bruceb@telesoft.com (Bruce Bergman @quasar) (03/03/90)
Since no one else has posted information on the new HP handheld, I thought I'd help out by sharing what I know about it. I am a little surprised no one has mentioned anything about it (have I missed it?)... Anyhow, this comes from personal, first-hand knowledge of the calc, seeing as how I have touched and spent about four hours playing with it. I think HP won't be too mad if I talk about, because it's expected to be announced this next week (06-Mar, I think). It's called the HP-48SX and looks a lot like the 42. It is NOT a fold- out calculator. It has only one keyboard and lies just like the 42. This may explain why the number is 48 instead of 29 or something like the 28 series. At first, I expected to be a little hampered by not having the extra keyboard, but after a while I didn't miss it and will probably ignore it after a weeks use. It would be nice to have the fold-out cover for protection, though. The screen is eight lines and has the look of the 28S. Four of the lines are devoted to the stack, one to menus, two to error messages and one very small line for status information and icons (well, I call them icons; you'll see why in a second). The status line and icon line are very physically close together. The icons that appear are things like an hourglass while the calculator is thinking, an alpha symbol when you have selected the alphanumeric mode, etc. The status line says things like where you are in the directory structure, what mode you are in (algebraic, radians, etc) and if you are using that option, the date and time. Below those lines are the error message lines and stack. The stack is labeled just like on the 28S. The menu bar also resembles the 28S. The keyboard is different than most anything else HP makes, but nothing seemed really tough to accept. I've been a 41 junkie since the first week they were sent out, so I accepted the concept of having to shift "into" and "out of" alpha mode, but that isn't requiried, as you can also shift into alpha mode for one character only. The alpha key is two keys above the power key. Kinda like this: | -Enter- | | a ( <-- symbol for 'alpha') | | <-| <== pointing to left hand side | and bottom corner of calc. | |-> (digit keys over here) | | ON +-------------- The shift keys above the ON key are like the 'f' and 'g' keys of old, but they are now just called left and right shift. They are orange and blue (of course) and correspond each key. A lot of the alpha keys aren't labeled on the calc, not even on the back. You have to know them or look them up. The whole alphabet resides on the keys on the top half of the keyboard (all above the -Enter- row). You can get lowercase letters by pressing <alpha><left-or-right shift><key>. A little weird, but you can get used to it. The calculator has several "subsystems" which HP refers to as "applications" or something like that (sorry about some of this information -- only four hours with a new calc and an excited reviewer leaves some thing fuzzy!). Like the 28S, it has the ability to solve equations (the EquationSolver), do calculus, integrals, etc. It also has a new application called the MatrixWriter which appears to be a spreadsheet-like application, but it "feels" like it can only be used for multiple matrix calculations. What led me to call it a spreadsheet is it's appearance (rows, cols) and that you can take the data from it and graph it as bar graphs or pie graphs, if line graphs arent' interesting. It has a time subsystem, with complete alarms and date/time functions. The manual suggests setting an alarm for a year from the time you buy the calc so that you can check battery life. I thought that a cute touch. If you want, you can put a small time and date on the screen (real-time) on the status line. Alarms can be acknowledged or not, and can store whole lines of information along with it. You can review alarms easily. I am unclear as to whether you can perform actions upon an alarm event. There is a "units" subsystem which allows you to convert between many different units (including bases) and does so kinda like the 28S. There is another subsystem for plotting and graphics which appears to be quite expanded. And I know the big question you are all waiting for: Can you turn a pixel off? Sorry, I dunno. There was a sample program in the manual which animated a little man and caused him to march across the screen, so it appears SOME sort of better graphics are available. The program just declared a hexvalue which described the image and then moved the man across the screen, moving his little legs. Cute. With the enhanced plotting features, I feel that the answer must be yes. The plotting function is pretty cool, but I'm not sure how often I'll do things like draw pie charts on the screen. A simple program in the manual automated the drawing of pie charts a lot! When you solve an equation, you can press a keystroke or 20 and get a graph of the function on the screen. Much better resolution than the 28S, of course. It appears that the images previously plotted are "stored" and I often hit a spurious key and found myself plotting