[HN Gopher] DM41x: a modern take on the HP-41CX
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DM41x: a modern take on the HP-41CX
Author : jmspring
Score : 62 points
Date : 2020-09-26 22:37 UTC (17 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.swissmicros.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.swissmicros.com)
| PaulHoule wrote:
| I am a big fan of the current HP Prime calculators, a clear case
| of the "give up in despair because cell phones exist, then later
| realize you've got years to rebuild your product with cell phone
| parts..."
| jordache wrote:
| These HP calcs have the most aesthetic keyboard. The key size,
| click feel, and font/color all much better than the competing TI
| models
| FandangoRanger wrote:
| For me it just doesn't have enough on the DM-42, which I already
| own. Neat development though.
| zokier wrote:
| To me 41 seems more niche product compared to 42 rather than
| straight upgrade.
| boobsbr wrote:
| Oh God, how I miss the tactile buttons on my HP-48.
| xbar wrote:
| I spent the first several minutes admiring the SwissMicros site
| but I was nagged by the concern that the buttons would fail to
| meet my tactile expectations. Reviews say I should not have
| been concerned. I am grateful to have this link.
| jmspring wrote:
| I have the dm42, along with hp predecessors. The buttons are
| legit. Over time, hard to tell given the Hps I have are 30+
| years old.
| MegaDeKay wrote:
| This is really good to hear. The website for this
| calculator mentions the display and the case, buy I feared
| the keyboard would get overlooked. The keyboard on my 15C
| still works perfectly. I believe HP used gold plated
| contacts on the keys to ensure long life, but that doesn't
| explain how their tactile response has held up over the
| years despite regular use. Amazing.
| icedchai wrote:
| I had an HP-48SX when I was in high school. I later upgraded to
| a 48G. Its RPL language was quite extensive and I was able to
| write a few small games in my spare time.
| aj7 wrote:
| You wanna carry two phones?
| Jtsummers wrote:
| I don't carry my old HP calculator with me, it lives at my desk
| where it's been very useful over the years (less recently, but
| that's a change in job responsibilities than the utility of the
| calculator). And if I did have to carry it, it'd be in the
| shoulder bag where I have my notebooks, books, laptop and/or
| tablet. I mean, it's rare that I'd think to grab a calculator
| to bring with me but not also have the other things I'd want
| record/communicate with.
| aidenn0 wrote:
| The 1 button on my 35s just started missing presses yesterday.
| This is a timely link for me
| flyinghamster wrote:
| I still have my 1980s-era HP-11C, but I've almost never used it
| since college. If I need a calculator, usually I'm at a computer,
| and bc, dc, or a spreadsheet is readily available.
|
| If I'm not at a keyboard, then the calculator app on my cell
| phone will do. Which just led me down the rabbit hole of Android
| RPN calculator apps. :o)
|
| Still, there's nothing quite like the tactile feel of a classic
| HP calculator keyboard from back when HP really was Hewlett-
| Packard.
| RodgerTheGreat wrote:
| This is why I wrote a cell-phone-friendly frontend for my K
| interpreter: https://github.com/JohnEarnest/ok#mobile
|
| I agree, though- dedicated tactile buttons will always be nicer
| for a calculator.
| auxym wrote:
| Any favorite, of the android RPN calculators? I've been using
| just free42 for a while.
| callahad wrote:
| I'm very happy with CalcTastic, though it's not been updated
| since 2018 it still seems to work just fine.
|
| https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaytastic.
| ..
| cagey wrote:
| I've been using RpnCalc by Edward Falk on Android for many
| years without complaint. Last updated 2017.11.
| crb3 wrote:
| I'm using 11CSciCalc on my MotoG7power. It's good (at least
| for keyboard layout and key-function -- haven't had occasion
| to try out its programmability for compatibility), but
| without the tactile feedback of the real buttons I have to
| visually monitor what actually gets entered, so I can't drop
| fully into the problem domain, not like I can with my HP11C.
|
| It's my HP41CV that basically never gets used. Back when, I
| wrote a program on it, 'ampsr', to calculate ideals and then
| find the closest standard-value matches for a three-resistor
| attenuator network used as the gain-and-offset control of an
| opamp amplifier; it took 16 minutes for my HP41CV to arrive
| at the answer, and that was just selecting among the E24 "5%"
| standard-value array. My later Perl version, by comparison,
| is all but instantaneous even working with the E96 array and
| running on a 400MHz box. The HP41CV's programmability was
| great for its era; not so much, now.
| opencl wrote:
| I've been happy with realcalc, nice relatively basic
| scientific calculator. Or emu48 in 50g mode for when I need
| something more advanced.
| flyinghamster wrote:
| That's what I ended up with as well... looks pretty nice.
