Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!telesoft!bruceb From: bruceb@telesoft.com (Bruce Bergman @quasar) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: HP's new calculator, the HP-48SX Keywords: new calc, hp-48sx, rumors Message-ID: <719@telesoft.com> Date: 2 Mar 90 23:48:49 GMT Organization: TeleSoft, San Diego, CA. Lines: 182 Since no one else has posted information on the new HP handheld, I thought I'd help out by sharing what I know about it. I am a little surprised no one has mentioned anything about it (have I missed it?)... Anyhow, this comes from personal, first-hand knowledge of the calc, seeing as how I have touched and spent about four hours playing with it. I think HP won't be too mad if I talk about, because it's expected to be announced this next week (06-Mar, I think). It's called the HP-48SX and looks a lot like the 42. It is NOT a fold- out calculator. It has only one keyboard and lies just like the 42. This may explain why the number is 48 instead of 29 or something like the 28 series. At first, I expected to be a little hampered by not having the extra keyboard, but after a while I didn't miss it and will probably ignore it after a weeks use. It would be nice to have the fold-out cover for protection, though. The screen is eight lines and has the look of the 28S. Four of the lines are devoted to the stack, one to menus, two to error messages and one very small line for status information and icons (well, I call them icons; you'll see why in a second). The status line and icon line are very physically close together. The icons that appear are things like an hourglass while the calculator is thinking, an alpha symbol when you have selected the alphanumeric mode, etc. The status line says things like where you are in the directory structure, what mode you are in (algebraic, radians, etc) and if you are using that option, the date and time. Below those lines are the error message lines and stack. The stack is labeled just like on the 28S. The menu bar also resembles the 28S. The keyboard is different than most anything else HP makes, but nothing seemed really tough to accept. I've been a 41 junkie since the first week they were sent out, so I accepted the concept of having to shift "into" and "out of" alpha mode, but that isn't requiried, as you can also shift into alpha mode for one character only. The alpha key is two keys above the power key. Kinda like this: | -Enter- | | a ( <-- symbol for 'alpha') | | <-| <== pointing to left hand side | and bottom corner of calc. | |-> (digit keys over here) | | ON +-------------- The shift keys above the ON key are like the 'f' and 'g' keys of old, but they are now just called left and right shift. They are orange and blue (of course) and correspond each key. A lot of the alpha keys aren't labeled on the calc, not even on the back. You have to know them or look them up. The whole alphabet resides on the keys on the top half of the keyboard (all above the -Enter- row). You can get lowercase letters by pressing . A little weird, but you can get used to it. The calculator has several "subsystems" which HP refers to as "applications" or something like that (sorry about some of this information -- only four hours with a new calc and an excited reviewer leaves some thing fuzzy!). Like the 28S, it has the ability to solve equations (the EquationSolver), do calculus, integrals, etc. It also has a new application called the MatrixWriter which appears to be a spreadsheet-like application, but it "feels" like it can only be used for multiple matrix calculations. What led me to call it a spreadsheet is it's appearance (rows, cols) and that you can take the data from it and graph it as bar graphs or pie graphs, if line graphs arent' interesting. It has a time subsystem, with complete alarms and date/time functions. The manual suggests setting an alarm for a year from the time you buy the calc so that you can check battery life. I thought that a cute touch. If you want, you can put a small time and date on the screen (real-time) on the status line. Alarms can be acknowledged or not, and can store whole lines of information along with it. You can review alarms easily. I am unclear as to whether you can perform actions upon an alarm event. There is a "units" subsystem which allows you to convert between many different units (including bases) and does so kinda like the 28S. There is another subsystem for plotting and graphics which appears to be quite expanded. And I know the big question you are all waiting for: Can you turn a pixel off? Sorry, I dunno. There was a sample program in the manual which animated a little man and caused him to march across the screen, so it appears SOME sort of better graphics are available. The program just declared a hexvalue which described the image and then moved the man across the screen, moving his little legs. Cute. With the enhanced plotting features, I feel that the answer must be yes. The plotting function is pretty cool, but I'm not sure how often I'll do things like draw pie charts