Calculator blog

Due to my job I have to use more often financial calculators. Due to my education, I am more inclined to scientific calculators. Of course, I want to have both.

I have (as many of you) several calculators that I use frequently. 

I love the menu scheme of the hp19b and hp17b families. If you are not into maths but business, you can't go wrong with either of them.

(Picture: the HP17bII family)

And the HP19bII

I love the 3 lines of the stack in the screen, that allow you to see what you had been doing before (why the HP17bII does not act like the HP42s, where you can operate with both lines showing x and y registers?)

But more than these additional lines, I love the additional math-related menues, that allow trigonometrics and even Hyperbolics. With these, and wihtout the need of doing complex programming (I mean, beyond what can be provided by the very powerful solver), I can live with the HP19bII for nearly all my calculator needs.

Fact is: the 19bII is quite cumbersume and uses a lot of expensive desk real estate. Moreover, it uses N-type batteries, which are expensive and not found everywhere.

The question is: would it be too difficult to enhance the math menues of the 17bII+ with the additional math functions provided in the 19bII? There are no changes to be made on the body (which is very good on keyboard feedback when compared with the previous model, and on par with the new one), and not even in the key layout.  It is just redesigning the math menu (perhaps with an additional depth level) to take care of these.

I know that the current versions use different processors and therefore it is not a direct port - but probably current software is as well emulated in some way. 

This would help to keep the HP17bII+ at the top of the financial food chain. Now, there is the menace of the 30b (with much lower apparent body quality, but programmable and with Black&Scholes functionality) and even of the lowish HP10bII (wich is a fantastic calculator, except for the lack of RPN.

I have read in the internet about a new venture whose aim is to reissue a HP15c clone. You can find about it here: 

HP 15c reissue

They show as well some renderings of how the machine would look like:

Rendered pictures

And you can see that they have been able to produce a working prototype:

working protoype

There are some informations about price - around 69 CHF. Having lived in Switzerland myself, I can attest that it is not the cheapest country around by a long shot, and still this is a very good price.

There are several considerations when you think about it:

1. How is it working? It may be a port of the "non-pareil" family of emulators, running the original ROM. In this case, while hobbyist intent may get through, producing longer series of a copyrighted software may get the producer in trouble. In the alternative case (all features having been programmed by them in an operational emulation of the original, as opposed to an emulation of the hardware and running the original ROM), then it is a dangerous road, for the original HP15c ROM was one of the highest points of the computer era, when it comes to accuracy of the algorithms, cleverness of the layout, number of features implemented, ROM size, etc. A daunting peak to climb - in your first attempt.
2. Screen. While they could have worked with salvaged HP12c screens (all voyager screens could be used for all models - if you look at your 12c at an angle you will see the GRAD indicator - while the 12c does not have trigonometrics) they have developed a dot-matrix screen. While readability seems to be good, it is by no means the same thing as the original.
3. Keyboard. At this stage, we have just seen renderings and we do not know the materials used and the key feedback. However, we HP-lovers feel that the keyboard is one of the key success factors of the calculators of the golden age - of which 15c is one of the peaks. You cannot know how it will feel until some of us actually test the machine and report.
4. Speed. It always was one of the problems of the voyager family - even when compared with the slow HP41c (clocked at more than twice the speed). This machine claims speeds 60x ; we know that the new HP12c, working on a similar processor, has been able to do 150x - and from the new 12c (called henceforth 12c+) to a 15c+, you just need to port the ROM and a new keyboard engraving.
5. If you want to take the risk, you will not go into bankruptcy if you try. This said, there are some other very interesting developments going on - namely the HP41CL from Monte, where you can spend your hard-earned cash. I would get both if I can, but in the end...
6. ... I prefer to wait for the real thing. I will probably get it sooner. Enough said.

Well, I have run out of overlays for HP34s for the first time!

Today I had to return a payment from a customer in the US for a WP34s. For those that have placed an order, do not worry - we are honouring the orders!. 

