HP Prime Binary Conversions

[Pete Ladow]

My 48GX finally kicked the bucket after 15 years, and I bought a new HP Prime. I admit I like the flashy new screen and the buttons feel better. But after 15 years of knowing where all the buttons where and what they did, it's been some work to switch.

The most notable change has been how the base conversion stuff is hidden. I'm not finding anything online to make it as easy to do as on the 48. And I'm a bit stumped.

Say I wanted to do some math in hexadecimal. On my 48G, I'd do something like:

1. Right arrow, divide (to get #), 1234, alpha, left arrow, PRG (to get 'h'), enter.

Then on the stack I'd have '#1234h'.

I could then do things like add by simply doing:

2. 1, +

And I'd get '#1235h'.

Or I should shift right by doing:

3. MTH, BASE, NXT, BIT, SL

And I'd get '#246Ah'.

I could then keep hitting SL and keep shifting. Finally, I could convert it back to a real number with:

4. MTH, BASE, B->R

Problem is, on the HP Prime I don't have a MTH button, and I don't get the context menus above with these functions. Instead, I have to get a number into hex, then use the integer editor.

And the most annoying part is when I try to do math, I have to enter my numbers in hex, rather than as a real (which the 48 apparently implicitly converted to hex).

For example, take the addition above. On an HP Prime, if I do:

5. Shift, - (to get Base), 1234, Enter

I get '#1234h' on the stack. (As a side, it is annoying that the integer editor comes up, but it works well enough).

But then if I do:

6. 1, +

I get '4661', which is no longer a hex value. And to convert it back to hex, I have to type, painfully:

7. Alpha, 8 (to get 'R'), Shift, 9, (select ->), Alpha, Toolbox (to get 'B'), then Enter

So going from real to hex (or back to real) is a real pain.

So, I guess the questions are:

* Is there a clean, simple way to go from real to/from hex(/binary/octal) with a single context menu key, such as on the 48G (the R->B and B->R items)?
* Are there similar context menus for shifts, not, etc?

Thanks,
Pete

[Norm Peterson]

On 2015-04-22, Pete Ladow <pla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My 48GX finally kicked the bucket after 15 years

That would be some kind of a record. Most are still going fine.

> and I bought a new HP Prime.

Ok.....

> The most notable change has been how the base conversion stuff is hidden.
>I'm not finding anything online to make it as easy to do as on the 48. And
>I'm a bit stumped.

The Prime is not the follow-on from the 48. The HP 50g is.

> * Is there a clean, simple way to go from real to/from hex(/binary/octal) with a single context menu key, such as on the 48G (the R->B and B->R items)?
> * Are there similar context menus for shifts, not, etc?

You can do all this on the 50g although the menus have changed somewhat it's
still the same basic machine (emulated) and OS as the 48 series. The Prime
is a whole 'nother animal.

Norm

[Pete Ladow]

On Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 10:48:13 PM UTC-7, Norm Peterson wrote:
> On 2015-04-22, Pete Ladow <pla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > My 48GX finally kicked the bucket after 15 years
>
> That would be some kind of a record. Most are still going fine.

I bought it as a freshman in college in '90. Worked like a champ all these years. Now the screen has a big permanent black splotch in the middle that grew from 1 or 2 pixels. And the ON keys isn't very responsive (I have to push HARD to get it to register). Considering I bought it right when it first came out, and likely rev A hardware, and been well used, I'm impressed.

> > The most notable change has been how the base conversion stuff is hidden.
> >I'm not finding anything online to make it as easy to do as on the 48. And
> >I'm a bit stumped.
>
> The Prime is not the follow-on from the 48. The HP 50g is.

Well, crap. That's a $100 lesson. Now I need to consider perhaps ordering a 50g instead and maybe selling my Prime. But looking back, I paid around $300 in 1990 for my 48GX, and in 2015 I only paid $105 for my Prime. One third the price (ignoring inflation) with a huge increase in performance and features. If that's not a lesson in Moore's law, I don't know what is.

Thanks for the info!

Pete

[Pete Ladow]

On Thursday, April 23, 2015 at 8:06:23 AM UTC-7, Pete Ladow wrote:
> On Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 10:48:13 PM UTC-7, Norm Peterson wrote:
> > On 2015-04-22, Pete Ladow <pla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > My 48GX finally kicked the bucket after 15 years
> >
> > That would be some kind of a record. Most are still going fine.
>
> I bought it as a freshman in college in '90. Worked like a champ all these years.

And this is why I need a calculator! I can't even get the age of my calculator correct. I've had it for 25 years! Wow, now I'm even more impressed.