over the old image that I created 20 minutes ago and thought I deleted. Other aspects of operation are about the same as the 28S, although I am sure I missed something that you'll undoubtedly nail me for when the thing gets announced. Maybe someone else can fill in the blanks. As for physical components, it includes a send and receive IR subsystem. The intent here is to place two 48SX's facing each other and transfer programs back and forth. Pretty darn neat! Next to the IR interface is a four prong ugly looking connector. It is the only visible connector when the IR/RAM card slot cover is in place. It is the interface to the IBM-PC. I assume the connections are send, receive, request to send, clear to send. I am unclear as to whether a special cable is needed or if you can just hack one up. I know they are selling a connection package for $60 which I assume must include the cable, some software for communicating and possibly a program for editing and syntax checking on the PC before downloading. Below, on the bottom of the calc is two slots. They are very flat and slightly slanted upwards into the calc. They appear to be about two inches tall and about an inch and a half wide. These are the slots for the RAM cards. Sorry, the 48SX doesn't take 41C modules... RAM cards are available in two sizes: 32K and 128K. The 32K card costs $80 and the 128K card costs $240. The base 48SX comes with 32K RAM/256K ROM and the ability to expand up to 288K RAM. The RAM cards can be used in one of two ways: as seamless contiguous memory and as partitioned memory (kind of like different disk drives or mounted partitions). The most common use of the RAM card (in my opinion) will be as a backup device for the memory. I intend to buy one just for this purpose. You can have two RAM cards in the 48SX at one time, and both must be of the same memory configuration (e.g., you can't mix seamless with the separate partitions). The RAM cards are battery-backed-up and are good for about a year once the battery has been installed. It uses a little flat calculator/photo battery. Oh, the 48SX itself uses three AA batteries in the bottom of the calculator. Also available will be a RAM card which allows one to emulate the 41CV (or, I assume, its later cousins). I don't remember the price. There is also a "demo card" which does something for $15. I would guess that more RAM card applications will become available soon. There was no mention of printers, so I assume it must work directly with the IR printer. The PC link is controlled by Kermit, and includes a full Kermit protocol implementation, including a new mode called "archive" mode. If you don't want to buy a RAM card for backup, you can archive your calculator into the PC via the link. Sorry, I couldn't find information about how fast the transfer rate is, but heck, we're talking only 288K here. You can also selectively upload files or programs. The manuals are divided into two Owners manuals and there is a reference to a programming guide, but I didn't find one. It could be something that they didn't include to some testers. The owners guide is divided into a manual for usage and for the subsystems and one for programming and advanced topics. I noticed HP is still going away from the concept of RPN (much to my dismay) and while you can still program and calculate in the RPN style, most, if not all, of the examples were in algebraic notation and included parenthesis, et al. The whole package (manuals, calc, whatever) is typical high HP quality and the calculator feels really comfortable in your hand. It seems a little heavy, but that is probably due to the case and the AA batteries. The LCD is easy to read, just like the 28S. No backlight, tho. ;^) EduCalc is taking orders. They expect delivery of their first shipment in mid-to-late March, while everyone else I've talked to is expecting delivery in May. The list price will be $350 and the EduCalc price is $274.95. They also want $195.00 for the 128K RAM card. They know less about the calc than you do (now) and have only heard of the calc and the one RAM card. They expect to get more information and announce it in their next catalog (probably May). I bought mine -- when are you going to get yours?! :^) Hope you folks found this informational. Sorry about the sloppy english and spelling; I'm just too lazy today to fix it and figured y'all wouldn't mind when it comes to rumors. thanks, bruce -- att! \ crash!--\ TeleSoft (bruceb@telesoft.com) ncr-sd! \ \ 5959 Cornerstone Court West >--ucsd!---->--telesoft!bruceb (Bruce Bergman N7HAW) nosc! / / San Diego, CA. 92121-9891 ucbvax!/ uunet!--/ (619) 457-2700 x123 All opinions are my own. Have you hugged your horse lately?
Jake-S@cup.portal.com (Jake G Schwartz) (03/04/90)
Okay, now that the cat is obviously out of the bag.....
The New Hewlett-Packard HP48SX:
A Calculator for the Computer Age
On March 6th, 1990, Hewlett-Packard announces the HP48SX, the much-
rumored new top-of-the-line scientific calculator to take the place of the
HP41 series as the "king of the hill." This $350 (list price) unit
contains as much RAM (32K bytes) and twice the ROM (256K) as the HP28S.
