to leave this mode.

If you use the HP42S Custom Menu, you lose direct access to all the essential mathematical keys
of the top row - you need to press SHIFT-TOP.FCN and the key: 3 or 4 presses instead of 1 or 2.
IMO this is the biggest design flaw of the HP-42S (together with the impossibility of bidirectional communication).

So my plea to Thomas Okken for the wonderful Free42:
Please make an option to get another row of keys like the DM42.
And make the default assignment (if no menu is selected) the custom keys 1-6 (shifted 7-12).
Then you have:
- always access to the essential top row functions
- a kind of automatic USER menu similar to the HP-41 USER menu
- no compatibility problems

Kind regards
JSBach
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HP41 USER mode - HP42 CUSTOM menu - Free42 - JSBach - 11-09-2020 11:05 AM



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