PC-1300S

[Kiyoshi Akima]

It's still far from complete, but here's the initial write-up on the Sharp PC-1300S Pocket Computer (vintage 1979).

Click here.

[Geoff Quickfall]

A nice refreshing change form the usual posts, this is after all a museum.

Thanks Kiyoshi, neat machine, would be fun to take along on a flight deck one day!

Geoff

[Kiyoshi Akima]

Thanks for the reminder about the flight deck. I'll have to write a 99 Bottles of Beer program for it.

[db (martinez, ca.)]

as i said; 15c+ ???

[Kiyoshi Akima]

I knew somebody was going to ask that.

The 15c+ was one of the preproduction samples handed out at HHC2010, while HP was apparently still trying to decide what to call what eventually came out as the 15C Limited Edition. It has its own share of bugs, distinct from the 15C LE, such as the program step numbers sometimes looking strange when editing. But PAUSE works correctly!

TW, it is okay to talk about the 15c+, since the release of the LE? The fact that HP was planning a re-release of the 15C isn't exactly a secret now, is it?

[Nick_S]

Given that it does not have the [PSE] bug, did you find any other known bugs, e.g., does the Low-Power indicator work on this model?

Personally having bought several HP 15C limited edition calculators for professional use, I am rather miffed that HP never released a minor firmware revision. The hardware is fine, it is the risk of loosing all memory contents at some unexpected moment, as well as having to work around any existing code that uses [PSE], which really annoys me.

As a result of this experience, I just invested in a new old stock HP 28S, which I know to be essentially bug free, rather than put money into unfinished new products from the company.

Nick

Edited: 8 Nov 2013, 4:50 a.m. after one or more responses were posted

[Geoff Quickfall]

The 15c+ was replete with bugs when it first came out. I don't know if Kiyoshi upgraded his but as a beta test we upgraded ours through the jtag with the newest software versions until the final commercial product was available. Each version being tested as it came out.

Still a few bugs make it through. Just like the 41c ROM bugs in version one as well as other machines. In today's perfect world we demand perfection (unobtainable).

Unfortunately, I have mine with upgraded with the latest software found in the LE Version..

Still it is nice to have the 15c+ the 15c and the LE in the collection.

[Mike Morrow]

I've wondered why beta-testing of the the final version of the HP-15C LE firmware did not reveal the PSE bug and the low-battery warning bug. I believe I made the first report of the PSE bug, and I found it within the first half-hour of getting one of the earliest commercially available 15C LEs as I tested every thing that was time-dependent. Finding the more serious battery warning bug would have taken a lot more effort. I suspect that the final firmware version did not get distributed to the core of beta testers. I'd have preferred to not get a 15C LE for a few weeks longer, if that would have made any difference.

[Tim Wessman]

It was...

The reality of things is that some people never touch a specific set of features, while it is the first thing another tries.

TW

[Didier Lachieze]

Thanks for these details and pictures. A, B, C, X & Y are primary keys on the keyboard, you mentioned that the variable A is the implied index for the DO loop, do the other ones have also dedicated usage?

[Kiyoshi Akima]

No, the others do not have any dedicated usages.