The super-twisted nematic LCD is 64 by 131 dots, allowing up to 8 lines of
22 characters of text to be displayed. The CPU is the familiar Saturn
chip (used in virtually everything from the HP71B in 1984 up to the present)
running at 2 megahertz. This is twice the speed of the '28S, although
throughput is estimated by HP to be only 50 percent faster due to
increased overhead. The keyboard is HP42S-like, with two additional 6-key
rows on top, totalling 49 keys including gold, blue and ALPHA shift keys.
Key labelling is a white primary function on the key, gold and blue
shifted functions above the key and a white ALPHA symbol to the right of
the key. The ALPHA keyboard contains gold shifted and blue shifted symbols
but they are omitted from the calculator face so as to reduce clutter.
As far as expandability is concerned, there are two ports on the back
for plug-in cards. At introduction, HP is offering 32K RAM cards for $79.95
and 128K RAM cards for $250, both with battery backup. ROM cards will
come in the same sizes as RAM, with the first two offerings being a 128K
"Solver Equation Library" card (latest rumored price - $99.95) and a
Surveying Card (size and price yet unknown). Up to 256K bytes of RAM/ROM
may be plugged in at any one time. This gives a total of 544K, however
since the address space of the CPU is limited to 512K, a 32K block of the
operating system and the built-in 32K RAM block are bank-switched. This
288K RAM upper limit represents a nine-fold increase over 28S memory and
an approximate 120-fold increase over the RAM in the HP41 with full main
memory (or 40 times the HP41 with full extended memory). In addition,
customizable one-time programmable "OTP" cards will be available as well.
On top of the HP48 under the port cover is a pair of bulbs for two-way,
2400-baud wireless (infrared) communications capabilities. As well as
being able to use the HP82240A/B infrared printer for hard copy, the unit
will talk with another HP48 and can also receive printer output from the
other HP handhelds with IR output (with the aid of additional software
available from HP). In addition, another 4-pin connector attaches to an
optional cable which facilitates serial uploading and downloading at 1200,
2400, 4800 or 9600 baud to/from a computer. Hewlett-Packard is also
starting up a free computer bulletin board system to support the handhelds.
All you pay for are the phone calls to Corvallis, Oregon.
The calculator comes with a carrying case, two-volume User's Guide
and quick reference guide. An extensive Programmer's Reference Manual in
the works is scheduled for a Summer release. The User's Guide is over 850
pages long and steps through the major aspects of the machine with
examples along the way. At the very beginning is an extensive step-by-
step demonstration of many of the new, powerful features. Reading
further, it quickly becomes evident that "this is NOT your father's HP
calculator!" In fact, there are probably as many features on the HP48 that
represent improvements over the HP28 as the HP28 has over the HP41. A
rough list of over a hundred items was generated after only a single pass
through the manual.
In addition to the HP28-like menus and top-row soft keys, the '48
allows complete keyboard redefinability through key assignments. There
are slots inside the plastic side edges of the machine to hold a keyboard
overlay. Up to six possible assignments per key may be simultaneously
active - the primary key, gold-shifted, blue-shifted, ALPHA-shifted, ALPHA
plus gold-shifted and ALPHA plus blue-shifted positions. While in HP41-
like USER mode (or alternately in HP71B-like "1USR" mode) the unassigned
keys may be designated to have either their standard functions or be
totally disabled. Keys may be assigned either manually or under program
control. The custom menu capability on this machine is also greatly enhanced.
The system-reserved object CST holds the custom menu; and a different CST
may reside in each and every subdirectory in RAM. Also custom menu labels
may be named differently than the objects they evaluate. Finally, the
custom menu may contain different primary, gold-shifted and blue-shifted
assignments in each key position.
The built-in functions of the HP48 are organized differently than on
the HP28C/S, presumably to save positions on the actual keyboard. While
the 28 has roughly 23 menus accesible directly from the keyboard, the '48
places only 16 main menus on key positions, with several of these
containing submenus. (There exist approximately 70 menus on this machine,
all told.) A new convenient feature to identify whether a menu key label is
a pointer to another submenu is the appearance of a single short horizontal
bar in the LCD above the label. This carries through to RAM subdirectory
labels as well; a badly needed feature missing on the HP28. Since 15
popular log, trig and exponential functions reside directly on the
keyboard on key row number 4, the LOGS and TRIG menus of the HP28 are
eliminated. Most of the math functions are located on 6 submenus under
the "MTH" menu key. Programming functions formerly on the HP28's CONTRL,
BRANCH and TEST menus hide in the HP48 submenus of the same names under
the "PRG" key. Other menu keys on the upper keyboard do things like
printing, I/O, memory management and display modes. Lower down on rows 6
and 7 are six more menu keys SOLVE, PLOT, ALGEBRA, TIME, STAT and UNITS.
