Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!agate!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!att!occrsh!occrsh.ATT.COM!scsmo1.UUCP!tim
From: tim@scsmo1.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc
Subject: Re: Broken Hp41VC
Message-ID: <1700001@scsmo1.UUCP>
Date: 2 Mar 89 07:33:00 GMT
References: <4560005@hpcvca.HP.COM>
Lines: 38
Nf-ID: #R:hpcvca.HP.COM:-456000500:scsmo1.UUCP:1700001:000:1394
Nf-From: scsmo1.UUCP!tim    Mar  2 01:33:00 1989


I have an HP-28C that I like, and highly sugest looking at a HP-28S since
I don't think that the 28C is made anymore.
The Calculator has some problems. (28C anyway)
1. It has done derivatives wrong.
2. It can symbolicly integrate any polynomial with positive integer exponents.
3. It is hard to do character I/O in a nice way.
4. It has no input other than the Keyboard.
5. It's keyboard has a poor feel to it.
6. The manual is poor.
7. It needs a lot more memory, (hard disk, virtual memory... :-)
8. It will do Degrees and Rads but no Grads.
9. The beeper is anoying

Its advantages.
1. It will do almost anything you want a calculator to do.
2. It has a 1 Meg address space.
3. It will do symbolic calculus to a point.
4. Easy to use.  (RPN, infix and combination)
5. It will graph.

Some solutions to the disadvantages:
1. Don't push it and know derivatives.
2. Do it by hand, its faster and easier.
3. Don't try to write menu type programs (or get a 28S)
4. Hack it to death.
5. Take the keyboard apart and put it back together a little looser.
6. Uh. Write your own?
7. See 4.
8. Is there anyone how uses Grads?
9. Fix it with #5. (take out one of the little springs)

So I'm showing the bad points, and not stressing the good, so what I'm
not getting paid to sell these things.
If you have anyinfo on hacking on these, I'd like to hear from you.
(syseval or hardware)

-tim@scsmo1.UUCP