The Blue HP 50g has arrived.

[Eddie W. Shore]

Eddie's Calculator Blog

[Tim Wessman]

What, no review yet? :-P

[Les Koller]

Nice, but since it would eventually break the bank, I'm going to have to go with major types and leave the variations alone :D LOL

[Namir]

Congrats Eddie! I managed to buy one on eBay. They look sooooooo coool!!!

:-)

Namir

[aurelio]

Hi Eddie!
congratulations for the purchase, but allow me to say that I don't like the blue one so much.

Actually I think that it looks like a toy...but I must say that I never saw it close.....may you share other pictures of your calculator?

As from the picture on your blog (still packaged) and from the images on e-bay and the HP site I think that white keys on the light blue keyboard are quite ridicolous...more a toy for children at the elementary school than a scientific calculator:=)

Edited: 3 Aug 2012, 8:22 a.m.

[Software49g]

And please do not forget that the O.S./software has not been

updated for over three years.



So this shows how serious HP is about the 50g !!!



In fact, the "housing" is newer than the inner values !



Which leaves me as the only "unofficial" ROM supplier for this machine.



For example:

HP 50G Full Command and Function Reference incorporated into the O.S.

HP 50G Multi Lingual Pack - Using GUIMES and the Equation Library

HP 50G Electrical Engineering

HP 50G Multi Lingual Pack - Using TreeBrowser and the Equation Library



Regards,

Andreas

http://www.software49g.gmxhome.de

Edited: 3 Aug 2012, 9:19 a.m.

[Tim Wessman]

[Software49g]

Tim,



being not a native speaker (and as language is so limited) could you

explain to me what this means?



Does it mean that the 50g is the dead horse?

If so, does it then mean that the Hewlett-Packard company is selling

dead horses to their customers?

Does it mean that the customers of the Hewlett-Packard company that

bought the 50g are the dead horses?

Does it mean that I am the dead horse that is beaten?



Thanks for answering, as this is not obvious to me, as I do not understand

which is the horse and who is the rider.



Regards,

Andreas

http://www.software49g.gmxhome.de

[Nick R]

To flog a dead horse is to attempt to revive a question already settled or worn thin, thereby wasting time and energy.
(Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable)

[Software49g]

Thanks for the definition, but the definition does not answer the questions.



Repetition is the mother of knowledge.



Regards,

Andreas

http://www.software49g.gmxhome.de

Edited: 3 Aug 2012, 1:05 p.m.

[DeboT]

Flogging a dead horse == auf etwas herumreiten

i.e. you keep harping on with the same complaint. Your complaint is the dead horse (that you keep riding on & beating).

Of course you knew this, you just wanted to get your point across that you think the 50g is dead.

Edited: 3 Aug 2012, 1:56 p.m.

[Ethan Conner]

Please to stop making same complaint. That one is wearing thin this time. Your own updates work good we thank you. Now to happy calculating please.

[Software49g]

> that you think the 50g is dead.

Well, I am just scratching my head for quite some time now how HP keeps

handling the 50g.



The 50g is dead the moment HP decides to kill it.

And they really do everything they can to achieve this...



How can I recommend this machine (and any other product from this company)

to anybody while HP is treating it as an unwanted step-child?



And I know (as do the left over developer[s]) that updating the machine could

be done *fast* and *easily*.

Everything that is needed is there.



So what is the reason behind, that *nothing* has been done at all?



My two cents (while there still is an Euro),

Andreas

http://www.software49g.gmxhome.de

[aurelio]

Andreas, I think that Tim means what we, in Italy say "to kill a dead man" that's "ammazzare un uomo morto" but maybe in this case I should use this phrase:

"sfondare una porta aperta" that means "to break a open door" 'cause of the well known "prognosis"

Edited: 3 Aug 2012, 3:15 p.m.

[Les Koller]

Another thought comes to mind...."Preaching to the choir"...as much as Andreas and I hate it, WE ALL know that HP has abandoned the HP 50G. It has now become that proverbial "dead horse". Nothing we can do about it this time (HP 15C LE anyone?)...

[Ethan Conner]

(HP 15C LE anyone?).... Also a dead horse.

[Peter Murphy (Livermore)]

If anyone had residual hope that HP might still breathe new life into the 50G, Tim Wessman's implicit characterization of that hope as a dead horse gave us official notice of its death.

[Les Koller]

Ethan, I believe you misunderstood what I was saying. The HP community talked HP in to re-releasing the HP15, in the form of the 15C LE. What I meant was, no amount of groaning on the 50G is likely to change their mind again.

