A34


The command draw3dmatrix takes a matrix from the stack and plots it
as a 3d-surface. The raw-column coordinates of the numbers in the
matrix are assumed to be the x-y-coordinates. Take for example the
matrix:
[[3 5]
 [4 7]]
the first number at position 1,1 will be plotted as the point with
x=1, y=1. The number itself is the z-coordinate. So we have
x=1,y=1,z=3. The number at position 1,2 of the matrix will have
x=1,y=2,z=5. And so on. Of course the x-y coordinates can be also
interpreted as being all multiplied by a constant. In this example we
could also interpret for the first point x=.5,y=.5,z=3 , and for the
second x=.5,y=1,z=5 . That means, scale of x-y doesn`t matter. The
only thing that matters is that the data must be even spaced in x-y.
How much space between two adjacent points in x or y-direction is not
important as long as it remains the same between all adjacent points.
I think the plot type 3d-conic is not available. The example you give
could be plotted as z=+sqrt(x^2+ÿ^2-4) and then (without 
erasing the
plot or changing the plot parameter) plotting 
z=-sqrt(x^2+ÿ^2-4).
 1
Yes, I did not mean otherwise, as to serious bugs,
but I don't think anyone got any significant free upgrades
(e.g. S version to G version),
nor could you upgrade to any level you want,
at any time you want, without limit.
For one very serious bug in 48GX(M), HP just
kept on selling the 48G with that same ROM version
(which had other more minor bugs too) -- the *major* bug
of which I speak was the covered port STO bug,
for which the STOFIX library was created as a patch.
Now, HP did give early 48GX(M) purchasers a period of time
during which they could exchange their bad units,
if you used RAM cards and realized soon enough that it was bad,
but HP also cleverly used up the supply of already-produced bad
ROMs in the 48G(M) [non-expandable] model, where that big, bad bug
had no impact -- because there could be no cards plugged in!
This was in fact the very one which I bought in 1993,
for my first HP48, so I'd better not expand its memory,
or else I won't even be able to use the extra ports;
in fact, this bug would even be present if I used
that ROM in Emu48, but fortunately HP now permits
the use of any ROM by anyone in an emulator,
whether or not it came with your own calculator.
 
But flash (plus the extra programming required) are also costs,
and thorough testing is another way to reduce trade-in expenses.
By the way, how easy are the 39G and 40G to repair?
It couldn't have anything to do with the other influences upon sales,
could it -- or from looking over their shoulder at TI's flash calcs?
  
Sherlock Holmes, on the other hand, might point out that HP's
internal calculator regression testing produces no published results,
and has nothing to do with comparing products -- it is nothing
other than an internal quality control procedure, which
I'd expect to be a mandated corporate policy as well.
 
No one can generate security holes as fast as Microsoft
(which proves that they *are* a monopoly, after all ;)
MS also has to respond to what would otherwise be worse publicity,
were it all the hole-finders who published first; by being their
own confessor, they get to put a positive spin on everything
(Mitigating factors: If you don't install a Microsoft web server
on your system, this vulnerability will not occur ;-)
When I worked on one of the first national election reporting
computer systems, my company's project manager kept expecting
things to keep working the same way each time that they were run,
but in fact, there were already too many factors involved
to repeatedly get the exact same line-up of events
(particularly when a few precincts reported 105% of their votes
tallied, but that may have been in Mayor Daley's region :)
I'd bet against any management within HP ever going along with that.
The 49G official releases have probably done as well
as in the history of the 48.  There are very few bugs right now,
even in the current beta, so isn't it just as good as 48G-R,
which still has some bugs, though well known and few?
 
I'd be surprised if any of the 49G developers
are being assigned any current work at all on the 49G;
the clock (and calendar) must by now have run out
on official R&D investment, on a product that marketers
can barely establish at all in the educational field.
 
My vague impression is that the 49G became a stepping stone
to the 39G and 40G, and is no longer significant (except to us),
as far as it may be regarded by HP management.  But I'd be happy
to be wrong!
  
again, depends: if I sum f(0)+f(1) and I get 0.6 instead of 0.9, this is
serious.
The 49 is a CALCULATOR, not a gameboy.
(RS-STO) doesn't make much sense when nothing is selected. So I did the
following key bind, based on the standard action of CUT (use SA from
Keyman):
::
  PTR 19B41 ( Maybe unstable! )
  CK0NOLASTWD
  ( -- added code )
  RCL_CMD_DEB
  RCL_CMD_FIN
  #=case
  ( -- end of added code )
  CMD_COPY
  CMD_CUT
;
RCL_CMD_DEB RCL_CMD_FIN #= will return FALSE if something is selected,
and TRUE else.
I assigned this to both RS K (32.3) and Alpha RS K (32.6). Now the
important part of this post: Could you add this to the AsnKeys option of
Emacs?
Another suggestion: LS-hold-Up can be used for scrolling up very fast,
so I propose changing the SDiag standard assignment to LS-hold-Left (and
Alpha LS-hold-Left of course). That's what I have, and I think it's
easier to use.
 
