[comp.sys.handhelds] Stupid HP48 tricks, part II

bgribble@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Bill Gribble) (05/16/91)

In article <6AE72CF900001C3E@gacvx2.gac.edu> TDSTRONG%MTUS5.cts.mtu.edu@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Tim Strong) writes:
>Incidentally on the version E's I heard the reset moved under the upper
>right hand foot but I don't know for sure.

'Strue.  The first time I had to reset my ver E I was quite confused.  
  There's a hole under _both_ top feet, but pushing the one that worked
  before (on my [stolen] vers. A and D) had no effect.  And it had a little 
  'R' by it, even on the ver. E.  So I looked under the _other_ foot, and 
  voila! Two holes...

Now for the stupid HP trick:  to quote from the manual, p. 660,

  "To maintain product reliability, avoid getting the calculator wet and 
   observe the following temperature and humidity limits:
  " - Operating temperature: 0 to 45 C (32 to 113 F)."

  The trick here is that it doesn't have to be 113 deg F for the calculator 
  to be operating at 113 deg F.  Tricky, eh?

I was fifteen minutes from a presentation of my latest hardware/software 
  project: a maze-navigating robot controlled by an on-board computer -
  the 48.  The only space big and flat enough to set up the maze was the 
  courtyard in front of our library.  Being good Harvey Mudd students, all
  of our previous tests had been conducted at or after 2 a.m.  But we were
  making last-minute adjustments and calibrations and generally revelling 
  in the fascination any sort of moving thing holds for passersby - at 
  1:15 on a sunny SoCal afternoon. 

Needless to say, memory was lost seconds after one of us picked up the 
  calculator and said "gee, this is hot."  So we scrambled for old versions
  on the computer and madly tried to remember all the fixes we had made in 
  the last day.  There were a lot.  We never got it working as well as it 
  was the few minutes before it ailed.

So how is this calculator useful for surveyors?  It wasn't out in the sun 
  very long.  Oh well.

>  I__)  _   _I  _   _   Tim Strong <TDSTRONG@MTUS5.cts.mtu.edu>

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**   Bill Gribble                     Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA   **
**   bgribble@jarthur.claremont.edu   Never heard of it?  You're stupid.   **
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