Edited: 3 Aug 2012, 9:29 p.m.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Maybe this would be a good time starting a communication between the interested parties. As with other projects, a third-party maintainer could offer official or inofficial bug fixes. Since the RPL kernel and surrounding OS seems to become abandonware, the licence topic should be solveable;-)

[Reth]

Quote:

---

(HP 15C LE anyone?).... Also a dead horse.

---

True. And that's why HP shouldn't listen to the ageing fans driven by nostalgia. How many HP15C LE got sold comparing to the "bring back HP15C" petition?

[Raymond Del Tondo]

I assume at least 20.000 units were sold, according to the serial numbers. Not bad for a 30 years old UI design and functionality;-)

[Reth]

Quote:

---

Maybe this would be a good time starting a communication between the interested parties...

---

Obviously there is only one interested party - the dead horse flogger.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

And that looks as a similar situation like back in the mid nineties, when HP cut down support for all calculators. Then there were an enthusiastic french crowd of hobbyists, who seemed to have convinced HP to give it another try. Ok, the 49g had an awful keyboard, and the official support was awful, too , but at least their trial led to a solution, and some interesting calcs, like the 17BII+ Silver, the 50g, and the 15C LE...

[Reth]

Quote:

---

I assume at least 20.000 units were sold,

---

and how many were to be bought according to the petition? 300,000?
this is very, very bad.

[Reth]

Quote:

---

And that looks as a similar situation like back in the mid nineties, when HP cut down support for all calculators. Then there were an enthusiastic french crowd of hobbyists, who seemed to have convinced HP to give it another try...

---

and this was a big mistake, since that moment on, HP calculators went downhill. HP49 and all after it are crap IMO.

[Michael Lopez]

I like my HP50G & despite my interest in the older HP calculators (41 & 48 series in particular), it is my daily calculator that travels with me wherever I go. It is fast/powerful & very useful in solving problems once you understand RPL & the built-in features.

So at the end of the day, whether HP continues developing this operating system or not, I still see the above positives & not a "dead horse" nor do I think this is what Tim meant.

I'd certainly buy another 50G at the "blink of an eyelid" if my present unit started showing any signs of faultering.

Cheers,

Michael

[Reth]

Quote:

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and some interesting calcs, like the 17BII+ Silver, the 50g, and the 15C LE...

---

I find nothing interesting in all of them. Way out of time and probably worth something in 3rd world countries where modern technology hasn't reached yet.

[Eddie W. Shore]

Quote:

---

I like my HP50G & despite my interest in the older HP calculators (41 & 48 series in particular), it is my daily calculator that travels with me wherever I go. It is fast/powerful & very useful in solving problems once you understand RPL & the built-in features.

So at the end of the day, whether HP continues developing this operating system or not, I still see the above positives & not a "dead horse" nor do I think this is what Tim meant.

I'd certainly buy another 50G at the "blink of an eyelid" if my present unit started showing any signs of faultering.

Cheers,

Michael

---

Wow, first of all I didn't expect the purchase of a 50g would cause a big controversy. Second, I enjoy using the 50g.

Eddie

[Les Koller]

I hadn't considered the Moan to Purchase ratio you just described. You have a VERY valid point. Maybe if 75 or 80% of the moaners had purchased one, they'd be more inclined to listen Good post!

[Les Koller]

It would not bother me in the least that HP abandon the 50G, IF I knew they had something really new and cutting edge in the works. Hoping, but not holding my breath.

[Les Koller]

See what you started? :) LOL. I love it when someone makes a seemingly harmless announcement, then next thing you know, there are a bazillion posts in the thread. Cool! JK

[Matt Agajanian]

What I think is that I hold HP in very high regard and then when they release products like the 30s, 6s and 10s, it makes me wonder why and how HP would stoop so low as to make calculators you'd find that should have a Fisher-Price(R) emblem on them.

Edited: 4 Aug 2012, 1:35 a.m.

[Katie Wasserman]

I suspect that a lot more 15CLE's would have been sold if HP made an effort to fix the bugs in it.

[Les Koller]

If MoHPC had a LIKE button (ala Facebook) I'd be clicking it now...

[Ethan Conner]

You kind sir have misunderstood. Lol..... The original "flogger" is and has been upset over firmware support. Then you brought up the 15C LE. There was also quite alot of "flogging" over that firmware. In both cases Tim is very well aware of the concerns and continuing to bring it up.....well i refer you to Tim's picture. If you want some entertainment go to the forum starting in September of 2011 and read on thru November. There is some world class flogging in there over the 15c LE firmware.

[peacecalc]

Hello aurelio,

where is the problem? I like the hp 50g (black) as a toy and why not? I can use it, but I need not this for surviving.

And I can remember, that somebody posted (Tim?) that the blue hp50g color scheme was tested with colored blind persons if it works for them. I took that post for serious, but now I'm not shure wether it was a joke or not.

