umapd51@cc.ic.ac.uk (03/09/90)
Subject: HP48 feature list
Alonzo Gariepy has pointed out to me that people might like to see
a list of HP 48SX features, sent out by the firmware design team
leader, Bill Wickes, to the reviewers before we got the calculators
themselves. Here is a copy of that list. Many thanks, Alonzo and Bill.
Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz,
Space Physics, Imperial College, London
BITNET: MIER @ SPVA.PH.IC.AC.UK
Disclaimer: This information is presented as is. NO CLAIMS about
its sutitability for any purpose are made by HP, my employers or
myself. It is simply a copy of a private communication whose author
has allowed me to make it available to a wider audience.
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Here's a slightly edited, although still not exhaustive list of features
(in no particular order) that I made recently:
HP-48SX Feature Summary
Hardware
7.1"x3.2" footprint with tapered .7" - 1.1" thickness
single vertical format 49-key keyboard
64 x 131 pixel STN LCD display
256K ROM, 32K RAM built in
Saturn CPU @ 2MHz (note--throughput ~1.5MHz compared to 28S @1MHz)
2 memory card ports
--battery backed RAM (32K or 128K)
--ROM or OTP (OneTime Programmable)
Bidirectional IR I/O at 2400 baud
Wired serial port at 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600 baud
cables available for IBM or Apple computers (~$35)
3 AAA cells
List price $350
Two part-manual (800p) plus quick reference guide
Brushed nylon case with velcro fastening, pocket for cards and guide
Firmware
(Most HP 28 features not explicitly mentioned are included; "new" means "in
addition to that provided by the HP 28S.")
HP-28-style multi-object-type RPN calculator, superset of 28 language
Interactive stack environment, for point-and-shoot stack operations
Prompts and menus to help beginners
Coexistent graphics and stack/edit display memory
Graphics display can be larger than physical display,
with hardware scrolling
2-dimensional graphical entry and display of algebraic expressions
Spreadsheet-like matrix editor
Redefinable keyboard
Real-time clock & date display
ECMA94 character set, 3 display font sizes
Appointment and control alarms
Plotting features:
Eight types of automatic plots: function, polar,
conic sections, parametric, "truth", scatter,
bar charts, histograms
Autoscaling option
Interactive plot environment
zoom conrol, recentering, cursor readouts, labelling,
etch-a-sketch, line & circle drawing,
copying and erasing
integration, differentiation, root-finding
Graphics features:
Dot and line drawing
Boxes and Circles
Graphics objects of any size
OR or XOR superposition
Sub-region extraction
Pixel or logical addressing
Unit Management
"Unit objects"--real numbers with physical dimensions
allowed in algebraic expressions
Automatic unit conversion in unit object operations
arithmetic, integration, plotting, solving
Interactive unit menus for simple conversions
I/O
Kermit protocol built in for calc-to-calc (IR) or
calc-to-calc (serial)
Server mode
Low level serial commands
Print to serial or IR
Plugin Management
Merged or independent RAM (max RAM 288K)
Automatic menu of plugin applications and commands
Archiving and restoring (also via I/O)
Mathematics
Common transcendentals on hard keyboard
New:
Symbolic integration (pattern matching)
Summation function
Programmable pattern match/replace
"Where" function for sticky local variable bindings
Generation of user-defined functions from
algebraic assignments
decimal to rational fraction conversion
New supported object types:
Graphics (replaces HP28 graphic strings)
Tagged (for labeling objects)
Unit
XLIB Name (plug-in command)
Directory
Library (plug-in application/commands)
Backup (Independent RAM variable)
Library Data (for use by plug-in applications)
New programming features:
CASE structure
Programmable OFF and CONT
Autostart for single step; step through subroutines
Memory size and checksum for objects
INPUT command (programmable command line)
PROMPT (HALT with display string)
Wait-for-key with timeout
Custom error generation
One-key typing aids for entire structures
Extended custom and solver menu control
Increment and decrement (variable) commands
Storage arithmetic for all object types
Global variable commands extended to local variables
Decompile stack objects into command line
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