OT Anyone use MathUPro on their Palm Pilot

[Matt Agajanian]

Hi all,

Those of you who've used MathUPro, what are your thoughts about this app?

[Walter B]

IMO MathUPro is recommendable for straight calculations and programs. I used it on a Palm m515 and use it on a Pocket PC now. Fontwise, readability is very good for almost all labels and the display. You have 4 stack levels, but may also switch to 16 levels. With 16 you digest every formula in arbitrary order. MathU features by far enough registers and memory for your programming. The makers of MathUPro implemented improved program control commands, so you have better stuff than ISG and DSE. And you may fully customize your keyboard, i.e. set all 3 functions for any key (direct, blue & gold). Since your programs have alphanumerical labels, you may create your own commands and assign them to the (virtual) keyboard and they will show up there immediately. Last not least, since you have a backlight LCD, you may use it in the dark, too :)

What it has too less: keys.

What it does not have: e.g. complex numbers, matrices, regression, solve, integrate, named variables, menus and soft keys.

Since "it's only software" ;) , these points may may be corrected in the future, but I've no idea when.

What it cannot have: real keys with the nonpareil feeling of a true HP. And it will just work as good as your PDA in direct sunlight.

Summary: you get quite a bit for less than 20 Euros.

Edited: 26 Aug 2006, 6:23 p.m.

[kevin]

I've installed and started using recently the program power48 for Palm Pilot. It emulates 3 calcs - 48SX, 48GX and 49G. I'm using it on a LifeDrive and it takes advantage of the 480x320 screen very nicely.

Many people seem to be underwhelmed by the quality of the keyboards and construction of the HP 48/49 calculators - but if you're going to use a palm and not use a real calc anyway - might as well enjoy the added functionality. It's nice to have something recent on the palm - you can easily download all the manuals from the HP web site.

http://www.mobilevoodoo.com/power48.htm

I've installed and run the software without ever crashing it - I've done the simplest of things like put the 49G in RPN using the menus. But I don't really know the 48/49 series of calcs. I've been using a 29C simulation and a real-life 41CV lately.

If someone with real 48/49 experience ever uses this I'd love to hear what they think about it...

Best Regards,

Kevin

[Bruce Bergman]

I use it as my primary calculator on my Treo 600/650. I do so because it looks great (with the right skin, it could be a HP calc!), it uses RPN, and it is ergonomically designed.

By that, I mean that you can use it as you would expect. Several of the cheaper ($9-$20) RPN programs don't allow you to use the keyboard of the Treo as you would want/expect. You'd try to enter a number followed by "ENTER" and it wouldn't work. So you'd be constantly switching between keyboard and stylus. I couldn't get the vendors to understand the issue there, so I gave up. With MathU, you can enter numbers, press "ENTER" on the keyboard and wha-lah! it pushes up on the stack! Then press the + or - or whatever, and it works as expected. I rarely need to use the screen any longer, and when I do, the screen keys are big enough that I don't have to pull out the stylus.

The MathU-Pro version is tempting, but programmability on my Treo for an additional $30 wasn't worth it. Close, but too much. Had they offered the Pro version for $29 instead of $49, I would have bought it just to have it.

It's a class act, and reliable, and that -- IMHO -- is the bottom line of why I use it.

thanks,
bruce