mann@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (Shannon Mann) (06/15/91)
Hi. I am the same person who recently asked those hp48 questions since I'm thinking of upgrading from my 28. Incidentally, I am not that person (Shannon). I am his friend Terry. i.e. that posting and this one - we're both Terry. (got it?) (SM knows I'm here!) Thank-you, all, for the feedback (but don't stop). I just read the summary posted by someone (sorry) regarding the fact that the 48 misses keys. I hope this is not a great problem since I sometimes do a lot of number crunching (coursework) and just sold my 28... I'm committed... Maybe I should just go buy a Sharp or Casio instead (JOKE! Haha! ha! err... hmm.) One "last" question... I heard that several companies that make laptop PCs agreed on a standard for plug-in memory cards. Dare I suppose this is that used by the 48SX? My idea here is that if the cards were an industry standard, they would get cheap quick. Perhaps, at least, they may be equivalent electronically only ie. different case and connector? I would expect that the only critical characteristics would be control signal protocol (CS, R/W or RE, WE or whatever) and addressing scheme (number of bits address, bits data). Hopefully timing (setup, hold, access times) would take care of itself. Access times should be OK since 48SX hardware is older (?). And even if the 48SX has fewer data bits, it could merely access a subset of the generic card. If the control signals were different, perhaps a gate or 2 would work. I assume they both use lithium-cell backed CMOS static RAM. Do the docs exist to check this out? Being forced to use a different connector may be a reason to save some bucks and hack it onto a plain 48S. Which brings me to my last+1 question: what precisely is the difference between the 48SX and 48S? Just an empty card bay with no connector? Or no case door either? Important: do the memory card config- uration routines still exist in the 48S?
akcs.joehorn@hpcvbbs.UUCP (Joseph K. Horn) (06/16/91)
Terry [aka Shannon Mann] asks: > What precisely is the difference between the 48SX and 48S? Just an > empty card bay with no connector? Or no case door either? Important: > do the memory card configuration routines still exist in the 48S? The 48S has no card bay door, just a tiny red cover over the I/O area to let the IR out, and the cable in. It's not removable. Yes, memory card configuration routines still exist in the 48S. (The operating system, and menus, are 100% identical to the 48SX, rev E). But, even if you hack a hole in the back to get to the card bay, the interface hardware is missing. -- Joseph K Horn -- Peripheral Vision, Ltd. --