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Does anyone know what happened to all the software that was in the User's Library.???

After 20+ years I still use my HP41 (and acces.) religously every day, and after finding this site I'am happy to see the strong following that HP calculators still have.

Best to all.

Ron, you have asked the $64,000 question. It has been asked before on this forum and the best that can be figured is that it was likely thrown out many years ago by HP or something like that. If you do a search on older forum posts, probably for last year, you will likely find out more.

as i remember, it was said here said that someone in oregon got it and then lost interest. it was left in and probably thrown out of a rented storage space. id be interested in knowing where (and if) it is too, and in knowing how badly i remembered the story.

I am willing to start rebuilding the library.

Any volunteers to help?

I have some concern about copyright law. Does anyone know what HP's arrangement was with authors of software for the Library?
I can start a list of program numbers that I have, and I could scan one of the later catalogs of programs in the library?

Dave Hicks HP Museum and the Library Of CD's he has built seems like an obvious distribution method, if copyright law is not an issue.

I, too, miss the old Users' Library. I used to leaf through each new catalog and marvel at the range of applications for what is still my favorite programmable device (and wonder just what the heck some of those applications did!)

Some time in 1987 (I think) HP announced that it was transferring the UL to a company called Solve and Integrate. Old hands will remember S&I as a constant presence in the EduCalc catalog during the 'eighties, selling software and I think plug-in ROMs for the 41. I immediately purchased a catalog from the new guys, and subscribed to their newsletter.

The catalog appears to be pretty much the complete text of HP's last edition, but it's printed on better paper and bound between stiff cardboard covers. Pricing was a little steeper, with most programs going for $12-$14 and mag cards extra at $1.25 each.

S&I began their new project with fairly ambitious goals, according to the intro to the catalog. They had acquired the HP-67/97 library and planned to start a collection of HP-28S programs as well. Program documentation would be as before, with extra-cost options for mag cards, mini-cassettes and two sizes of floppies. I ordered a couple of programs from them, and don't recall any particular problems.

Late in 1990 I received a newsletter--dated April-December 1990--which made it apparent that things weren't going according to plan. The lead article discussed the success of the new 48 and the corresponding decline in interest in 41 series programs. Programs for the HP-48 didn't lend themselves to paid distribution, being shorter and more compact that those for the 41. And amateur programmers were less willing give their code away for someone else to sell.

With the significance of the archive called into question, said the article, S&I would "de-emphasize" the Users' Library, and focus its efforts on books, disks and eventually application cards for the 48 series.

And that's the last I heard from Solve and Integrate. I don't recall whether I quit subscribing or the company became inactive. Their reasons for abandoning the UL seem a little weak to me, but this was ten years ago and I wasn't there. There's no listing for Solve and Integrate in the Corvallis yellow pages, and the old phone number comes up "unassigned" in cross-reference check. So we probably can't hold out much hope for the survival of the collection.

I managed to acquire an old catalog from Solve & Integrate about a year ago (purchased for $1 on eBay!).

It's in a 3-ring binder, about 1.5 inches thick and has descriptions of all the programs available, with prices.

No software, unfortunately.

Todd
Connecticut, USA