Pete

[Norm Peterson]

On 2015-04-23, Pete Ladow <pla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 10:48:13 PM UTC-7, Norm Peterson wrote:
>> On 2015-04-22, Pete Ladow <pla...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > My 48GX finally kicked the bucket after 15 years
>>
>> That would be some kind of a record. Most are still going fine.
>
> I bought it as a freshman in college in '90. Worked like a champ all
these years. Now the screen has a big permanent black splotch in the middle
that grew from 1 or 2 pixels. And the ON keys isn't very responsive (I have
to push HARD to get it to register). Considering I bought it right when it
first came out, and likely rev A hardware, and been well used, I'm
impressed.

1990 would make it a bit older than 15 years ;-) but it could still be
salvaged probably. Hope you didn't bin it just yet.

Unfortunately there is no simple way to upgrade the ROM on a 48 AFAIK.

>
>> > The most notable change has been how the base conversion stuff is hidden.
>> >I'm not finding anything online to make it as easy to do as on the 48. And
>> >I'm a bit stumped.
>>
>> The Prime is not the follow-on from the 48. The HP 50g is.
>
> Well, crap. That's a $100 lesson. Now I need to consider perhaps
>ordering a 50g instead and maybe selling my Prime. But looking back, I
>paid around $300 in 1990 for my 48GX, and in 2015 I only paid $105 for my
>Prime. One third the price (ignoring inflation) with a huge increase in
>performance and features. If that's not a lesson in Moore's law, I don't
>know what is.

The 50g can be had in America for 79 bucks if you wait a bit. Don't know
where you're located but ebay, Newegg, and Walmart have good prices from
time to time keep your eyes open. The Prime is supposed to be damn fast and
there's a lot of interest in it. Might be worth hanging onto. You can't have
too many HP calcs!

The 50g is a damn nice unit. It has 2GB flash card support so no more tiny
memory cards with their batteries. It has a ton of RAM, not as much as the
Prime but I doubt you'll ever run out of it. And it works great with Kermit
to transfer files back and forth. And you can program it in User & System
RPL and Saturn assembly just like our 48 models and you can also program it
in ARM assembly and it's all included in the calculator! No external
programs or even a PC is required. And it powers over USB when plugged into
a USB port! It has a great screen, it's about 7 times faster than a
48G. What more could you want? Definitely worth having a few of them. I
still love my 48s but I love my 50gs too.

Norm
--
The Other Norm Peterson

[Norm Peterson]

On 2015-04-23, Pete Ladow <pla...@gmail.com> wrote:

That's more like it but it should work forever. See if somebody on here or
HP Museum.com forums can help.

Norm

[Oregonian Haruspex]

On 2015-04-23 16:26:05 +0000, Norm Peterson said:

> And you can program it in User & System
> RPL and Saturn assembly just like our 48 models and you can also program it
> in ARM assembly and it's all included in the calculator!

Don't forget that, if you get the proper development environment going
on your PC, you can also program the 50g in C as well.

[kk...@arrl.net]

FWIW, you could not have purchased an HP 48GX in 1990...it did not reach market until 1993. The ROM firmware version of the earliest 48GX is K.

I own two HP 48GX ROM R units. The HP 50G is a magnificent and vastly superior, vastly more capable upgrade, if one does not value cosmetics more than performamce. I bought my first in 2007 and a second a year ago (still in its bubble pack) as a back-up when the price dropped to about $75.

Mike

[Joe Horn]

> FWIW, you could not have purchased an HP 48GX in 1990...it did not reach market until 1993. The ROM firmware version of the earliest 48GX is K.

Since he said it might be a rev "A" machine, and he thinks he bought it in 1990, he *might* accidentally be calling a "GX" what's really an "SX", whose version "A" hit the market in March 1990.

-Joe-

[Virgil]

In article <619105cd-8f08-473d...@googlegroups.com>,

I have one that is marked as a 48S, not even a 48SX.
When did that come out?
--
Virgil
"Mit der Dummheit kampfen Gotter selbst vergebens." (Schiller)

[Pete Ladow]

You are correct. It is an SX. Typo on my part.

[Joe Horn]

> I have one that is marked as a 48S, not even a 48SX.
> When did that come out?

April 1991.

HP48 production dates:

48SX: 3/90 - 6/93
48S: 4/91 - 6/93
48G/GX: 6/93 - 2003
48G+: 4/98 - 2002

Longest-production calculator: HP-12C: 9/81 - present

[reference: Rick Furr's HP calculator poster]

-Joe-