Greetings
peacecalc

[Reth]

I doubt it. 15C paradigm won't attract anyone new out there and the 50G size and built too.

[Software49g]

> and this was a big mistake, since that moment on, HP calculators went

> downhill. HP49 and all after it are crap IMO.

Apparently you do not know, how the situation was at that time.



HP’s calculator were already dead by that for several years at that time.

HP abandoned this market for no reason (except that they thought that they

could make more money with something else, so they drove this resources to

something else).

TI used this situation for their advantage and took over the market that HP left.

And IIRC even some people from the 48GX team went to TI and helped creating

the TI-92 / TI-89.



Since ever then, HP’s calculator business has been a Zombie more or less...

And it is hard to convince customer to buy stuff that is not even supported by the

manufacturer selling it...



Whether this will improve with changing the technology is a different story

altogether and how long this might take and how much it might cost, etc.

IMHO HP’s primary problem is not the technology used, their primary problem is

acceptance (besides some major internal struggling) in the market.



But what do I know...



My two cents,

Andreas

http://www.software49g.gmxhome.de

[Gilles Carpentier]

In France we have "On ne tire pas sur une ambulance". The idea is something like "It's not beautiful to shoot an ambulance"

It's sad because the 50 is a marvelous calculator with great potential of evolution and modernization (i don't speak about the internal but about the concept...)

[Gilles Carpentier]

I also note that importants parts og the 50G CAS is LGPL licence

CAS LGPL

Edited: 4 Aug 2012, 6:15 a.m.

[aurelio]

Hello peacecalc, there's no problem, not any :), just I don't like it cosmetically...........:)

I have both 49g+ and 50g that I enjoy learning rpl and as graphic calculators, but I think that compared with a older HP calculator...a HP67, a 97 or another classic (cosmetically I mean), woodstock, spice,coconut or a pioneer, they looks like toys.

I'm used to consider HP calculators like the other instruments daily used in my job, like spectrum and protocol analyzers, signal generators, RF measure test sets, mostly Hewlett Packard brand, with design and shape similar....laboratory or field instruments , not toys....

....for this reason I found the last generation calculators like the HP50g funny.........................maybe it's only a personal thought, you can't help me:)

It's for this reason that I asked please Eddie to share more pictures of his new calculator, who knows maybe it could be like the restyling in cars...at the beginning we are so used to see and we love so much the previous edition and we appreciate the new ones only after a while, when the eye, I mean, has taken confidence with them.......

For what about the blind persons read please alsohere in our archives about...49g+ and 50g

Cheers

Edited: 4 Aug 2012, 6:50 a.m.

[aurelio]

Hi, Gilles it sounds like another we have here, just replacing the ambulance with the "Red Cross"....from war times, I think
Ciao.

PS: absolutely I don't hate the HP50g, I don't want to be misunderstood...

[Eddie W. Shore]

Quote:

---

See what you started? :) LOL. I love it when someone makes a seemingly harmless announcement, then next thing you know, there are a bazillion posts in the thread. Cool! JK

---

We are keeping the HP 50g alive and well. Maybe there will be a rebirth. :)

I am tempted to keep it in its original packaging, but odds are not high of that happening. LOL

Edited: 4 Aug 2012, 3:54 p.m.

[Eddie W. Shore]

You want pictures Aurelio, you got 'em.

Thank you for the request. Eddie

Pictures of Blue HP 50g

[Eric Smith]

The "something really new and cutting edge in the works" is (was) the 39gII. It was not expected that RPL fans would be thrilled with it. I don't have any inside information, but I suspect that HP believes that there is no significant market for RPL calculators.

I think they're probably right about that. If there actually *was* a non-trivial market for RPL calculators, TI, Casio, and Sharp would make some.

That said, I would certainly think it was awesome if they did come up with a new RPL calculator.

As some of you know, Richard Ottosen and I are trying to get into the calculator business. We're starting with traditional RPN, because we don't have the resources to develop a credible RPL calculator. We do have some stuff to show off at HHC 2012 next month.

[aurelio]

Thank-you very much, Eddie, for the pictures.
It's really beautiful, much better than into the blister.
As from my personal taste I should design it completely blue, except ofcourse for the keys
As I cas see the pouch is quite different from the pevious model, isn't it?

[Eddie W. Shore]

It does, the pouch has a rugged feel.

The keyboard is nice too.

Edited: 5 Aug 2012, 2:57 p.m.

[Andy Lamming (UK)]

When I first became aware of the 15C petition I said I'd buy 4 units. Between that time and the present I have bought four second hand units on TAS. Perhaps this is also true of many of the other 300,000 ? Perhaps HP just waited too long. I did buy one 15CLE

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Quote:

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Perhaps HP just waited too long.

---

Or perhaps you were slightly too impatient;-)