OT: The uCalc is born

[DaveJ]

Don't get excited though, it doesn't actually work yet, I just wanted to tease (myself, because I don't have the time to work on it ATM).

Before anyone asks, the bit on the side is a temporary programming header.

Dave.

[Katie Wasserman]

Dave

WOW! I think that you managed to incorporate virtually everyone's comments on keyboard layout in the final design. Even if you never get the time to finish the hardware, this alone was a successful project.

-Katie

p.s. How would you like a job putting the US health care system fixes together? :)

[Walter B]

Good work!

Though some labels could have been saved by placing the digits A ... F on the same keys where these letters are located. But I see this now and didn't discover it earlier, so I won't criticize.

BTW, what shall the label WORD do? Next to the bit you explained ;)

[Mark Henderson]

Love it! Excited to see what happens next! Well done.

[Mark Henderson]

Would also love to see uCalc next to something for size reference!

[DaveJ]

Quote:

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Would also love to see uCalc next to something for size reference!

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It's the exact same dimensions as a credit card.

Dave.

[Geir Isene]

/me WANT!

[hugh steers]

the unusually prominent bit operations would make this a handy pocket sized 16C. I often need hex and oct when debugging code and this might serve as a handy device for calculating with this.

to answer the "WORD" question, i presume this is to set the word size for the bit operations.

[Bruce Bergman]

When are you going to start taking pre-orders? ;-)

thanks,
bruce

[DaveJ]

Quote:

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When are you going to start taking pre-orders? ;-)

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When I actually have them ready to send!

Dave.

[Paul Dale]

Put me down for one regardless :-)

- Pauli

[Sancerre (Phoenix)]

Me too, sign me up for one whenever it is available.
--Tod

[Patrick Rendulic]

I will buy one.

Question:

When a single person can produce such an interesting pre-prototype in such a short type, then why can't HP produce "the dream calculator"?

[Walter B]

Many forumers ask and have asked this question. Maybe the reason is a single person is free to do what (s)he wants, more persons need to synchronize and agree on their tasks, taking some fraction of their work capacity away, and persons in big companies ... :(

[DaveJ]

Quote:

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Maybe the reason is a single person is free to do what (s)he wants

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And indeed that is the case with the uCalc. I've had many people tell me I'm wasting my time on the uCalc as no one would want it. But they forget the most important thing - *I* want a credit card calc, and that's always enough reason for the midnight engineer!

Dave.

[DaveJ]

Quote:

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When a single person can produce such an interesting pre-prototype in such a short type, then why can't HP produce "the dream calculator"?

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Well, for starters there is no such thing as a single "dream calculator", everyone has (often vastly) different dreams.

Second problem is that HP (like most companies) are marketing driven, they will only produce products that they think have the best chance of making them the largest financial return. That is not always the "best" possible product, in fact a lot of the time it's simply figment of some marketing or management fools imagination!

The 35S, and recent open platform calcs show HP still actually people with a clue who at least make some of the decisions, it's encouraging.

Thirdly, they are big, and design by committee doesn't work well at all. I can turn around a product from concept to pre-production in weeks, but it takes a big company like HP weeks just to do the paper work and have the meetings just to get to the planing stage.

If you've worked in a big engineering company you'll know that Dilbert is REAL!

Dave.

[Martin Pinckney]

Just excuses. If someone in authority wanted it done, it would get done.

[Mike T.]

But they won't because unless they are CERTAIN that they can sell 30K+ they are not going to risk making a loss on the production costs.

Mike T.

[Steve S]

...You can definitely put me down for one, too...

[DaveJ]

For those keen to see a bit more hardware, you get a glimpse in my latest BLOG

Dave.

[Paul Dale]

Lovely blog.

We've had more than a few run ins with silicon problems.

"Device doesn't always initialise" i.e. it doesn't boot or do anything. The work around -- fit a watchdog timer device and let that kick it until it does boot -- eventually.

And the ongoing conservations of the form:

"It is really cheap"

"But it doesn't work"

"But it is really cheap"

...

- Pauli

Edited: 7 Jan 2010, 7:11 a.m.

[Michael Plant]

Looks fantastic, Dave! Thank you for sharing this with us.