TNAN0@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU (02/21/91)
The reason it seems wasteful that HP is throwing away Rev. A, B, C, and D calculators is not because we are concerned that HP could make some money off of them, but that it is a terrible waste of processed resources. Even some of us calculator buffs are quite concerned about the environment... (If you think Pampers sit around a long time, imagine an indestructable 48 ;) ) Also, it seems that HP could use them internally for their development teams for both utility and for testing out nifty new products on "expendable" HPs. (You know, like replacing the IR LED with a laser-diode so we can get visual communication as well as 9600 serial). The next comment has to do with branching off into a subgroup. c.s.h. has been around long enough to earn a reputation, so HP users are fighting this change. We feel that we made this group what is it, and c.s.h. has become our happy home. We do not want the many (us) to suffer for the needs of the few (non-HP users). Plus, we're just a bunch of prejudiced pencil-necked geeks who have nothing better to do than sit around and compare our calculators <grin>. Seriously though, if it isn't too much trouble for all of the links attached to this group (HP's BBS, handhelds.gac.edu, etc...) to change to the new group, then I see no problem with it personally. We (the HP users) have grown beyond the scope of c.s.h. and we need our own group [possible more than one - tech and non-tech]. The ESD bars (on-D MTH) definitely work the way I mentioned earlier (I think). That is, the ones on the left represent poor voltage levels during the current test (one test per beep I think) and the ones on the right turn on if the test has failed even once since you executed ON-D MTH. This can be tested by running the test with a RAM card in a port, then pulling the RAM's battery and then replacing it... My Smith-Corona 32K card has undergone over 175 memory read/writes (for the entire 32K) with no problems at all... (It's still going... I want to get at least a thousand). Jan, if you are listening, I've noticed many errors in STAR on both my PC and my Apollo and my DEC. All you need to do is look at any .list file to see oodles of problems... Also, code/endcode doesn't always produce a binary file (in conjunction with header) that will download properly to the 48... A program I wrote worked fine until I started using the "addr" macro, and now I can't get it to download at all, and I can't tell by the .list file if it even generated the right code. (The addresses, line numbers, and hex fields all mess up during an average compile on ALL of my systems). As soon as someone gets me the information on transmitting through the IR LED, we should have a working universal remote program... But I can't do it without that address and it's bits. I assume it is near 0x11a since that is where the receiver is (it may even BE 0x11a, but I do not have access to two HPs right now, so I have no way to test it). Try typing RULES on the 48... Why does it do that? RULES is a command key (like EDEQ), not an RPL command... Strange, huh? Oh yeah, one last thing for the critics... I never said I "hate HP." On the contrary, they have treated me exceptionally well as a customer. When I complain about the errors in my Ver. D, I do it for the sake of the people who insist that there is something wrong with me for feeling that I deserve a calculator that does what I paid for it to do. HP has always agreed with me on this point, and so I have no grievances against them. I did state that it was HP's decision on whether they wanted to expend the money to produce a truckload of calculators that they are going to throw-away or expend it on more intensive software development (yes, debugging is part of development). I am not a "virgin" customer as many of the critics have accused. I have had many HP products including several calculators and feel quite safe with HP. However, a great many of their most loyal customers seem to spurt a great amount of venom whenever there is talks of bugs, or "should-a-beens" or poor policy. All companies have flaws gentlemen, and just because HP is the best developer of cutting-edge calculator technology, it doesn't immunitize them against consumer criticism for bad decisions. ---Xeno P.S. Yes, immunitize is a neologism...
John@cup.portal.com (John Thomas Moylan) (02/23/91)
a) an hp48sx probably wouldn't last half as long as a 28s, as it seems hp cut an awful lot of corners with the hp48sx... b) if hp users left comp.sys.handhelds, what would be left? nothing
TNAN0@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU (02/26/91)
> if hp users left comp.sys.handhelds, what would be left? nothing
Nothing must be a relative concept... I'm getting a little sick of reading
135+ messages every time I log in, and they are all about MY calculator.
Imagine being the owner of another handhelds. comp.sys.handhelds would grow
and develop if we branched off... The overpopulation of HP messages is what's
inhibiting their contributions...
---Xeno