steele@EE.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Richard A. Steele) (03/11/90)
Several people have already posted the specs and such for the 48sx --
I thought I'd share some impressions I've formed while using it the
last week or so:
1. I love UNITS objects. This is a _big_ improvement over the 28C/S
unit conversion. In all honesty, this is perhaps the single biggest
(software) improvment for my needs over the 28C/S -- very handy.
2. Improved complex numbers representation -- polar representation has
been added, which helps us EEs immeasurably. The real and imaginary
parts can also be symbolic, though there's a bug when you try to
do this in polar form (Euler is turning in his grave).
3. The plotting functions have been well integrated with the ALGEBRA
and CALCULUS functions. It's much easier to find solutions to
problems rather than trying to figure out how to use the
calculator. After a year of use, I _still_ can never figure out
the numeric integration on the 28C/S without looking it up.
With the 48SX, just mark the box and press AREA; the integration is
done "behind the scenes."
4. Subdirectories are easier to use, thanks to UP and HOME functions
on the keyboard. A list can also specify the desired directory:
{ HOME LANGUAGE ADA } EVAL will move to ADA within the LANGUAGE
subdirectory. (I bet most of you missed Part 6: "Programming
the HP 48SX in ADA. :-) )
5. The fully customizable keyboard really opens up the system; there
are even little slots around the edges of the keyboard for an overlay.
A nice little inventory system or such could be made with this
bugger (can _you_ say "light pen?").
6. The custom menus have been improved. Especially with the custom
keyboard, I can forsee some very interesting stuff coming. One
that comes to mind is changing the built-in menus. Don't like the
order the sofkeys are listed? Change them. How about add your own
functions to the built-in menus; no problem. Neat.
7. It appears that HP listens to this group (that you, Bill?); many
of the wishes and discoveries I've seen in this group are now
built in: OFF, TIME functions, a checksum routine (BYTES), much
improved graphics routines (PIXON, PIXOFF), etc. Unfortunatley,
things are not all perfect:
I'm extremely dissapointed with the binary number operations. Still
no signed (1's and 2's complement) binary arithmetic, and entering
the buggers is a pain (the binary objects are exactly like the
28C/S). If nothing else, couldn't a separate environment me provided
so that we don't have to enter the numbers as objects?
Same dissapointment about the manual (I know others have posted
similar feelings). The paper feels rough and flimsy, there
are many typos, and the information is not well placed. Users of
the HP28C/S might not have difficulties, but others definately will.
A calculator with this power deserves better.
Links to objects would be nice, so that a single object could be
shown in more than one menu at a time. This would come in
especially handy for program objects, since a change in any
reference would change all of them. It's terrible to need, say,
three copies of BESSEL in separate directories when only one is
really needed.
Currently, objects are found by searching the currect directory,
then searching it's parent, etc. on up until the object is found.
The obvious extension would be to provide a search path so that
objects can be placed wherever you want.
I havn't been able to find the equivalent of the HP28C/S CATALOG
command, and I think I'm going to miss it. There is a REVIEW
(i.e. press REVIEW and it tell you what the objects listed in
the softkeys are; for variables, it lists their contents.) This
is especially a problem with the 48SX, since I _know_ I'll have
trouble with some of these triple-shifted keys (let's see -- the
Ohmega is left-shift, alpha, E. No, no. It's....). How about a
HELP key that lists the purpose of a key (and its shifted cousins).
I hope I havn't sounded too negative; that's not my intention. The HP48SX
is an _excellent_ calculator and I'd love to see it get better. Many
of the ideas I've listed above can be remedied (at least partially) using
the plug-in ROMs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard A. Steele | Standards are wonderful...there are so many
Purdue University | to choose from. -Andy Tanenbaum
steele@en.ecn.purdue.edu |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: I'm just an undergrad, so I really don't know what I'm
talking about...mjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) (03/12/90)
In article <9003110211.AA03686@en.ecn.purdue.edu> steele@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Richard A. Steele) writes:
[...]
: Links to objects would be nice, so that a single object could be
: shown in more than one menu at a time. This would come in
: especially handy for program objects, since a change in any
: reference would change all of them. It's terrible to need, say,
: three copies of BESSEL in separate directories when only one is
: really needed.
