HP-33s variable programming

[Michel]

Hi. I just bought a HP-33S and i don'T have any complaint about is physical proprieties. I just tried to program it but it seams that i have problem with variables.

Before, i have to told you that this calc is the only one i try younger than my HP-41CV.

So as my HP-41CV have, i cannot find the equivalent of the alpha toggle key. Well my native language is french but i can read english not to bad... If i name variables, the alphs seems to be on automatically but i can only enter one letter and that's it.

If i understand well the booklet, i have the choice of 26 letters but i'm unable to choose number names as variables. How to do that?

Like i want a variable to be A1, A2, A3 but after enterine the A, nothing else can be enter; where is the toggle switch for letter/number variables?

Thanks
Michel

[Norris]

The 33S (like its ancestors, the 32S and 32SII) can only use 1-letter variable names. Your only choices are the 26 letters from A to Z. You cannot have longer variable names, like A1 or A2 or AB or AC. Sorry.

However, you can also store values in the i-register and the 6 statistics registers (accessed indirectly). So the 33S has a total of 33 storage registers (not just 26).

Edited: 24 Oct 2004, 7:55 p.m.

[Michel]

Well, i have a lot of programs to transpose from my HP-41 to my 33S; i will forget it because naming programs is the same law as naming variables as i can understand and i have more than 26 programs and variables...

What happens with time; technology is not suppose to improve? Does it cost more to make a calculator that can handle long name variables than a one character variable or program name?

I also just look for time and date setting but no more time module in that calculator! How much does it cost to add these in a calculator?

So i will wait for someone to hack the calculator in order to have long name variables and programs.

Is there another calculator for transfering my 41 programs so i can retire it - you know a lot of my coworkers are laughing about my 41 saying that it's "une antiquité" :-)).
The real reason is that i don't want to break or lost it at work and want to leave it safely at home...

[Randy]

The replacement for the 41 was the 42S. It had no clock, I/O (other than I/R printing) or expansion of any kind. The backward trend began there and never stopped. The 33S contains more memory than the 42S but it can only use one letter variables because it was designed to be a 32Sii replacement, HP's best selling RPN calculator of all time.

The move forward for many but not all was to RPL and the 28/48 series.

Yes, we may be dinosaurs but we're not yet extinct :^)

[Norris]

If you want an HP calculator with powerful programming capabilities, then you should get a 48 or 49 series model. These can do everything that a 41 can do, plus a whole lot more. However, the programming language (RPL) is more complex than that used on the 41, and the documentation may not be as helpful.

The 33S is not intended to be comparable to the high-end 41, 48, or 49; it is an inexpensive low-end model. The 33S is a redesigned version of the older 32S and 32SII. These models had only 384 bytes of memory, so they weren't intended for serious programming. The 33S has much more memory, but it inherited the same limited number of variable names and labels as the 32S and 32SII. Apparently it was easy to add a larger memory chip, but hard to overhaul the firmware for more variables and labels.

I don't think the 33S can be hacked. The 32S and 32SII have the same architecture as the 33S, have been around since 1988, and have not been hacked.

Edited: 25 Oct 2004, 1:07 a.m.

[bill platt]

Hi Michel,

If you like the HP-41 logic and memory/programming structure, then you can run one of HrastProgrammer's hp-41c/cv/cx emulators on a 48g or gx and have a replacement for your 41. I think he also wrote it for the 49g---take a look:

http://www.geocities.com/hrastprogrammer/

regards (et regardez ;^),

Bill