DM41L and HP-41C mystery keyboard differences
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 2:34 pm
Hi again,
The DM41L has different physical proportions compared to the original HP-41C/CX - and I like it much better
The keyboard is mostly the same if one considers that the original HP-41C's keyboard's bottom has been moved to the right part of the DM41L, and the original keyboard's top, plus top mode keys, has been moved to the left with minor rearrangements.
So far, so good.
I would personally have preferred that the -+x/ keys stay at the place where they are on the other Voyager models as it puzzles me much, but that would have probably made the DM41L more different from the original - and the original HP-41C owners and fanatics of the old HP keyboards since the days of the HP35 less happy - it seems that the rearrangement of the operation keys from the left to the right of the numbers has come with the Voyager series, and the matter or knowing whether the DM41L should be more of an HP-41C keyboard or more of a Voyager keyboard is surely a matter for philosophers.
I personally feel that, as the machine's global disposition shifted to Voyager's, the keyboard should have followed as well, but that's just a personal opinion.
However, contrary to basic number and shifted functions, the Alphabetical disposition of the DM41L has been completely redistributed - in a very puzzling way IMHO - compared to the original.
Reading the HP-41CX manual I saw that the [APPEND] function corresponds to [SHIFT]-K in Alpha Mode, and it is not labeled on the keyboard itself.
I tried on my DM41L to get this [APPEND] to no avail, until I decided to check an HP-41CX photograph to see that there, the K key is the Alpha mode of the [XEQ] key. Where on the DM41L, the K key is the Alpha mode of [CHS].
So well, following the manual I tried to type [SHIFT]-[XEQ] instead of [SHIFT]-[CHS], and to my pleasure it then worked.
But now I am wondering it there are still other such differences between the original and the clone, and if such differences are documented anywhere - or if I will have to proceeed with such kind of a guessing game...?
TIA for any help.
The DM41L has different physical proportions compared to the original HP-41C/CX - and I like it much better
The keyboard is mostly the same if one considers that the original HP-41C's keyboard's bottom has been moved to the right part of the DM41L, and the original keyboard's top, plus top mode keys, has been moved to the left with minor rearrangements.
So far, so good.
I would personally have preferred that the -+x/ keys stay at the place where they are on the other Voyager models as it puzzles me much, but that would have probably made the DM41L more different from the original - and the original HP-41C owners and fanatics of the old HP keyboards since the days of the HP35 less happy - it seems that the rearrangement of the operation keys from the left to the right of the numbers has come with the Voyager series, and the matter or knowing whether the DM41L should be more of an HP-41C keyboard or more of a Voyager keyboard is surely a matter for philosophers.
I personally feel that, as the machine's global disposition shifted to Voyager's, the keyboard should have followed as well, but that's just a personal opinion.
However, contrary to basic number and shifted functions, the Alphabetical disposition of the DM41L has been completely redistributed - in a very puzzling way IMHO - compared to the original.
Reading the HP-41CX manual I saw that the [APPEND] function corresponds to [SHIFT]-K in Alpha Mode, and it is not labeled on the keyboard itself.
I tried on my DM41L to get this [APPEND] to no avail, until I decided to check an HP-41CX photograph to see that there, the K key is the Alpha mode of the [XEQ] key. Where on the DM41L, the K key is the Alpha mode of [CHS].
So well, following the manual I tried to type [SHIFT]-[XEQ] instead of [SHIFT]-[CHS], and to my pleasure it then worked.
But now I am wondering it there are still other such differences between the original and the clone, and if such differences are documented anywhere - or if I will have to proceeed with such kind of a guessing game...?
TIA for any help.
