Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpfcso!rrd From: rrd@hpfcso.HP.COM (Ray Depew) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: Re: Version D to E upgrades... Message-ID: <7360060@hpfcso.HP.COM> Date: 31 Jan 91 16:26:55 GMT References: Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA Lines: 50 'Scuse me, but how many of you have REALLY gotten bitten by a 48SX bug??? I don't mean "how many of you have accidentally found one" -- I mean, how many of you have *UN*intentionally run across a bug that really screwed up your work and caused you to throw up your hands in frustration and swear at the calculator? How many of you have lost points on an exam or homework, or points with your boss, or excessive amounts of time, because of a bug? Before you all rush down to UPS and send your 48's back to HP, sit down and think for a while. First, how many commercial 256Kbyte programs do you know that are totally bug-free? There must be at least one, but I don't know what it is. Give HP a little credit for the things that they did right. Second, *HOW CAN YOU BE SURE THAT THE REV. E ROMS AREN'T ALSO BUGGY?* I'll bet you a box of donuts that there are bugs in Rev. E that just haven't been uncovered yet. It's only a matter of time until they're found, and then are you going to send in your 48's to get them upgraded to Rev. F??? Third, how many of those bugs can you REALLY not live with? If the matrix- inversion bug kills you every time, and the workaround isn't satisfactory for your particular application, then you have a legitimate reason to upgrade. But if you will never invert a matrix larger than 8 x 8 in your whole life, WHY BOTHER UPGRADING? Fourth, with all the things you have to learn about the 48, what's wrong with learning the workarounds for the bugs that bite you most often? Write them in the book, for Pete's sake. (Hi Pete!) Good grief, take a black pen and turn to page 648 of the Owner's Manual and write "System Flag -40 must be cleared when doing ARCHIVE"! You won't get in trouble -- unless you're borrowing someone else's book. :-) I do a lot of graphics work, and there are a couple of bugs that I have to avoid every time I write a program, but that doesn't bother me any more than having to remember the syntax for the command-line version of "SUM". Finally, consider this: If you're developing commercial software, you'll want to make sure it can run on ALL versions of the 48, A thru Z.02.03. It does you NO GOOD to write a program on your Rev. E machine and market it, just to find out that the guy in Schenectady with a Rev. A machine can't run your program and wants his money back. If you're planning on making some bucks off this machine, don't trade in your Rev. A too fast. Use some common sense before you jump on the bandwagon and bombard Corvallis with used calculators. Don't upgrade if you don't need to. Do yourself and Corvallis a big favor. Regards Ray Depew HP ICBD -- IC's by Bill and Dave (not affilitated with the 48 gang in any way) rrd@hpfitst1.hp.com Contented user of a Rev. A HP48SX