Hello fellow calc fans.
I recently acquired a nice HP28S and this made some fond memories resurface. It is a very curious experience to face all the quirks in this machine, which lacks many twists of its later siblings. The hardware is truly excellent, apart from the dreaded battery door (undamaged in my copy). Even knowing that putting batteries in would be a challenge, it was still a pain. On my original 28S, the battery door actually broke spontaneously.
I had a funny experience trying to get 'N' batteries ; I went to a store dedicated to selling rare kinds of batteries (the store is actually named "a thousand and one batteries" !). When I asked for 'N' batteries, the guy immediately replied "So you have an HP calculator ?" !! Seems all the world production of this kind goes into elder HP models. Great fun.
While typing some programs, I ran into some problems :
- No such thing as a 'continue', once it is HALTed you can't restart the program
- No access to local vars in called programs : if program A has a local variable and calls program B, then B doesn't see the variable. You need to pass it on the stack - hmm.
- STO+ can't do all what + STO can : no STO+ into local variables, and for example {1,2} 'A' STO {3} 'A' STO+ brings an error
- The program editor is horrible, starts in overwrite mode, discards your nice indentation, doesn't go to the next line if you [->] at the last character of the line, etc. Cursor keys being the same as menu keys is also bad.
Other funny behavior includes :
- UNITS catalog doesn't have base units such as kg
- 'A+B' 'A' STO A doesn't crash. Then A EVAL gives 'A+B+B'. EVAL again gives 'A+B+B+B' !?
- 'SQRT 5' 2 + SQ EXPAN COLCT gives back a numerical result 17,94... instead of '4*SQRT 5 + 9'(where SQRT is the square root character)
I still like the FORMS editor, it was powerful and a lot faster than the Equation Editor on 48s. 32 kb is nice to use.
So I only wish this model would have benefited from all the ideas that surfaced in the following years. However, this one was the real innovation, the 48/49 being IMHO much less of a change in paradigm.
I think this machine deserves some space in the museum.
An HP28S wakes up
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09-15-2005, 04:12 AM
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09-15-2005, 05:06 AM
Hi GE.
Now I remember! Around 1983 (84?, 85?)
It really blew me out because the thing would do symbolic I really liked that and I was a bit jealous at the time since I own an old HP41CV [as everyone here knows by now... sorry guys!] I guess that was the 28S...? DW
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09-15-2005, 01:38 PM
Aside from my 28S I have several flashlights that use N cells. ▼
09-15-2005, 03:18 PM
I think the community does not do justice to the 28S, which improved over almost all the faults of the admittently premature 28C. But the 28C was such a revolutionary break from the past that even HP couldn't get it perfect the first time. Andreas
09-15-2005, 05:03 PM
Hi all. All, that is, EXCEPT UNSPELLABLE.... ;-P My 41CV uses N cells... Watch it, buddy! Ah, yes. The machine I saw was brand new, so it nust have been the 28C. I think this was 1985? DW P.S. What have you got against flashlights, anyway?
Edited: 15 Sept 2005, 5:06 p.m. ▼
09-15-2005, 05:10 PM
>1985? No, must have been later. Bought mine in 87, and I'm sure I was one of the first customers. I pre-ordered mine before they came out. I recall the 28S came out about a year later or so. Andreas ▼
09-16-2005, 04:02 PM
The museum page for the 28C/S has this:
Quote: So your recollection is right on.
09-16-2005, 01:53 PM
Whu'd I do? Whu'd I do?
09-16-2005, 02:40 AM
Well, the 28C was introduced in 1987, and the 28S in 1988, so either you're a bit off on your dates, or you're thinking of some other calculator.
09-15-2005, 10:38 PM
First off, I recommend that you have a look at the 28 series
I agree that the battery cover is a poor design; I haven't had one
As for N cells, they are used elsewhere, but they're unusual
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Sure there is; use CONT, the "shifted" 1 key. Or just type in
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The compiler compiles a name as a local name only if that local
<< "dummy string" -> a << HALT >> >>
Now enter (or edit or visit) your program 'B' which uses 'a'; this
Of course you can pass the contents of the variable on the stack
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True enough, STO+ requires real or complex numbers or arrays, and
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I prefer that editing start in insert mode, but note that
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The source code that you type into the command line editor isn't
If you want to save your source code, then write the program
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??? So use NEWLINE (shifted SPACE key) when you want to go to the
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Okay, and the cursor keys being the same as ALPHA keys on the 48
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I think that this calculator treats g (gram) as the "base unit"
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Well, I'd certainly hope that it wouldn't "crash", but a "Circular
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True, as documented, COLCT starts out by evaluating numerical
Quote: I tend to agree on that.
Quote: Well, that's the nature of the evolution of devices.
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Actually, I'd say that the 28C was the real innovation; it
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Well, it does have some space in the Museum; see
Regards, Edited: 16 Sept 2005, 2:21 a.m.
09-17-2005, 07:26 PM
Nice thread! My first HP was a new 28S my first year of college back in '89. I had four manuals for it and read them all cover-to-cover that Christmas. Although I don't find it very useful at the workplace, it is really at home on a well-lit desk for doing hours of physics or math homework (somewhere it has space to breathe and not be shuffled around). I kept mine (and the manuals) in mint condition all these years and have increased my HP collection. I've hit my 32k memory limit, too, and was really down the day my batteries went south and memory followed (loosing it all!). I'll always have a special place in my heart for the 28S. I only wish I had purchased one of those nice leather covers for it back then! $20 in those days (same as the manuals) and the 28S itself costed me $200!.... back then! Gotta love its RPL, though. |