Inexpensive HP 30b



#8

This is not my listing, but I found 30b calculators for sale on eBay (item 221225579876) for $17.95 with free shipping. I bought one to possibly try the WP-34s hack. Has anyone played with making a WP-34s? Is it worth playing around with or is the 35s a better calculator and the 30b best kept as a financial calculator? I only bought it because it was cheap. I already have a 12c. How would you compare the 12c to the 30b as a financial calculator?

http://commerce.hpcalc.org/34showto.php


#9

The WP-34s is the business.

#10

Quote:
Has anyone played with making a WP-34s?

Of course. Why do you think the project exists?

Quote:
Is it worth playing around with or is the 35s a better calculator

The 34s is a much better calculator IMHO.

#11

The 35s has some advantages over the 30b resp. 34s. The hardware feels much more solid, the keyboard is better and has the very useful eighth row of keys for the most-used log, power and trig functions. Its display is better in that it offers two equal dot matrix rows. And it has an excellent solver that is more capable than the 34s version. It can even solve simple equations symbolically.

In every other respect the 34s wins - hands down.

Dieter


#12

But imo the 30b is much more beautiful ;)


#13

Beauty lies in the eye of the owner ;-) I share the view the HP-35S looks more solid, but that's it - it could have been better without the cursors top right and without the bugs it shows.

OTOH, the HP-30b is smaller, really shirt-pocketable, more battery-efficient, and - most important - repurposable! Meanwhile, I'd dare saying the WP 34S features less bugs than the HP-35S; even if another bug should show up, we have proven that eliminating it is a matter of hours or days at worst. Please compare ...

d:-)

#14

Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ;-) I admit I do not like silver electronic gadgets, especially if it's just painted plastic and not brushed aluminium or solid stainless steel. I think the 41-series looks so gorgeous because it is mainly black, and that's what I like about the 35s as well. Its color, size and weight.

However, I think the 30b looks much better as soon as it has become a 34s and got its keyboard label attached. Yes, that's mainly because that sticker turns most of the silver into black. ;-)

Dieter


#15

So, a 20b is more your style?


#16

Dieter was talking about matt black AFAIK. Leave reflective black for pianos.

d:-)

#17

"I see a red door and I want it painted black,

No colors anymore I want them to turn black."

#18

It's worth more than that as as-is, IMHO.

Until the HP 39gII and the upcoming HP Prime, it was the speed king for scientific calculations as demonstrated by completion of the 2500-iteration Savage Benchmark with the same result as the HP 50g, in 6.5 seconds rather than the HP 50g's 65 seconds.

It's financial, but it also has a basic set of scientific functions as well. I love the sturdy physical design...much better than the Voyagers and the Pioneers, IMHO.

I have two, plus I have a WP 34S on the way.

#19

I have finished the sticker, IR and crystal hack for my first of two HP30b today. ;-)

Now I am waiting for my 3.3V USB Flash adapter from Harald Pott. I decided to build one with USB inside and this one with an external adapter.

Open this thing was easy as described in the WP 34S Owner's Manual Page 193.

Here is the new connector for the serial programming port:

Finished the work inside. Let's stick the stickers.

No problem with the stickers.

Fun to do and beautiful to look at it. ;-)


#20

Ok, I'm sold. I just bought the stickers. Nice pictures, btw. Now, do I buy a second or third 30b just because they are so cheap right now? My wife is really going to think I'm a hopeless case.


#21

Still have about 20. Requests died off for a while, but really really...when these are gone, they are gone.

And, yes...sometimes, I am slow. :-(

these are the serial cables needed to flash a 30b (or 20b) into a 34S.


#22

Did you mean the "original" black with blue buttons RS232 programming cables? What did they cost with shipping to Germany? I am interested in one.


#23

Yes, that's the cable.

email me

my first and last name with

no spaces in between

at

hotmail dot com

#24

Quote:
Ok, I'm sold. I just bought the stickers. Nice pictures, btw. Now, do I buy a second or third 30b just because they are so cheap right now? My wife is really going to think I'm a hopeless case.

Thanks. ;-) My wife would agree that 100%.

The unit price is very nice to play around with this hardware.
One thing I would try is to coat the stickers with spray paint after they are installed on the keys. I hope that will smooth the sticker edges and make it more durable.

For this I have to remove the PCB and the keys. But I don't know if I could mount it again. We'll see... ;)

After successful flashing I have to buy a printed Manual. Btw. what an awesome project!


Edited: 21 May 2013, 6:42 p.m.

#25

Hallo Michael,

Nice pictures. If there will ever be a second edition of the printed manual, I'll think about including some if you agree.

About durability of the stickers: no problems so far on my two WP 34S. There was an early edition with another (less sticky) glue and another surface but that's gone for long. But ask Gerson, who is the heaviest user AFAIK. - You can enhance durability quite a bit if you cut away the upper halves of the numeric and arithmetic key stickers. I did that (Eric, forgive me ;-)) on one of my calcs.

d:-)


#26

Quote:
Hallo Michael,

Nice pictures. If there will ever be a second edition of the printed manual, I'll think about including some if you agree.


Thank you. Let me know if you need the full resolution or other angles, scenes or details. It would be my pleasure.

Quote:
About durability of the stickers: no problems so far on my two WP 34S. There was an early edition with another (less sticky) glue and another surface but that's gone for long. But ask Gerson, who is the heaviest user AFAIK. - You can enhance durability quite a bit if you cut away the upper halves of the numeric and arithmetic key stickers. I did that (Eric, forgive me ;-)) on one of my calcs.

d:-)


;-) Yes I saw the upper cuts on some pictures. I have no doubt that they are durable but my idea was to get the surface feel and look more like one part. And btw. since I was a kid I have to take *all* things apart too see what's inside. ;-)

#27

Quote:
There was an early edition with another (less sticky) glue and another surface but that's gone for long. But ask Gerson, who is the heaviest user AFAIK.

The most careless user, actually!

I've just ordered two HP 30b's (Thanks Matthew for posting!) and four overlays, just in case :-)

#28

Hi Michael,

sorry to keep you waiting. I will email you as soon as I am back home,

By the way, I also have a PCB available to make a DIY flash cable. This connects to the USB port, has an erase and reset button and you could solder it to a connector to plug into your modified calculator.


#29

No problem Harald. ;-)

I couldn't resist to investigate the inside and as I saw the programming pads... Yes it would be perfect to have a direct USB <-> WP cable for the custom made 6-Pin DIL Connector in my first WP 34S. Very nice. But the second WP should have the USB port inside. And the third could be an engineering sample on which I open everything. Just for some hacking fun.

Finally I think I need 2 internal USB/IR boards and one external. We stay in contact. ;-)

Btw. Has anyone successful flashed with the native Mac OS X tool?

#30

The 30b has an interesting 'first': You can assign programs to keys and run them by pressing shift and one of those keys simultaniously. At least, I don't know of another HP calculator offering this. The 30b is worth enjoying it as it is imo. At least, buy two and keep one as a 30b.

Unfortunately, it lacks the nice Clamshell/17B* solver menu (but HP solve is included).

#31

I've been watching the 34s project from the sidelines, but for less than $25, I can no longer resist. Thanks for posting this deal. I just pulled the trigger on the 30b and the stickers. I already had a cable hoping to someday re-flash my 15C LE, but that looks like it will never happen.

Thanks again, Matthew.


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