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Hi,
I've been a 34S user for about 24 hours. I've had lukewarm interest in the 34S from that start because it didn't fulfill any of my needs. I often asked myself, "why?" Anyway, I took my freebie skinless 30b beta unit to the conference and had it flashed so that I could see what all the excitement was about. Then I ignored it.
Saturday night I completed my 15C "Legacy Edition" solution for the RPN programming contest. It was slow--too slow. Any RPN was permitted, but only speed was considered. I had no choice. I had to use the 34S.
Sunday morning I sat down with my blank-faced 34S, and using the excellent docs on my iPad I started to port over my 15C program. CEIL was there! Woo hoo! I think what impressed me the most was that even without Eric's designer labels I was able to quickly enter the program because much of the layout was conventional or perhaps commonsense. I found myself looking at the iPad rendered PDF less and less.
Later I scored a proper 34S at the conference (GA level 30b with Eric's handiwork performed by Eric himself!) and spent the evening reading the manual. This machine is awesome and I will be building at least two backups.
After 27 years of using my 15C I think I can safely retire it. I thought I could retire my 15C with the 42S, but I always preferred overloaded keys and stuck with the 15C (although Free42 is my default iPhone 4-banger).
I cannot stress enough how awesome the 34S is. Get two while you can. And, if you are lazy like me, you can order them pre-built and skinned from Eric (http://www.hpcalc.org).
Thanks team 34S!
Edited: 26 Sept 2011, 12:23 p.m.
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The WP 34S was the most discussed topic on HHC and you may get an idea why, now.
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Thanks, Egan, for your kind words. We wouldn't have made it, however, if HP hadn't teased us repeatedly by launching only financial calcs (now we know why they need them ;-) but we couldn't imagine then). So we wanted to show we can adequately fill a sector HP was once famous for but apparently didn't (doesn't?) want to anymore. Knowing this is a very critical audience here discussing a lot (which are positive values where I was educated), we are simply happy you enjoy the WP 34S :-)
There is, of course, still space for improvement - but some people will probably kill us when/if we change the keyboard labels once more [:-(
Thanks again d:-)
Walter
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Quote:
There is, of course, still space for improvement - but some people will probably kill us when/if we change the keyboard labels once more [:-(
I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but if you ever decide to make some improvement don't forget to change [g] [OFF] to [h] [OFF]. This is my only complaint regarding the keyboard layout. I am still using mine without an overlay, so no problem here :-)
Gerson.
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That's on top of my list :-) but don't hold your breath.
Cumprimentos,
Walter
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That change is the first on the list of pending changes for the keyboard. The difficulty being the number of overlays that are already in the wild. We'd prefer to not waste all that effort.
- Pauli
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This might be a silly question, as I do not have a large HP calculators culture, and have not practised a lot writing math.
I am curious about the choice of key presses for the reciprocal (or should I say inverse?) hyperbolic trig functions, i.e.:
{HYP-1} {SIN}
as opposed to
{HYP} {SIN-1}
which would free the {g-shift}{A} position on the keyboard.
Legacy from the past HP machines, maths "standard" or developpers' preferences?
Edited: 27 Sept 2011, 7:40 a.m.
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g HYP-1 SIN is three key presses.
f HYP g SIN is four.
The second also requires two different shift keys to be pressed which is something we've (mostly) avoided.
- Pauli
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Ah, Right.
I had overlooked the fact that SIN would not need the f-prefix, when used after the HYP.
Back to re-re-re-reading that fine manual....
Thanks, Paul
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Both combinations work. So if you press f HYP and then decide you need the inverse, g will switch to HYP^-1 and f will switch back. :-)
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I won't say that's as advertised. But since we all grow older I may call it "focussed to our customers"? Oooh, shall I take the inverse or its inverse? So hard to decide ... ;-)
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Better than advertised in fact ;-)
- Pauli
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Quote:
The difficulty being the number of overlays that are already in the wild. We'd prefer to not waste all that effort.
If you ever do change it, the longer you wait, the more there will be. The first ~60 that I sent out in June were arguably of prototype quality, so those could largely be discounted. The new ones I made for HHC 2011 (close to 50) are definitely better, but only time will tell if they are good for long term use.
I will be making a bunch more soon, though, so we probably are coming close to reaching the point where too many are out there.
Eric
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I got one of these early overlays for my wp-34s and I can say they are great! However, after 3 months of usage I've noticed some key wear out, specially on the [h] key which seems to be used a lot more than the other ones. How difficult would it be to replace this overlay with a new one? Or do I need to consider a new 30b to go with the new overlay?
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I'm now putting a clear spray on the overlays in the hope of making them more durable. Time will tell whether that actually helps.
Eric
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Is it a matte or shiny spray? If it's shiny, I'm a little concerned about the reflections...
Cristian
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I'm concerned about reflections, too.
It's satin with a thin coat, or glossy with a heavy coat. I am trying a thin coat for now to see how well that works.
Eric
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Thank you very much for the very kind words.
You are correct about the keyboard layout, that is the bit I'm most happy with on the 34S. Everything is logically arranged. Once you get over the initial clutter, it is easy to find almost every function quickly. Walter is mostly to blame for this :-)
- Pauli
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After 27 years of using my 15C I think I can safely retire it.
Wow, Egan! That's an awesome endorsement. Changing a preference like that is no easy or minor matter.
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Indeed. I would have thought the easy switch would have been to a 15C LE, which is ~100x faster than his original.
Perhaps the love affair with his "new girl" will be short lived once he realizes he misses his "old wife" who had plastic surgery and has been to the gym :)
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The old wife has some issues with the "Me:No-PAUSE"...
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Quote:
Wow, Egan! That's an awesome endorsement. Changing a preference like that is no easy or minor matter.
Quote:
Indeed. I would have thought the easy switch would have been to a 15C LE, which is ~100x faster than his original.
It would have if the 15C also had 16C capabilities. Although the 15C was my desk calculator, I still had to use Free42 for hex math.
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And do not forget costumer service :
- Fast and kind feedback
- Always listening and always reachable
- Fast updates (software and documentation)
- Costumer with bad English? ...Not a problem!
Thanks WP-34s Team!
Miguel
Edited: 27 Sept 2011, 9:12 a.m.
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Quote:
I cannot stress enough how awesome the 34S is.
For once the word "Awesome" is actually an understatement.....
It was great seeing Marcus discuss the 34S in person. I am sorry Pauli and Walter could not be there but they were well represented by Marcus and the applause he received was for all of you.
Thank you very much Pauli, Walter and Marcus.
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