frechett@spot.Colorado.EDU (-=Runaway Daemon=-) (02/13/91)
Picture this scene.
I am sitting in one of those little one piece desks that is about the
width of one text book. Of course I have my notebook, my text book and
my hp48sx. The prof writes somethint near the bottom of the board that I can't
see, so I take my hand off of my notebook and lean to the left.
Meanwhile, my notebook starts sliding off to the right and of course my
calc is on the edge. I managed to save the notebook but the next sound I
hear is *CRASH* *clatter clatter rattle* This is not the sound that I
was expecting. It should have just gone *BASH Clunk*. I look down and
sure enough, the IR cover is off and my CMT 128K RAM card is lying
next to the calculator.
I run merged RAM so that I can do all sorts of nice shit. Well seeing as how I
had been idly running the Lincoln Labs graphics demo at the time, I was
expecting that everything would be GONE.
I picked up the calculator and it is saying.
Please reinsert RAM card
and press ON
I did so, and guess what. NO loss of memory. I am impressed.
Is this a RAM card feature or an hp48sx feature and why isn't it
documented anywhere. I like it.
ian
--
-=Runaway Daemon=-roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (02/14/91)
frechett@spot.Colorado.EDU (-=Runaway Daemon=-) writes: > [story of dropping HP-48sx with ram card installed off desk] > Is this a RAM card feature or an hp48sx feature and why isn't it > documented anywhere. I like it. It's a basic HP feature that has nothing to do with calculators at all. HP stuff is built to withstand being dropped off of desks and much worse. I would have been more surprised if dropping your calculator off a desk *had* caused it any damage than if it just continued to work as you describe. And you wonder why HP has such fanatic customer loyalty? -- Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy "Arcane? Did you say arcane? It wouldn't be Unix if it wasn't arcane!"
rrd@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Ray Depew) (02/14/91)
Ian's great story concludes with: >Is this a RAM card feature or an hp48sx feature and why isn't it >documented anywhere. I like it. >ian It's a bug. Sorry, we'll have it fixed in Rev.F. :-) -- Ray (man, I just couldn't resist!)
andrew@jhereg.osa.com (Andrew C. Esh) (02/14/91)
In article <1991Feb12.190337.25125@csn.org> frechett@spot.Colorado.EDU (-=Runaway Daemon=-) writes: > >Picture this scene. [description of 48sx kissing the concrete deleted] > >I picked up the calculator and it is saying. > > Please reinsert RAM card > and press ON > >I did so, and guess what. NO loss of memory. I am impressed. > ... > ian > >-- >-=Runaway Daemon=- Of course! This is HP we're dealing with here, not "Jimmy Wong's House of Calulators". What we really need now is to see the message: Please reinsert batteries and press ON. :-) :-) :-) -- Andrew C. Esh Open Systems Architects, Inc. (612)525-0000 andrew@osa.com previously: andrew!drum!gong!bangyerdead
frechett@spot.Colorado.EDU (-=Runaway Daemon=-) (02/14/91)
In article <7360068@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> rrd@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Ray Depew) writes: >>Is this a RAM card feature or an hp48sx feature and why isn't it >>documented anywhere. I like it. >It's a bug. Sorry, we'll have it fixed in Rev.F. > Well bummer.. ;) Actually Rev F should be interesting.. Not quite the same machine from what I hear.. ;) I just want to clear up something. After posting my little story, someone informed me that it is indeed documented. Unfortunately, I had only memorized the manuals up to page 643 so I missed the mention of this "feature" on page 644. It clearly states that you will lose your memory if you pull the card with merged RAM, UNLESS it happens to give this message in which case you should put the card back in with the calc still on and press ON to "minimize memory loss". Live and learn. ian -- -=Runaway Daemon=-
neil@kcl-cs.UUCP (Neil Faulks) (02/15/91)
In article <7360068@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> rrd@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Ray Depew) writes: >Ian's great story concludes with: >>Is this a RAM card feature or an hp48sx feature and why isn't it >>documented anywhere. I like it. > >ian >It's a bug. Sorry, we'll have it fixed in Rev.F. >-- Ray >(man, I just couldn't resist!) It is documented in the manual.
umapd51@cc.ic.ac.uk (W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz) (02/18/91)
The "Replace RAM, Press ON" feature discovered when a RAM card falls out, is knocked out, or is pulled out of an HP48SX IS documented. It is in the paragraph marked Caution on page 644 of the HP48 manual, in chapter 34 on RAM cards. Mind you, this is clearly not a paragraph that is well-known. When I read about this feature, I mentioned it in the HP-41 Emulator card manual that I was writing. I was told that they would have to check whether this could be in the manual, as it might be a non-standard feature. I protested it was standard and in the manual, so thay looked it up and left it in the emulator manual too. As Roy Smith says, this is the sort of feature that leads to fanatical HP loyalty ! Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz