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Being new to HP calculators & now the proud owner of a pristine (2003 HP 48GX), I've been researching what software exists out there, as well as what software will 'enhance' the machine.
Whilst the 48GX has a respectable 128K built in. How much MORE 'beefing up' will it need to be able to cope with:
Meta Kernel + Erable + ALG48 ALL installed at the same time.
It seems that a 128K card in slot 1 'still' won't be enough to have installed all three progs? - As as user, you'd also want space left over as well surely for other things?
Therefore, just how much beefing up via cards is it necessary to get all 3 programs installed?
How can one go about getting a 128K card (or larger) without being ripped off?
Alternatively ... I've found some 32k cards for sale at a 'reasonable' price. Could one of these cards be used as the basis for a 128K upgrade, if one were to obtain the correct 128k chip & 'swap' it with some crafty soldering?
Hope you can advice & help
Many thanks
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First, congrats on your HP48GX machine! That's my favorite graphing calculator of all time.
My recommendation: Go buy a HP50g. It has many of the CAS and display features you're souped up HP48GX will aspire to, and will be fully capable at a fraction of the cost compared to upgrading the 48gx.
If you're set on the ol' stalwart 48gx Charlemagne, buy a real MetaKernel Card. That will set you back between $200 and $300.
Sadly MK cards are so rare at any price, it's not entirely realistic. There are alternatives: the HP/TDS 128K ram cards typically sell for around $100- a good deal compared to the much dearer MetaKernel card. You'll need all 128K for the MetaKernel alone, and an empty calculator when you boot-load it. An HP 32K ram card should cost $50 or less, but these are not very useful.
When discussing prices of used equipment in a capitalist market the terms 'ripped off' and 'reasonable' mean little. Don't forget you're competing against a small minority of survey companies who still use HP48GX ram cards to store data and way-points, collectors willing to pay top-dollar and against a world currency that is strong relative to the US dollar. Either you want one worse than the next guy or you don't- there is no 'expensive' or 'cheap'.
IMHO, Don't try the upgrade the 32K ram card unless you just want to waste time and money. The narrow clearances involved with the card case, the delicacy of the operation, along with the difficulty in finding those SRAM chips make it not worth the trouble. Others may disagree, but I'd rather pay the extra $60 and be done with it.
I've done memory upgrades of the HP48G\GX motherboard using the Hitachi HM628128BLFP-8 SRAM chip it works like a dream, and still arguably not worth the time- if you can even find the chips for sale.
Wish I had better news for you- consider the 50G as an alternative before you spend $200 juicing up your 48G rig.
Edited: 23 June 2011, 10:08 p.m.
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To install the metakernel (available for free from hpcalc.org), you do need a 128k RAM card in port1. Other programs could be loaded in an other card occupying the 2nd slot.
At the time there was some relatively affordable non hp (cynox, klotz) memory cards (this is what I use). I don't know where to find them now but they should not be that expensive.
Really you can have Meta Kernel + Erable + ALG48 and much more and still most of your 128k memory free.
Arnaud
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Hi there,
Many thanks for your replies so far.
I was contemplating the 50g, but ... i dunno.. there's just something about the 48GX - LOVE the keyboard, the whole 'mature' outlook & feel of the machine etc.
One thing I've read about Meta Kernel is how much 'faster' it apparently is compared to the native 'built in' features, like 'Equation Writer' stating in some cases to be 100 times faster!!
Which begs the question, If optimized code could be written to perform like MK does, the potential was there all along.
This being the case, why is HP's OWN software 'Equation Writer' for example, so slow, when a 3rd party has proved it could have been done better in the first place?
Cheers
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Quote:
Which begs the question, If optimized code could be written to perform like MK does, the potential was there all along.
This being the case, why is HP's OWN software 'Equation Writer' for example, so slow, when a 3rd party has proved it could have been done better in the first place?
This is understandable. It's a piece of hardware. You can't spend too much time writing the code before going to market with it.
But software? If McAfee, Symantec, etc. can hire programmers to defeat viruses, why can't Microsoft? Why is Windows written in a way that allows attacks anyway?
Remember Windows 95? You had to buy a separate 3rd party program just to keep it from fatally crashing and losing your data. Same concept.
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Hello,
If you want a really fast user Interface on your HP-48GX, I suggest trying SpeedUI, the real Software Turbo for the HP-48G series.
SpeedUI accelerates every aspect of the user interface, including choose boxes, Input forms, the MatrixWriter, MemoryBrowser, and the stack interface, of course, and adds features not available on an HP-48 before, while being very modular.
And SpeedUI is still supported, and Features are still added, while the old MK beta Software is outdated since at least fifteen years.
The next SpeedUI release, version 11.06 , will be on the 3rd of July, 2011.
HTH
Raymond
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Hi Raymond,
Many thanks for the SpeedUI suggestion. How does it compare to MK as a UI replacement?
Does it speed up everything, including Equation Writing & symbolics?
I've also wondered about the 3d graphing? does either SpeedUI or MK offer realtime rotation?
Cheers
Al
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Hi Al,
hmmm, somewhat difficult to compare SpeedUI and MK directly.
SpeedUI is targeted to users who simply want to use their calc as before, but with a much more performant user interface.
For a SpeedUI feature overview, please take a look at the SpeedUI walkthrough
and give it a try: SpeedUI 11.05 archive
SpeedUI speeds up everything _except_ the built-in EquationWriter.
Actually one of the few things not available as a SpeedUI component so far is the EquationWriter, because there are equation editor replacements on www.hpcalc.org . But maybe later this year, I'll make an EquationWriter version which is more performant than the built-in one.
Displaying the expressions on the stack will be done with SpeedUI .
Neither SpeedUI nor MK offer real-time 3D rotation from stock. However a few years ago, I backported the 49g DRAW3DMATRIX functionality to the HP-48. DRAW3DMATRIX actually is the 3D real-time rotation tool.
My backport is available on www.hpcalc.org , too.
Cheers
Ray
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Hi,
>Hi there, Many thanks for your replies so far. I was contemplating the 50g, but ... i dunno.. there's just something about the 48GX - LOVE the keyboard, the whole 'mature' outlook & feel of the machine etc.
Imho i prefer the 50g for the keyboard agencement , and the look and feel of the 50.
>One thing I've read about Meta Kernel is how much 'faster' it apparently is compared to the native 'built in' features, like 'Equation Writer' stating in some cases to be 100 times faster!!
And 200 times faster on the 49G... and perhaps 400 times faster on 50G ;)
>Which begs the question, If optimized code could be written to perform like MK does, the potential was there all along. This being the case, why is HP's OWN software 'Equation Writer' for example, so slow, when a 3rd party has proved it could have been done better in the first place?
Perhaps i'm wrong,but i think that the 49G/49G+ and 50G have all of this integrated. Equation writer, matrix editor (and list editor), CAS, speed, RAM, USB connection, SD card you can use like mass storage, larger screen, better font etc etc.
I think that if you use a 50G few hours, you will never want to downgrade on a 48GX. A point for the 48 could be the small enter key of the 50 (i like this small enter key), and the keyboard feeling wich is good but less than on the 48GX
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