DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

General discussion about calculators, SwissMicros or otherwise
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burkhard
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by burkhard »

franz.b wrote:
Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:38 pm
Personally I would like a dm48 / 50 with the power of 50 and the keyboard of 48. And I would definitely buy it. :!:
Ahhh, that is the rub I am afraid. The hardest thing for anyone (even the "big guys") to do in the calculator world today is to make a make a keyboard like those HP had in the Pioneers and earlier. At their best, calculator sales volumes are nowhere near what they were in the "Golden Age", so investment to make an HP48-equivalent quality keyboard would be tremendous. Certainly somebody could tweak the layout to fix the 50g's small ENTER key that is in the wrong spot, but a true "48 quality" keyboard is a lot to ask for. I hope I am wrong, though!
zx_spectrum
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by zx_spectrum »

burkhard wrote:
Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:48 pm
franz.b wrote:
Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:38 pm
Personally I would like a dm48 / 50 with the power of 50 and the keyboard of 48. And I would definitely buy it. :!:
Ahhh, that is the rub I am afraid. The hardest thing for anyone (even the "big guys") to do in the calculator world today is to make a make a keyboard like those HP had in the Pioneers and earlier. At their best, calculator sales volumes are nowhere near what they were in the "Golden Age", so investment to make an HP48-equivalent quality keyboard would be tremendous. Certainly somebody could tweak the layout to fix the 50g's small ENTER key that is in the wrong spot, but a true "48 quality" keyboard is a lot to ask for. I hope I am wrong, though!
I think by "48 keyboard" he means the layout of 48g and not the actual physical feel.
dm42 keyboard feel is sufficient
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48GX
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by 48GX »

I’m in too. Would love a 48G series in modern form. Why not start a kickstarter or official poll to judge interest? I’d pay $1000 USD for my first one and buy four more at whatever price.

For those of you familiar with m48 for iOS, the project is on github waiting to be resurrected. I would love to Have a modern version to carry around. I’m an engineer and my programs keep me tied to it. I love the stack, and programming language is very intuitive. It was what I cut my teeth on to be fair.

https://github.com/wyan/m48plus

What would it take to make this a reality? Ask for it. I believe the community would respond.

I ordered a DM42 just to support the cause. Waiting for delivery. Stack operation is confusing to me. Unsure if it can solve a double integral.
Waiting for SM to release DM42 hardware with one additional row of keys.
DM42, DB48X, DM32, HP42s, DM41X, HP35s, DM41L
Raising a next generation RPN/RPL user.
grsbanks
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by grsbanks »

As has been said many times, HP have released the ROM of the 48G/GX for personal use, not commercial, which would mean that SwissMicros would have to release their hypothetical "DM48" without the ROM of the original calculator until HP decides to release the ROM for use other than personal.

I seriously doubt SwissMicros would agree to releasing a calculator without a ROM and telling users that they have to download it and install it themselves. That way lies far too much pain and trouble. It's just not going to happen IMO.
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who do not.
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akaTB
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by akaTB »

Gee... and here we go again.
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jonmoore
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by jonmoore »

But surely a far better route to RPL goodness, would be to utilise SM hardware to host NewRPL. That way you're getting 48/49/50 style user experience without any IP issues, and because it's coded in C, it's very fast.

NewRPL is close to being '50g' feature complete (minus the CAS), so that's a plus too.

On the negative side, all that power comes with a substantial increase in complexity compared to classic RPN calculators. It's not something that bothers me personally, but does that fit with the SM brand, which historically has centred on the direct simplicity of RPN.
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48GX
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by 48GX »

grsbanks wrote:
Wed May 20, 2020 11:42 am
As has been said many times, HP have released the ROM of the 48G/GX for personal use, not commercial, which would mean that SwissMicros would have to release their hypothetical "DM48" without the ROM of the original calculator until HP decides to release the ROM for use other than personal.

I seriously doubt SwissMicros would agree to releasing a calculator without a ROM and telling users that they have to download it and install it themselves. That way lies far too much pain and trouble. It's just not going to happen IMO.
I paid for the iOS m48+ app and on boot up, I chose the calculator I wanted, and it downloaded the ROM right then. I don't see the big deal. m48+ has left the app store. It's still on my iphone and is hundreds, if not thousands of times faster

I will have to look into NewRPL. I have several 50Gs but shelved them because I find the 48 keypad layout superior (again, I started using the 48GX in 1994). I would think most users would prefer the 48G series to a 50G if we only had one option.

Someone mentioned before having an infinite stack for the DM42. Unsure if that is feasible but that would be awesome because I am one of those people who is very confused by the 42 register system. My problem I know.

I'm here to voice my support for a DM48 and declare it's value to me. If pledging $1000 for my first calculator helps, great.
Waiting for SM to release DM42 hardware with one additional row of keys.
DM42, DB48X, DM32, HP42s, DM41X, HP35s, DM41L
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48GX
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by 48GX »

jonmoore wrote:
Wed May 20, 2020 1:50 pm
But surely a far better route to RPL goodness, would be to utilise SM hardware to host NewRPL. That way you're getting 48/49/50 style user experience without any IP issues, and because it's coded in C, it's very fast.

NewRPL is close to being '50g' feature complete (minus the CAS), so that's a plus too.

On the negative side, all that power comes with a substantial increase in complexity compared to classic RPN calculators. It's not something that bothers me personally, but does that fit with the SM brand, which historically has centred on the direct simplicity of RPN.
Wow! This may be the bridge we need for a DM48. newRPL looks great. Am going to load it on a 50G and give it a whirl. Looks promising to me! Maybe DM48 could ship with newRPL but allow us users to load a 48G ROM. Would be a great compromise.
Waiting for SM to release DM42 hardware with one additional row of keys.
DM42, DB48X, DM32, HP42s, DM41X, HP35s, DM41L
Raising a next generation RPN/RPL user.
jonmoore
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by jonmoore »

Ignore...
Last edited by jonmoore on Wed May 20, 2020 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jonmoore
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Re: DM 48 .... WHY NOT ?!!!

Post by jonmoore »

NewRPL can also be flashed onto the HP-39gs and the HP-40gs as well as the 49g+ and the 50g. Considering you can expect to pay no more than $10-50 for said hardware, it's a really great way to try newRPL on the cheap. Don't be fooled by the lowly status of the 39gs an 40gs (as education market calculators), they both feature the same 75Mhz processor as the 50g. But you obviously have less flash memory to play with, lack of sd card etc etc - but on the plus side the have far more generous RAM that the 48!

One of the biggest benefits of newRPL is that many of the programs found at hpcalc.org can be utilised with minimal changes, some with no changes at all.

N.B Apologies for any typos, I wrote this post without my reading glasses (long story). :)
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