Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ogicse!orstcs!ECE.ORST.EDU!daver
From: daver@ECE.ORST.EDU (Dave Rabinowitz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: HP-38E
Message-ID: <21661@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>
Date: 8 Nov 90 22:10:59 GMT
References: <543@voodoo.UUCP> <555@voodoo.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU
Distribution: na
Organization: Oregon State University -- Electrical & Computer Engineering
Lines: 45


I tried mailing this but it bounced:

In article <543@voodoo.UUCP> you write:
>    It came with zip documentation....  is HP pretty good about
>    supplying User's Manuals for their older stuff?  Anyone
>    willing to part with a manual, or willing to make copies of
>    some of the 38E specific stuff?

It's very similar in operation to the 12C so you can probably get all the
information you need from one of those manuals.  Check with friends or an 
HP dealer or call the HP calculator technical support at (503) 757-2004.

>    How do you use the Delta-DAYS and DATE keys?

Dates are entered as MM.DDYYYY.  If you enter two dates Delta-DAYS will compute
the number of days between those dates.  I believe the DATE key is actually
DATE+ and adds a number of days (in X) to a date (in Y) producing a new date.

>    What can you say to your spouse that will make them believe
>    that buying old HP's is better than putting the same amount
>    of money in savings????

I'm not sure this is defensible.  The 38E is more than 10 years old and unless
you paid less than $10 for it with the recharger and a good battery pack you
could have done better buying a new calculator (HP sells an upgraded
replacement for about $50 list, about $35 by mail order).  

The 38E battery pack uses old-style NiCad batteries (the only kind available
at the time - c.1978) which have problems with memory.  Don't leave the
calculator plugged into the recharger or you'll destroy the batteries.  Plug
it in when the low-battery light on the side of the display goes on.  A new
battery pack is not cheap - if you can find one.  It uses "standard" AA NiCad
cells but without the bump on the + side, so if you buy ordinary AAs they
won't fit in the case.

The 38E has had occasional problems with the keyboard getting mushy and failing
after several years.  In fact, HP had a lifetime warranty where they would
replace the calculator with a new one using a different keyboard technology at 
no cost if the keyboard showed this failure, but I'm sure this program has
ended.  If you have keyboard problems now you're SOL (but then what do you
expect from a 10+ year-old consumer product).

Good luck,
Dave Rabinowitz