WP34 cable

[Mike Powell]

Just found a thread from last year (which just seemed to wander off into politics) about the programming cable for this calc, wanted to know if user "Harald" had any cables left , but system said I couldn't contact the guy via an archived thread .

So does the calculator store still sell this calc? (shows out of stock right now)

and does Harald have any cables or his pcb's left?
(How do I contact him ? has he got a website too?)

I don't want to buy the modded calc without finding a cable also

Thanks for any pointers

[Don Shepherd]

Mike, find a post from Harald in the current thread list, you can contact him that way. Once the post is archived, you can't contact him using those threads. I see a couple of posts in the current thread list from him.

[Mike Powell]

Ah thanks for that - will seek him out

I actually have a couple of the HP20b's that have never been used so might as well re-purpose them.

Not too keen on that HP20b keyboard but what's exactly 'different' about the HP30 keyboard ?

Edited: 26 Sept 2013, 10:42 a.m.

[Walter B]

Quote:

---

Not too keen on that HP20b keyboard but what's exactly 'different' about the HP30 keyboard ?

---

Just the tactile feedback - but that's definitively worth a swap.

d:-)

[Mike Powell]

Quote:

---

Just the tactile feedback - but that's definitively worth a swap.

---

Tsk tsk - more money ! lol
(I just got these 20's last year relatively cheaply

So it's a click style ? ... Is it comparable to say the HP50 ?

[Harald]

Hi Mike,
didn't spot this before I got your email.

The 30b Keyboard is totally different from the 20b. A lot closer to the old HP keyboards. Definitely worth the extra money.

[Mike Powell]

Oh , good, well, in for a pound ....

There are some for about the €38 mark all in I think

[Mike Powell]

Got one on its way - found an italian guy selling them for £28 delivered !

[Marcus von Cube, Germany]

The original cables seem to be "sold" out, finally. Most where given away for the bare shipping fee. I remember Tim writing here that the Chinese factory had produced "way too many" of them. ;)

The only real problem is the special plug they are equipped with. There are ways to circumvent the need for the plug if you can do some soldering. Katie Wasserman has managed to build her own plug with some POGO pins and sheet metal. Harald's boards are the luxury version but I had similar success with a simpler modification (a 2.5mm stereo jack) and an FTDI 3.3V USB cable. See this old thread. You will need to bridge two pads for the initial firmware erase (ERASE and +3V if I'm not mistaken) while resetting and turning on the device. Once the WP 34S firmware is active, the chip can be set into programming mode with a key combination. Walter's manual describes this all in detail.

[Mike Powell]

Thanks Marcus for the link

I'm already in touch with Harald, he's got one of his outboard boards on its way as I have 3 calc's to do.
I'm gonna be making up a variant of Katie's plug to attach to Harald's kit