(Yes, this machine has clock, calendar and alarm functions.) These all
lead to other submenus on the way to the remaining hidden functions.
The UNITS area is radically changed from the HP28S 1-unit-per-screen
philosophy to something closer to that on the HP19B financial machine.
The units are organized into categories (LENGTH, AREA, VOLUME, TIME, etc.)
with multipage menu choices underneath. Pressing a specific unit key
attaches that unit to the value in stack level 1 to create a unit object.
(The HP48 handles all the HP28 object types, plus nine new ones.) Thus,
if a 1 is in the stack and the "FT" key is pressed, the "1_ft" object is
generated as a result. At this point, pressing another length unit
will automatically convert from feet to the other unit and show the
correct numerical unit object (such as 12_in). Several other unit-
conversion features exist which are too numerous to mention here.
The solver environment is enhanced in a number of ways. First, the
REVIEW key allows one to review all the equations in the current RAM
directory at a glance, with paging down through those which don't fit in
the initial display. In addition to the solver menu variable keys
allowing input to and solving for the individual variables, one can also
recall the value of an individual variable to the stack if desired.Also
there is a simple way to simultaneously view the current value of all the
variables in the solver equation at any time.
Plotting has had major revision, not the least of which is the new
larger LCD on which to draw graphs. An interactive plotting menu
(which turns on or off in graphics mode) allows among other things, zooming,
scale changes, axis labelling, and root and intersection solving (with the
coordinates of the point in question displayed at the bottom of the
screen). Text may be added from the stack to the graphics picture in 3
different sizes. The screen memory is always present with the capability
to alternate back and forth between graphics and stack display mode.
Eight different types of plots (function, conic section, bar chart, scatter-
gram, parametric, "truth" plots, polar and histogram plots) may be drawn.
Lastly,and possibly most significantly, the graphics "picture" in RAM may
be larger than the 131 by 64 LCD itself, with its size only limited by
available memory. Once the PICT object size is defined, plots may be
drawn and LCD-sized portions may be viewed, zoomed, etc. However, when the
interactive plot menu is deactivated, the keyboard cursor keys magically
transform into window-moving keys, allowing dynamic manipulation of the
display like a window over the graphics picture. Additional HP software
allows the full-sized plot to be sent over the serial port to an 80-column
Epson-compatible printer or uploaded to a computer and converted to tag
image file (TIFF) format for displaying on full-sized PC screens or
incorporation into desktop publishing documents.
Through either the wired or wireless serial ports, uploading of objects,
directories or the entire contents of RAM may be performed via the calculator's
built-in Kermit protocol. Sending data in binary mode is fast and compact,
however using ASCII mode in conjunction with a PC allows the information to
be read and modified on the computer. Software development takes a step
forward by allowing the developer to do all his or her initial work on the
computer keyboard and screen before downloading to the HP48 for testing.
While programming the HP48, users of the HP28C and HP28S will pretty
much feel at home. Virtually all the HP28 programming concepts are retained
in the new machine, with the addition of features like the CASE construct,
more user and system flags and various others. The 1987 HP28C introduction
had only a relative handful of people switching from HP41 "FOCAL" language
to the newer RPL, but most considered this non-I/O, non-expandable unit to
be merely a temporary tangent from the main stream. Then a year later, the
intro of the HP28S with its greatly expanded RAM turned proportionately more
peoples' heads. It still seemed however, that the majority of users resisted
learning RPL. Now that the HP41 is history and the HP48SX far exceeds
anything else in capability, it is my feeling that the rest of the HP
calculator user community will suddenly begin to sit up and take notice. A
large percentage will be learning RPL and its new user interface for the
first time on the HP48. To the old RPL hands, the neophytes will seem two
steps behind, but finally there will be a good reason to take RPL seriously.
The good old days may return not necessarily with users training other users
in synthetic programming and advanced concepts but with introducing the
nuances of the unlimited-height RPN stack, of algebraics, plotting, arrays
and lists, etc. It shall indeed be interesting in the next several months.
Jake Schwartz