Hello Folks,
Usually I discard all the ad pages but this morning something caught my eye and almost left me in disbelief: Ye olde HP12C is back. 25th anniversary edition and on sale for under $80. Ok, it's the financial version and not the 11C. But still, amazing. Almost as if GM would have brought the EV-1 back but that's wishful thinking I guess.
I don't remember who the ad was from but both Circuit City and Best Buy carry them.
-- Regards, Joerg (a very satisfied HP11C user) http://www.analogconsultants.com
Darn, if they did the scientific version I'd buy a dozen of them.
John
The financial version is probably more useful as is than a pocket PC and a software package. Perhaps that's not the case for the Scientific although they still sell used for close to those prices on eBay.
The scientific version would be made by Agilent.
Hello Homer,
A pocket PC is IMHO no alternative for any calculator. They slurp their batteries dry in no time and they weigh too much in a shirt pocket and thus wear it out. This HP11C here ran its first 15 years on one set of batteries. Pocket PCs have a long ways to come if I were to buy one. Not just in power consumption and price but also in ease of use. There needs to be a reasonable keyboard, no fumbling with some stylus.
If they came out with the 11C I'd buy another one or two. But John may be right in buying more. They could become a hot collector's item some day.
-- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com
Ain't it the truth. I've had the same 11C since 1983(?) and its still ticking on only its thirt set of batteries. I changed the first set of batteries after only a couple of months to ensure that they didn't die during an exam. Little did I know.
RPN rulez! ;-)
Seriously, a fine calculator.
-- Michael N. Moran (h) 770 516 7918 5009 Old Field Ct. (c) 678 521 5460 Kennesaw, GA, USA 30144 http://mnmoran.org "So often times it happens, that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key." The Eagles, "Already Gone" The Beatles were wrong: 1 & 1 & 1 is 1
Aha, the 11C; one of the finest. A company where I worked 10 years ago, sold off a bunch of them as surplus, IIRC, I paid $10 for three. It has since become my favourite calculator. And it's still on the same set of batteries.
I see in the 11C handbook, they claim the batteries are "good for 6 months or more" --- Understatement of the millenium.
I suppose most folk know of it, but the site
Barry Lennox
I've still got my old HP-15C. I thought it was broken but still kept it for many years. Then about 6 months ago I stuck some batteries in it for grins and it came back to life.
Robert
It never went away. It has been in office supply stores all these years.
I sort of regret that I sold my HP 16C years ago... the one that does hex and binary, with (if I recall correctly) any word length that you like.
Have you seen the 15C emulators around? I looked at one point a while back and didn't see anything I was comfortable with.
Robert
Up to 64 bits.
I left mine on an airplane many years ago and it disappeared. 8-( You can download emulated versions for free.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
-- "it\'s the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
IIRC there was a DOS version around which was shareware, later freeware. There were three, one for each of the popular ones.
Circa '79, I found myself in a new job (designing ATE equipment). While I knew my bases from my collectors, I knew nothing about these new-fangled microprocessors, or "software" (which I initially thought meant squishy components), or any of that stuff, and needed to. I looked around the R&D dept, and found two training aids:
1) A programmable HP calculator (no idea what flavour - that braincell has long since retired). IIRC, it had a printer cradle and some kind of memory card storage. And a manual 2) A Motorola 6800 eval board, with a hex display (4 for address, 2 for data), a hex keypad, and a primer manual.I took each of these home, one after the other, and spent many evenings entering esoteric codes, one digit at a time, until I felt I had "mastered" the necessary programming-fu. (Hah!) If memory serves, the HP calculator training included a programme which outputted various life waves, based on one's birthday but with slightly different frequencies, which one could use to determine whether today was likely to be a good day or not. Back then, this was a popular pastime.
A bit later I built a Nascom 2 at work (a Z80-based home computer, popular amongst UK geeks at the time), and continued entering esoteric codes until I nabbed a copy of ZEAP (a Z80 assembler, provided in EPROM, and saving projects to tape). It was notable for having an early proprietary version of MS-BASIC, written specifically for them by one W. Gates. Then I bought an Acorn Atom (6502-based) for home use, which had a very decent kinda-BASIC-with-inline-assembler, and moved up a notch.
Thus was my firmware development career born. The HP programmable was my cherry.
Steve (feeling very old and somewhat nostalgic)
I have not seen one that is 100%.
With some of the earlier models, the original program ROM data can be run on an emulator, yielding very similar behavior.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
-- "it\'s the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
What's the difference between computers and humans? With computers, the software goes into the hardware.
I saw a DOS one once that had some of the functionality but not all. Probably more around I haven't seen.
Robert
Heh. Still use my 16C regularly and my HP41CV every day Still have the card reader and several expansion packs for the 41, but never use them or the programming capabilities any more because if I'm going to that manount of trouble I'll write a spreadsheet of a real program to do the work, but in the days before a PC on every desk I had a plethora of programs on cards in a big card wallet. They are fantastic calculators. Only qanother 20 years or so until I retire, I bet they'll last me out!
-- Nobby Anderson
I alternate between my 28S and 48G. I've had the 28S for 20 years now, and I love it.
as an aside, with windoze calculator, why does the sqrt() button disappear in scientific mode?
of course its always a struggle to use a non-RPN calculator
Cheers Terry
Ahh, the 11C. Mine is still sitting just to the right of my mouse pad, for whenever I need a *real* calculator. Can't quite get used to non-RPN calculators.
Somewhere around here is my trusty old HP45, needing only a battery pack to get a new lease of life - but that's very unlikely since the 11C appeared, and it is still going strong on the original battery (batteries? don't know, never had to look).
Ouch! ... a stimulated nerve cell! Name that fad: "bio-rhythms" ;-)
-- Michael N. Moran (h) 770 516 7918 5009 Old Field Ct. (c) 678 521 5460 Kennesaw, GA, USA 30144 http://mnmoran.org "So often times it happens, that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key." The Eagles, "Already Gone" The Beatles were wrong: 1 & 1 & 1 is 1
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