I got a new HP 35s calculator yesterday. It is the first
HP claculator in years that looks like an HP
calculator. It has the HP colors (blue and orange),
and the ENTER key is the right size and in the
right place (in the middle of the left side). It misses
the original HP look on one point. It has an LCD
instead of LEDs.

Bob Corbett

robert.corbett@sun.com wrote:

I had thought that HP was getting out of the calculator
business. It is nice to see they are still in.

I mostly use an HP28S that I bought used on eBay for less
than the price of the 35s. Among the features that seem
to have been lost on later calculators is symbolic math.
It will do symbolic algebra and derivatives.

There were some HP calculators that ran BASIC. I don't
know that there was ever one with built-in C or Fortran.
(Not counting ones that ran MS-DOS.)

Otherwise, the TI graphing calculators are required for
many schools now.

-- glen

Ack!! There's no manual!

Documentation is available on HP's website, but it's not
the same. HP's calculator manuals used to be wonderful.

Bob Corbett

robert.corbett@sun.com wrote:

So much now comes with manuals on CD or web site PDFs.
Even expensive equipment.

The manual on the web site seems to be 382 pages, and looks
pretty nice. Still, it isn't the same as paper.

Well, you could print one out and bind it together.

-- glen

robert.corbett@sun.com wrote:

That does look nice!

I still have my trusty HP-45 which I bought new in 1974, but have
not used it in years. It needs new NiCads and could really use
a new charger too.

I also have the rare HP-16C "computer scientist". After 20+ years,
it is only on its 3rd set of batteries. (Third set went in a few
weeks ago.) So much for LEDs vs LCDs...

Kids of today just don't appreciate RPN...

W.

Walter Spector wrote:

It's kind of cute, but it has a fatal flaw: it's switchable between
RPN and algebraic. Having the algebraic option violates the spirit of
things. But HP is no longer a high tech company.

I have an original HP-35 in a drawer. Needs new batteries, but the
cells are regular AA nicads if I ever decide to do surgery on the
battery pack. HP-25 in the same drawer. I have a HP-21 (circa 1974
or 1975) that sits on my desk, and I use daily. I never found a need
to use the programming capabilities of the 25, or of the modern HP-32s
that lives in my briefcase.

About 10 or 15 years ago the battery pack in my HP-21 overheated and
melted down, taking the back half of the case with it. Called HP
about getting repair parts. They no longer supported it, but referred
me to a calculator salvage yard in Arkansas.

Ken Plotkin

<robert.corbett@sun.com> wrote:

Looks nice. Maybe I'll have to get one to got with my HP 35 (and my 65,
and my 15c).

Well, actually the 35 (which still works, I think) is my wife's, as I
gave it to her as sort of an engagement present. She had noticed it on
my belt when we first met, and we started talking about it to "break the
ice" (as a typically shy nerd, I needed a lot of ice breaking), so it
has a bit of sentimental value. Yep, I was weird even back then (1973),
some might say even more weird than I am now, hard as that is to
imagine.

The 15c is hers also. That's what she uses today. I still use my 65,
plugged in because the batteries are long dead (and removed to keep them
from leaking all over).

I sold my 45 long ago, when it was repled by the 65. Darned if I recall
what happened to my 25; maybe it died.

robert.corbett@sun.com wrote:

No! You guys have it all wrong - the 11C is the coolest of them all!
And it has a 260 page manual printed on real paper. Bought it when I
got tired of replacing all those cheep TI's with their lousy keypads.

Dave Rowell

dpb wrote:

Every student in the (middle/high) school system here is essentially
required to own TI 30XIIS - which, of course, has no RPN. The local
office supply stores sell 'em by the thousands. I had to hold my nose
when buying them for my kids. But at least they were cheap. And RPN
aside, they are a pretty decent choice.

W.