on the screen. A simple program in the manual automated the drawing of pie charts a lot! When you solve an equation, you can press a keystroke or 20 and get a graph of the function on the screen. Much better resolution than the 28S, of course. It appears that the images previously plotted are "stored" and I often hit a spurious key and found myself plotting over the old image that I created 20 minutes ago and thought I deleted. Other aspects of operation are about the same as the 28S, although I am sure I missed something that you'll undoubtedly nail me for when the thing gets announced. Maybe someone else can fill in the blanks. As for physical components, it includes a send and receive IR subsystem. The intent here is to place two 48SX's facing each other and transfer programs back and forth. Pretty darn neat! Next to the IR interface is a four prong ugly looking connector. It is the only visible connector when the IR/RAM card slot cover is in place. It is the interface to the IBM-PC. I assume the connections are send, receive, request to send, clear to send. I am unclear as to whether a special cable is needed or if you can just hack one up. I know they are selling a connection package for $60 which I assume must include the cable, some software for communicating and possibly a program for editing and syntax checking on the PC before downloading. Below, on the bottom of the calc is two slots. They are very flat and slightly slanted upwards into the calc. They appear to be about two inches tall and about an inch and a half wide. These are the slots for the RAM cards. Sorry, the 48SX doesn't take 41C modules... RAM cards are available in two sizes: 32K and 128K. The 32K card costs $80 and the 128K card costs $240. The base 48SX comes with 32K RAM/256K ROM and the ability to expand up to 288K RAM. The RAM cards can be used in one of two ways: as seamless contiguous memory and as partitioned memory (kind of like different disk drives or mounted partitions). The most common use of the RAM card (in my opinion) will be as a backup device for the memory. I intend to buy one just for this purpose. You can have two RAM cards in the 48SX at one time, and both must be of the same memory configuration (e.g., you can't mix seamless with the separate partitions). The RAM cards are battery-backed-up and are good for about a year once the battery has been installed. It uses a little flat calculator/photo battery. Oh, the 48SX itself uses three AA batteries in the bottom of the calculator. Also available will be a RAM card which allows one to emulate the 41CV (or, I assume, its later cousins). I don't remember the price. There is also a "demo card" which does something for $15. I would guess that more RAM card applications will become available soon. There was no mention of printers, so I assume it must work directly with the IR printer. The PC link is controlled by Kermit, and includes a full Kermit protocol implementation, including a new mode called "archive" mode. If you don't want to buy a RAM card for backup, you can archive your calculator into the PC via the link. Sorry, I couldn't find information about how fast the transfer rate is, but heck, we're talking only 288K here. You can also selectively upload files or programs. The manuals are divided into two Owners manuals and there is a reference to a programming guide, but I didn't find one. It could be something that they didn't include to some testers. The owners guide is divided into a manual for usage and for the subsystems and one for programming and advanced topics. I noticed HP is still going away from the concept of RPN (much to my dismay) and while you can still program and calculate in the RPN style, most, if not all, of the examples were in algebraic notation and included parenthesis, et al. The whole package (manuals, calc, whatever) is typical high HP quality and the calculator feels really comfortable in your hand. It seems a little heavy, but that is probably due to the case and the AA batteries. The LCD is easy to read, just like the 28S. No backlight, tho. ;^) EduCalc is taking orders. They expect delivery of their first shipment in mid-to-late March, while everyone else I've talked to is expecting delivery in May. The list price will be $350 and the EduCalc price is $274.95. They also want $195.00 for the 128K RAM card. They know less about the calc than you do (now) and have only heard of the calc and the one RAM card. They expect to get more information and announce it in their next catalog (probably May). I bought mine -- when are you going to get yours?! :^) Hope you folks found this informational. Sorry about the sloppy english and spelling; I'm just too lazy today to fix it and figured y'all wouldn't mind when it comes to rumors. thanks, bruce -- att! \ crash!--\ TeleSoft (bruceb@telesoft.com) ncr-sd! \ \ 5959 Cornerstone Court West >--ucsd!---->--telesoft!bruceb (Bruce Bergman N7HAW) nosc! / / San Diego, CA. 92121-9891 ucbvax!/ uunet!--/ (619) 457-2700 x123 All opinions are my own. Have you hugged your horse lately?