I have a 42S I use almost daily. I have long since lost the manual but most of what I remember is enough - except one thing that irritates me all the time. If I have a menu on the bottom of my two line display, how can I get back to the two line data display? In other words, how do I get rid of the menu without using anything on it? The only way I seem to know is to go to Clear and do a ClearAll of memory. But there must be an easier way to simply clear the menu display without doing anything with it.

Thanks - Lawrence

I don't have a 42S in front of me, but I think the EXIT key clears the menu line.

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I don't have a 42S in front of me, but I think the EXIT key clears the menu line.

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Indeed; that's why the lower-left button is labeled "EXIT", instead of "C" (for Clear) as on other Pioneer-series models.

-- KS

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I don't have a 42S in front of me, but I think the EXIT key clears the menu line.

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That is correct, but it's not the whole story. The HP-42S menu system has several levels, and EXIT only takes you out of the current level, up to whatever menu level was active before. There is no key that takes you out of all menus all at once.


An extreme example is this: from having no active menu, press STAT, CFIT, MODL, PGM.FCN, [down], X?0, STO, [.], IND, ENTER, ABCDE.


From the state the calculator is in by then, you have to press EXIT seven times to get rid of all the menus.


There may be ways to get to states where you need to press EXIT even more times to get out of all menus, but I can't remember them offhand... Fellow HP-42S enthusiasts, please chime in!

Long story short: the HP-42S does not have a key that gets rid of all active menus all at once. The EXITALL function comes close but it's not on the keyboard.


Just press EXIT until the menus are gone. You'll hardly ever have to press it more than 2 or 3 times.


Enjoy the HP-42S menu system; it's one of the best there is. :-)

- Thomas

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... Fellow HP-42S enthusiasts, please chime in!

Long story short: the HP-42S does not have a key that gets rid of all active menus all at once. The EXITALL function comes close but it's not on the keyboard.

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Hi, Thomas --

EXITALL is indeed the best solution for these situations. That's why I assign it to the first level of my CUSTOM menu.

Other assignments of useful or repeatedly-used functions that are not accessible by a single keystroke:

CLV, %CH, R_up, VIEW

Second level of the CUSTOM menu: The six hyperbolic functions...

-- KS

CLV ? Isn't it 2 keystrokes away in both cases?

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CLV ? Isn't it 2 keystrokes away in both cases?

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Actually, three including shift, for a single execution. The point here is "repeatedly-used": If the user is housecleaning to purge multiple unused variables, the CUSTOM menu persists to allow single-key access to clear the next variable.

-- KS

Edited: 10 Apr 2009, 11:34 p.m.

does not work on Free42...

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(CLV in CUSTOM menu) does not work on Free42...

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I'm finding that CLV will not function when invoked from the user's CUSTOM menu on Free42 v1.4.36, both Decimal and Binary.

It's possible that later releases have remedied this bug...

Free42 is still an exceptional piece of software.

-- KS

Edited: 12 Apr 2009, 8:34 p.m.

Thanks for the report. This is indeed broken even in the latest version.


I'm in the middle of finishing the iPhone port (plug, plug :-) -- this is the full version with *.raw program import and export, skin switching, and print spooling) so luckily I'll be able to slip in the CLV bug fix without having to do a mental context switch. Next weekend, hopefully.

- Thomas

Thanks, Thomas, I thought this would be the shortest way to let you know. Looking forward for the new release.
Cheers, Reth

Hi Reth --

The best way to let me know about Free42 bugs is usually email; my address is on the Free42 home page at SourceForge, or you can use the MoHPC email feature. I check my Yahoo email almost every day, but I'm not quite as reliable when it comes to reading the MoHPC forum... If you post a message to the forum while I'm not paying attention to it for several days, I may never see it, but if you send it to my Yahoo address, I will get it, even though it may take a while before I actually respond. :-)

- Thomas