Why not repurpose HP-50G?

[x34]

It's heavy and big, and lacks normal ENTRY key. But

It is rather cheap and easy to find.
It is fast. easily upgradeable. easy to restore default OS. It has lot of RAM and FLASH, it has USB and SD card. Many of us prefer RPN over RPL. So, why not?

[Malcolm]

For me, the reason I wouldn't put work into it would be the keys.

Malcolm

[x34]

Why not leave the keys? Overlay could be enough.

[Malcolm]

Should have been more clear, I meant the lack of the "feel" with the keys. I am too used to my Voyager series keys.

[Norman Dziedzic]

I've often thought it would be good to have a 42s mode on my 48gii. The font would change to something huge with just the 4 lines of stack showing on the screen, big and useful for my aging eyes.

[Andrés C. Rodríguez (Argentina)]

Look at emulators from HrastProgrammer, there you will find a 42S emulator that runs on a 48GX. I'm not sure about 48GII or newer models, but you may research the available options.

(BTW, these emulators are not for free)

[x34]

HP-42S emulator by HrastProgrammer, while being a splendid work, has inherent drawbacks:

a) Not Open-Source

b) Is HP-48 program utilizing POL, so base OS is needed

c) Is not easy to use (uneven keys mapping) and uses Saturn code instead of ARM

d) Does not add any functionality to HP-42S besides memory

e) There are much better open-source projects more well-suited for the task, as HP-34S for HP-30B repurposing.

I think clone of Paul and Walter HP-34S, adding graphics and I/O, would be ideal.

[Andrés C. Rodríguez (Argentina)]

I fully agree. Even more, I don't like the HP-48/49/50 physical format nor RPL native modes. That's why I use Free42 on my iPod Touch as my main calculator (also testing Free42 beta on my Android phone), and I'm also very interested about 34S effort. My real HP42S rests at home in pristine condition.

[Håkan Thörngren]

Funny, I was thinking the same earlier today. The SD, USB, proper alpha screen and alpha keys makes it appealing.

While I do not own one, I have hold it in my hands and my impression was not positive. Big, fat, ugly and plastic in the negative sense.

Size is the worst I think. I hold my hopes for something less bulky, with proper alpha keys and LCD. A real time clock and USB would be nice as well. A voyager style or HP-41 sized calculator would be nice.

Having said that, I would prefer the hp50g over the other existing alternatives thanks to the alpha capability.

Are there any available hardware programming documentation of the hp50g in case you want to throw that RPL thing out of it?

Quote:

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It's heavy and big, and lacks normal ENTRY key. But

It is rather cheap and easy to find.
It is fast. easily upgradeable. easy to restore default OS. It has lot of RAM and FLASH, it has USB and SD card. Many of us prefer RPN over RPL. So, why not?

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[x34]

Quote:

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Are there any available hardware programming documentation of the hp50g in case you want to throw that RPL thing out of it?

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Hekan, i don't know about hardware docs, but emulator sources are available. The only emulator supporting ARM (AFAIK) is x49gp by Eddie C. Dost and Egan Ford (datajerk):

http://sourceforge.net/projects/x49gp/develop

The last SVN version runs on Linux VERY fast, beating EMU48 ten times at least at my laptop.