Jake-S@cup.portal.com (Jake G Schwartz) (05/04/91)
New HP95/ HP48 Videotape Available
For those of you who are fans of the HP95LX or HP48SX, this newest tape
might be of interest. On Monday, April 29th, 1991, Eric Vogel from HP
Corvallis was nice enough to stop in our area to give a presentation on the
HP95LX. This talk/demo was very well received by the twenty attendees. I
videotaped the three-and-a-half-hour meeting and am making it available to
those who are interested. Along with the tape will be included a copy of our
Philadelphia Area HP Handheld Club meeting handout from that evening which
includes HP95 articles from Byte, PC Computing, PC Week, The Wall Street
Journal and The New York Times, as well as a the text of the HP official
press release.
Just two days later on May first, our "regular" weekday evening meeting
was held. Karl Smith gave a detailed presentation on Sparcom's Personal
Information Manager (PIM) ROM card for the HP48, followed by walkthroughs of
Sparcom's Chemistry Applications and Electrical Engineering Applications
cards for the HP48. This two-hour meeting was also interesting and was also
videotaped. There was also a multi-page handout distributed which included
copies of the tables of contents from the three Sparcom cards' manuals.
For those who are interested in a VHS tape containing both of these talks
(totalling around 6 hours) along with both handouts plus a photocopy of the
16-or-so-page official HP95LX brochure, please contact me. I'm asking
fifteen dollars (which includes postage). (NTSC-format tape only at the
moment)
Jake Schwartz
135 Saxby Terrace
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
609-751-1310 home
609-866-6268 work
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Below is a list of topics discussed in Eric Vogel's presentation/Q & A
session:
1. Introductory remarks by Jake Schwartz
2. Introductory remarks by Eric Vogel
3. HP48S features/differences from HP48SX
4. Why was the HP48S product released?
5. Three generations of the HP32S - the differences
6. Has the 48SX LCD changed from early days to the present?
7. HP95LX - Palmtop PC with Lotus 123 - introduction
8. Lotus is the best selling software package ever
9. Lotus on a laptop/notebook computer versus on the HP95
10. Owner's manuals - the quick-start guide and reference manual
11. Overview of HP95 features - Lotus 2.2/Datacomm/Appointment Mngr/Phone
Book/Memo Application/Financial Calculator/Filer Application
12. Built-in 512K RAM divided into RAM disk and system RAM
13. System RAM/ROM memory breakdown & and "drive" letter allocations
14. All applications remain open unless manually closed ("one-key access")
15. System manager documentation & tools will be provided by HP for 3rd party
software to become "system-manager compliant" applications and be
one-key accessible
16. The Filer application - the "funnel" to DOS
17. Connectivity Pack - has Filer/Appointments/Phone Book/Memo/Calc. apps for
PC
18. Connectivity Pack will allow data translation from PC Tools, Borland
Sidekick or Lotus Metro formats to HP95 format
19. Memory-full messages keep the user aware of applications that need to be
closed in order to proceed further
20. Multi-tasking on other machines versus context-switching on the '95
21. Two AA batteries plus backup battery versus AC-adapter power
22. How will the HP95 function with a mouse?
23. CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT files and how the '95 reacts to them
24. 123's "slash" key also marked as "MENU"
25. 95-to-PC comm with terminal emulators
26. Running DOS applications on PC's versus "execute-in-place" (XIP)
applications on the HP95
27. Plug-in cards - the new mass-storage commodity
28. PCMCIA and JEIDA plug-in card standards: hardware, software
29. XIP tools/docs will also be supplied by HP for developers
30. Current capacities of RAM and ROM cards
31. Why was the LCD only 16 by 40?
32. Hardware decisions along the life of a product's design phase
33. HP95 display is the best LCD ever in an HP handheld
34. ROM/EPROM/FLASH/RAM memory relative production costs
35. OTP versus EPROM versus EEPROM versus FLASH memory
36. Built-in RAM and ROM in the HP95
37. HP95 keyboard production/ key nomenclature
38. Foreign-language keyboards coming for the HP95, along with "localization"
message ROMs built-in
39. Keybaord reliability has been very good with latest technology over the
last 4 years for HP
40. Circuit board about 2 inches square with surface-mount chips on both
sides
41. IBM compatibility means many more things beside Intel and DOS
42. Third-parties working on card applications for intro this year
43. Serial cable for 48 & 95 now has a ferrite inductor in order to conform
with EMI standards
44. Why does varying HP95 documentation differ in listing the maximum
possible data transmission speed as either 19.2Kbps or 57.6Kbps?
45. The NEC V20H CPU and its prior usage in HP handheld products
46. What abot an HP95 for Macintosh users?
47. Is the flexible circuit in the hinge reliable?
48. Will the HP95 compete with the HP48?
49. Will HP be able to compete with demand for the '95?
50. Industry alliances with HP for the HP95: the Motorola DataStream radio
pager accessory
51. Motorola pager cradle configuration: no ports are occupied
52. HP75 Visicalc was years ahead of its time
53. HP will be supporting third party developers to do products for the
Motorola pager cradle
54. HP95 rumor propagation and the New York press conference
55. Bank-switching on the 95 with ROM/RAM cards
56. Character set usage in the 95
57. Why is the calculator application awkward to use?
58. What parts of the 95 will be hardware-upgradable in the future?
59. Which microprocessors will HP use in future handhelds?
60. Will the HP48 PDL appear for the HP95?
61. HP handhelds and printer products sell individuals on larger HP equipment
down the road
62. Intel versus Motorola processors
63. Power consumption considerations in handhelds and laptops
64. Why wasn't a spreadsheet built into the HP48?
65. What happens with 25 by 80 displays running on a 16 by 40 LCD?
66. How well does graphics work on the 95?
67. Developers support will probably appear on the HP BBS
68. Why does the 95 have only 1 card port?
69. Virtual disk drives on the 95
70. Developer support may come as soon as Summer '91
71. HP48 advanced system RPL support - what's coming?
72. HP95 demand: low price dealers versus high-support dealers
73. Phone-in tech support from HP
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Other Available HP48-related HP meetings/conferences
on VHS (NTSC-format) videotapes and related materials
1/12/91 Las Vegas HP handheld user's meeting in $15.
conjunction with 1991 Winter Consumer Elec- (including
tronics show. Approximately 4 hours. Also postage)
included is a lengthy set of handouts
(70+ pages).
11/11/90 Philadelphia Area HP Handheld Club meeting. $10.
Bill Wickes guest speaker. (including
Approx 4 hrs on one VHS tape, plus the postage)
18-page handout given to attendees.
1/12/91 Combined tape of Winter CES and Philly $15.
and Area meeting on one 8-hour T-160 VHS (including
11/11/90 tape. Includes both handouts. postage)
(THIS COMBINES THE FIRST TWO ITEMS)
6/1/90 - Chicago HP Handheld User's Conference. $15.
6/6/90 Several meetings and speakers including (including
Bill Wickes and Eric Vogel of HP. postage)
Approx 16 hrs on two 8-hour VHS tapes,
plus a 3-page synopsis of contents.
6/2/90 - Chicago HP Conference proceedings. 110 pages $12.50 if
including HP48 programs and several diagrams. ordered with any
(Ten dollars sent back to Chicago CHIP group of the tapes;
for each set sold) $15.00 if ordered
separately.
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