A Step in the Right Direction, Anyway...

[John K. (US)]

For those who are interested, it looks like HP just finshed a major rewrite of ther HP Calculators Web Zone site. Lot's of new content, including FAQs, "Usage Guides", manuals, etc. in PDF format.

There's even an introduction to RPN...

[Ernie Malaga]

John:

It would be a step in the right direction if HP hadn't dropped the HP-48 from the web page. I've tried both the "scientific" and "technical" links, and they both display the same calculators -- including the HP-12C (!).

First HP expectorated the 49G. Is it the 48's turn now? Hopefully it's just an oversight when re-designing the page.

-Ernie

[John K. (US)]

Well, it's still there (look for the text link just above the footer), it's just not very obvious. They're probably planning on dropping it too. But until then, they're offering it for a pretty good price.

I'm not sure I agree with you about the 49G though. I've developed an appreciation for it recently. Sure, it looks stooopid. And it's got mushy rubber keys and a display that nobody really likes, but it's got a lot of memory, and the flash ROM is a nice touch. Built-in MetaKernel, upgradable (and replaceable!) OS, up to seven visible stack levels... Too bad it doesn't have a real ENTER key... :^/

In any event, the point was that HP looks like they're gearing up for a product launch. After all, if you've given up on a product category, why develop a new site to promote it? It's reason to hope, anyway.

[Mike (Stgt)]

And they offer an emulator: http://www.hp-calculators.com/resources/emulators.phtml

Ciao.....Mike

[lokhin]

but it was released when the hp 10bii first released. nothing new yet actually.

[John K. (US)]

>nothing new yet actually.

I don't recall seeing the "Usage Guides" before. Did they release those earlier, on the old site?

[lokhin]

seems to me that they are new...

[Gordon Dyer]

The User Guides were available on the older web pages.

I have the following ones:



HP 6S User Guide.pdf

HP 6S Spec Sheet.pdf

HP 6S solar User Guide.pdf

HP 9G How To Guide.pdf

HP 9G Manual.pdf

HP 9G User Guide.pdf

HP 9S User Guide.pdf

HP 10B Manual.pdf

HP 10BII Manual.pdf

HP-12C Spec Sheet.pdf

HP 20S Spec Sheet.pdf

HP 30S Spec Sheet.pdf

HP 30S User Guide Examples.pdf

HP 30S User Guide.pdf

HP 39G 40G User Guide.pdf

HP 48GX Spec Sheet.pdf

HP 49G Spec Sheet.pdf

HP 49G User Guide.pdf

XpanderUsersGuide.pdf



If anyone would like a copy of any of these let me know and I will email them to you, but if there are a lot of requests it may not be instant!

[John K. (US)]

> The User Guides were available on the older web pages.

Well, these aren't the User's Guide(s), but rather Usage Guide(s). I've looked at a couple of them for various calcs and they seem to be instructions on how to do specific things (like calculate a mortgage with a balloon payment) on a specific machine (say, the 12C or 10BII). They're kind of like excerpts from the old Solutions Guides and Handbooks.

[Mike (Stgt)]

The emulator looks new, the formerly was offered on a French site of HP and had a time limit of some days (60?) to test. If I only could find it again. :(

Ciao.....Mike

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Hi Mike,

just drop me a line to my private email account,
and I'll send it to you.

But it seems the new version is smoother,
and uses less resources.

The old version I have dates from October 2000.

Regards,

Raymond

[Mike (Stgt)]

TIA!

Ciao.....Mike

[W. Bruce Maguire II]

What a joke! They better be coming out with an RPN model pretty quick... >:-P

The "Introduction to RPN" states:

HP provides full RPN ... The 48G+ and 48GX scientific and HP12C financial calculator (SIC) use RPN exclusively ... the 17BII and 49G can be switched between [RPN and algebraic]...

Lets see... Out of the FIVE calculators they mention, THREE are no longer available (are they even "supported"?) and ONE---the 48GX---is on its way out so fast that they didn't even bother to include it in the "Products" section! I guess that leaves... ONE RPN calculator! Isn't it ironic that the old engineering company that introduced RPN calculators to the world now only sells one RPN calculator...and it's for finance!?! >:-P

Sheesh! If they are not going to be introducing an RPN machine soon, then this RPN cheerleading is absolutley revolting!

Personally, I've come to terms with it. HP no longer exists. It is fruitless to even hope for a new calculator from them, because whatever they sell will be a piece of Chineses crap made by someone else with a spiffy "HP" logo slapped on (crookedly).

HP is gone. As far as I'm concerned, we all here have about as close a connection with the new HP as we do with Sharp, or TI, or Casio. The HP we admired was spun-off and called Agilent, and they are not in the calculator business.

The 'pops-up-once-in-a-long-while'

Bruce.

[Vieira, Luiz C. (Brazil)]

Hi, W. Bruce;

based on what you wrote and in previous posts about HP and replying messages service, it seems all around calculators has been passed to thirdy-part offices that have no idea about what does RPN stand for.

This way, you're right feeling sick about this.

Luiz C. Vieira - Brazil

[Renato]

Old HP no longer exists, because current market is different from the old market. Current inkjet printers are sold with ink cartridges that contains half as much ink as replacement cartridges. This is a market standard. How would old HP survive in such a market ? In my opinion, HP or its management is not guilty for what it has become - in order to survive it had to become something different from the company we admired and respected. Would this company be alive if it did not adapt to a new era ?

Sometimes I think I am wrong, by being attached to products, companies and markets that ceased to exist years ago...

[Vieira, Luiz C. (Brazil)]

Hi, Renato;

I have the same concerns and thoughts; for me, you're right.

What I believe that others are thinking is: does it worth loosing the best they ever had?

If it is to survive, we know the answer.

It reminds me Apple and IBM/Microsoft...

Luiz C. Vieira - Brazil

[Howard]

Personally I think I don't mind if HP continues with RPN or not.
The important thing for me is that I know how it works. I get a certain amount of satisfaction in knowing that I know something that not everybody knows. This might sound smug - well OK I'm being smug and a snob.
I think all of us have a certain amount of this in us or else we wouldn't collect calculators that are nowhere near as productive as the later models.
I have several of the later models that I rarely take out of the drawer. They can do the lot in spades - but I would rather have my HP65 reading a card or my HP41CX calculating away. They are great.
It is a lot like collecting old watches or old stamps - they are useless compared to the new ones but they have a great value to those who are intereted in them. Their value is in their rarity.