Posts: 312
Threads: 25
Joined: Jan 1970
Quote:
Also, does anyone whose followed HP Calcs through the years know if other newly introduced HP calculators had similar type early problems too??? Please only respond for calcs that were made earlier than the 48 series....
Most definitely. The best-documented example is the HP-41C. It had a dozen or so bugs, and they were given numbers. Bug #2, for example, allowed you to set or clear flags greater than 29, if done indirectly. Bug #3 (I think) allowed you to store program lines into memory registers -- again, by doing it indirectly. This gave rise to the Synthetic Programming fever, of which I took a very tiny part.
Happy programming.
-Ernie
Posts: 362
Threads: 30
Joined: Jul 2005
As far as the new hardware glitches are concerned:
I have a 45 that is older than me but whose original owner confirmed that the [1/x] key never worked reliably, he always used logs then. So missed keys is not something new. What is more on this model the bottom "hp45" sticker is not even straight. Some people criticise the Chinese quality control. I should say that the US one was not much better then. However, apart from the battery pack that I have been in the process of trying to begin to restore for the last three months or so, the calc is still running strong.
Arnaud
Posts: 37
Threads: 3
Joined: Jan 1970
Hi, John. I might qualify to help answer the concern. My first 49g+ was bought on 10/7/2003, was delivered on 10/8/2003, and failed on 10/26/2003. This machine's serial number is: CN33103995, and it was delivered with a ROM image of 1.19. Very interesting to me was the reaction of HP's Customer Support team when I called them asking them to please call 911. They swear that this serial number is earlier than ANY delivered -49g+, and from this they conclude that my machine MUST be some other model, some other calculator. The new machine, which just arrived today, 10/29/2003, is serial number CN33404556 and contains a ROM image of 1.20. My retailer told me that it was from the second production run of the -49g+s. My conclusion: The machines are identical in touch, feel, and appearance, but not--let us hope--in reliability.