| It'll be interesting to see how much of my 11C experience
| transfers over, at least, that which I remember in the first
| place. I've never lost RPN (mainly because of good old dc),
| but the programming is a different story.
| p_l wrote:
| I've been using Droid48 for maybe a decade now, it's very
| robust. Recently started playing with Emu48 with hp50g skin
| as well.
| zokier wrote:
| Any significant improvement in emu48 vs droid48?
| lscotte wrote:
| I've used RealCalc for a few years. I paid a few bucks for
| the "plus" version. It hasn't been updated in years, but
| that's fine with me because it just plain works.
| DominoTree wrote:
| I'm not particularly interested in this one but I have to say
| that my DM42 is brilliant in basically every respect and I really
| hope they continue innovating and making these.
| theamk wrote:
| Question: why HP-41 over other things, like TI's TI-89?
|
| The latter has, among other things, has two properties which make
| it really useful for day-to-day engineering use:
|
| - Large screen which shows which expression you entered. You can
| spot a typo easily, and then fix it!
|
| - Unit support -- helps a lot, as it will ensure you are not
| adding meters to ohms. Or add meters and feet and it will just
| work.
| TheOtherHobbes wrote:
| HP's calculators were legendary at the time. TI's calculators
| weren't quite in the same league. The TI-89 is a later and much
| more refined design.
|
| HP's engineering was literally state of the art and
| unbelievably sophisticated for the day. At a time when
| computers ranged from big-box desk stations to air conditioned
| room fillers and cost thousands to millions of dollars, HP put
| a small programmable computer in your pocket.
|
| They're not particularly useful for modern math, and if you
| really want the same features you can buy app emulations. But
| like any other brand of tech nostalgia, some people imprint on
| the machines they first played with. Any excuse to own a
| reinvention of the original hardware is going to appeal to
| them.
| masklinn wrote:
| > Question: why HP-41 over other things, like TI's TI-89?
|
| One reason would be that you can buy a TI-89 Platinum today
| (though not a "classic: TI-89), the 41 series was discontinued
| in 1990 and the 42 in 1995.
|
| A second reason is that classic HP calculators are legendary
| enough that people managed to set up an apparently successful
| company based entirely on cloning and evolving classic HP
| calcs, that's literally what SwissMicros is: the company
| started in 2011 with an HP-15 clone.
|
| Ti is still out there serving what market there is for Ti-style
| scientific calculators, not so for HP.
| madengr wrote:
| Well, once you use RPN, there is no going back. I truly despise
| normal calculators. I'd hate entering expressions anyway.
| saagarjha wrote:
| TI-89 has some pretty decent RPN programs ;)
| qz2 wrote:
| The HP 48/49/50 series is more of a competitor to the TI89.
|
| The HP50G is a fairly extensive ARM based computer not a
| calculator. It is ridiculously powerful. It is discontinued now
| in favour of something pretty and shiny but vastly inferior.
| jmspring wrote:
| Swissmicros seems to focus on the classic HP lines which were
| RPN based. I have a few HP calculators as well as a couple of
| SwissMicros and am happy to have the updated version.
| SamReidHughes wrote:
| They already make the DM42, with a large display.
|
| But there is a large degree of throwback HP fanboyism.
| madengr wrote:
| Well it also may be the key layout. After years of using a
| certain HP calculator, you get used to the layout. I prefer
| the 32Sii. Some have primary keys for x^2, x<y, 1/x, PI, etc.
| if I designed my own I'd have 10^x and LOG(x) as primaries.
| All depends on what field one works in.
|
| Anything non RPN sucks anyway.
| gbraad wrote:
| And the DM42 runs free42, ... source is on their github
| jedbrown wrote:
| RPN is really useful for observing intermediate results and
| comparing with a mental model of what would be reasonable
| scales. I use Emacs M-x calc quite a bit for this reason,
| versus a Julia/Python session when variable names and functions
| become necessary.
| Bud wrote:
| I still have my HP-41CX that I got for high school graduation in
| the 80s. (I won't say exactly when during the 80s, so I can feel
| a few years more youthful.) It still works absolutely perfectly
| and is a true pleasure to use. The action of the buttons is still
| unmatched by any competitors and notably superior to all current
| TI calculators. Even the case is superior: durable but soft
| exterior, false bottom with extra padding, YKK zipper that will
| probably work for a century after I am dead. Even the rubber feet
| on the bottom are of superior quality: four really sizable feet
| that haven't worn at all after decades, and they obviously chose
| a good adhesive because they haven't fallen off, either. This
| calculator embodies the famous Ben Franklin quote:
|
| "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness
| of low price is forgotten."
| tibbydudeza wrote:
| My dad was an actuary and he had one with the optional expansion
| ROMs and card reader/writer unit ... learned programming on it.
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(page generated 2020-09-27 16:00 UTC)