Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Printable Version +- HP Forums (https://archived.hpcalc.org/museumforum) +-- Forum: HP Museum Forums (https://archived.hpcalc.org/museumforum/forum-1.html) +--- Forum: Old HP Forum Archives (https://archived.hpcalc.org/museumforum/forum-2.html) +--- Thread: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware (/thread-253996.html) |
Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Eelco Rouw - 10-27-2013 Hi everybody, Yes, I am sorry to start a new Prime thread, knowing that a lot of people come for the "vintage" calculators. I have been a long time fan of HP calculators, owning a 32S, 28S, 49G, 35S and a 50G. Now I have bought the Prime and as I said earlier, I really like the ambition of the calculator. I understand that HP bets on the educational market and I can appreciate that they try to please the engineers as well. From a strategic standpoint, I can understand that most effort will be spent in optimizing the educational part (algebraic, apps, exam mode etc.) and the remaining time the more "engineering" part (programmability, RPN, IO possibilities). So I was thinking whether it is possible to start a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a specific engineering firmware (or features). I'd be happy to spend another $100 dollar or so to turn the prime's ambitions into reality and add some engineering features as well (such as HID device support for low cost interfacing etc.). It would be great if engineers were stimulated to join in by HP's impressive heritage. The Prime's hardware is fantastic and provides a solid foundation for the most impressive calculator ever built. But also the potential of having a Matlab/Mathematica/Labview station in your shirt pocket (or trousers). I've been dealing with kickstarter campaigns and find it exciting to support campaigns and see what people can do with little resources. Kind regards,
Eelco
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - hpnut - 10-27-2013 Yes, I would be interested to fund a kickstarter project for the Prime.
hpnut in Malaysia
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - fabrice48 - 10-27-2013 very fantastic idea. Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - FORTIN Pascal - 10-27-2013 I would probably pay for a prime if this happened. if the crowdfunded firnware was to be released as open source afterwards! I wouldn't want Hp to make more money with hard work of the community and sell what was created by it... ( saving tens of thousands bucks in dev...)
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Les Koller - 10-27-2013 Agreed. I would contribute to such a project, but would NOT like to see HP mark the thing up significantly because the "crowd" made it a better machine. I realize they might have to mark it up some.
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Mike Powell - 10-27-2013 Wouldn't this require HP to release details of the hardware and the source to the current firmware ?
They did that with the 20/30 didn't they ? which resulted in the WP34S Edited: 27 Oct 2013, 7:25 p.m.
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - FORTIN Pascal - 10-27-2013 Yeah... Crowdfunding would require openness from HP for sure ...
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Les Koller - 10-27-2013 Yep. Hadn't thought that far before posting :(
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Paul Dale - 10-27-2013 The prime built in programming is advanced enough to write something I suspect. Reverse engineering the hardware isn't something I'd like to attempt.
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Walter B - 10-28-2013
Quote:I won't fit my shirt pocket. And it's too large and looks too fragile for my trousers, too. Sorry. IMHO, pocketability is crucial. Voyagers are perfect, Pioneers do, the WP 34S does as well - I hope the 43S will still do. Thus, regardless of their architecture and features, repurposing anything of the size of an HP-48, HP-50G, or HP-39GII is out of my scope. BTW, also people doing phone calls with devices as large as a standard bar of chocolate look simply ridiculous to me.
d:-/
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Howard Owen - 10-28-2013 +1, funny.
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - debrouxl - 10-28-2013 HP has already released lots of details about the hardware, directly and also indirectly (by not erasing the part numbers on the chips) :) Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - cyrille de Brébisson - 10-28-2013 Hello, And we might be able to find someone willing to help... I think that first step would be to work on a PC prototype. A pc application with a clean HAL layer. once there is something up and working, ask some more questions...
cyrille
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Eelco Rouw - 10-28-2013 Okay, I'll scrap my comments about the "shirt pocket". But my leisure trouser pockets are certainly big enough. Crowdfunding could also be a way for HP to satisfy engineers? Although I'd like the firmware to be open, it is not an absolute must. Bottom line, if a large number of engineers is willing to shell out $100 bucks for a proper "engineering" firmware, it could be beneficial for HP to use crowdfunding. Of course I understand that the return on investment would be abysmal for the first time, but it could help with identifying engineer's needs (as I still think this is a pretty large customer base, which has been lost partly to TI).
Kind regards, Eelco
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Walter B - 10-28-2013
Quote:Oh happy engineers! Going to work in their leisure trousers. Or needing a proper engineering firmware only in vacation. I doubt that market is what HP cares for. THINK!
d;-)
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Eelco Rouw - 10-28-2013 Lol, I have to confess that my suit doesn't work very well with the HP prime. But somehow, Walter, you give me the feeling that I really need to buy a WP34S ;-) I think its really cool and if the team behind the WP34s would start with the HP prime, some magic would happen. Kind regards,
Eelco
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Eelco Rouw - 10-28-2013 I have been delving into the information. Do I understand correctly thqt the prime runs Windows CE? I am not sure wether a completely new stack should be used. There are several things I really like about the Prime and using a different stack will be another hurdle for HP to maintain the firmware. I wouldn't mind if the insights produced by the 'engineering' firmware have a positive effect on the regular firmware. As long as the crowdfunding yields a proper 'engineering' firmware. Kind regards,
Eelco
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Paul Dale - 10-28-2013 Quote: Walter won't for reasons he explained recently elsewhere. I'd consider it but don't have a prime and won't at least until I find a new job and they are seemingly pretty scarce right now :(
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Tim Wessman - 10-28-2013 >Do I understand correctly thqt the prime runs Windows CE? No, it does not. I have no idea where this information or idea has come from...
TW
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Walter B - 10-29-2013 Quote:'Elsewhere' is quite near ;-) Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Paul Dale - 10-29-2013 But it isn't here :)
- Pauli
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - debrouxl - 10-29-2013 We got this idea from the fact APPSDISK.DAT embeds a FAT16 filesystem containing 18 files, among which: Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Walter B - 10-29-2013 :-) Looks like I shall send you a 300 page manual to proofread.
d;-)
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Paul Dale - 10-29-2013 Go for it. I'm unemployed at present and could handle the diversion..... Plus, there are very few jobs going here at the moment :( No promises as to when I'll finish, I've never been so busy in my life. At least I can now understand those who retire and say they've less free time than ever.
- Pauli
Re: Crowdfunding the Prime "engineering" firmware - Walter B - 10-29-2013
Quote:Not down under, I'm afraid. Good luck! You will get mail today.
d:-)
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