That would be handy, but one really nice feature is the "Last menu"
command. If you have to move to another menu to find something, you can punch
that key, and it takes you back to the last menu you were using.
--Mikesteele@EE.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Richard A. Steele) (03/12/90)
In article <1825@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> mjkobb@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Michael J Kobb) writes: >In article <9003110211.AA03686@en.ecn.purdue.edu> steele@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Richard A. Steele) writes (that's me!): >[...] >: Links to objects would be nice, so that a single object could be >: shown in more than one menu at a time. This would come in >: especially handy for program objects, since a change in any >: reference would change all of them. It's terrible to need, say, >: three copies of BESSEL in separate directories when only one is >: really needed. > >That would be handy, but one really nice feature is the "Last menu" >command. If you have to move to another menu to find something, you can punch >that key, and it takes you back to the last menu you were using. > > >--Mike I agree, the Last menu is very nice when rooting around the built-in menus of the HP48SX, but it doesn't do anything with the directory structure. And perhaps you missed my point: just getting to the object isn't the problem -- it's the necessity of storing more than one copy of the same object in separate (and totally unrelated) directories. For example, suppose I created a wonderful program like SPICE for my HP that requires the function BESSEL. I also have another analysis program in another directory that also requires the same BESSEL function. In other words, I have the following directory structure (pardon me while I switch to VT100 graphics mode): HOME | ----------------------------- | | SPICE ANALIZE | | ----------------- ------------ | | | | BESSEL HPSPICE BESSEL HPANALIZE I have two of the same functions floating around my calculator taking up valuable RAM; I would also have to change every version of this function for bug fixes, revisions, etc. The obvious solution would be to put the function BESSEL in the HOME directory since the HP searches the HOME directory by default trying to find the program. This might not always be a good solution, though: I'd end up cluttering my HOME directory with lots of little programs lying about. This of course brings me to one of my _other_ suggestions: a search path that can specify where the HP "looks" for its object references. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard A. Steele | Standards are wonderful...there are so many Purdue University | to choose from. -Andy Tanenbaum steele@en.ecn.purdue.edu | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: I'm just an undergrad, so I really don't know what I'm talking about...
lishka@uwslh.slh.wisc.edu (Chris Lishka (brain-fried after too much hacking) ) (03/16/90)
You know, with all of the discussion of multiple links to files and a "PATH" function to say where to find globally accessible programs, the directory structure would soon become remarkably similar to the Unix directory layout. Next people will be asking for symbolic links and modes. Personally, I am very pleased with the directory layout, and I can easily live with the calculator searching the current path for programs. And putting the UP and HOME functions on a key is a great idea. Thanks, HP! .oO Chris Oo. -- Christopher Lishka 608-262-4485 "Somebody said to me, `But the Beatles were Wisconsin State Lab. of Hygiene antimaterialistic.' That's a huge myth. John lishka@uwslh.slh.wisc.edu and I literally used to sit down and say `Now, uunet!uwvax!uwslh!lishka let's write a swimming pool'."--Paul McCartney
rayde@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM (ray_depew) (03/20/90)
> steele@EE.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Richard A. Steele) > Date: Sat, 10 Mar 90 18:11:45 PST > I'm extremely dissapointed with the binary number operations. Still > no signed (1's and 2's complement) binary arithmetic, and entering > the buggers is a pain (the binary objects are exactly like the You're in luck! You can get signed (2's complement) binary numbers, and they work in add/subtract/multiply. I think divide works too, but my limited experience with it hasn't been all that exciting. To get a negative binary integer, for example, negative #1d, DON'T press # 1 [+/-] [ENTER] Instead, press # 1 [ENTER] [+/-] and you will see #18446744073709551615d. The HP-48SX sees #1d internally as 63 zeroes and a one. When you press [+/-], the HP-48SX changes all teh ones to zeroes and all the zeroes to ones, and adds 1 to the result. That's the 2's complement. So instead of 63 zeroes and a one, you have 64 ones, or #18...d, or #FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFFh. > How about a > HELP key that lists the purpose of a key (and its shifted cousins). The Serial Kit disk contains a program, USAG, which works well as a HELP command. I think USAG can be downloaded from the HP BBS, too. Ray Depew HP InkJet Components Operation "An original idea? How quaint!"