We have modified the website so that the wp34s cannot be ordered until we have more overlays. Thank you all for your confidence.

SIMPLEX Algorithm and the transport problem

On anothe note: as we are now changing our logistic network completely, I am starting to re-enter in the operational programm, I plan to play ing area - the "transport problem", SIMPLEX, etc. I have found that the HP 50g is exceptionally suited to these programs. Since the number of possible routes is not enormous, we plan to play with it. The savings in the different models tested by hand are very significant - let's see. We're talking about hundreds of thousands. Programming is not 100% deterministic - there are specific customers with specific requirements, phobias, philias, etc.

One thing amazing about linear programming for the HP50g is that most of the software I have found is in Spanish - is there any reason for that? I guess that SIMPLEX algorithm is favoured in Spanish speaking engineering schools, other different algorithms being used in other countries. Can any reader illustrate me on this area?

There are some news about this site that I would like to share with you.

New Products

I have found several "old" products that will be published in following days. These include 3 classic machines, 2 woodstock, 1 clamshell, manuals and chargers. Some of them are in really excellent state, and come with boxes and other accesories. I am in the process to test them, clean them and take pictures.

WP34s

There are already three units being sold - taking into account the apparent risk it may involve (in reality there is no significant risk - the machine works wonderfully). This means that I have posted 2 contributions to the project, and an additional one when I get the payment for the new one.

There is a local calculator hobbyist to whom I have lent one to try - sorry, this is something that can only be done locally and if you trust the person. I have met this individual a couple of times and seen that we share a significant number of things  - from the business school we studied to our other hobbies (music and Hifi, anyone?)

(here comes a rant)

I had a long discussion on calculators with him. When coming back from the meeting, I reflected on what makes me tick with a calculator - and I have to acknowledge that, in my case, it is the machines that I have used in the past. In that respect, the wp34s has everything I might want on a calculator (except perhaps matrix tools), but is a little too difficult to work with. And I tend to come back, time after time, to the dumb old calculators that were easy to use to me - the HP17bII and the HP19bII. The HP17bII is current, the 19b is not - and it is a pity. The 19b has all the trigonometrics and mathematic tools that the 17bII has not. In addition, has the 4 lines on screen (3 lines plus menu line)

An idea for HP - you have mastered the HP17bII in its latest version. Why not add the 19bII features that are missing in the HP17bII? (Now the HP17bII has a problem: the HP30b has true programmability, Black and Scholes already written in firmware, and a lot of mathematical functions missing in the HP17bII. It even comes with a clever menu system. I still feel that the ease of use of the 17bII is superior to any other calculator by HP or by any other brand for that matter - but someone should do something to ensure thet it remains at the top of the heap (or should I say "the top of the stack")

By the way, I have not posted the black one yet.

Pagerank

Last Friday I re-installed some SEO tools in a new computer, and connected to the website. Until now, and due to the fact that the site is quite new (since beginning of February), we were not classified (i.e. the ranking of the page was zero). Most of my local competitors were 0 or 1 as well - this means that their only chance of getting traffic is through adwords. Well, this Friday I saw that we were 3 !!

This is still miles away from Educalc.net's 5, or hpcalc.org's 6. (It is worth noting that hpcalc has as well a sales site for the US, whose ranking is 4) These sites offer substantial information apart from sales, and the ranking is well deserved. I myself delve into their pages when I need to find information or software. I aknowledge that thecalculatorstore.com is still very far from them. We miss both the time they have spent over the years (on one side), but as well the expertise that people like Eric Rechlin possesses.

There are 2 ways of getting visits: either you pay a significant amount to a Search Engine Optimisation company, or you take the difficult way of adding more and more pages of relevant content. I have chosen the second way. However, it requires a significant amount of your free time, both looking around for interesting content, imagining what can be of interest to my fellow visitors (that's not too difficult - I just need to put whatever pleases me, and plain hard working to put it down to the screen.

