Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!hellgate.utah.edu!csn!spot.Colorado.EDU!frechett
From: frechett@spot.Colorado.EDU (-=Runaway Daemon=-)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: HP48 Internals, etc
Message-ID: <1991Feb5.020015.14389@csn.org>
Date: 5 Feb 91 02:00:15 GMT
References: <38752@cup.portal.com> <1510@fs1.ee.ubc.ca>
Sender: news@csn.org (news)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 47
Nntp-Posting-Host: spot.colorado.edu

In article <1510@fs1.ee.ubc.ca> jmorriso@fs1.ee.ubc.ca (John Paul Morrison) writes:
=+I disagree. There is absolutely no reason to have ROM dumps of all the
=+versions, nor any reason to write software that is downward compatible
=+with the A, B, and C ROMS. HP has a generous upgrade policy for those
=+versions, so only a few die-hards should be left with the old ones.
This simply is not true.  There are thousands of A B and C machines out there 
where the owners haven't a clue that their hp has bugs.  Remember, that we as
users of usenet have a distinct advantage in that we get information from
various sources all over the world and in the case of the hp48sx we get
information directly from HP.  I see how many uninformed people there are 
every time I show one of my demos to a fellow hp48sx owner.  Out of the dozens
of hp48sx owners on this campus, I can say (with a margin of 2) that there 
are only 2 who read comp.sys.handhelds.  Most of the people that I see, don't
have sub-directories.  For me, that is just increadible (I have prolly over 30)
but it is more common than not.  

The moral is, don't EVER forget that most of the world doesn't have usenet and
the masses of information that comes with it.  
BTW, just to be clear about this, the ONLY ways that one can find out that 
they can upgrade their hps is via only a couple sources.
1. They found a bug that hurt bad, and called hp Tech Support and were told
   that they could upgrade.
2. Word of mouth.  I have told a number of people.  (more than 10)
3. Usenet 

Nobody was sent a notice saying that they could or should upgrade from hp.
=+
=+All that is needed is good programming style. Keep in mind that CHIP has 
This is true for some things BUT if there really is a differnce between the 
various versions internally then how is one to know what is a "good" programmin
style.  Machine language doesn't always lend itself to the obvious approach or
the correct approach.
=+been reasonably well behaved, and has been upward compatible (so far).
=+It is non-obvious that this should be the case for a low-level program.
=+I think a well written program will remain compatible to all versions.
=+
=+Besides, I have an E versoin ROM anyways!

I have not dealt with STAR and the other compilers much so far but I can see
the need for downward compatiblity.  People are going to be discovering what 
their expensive calculators can do for years to come.  


	ian

--
-=Runaway Daemon=-