That said, Google offers a wonderful set of free tools to manage your website, but the information it gives is some times inconsistent, jumps up and down for no reason that I can explain, and leaves you downfounded. How are we going down on this and that keyword, and going up on these others, if we have made no changes regarding any of them?

In any case, I am enjoying the hell of it, and learning a lot in the process. 

Other news

Finally, there are still no news about new products that I can release. Please observe the careful wording of the sentence - even in the avoidance of keywords that may give away more information than needed !!

When the time comes, we will send a newsletter to all registered user. You do not need to buy to register, and the current registered users know that we do not spam - in fact we have not sent any newsletter as of late!!

Finally!

I received this week the overlays from Eric Rechlin. Wonderful quality and choice of material. You cannot touch it from where you are - believe me that feeling is good and adherence superb:

I have received several overlays. I plan to set the complete kit: the flashed HP30b + the overlays. Just to Europe to avoid competition with Eric; and 10 € of each sale will be donated to the wp34s project.

Now, let's see the machine under surgery:

It was updated with the latest available build, 1125 at the time:

Now, let's see how it ended up:

Sorry - the light condition was low and my pulse unstable -> fuzzy picture.

This one is better:

When you do it, do not try to fix it with a hard thing - see the mark over the CLx key.

I learned from it and the rest of the keyboard was excellent!!

It really looks professional, and the key feel is much better than the HP20b.

Now, let's try to work with it and make some programs !!!

I have just received the black HP 17bII that I had been looking for.

Does anybody know when these units where made? The pictures herebelow compare it with another calculator with the typical, uglier colours. Both are made in Indonesia,but you can see the difference. Even the pouch is black instead of brown, and seems to be of better quality:

We have started to include video tutorials for some of the most frequently sold calculators.

These videos have not been created by me. I have selected them from a surprising amount of information that can be found in the usual video sites.

A video tutorial is no substitute for a proper read of a proper Hewlett Packard manual, but helps when you just have received the calculator and want to get started with minimum fuss.

Here are the 2 first pages that sport video tutorials;

HP 50g Tutorial videos - English

HP 12c Tutorial Videos

It is interesting the introduction made on RPN. Here is preaching the convert, but in the wild, it may help to convert some. It is just question of getting hooked!

We hope to introduce many more in due time...

I have received today a message from Andreas Moeller, an innovative programmer, and author of a set of tools for the HP50g.These tools include a full translation of menus, flags, and applications to the language of your choice, and an equation tree builder which is extremely useful for those that have several equations and several subdirectories in their HP50g.

(by the way, a disclaimer - we sell the HP50g with the multilanguage as a pack - and we include with it an SD card)

Andreas has been working to make its software known. We have a difficulty here: it is hard to convince a student to pay for something when he is accustomed to get everything for free - and students make 95% of all purchases of HP50g. (users are more varied - eventually the student earns his grade and starts working, keeping his calculator with him). One way he has trie is creating some videos that explain how the software works.

Here is the example about the multilanguage pack:

I

Equation Tree Builder

I am enjoying the full set of tools in my HP50g. It is saving lots of time in my work. When I need to find where is the nice equation that I wrote 6 months ago (how did I name the equation? What did the variables mean? Under which assumptions does the equation work?

Here is a video that shows how the tree browser is used

You can even organize your own sets of equations and transform them into programs, or even libraries, to be distributed to your friends and colleagues. Here is a video that shows how:

All in all, an excellent software, and for me (in particular the treebuilder), verging on the indispensable. Highly recommended !!

We have found some new old stock (NOS) HP F1011A power supplies, for UK plug.

It is amazing how the printer transforms itself - printing is much faster and you no longer feel sorry for your printer on long program printouts.

By the way, it seems that our old infrared printer may be used as well for other, non-HP equipment - in particular Testo analyzers

From the end of this month, you can try to access the website with your smartphone and the view will be optimised for it.

There are still some quirks to be ironed out, and verbose descriptions that do not have a place there, but you can now read this blog through your 'phone!