Playing with my code I realized it must be done a bit different:
::
  PTR 19B41
  CK0NOLASTWD
  RCL_CMD_DEB
  RCL_CMD_FIN
  #<case
  ::
    CMD_COPY
    CMD_CUT
  ;
;
 
DEFINITELY unstable!
this *WILL* be changed in future rom versions
so you'd have to use something like:
 
    ;
  
  how can we tell that an entry point is definitely unstable (without 
having
to ask to this NG everytime) ? is there a range of addresses or a statement
from ACO (or JYA) ?
JYA once mentioned two (more or less) stable area's
25EC - B3C7 and 25565 - 40000
Since it is not in this range it should not be used
 Finally I have released the hex editor I talked about in a previous
post. Maybe it's of use for someone. Quoting from the documentation:
--
HEXED is a HEXadecimal EDitor (how imaginative its name is). It supports
hex and character (ascii) view, absolute or relative addresses, looking
up addresses in extable (if it is installed) and disassembling objects.
I've written 99% of it in assembler, mainly because I didn't feel like
doing it in SysRPL, and also because RPL calls modify memory contents.
 
 I've released another version of XMenu49. The main new features are:
* Multipageable, not limited to 54 menu entries any more.
* It's configurable - a bit at least.
Besides this, there are a lot of small bug fixes and improvements.
If you don't know what XMenu49 is, I'll quote the documentation:
--
XMenu49 is a HP49 menu extender. It shows you a full-screen menu with a
maximum of 9 rows (54 menu entries) displayed on one page, and allows
you to browse nested menus. The shifted actions of e.g. the VARS menu
are supported.
- http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/programming/corso11.zip
I don't speak Italian myself, but this tutorial is.
 
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/misc/hp48gug.zip
 
At work I am given a list of weights, their total
and the percentage each is of the total weight.
After checking the weights do add to the total
given, the percentages must be checked as
well.
I was wondering how I might encourage my
48 to take some of the tedium out of
this task...
What would be great is if I entered the
weights onto the stack with the given total
last, and the 48 returned the percentage
each is of the total back to the stack with
the total of the weights on level 1 of the stack.
  Let me see if I understand what your input (from work) is
with an example:
list of weights: {2 5 9 3}
total weight:    19
percentages:    {10.5 26.3 47.4 15.8}
and you want to check these?
a simple program will do it: simply put the list of weights
on the stack and run this program:
where sigma is the greek symbol for the capital sigma
it returns the total weight on level 2 of the stack and the list of
percentages on level one
if you would like to see the percentages rounded to 3 digits
(like my example) use
 the following returns the total and (rounded) percentages:
 
I was hoping for ease of reading, a stack
input and output?
Like
5:            2
4:            5
3:            9
2:            3
1:            19
and output
5:            10.526
4:            26.316
3:            47.368
2:            15.789
1:            19
Where 1: is '2+5+9+3'
 
Re: Compute total and relative percent for each element in a list
    (for use in a paid employment situation).
My original suggestion:
 
Enter only the original inputs (values of individual weights);
do not enter your guess as to their sum!
(just let the program compute it)
The Interactive Stack browser may be used to view results.
Note that the program is 48G/49G compatible.
I was hoping to start collecting via PayPal
for commercial programming services
(any takers, note my email address below :)
 You can use a structure like the one below
<<
CLEAR
Enter list {
include the formula related.
It is hard to do it without an example with the correct result.
 Here is an example
<<
CLEAR 3 FIX
Enter list {
It should return something like
List: {2.000 5.000 9.000 3.000}
% : {10.526 26.316 47.368 15.789}
Total: 19
This permit you see the original list and the percentage.
CM
 
I've looked at most of the major websites, like hpcalc.org, but still
haven't found a simple download for advanced business type functions and
problem solvers.  Does one even exist?  I'm looking for easy to use solvers
for solvency ratios, ROE, ROA, duPont identity, and the like...
I've seen the Sparcom Business card, but believe that at $80 it just isn't
worth the few functions they have listed as features for that ROM and might
make my own.....hopefully, I can save some time and download someone else's
work rather then reinvent the wheel again.  Hell, I can buy a new 17B-II 
for
less the $80 alone, but want more features and formulas integrated into my
48GX if possible.
 
The HP-48GX has a rich programming language. Why don't you get out a
business book and code the routines yourself?
-- 
Sincerely,
Richard M. Smith
(509) 754-1126
rmsmith@pobox.com
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138709
Hi Wes!
Well, as I don't have any idea about business, I must ask you, how
complex are ths things you talked about? You know, there is a solver
built-in in the 48GX which would numerically solve any equation.
(Well, almost.) You could just key in the equations and feed them to
the solver or the multiple equation solver. Then giving values to
known variables and finding solutions for unknown variables is easy.
Greetings,
Nick.
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2001 01:18:52 GMT
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138714
Time constraints and my desire for perfection are limiting my programming
options now;  it's also been awhile since I did much programming to my 
48GX.
Why would I waste my time on this if someone else already invested a load 
of
time into this topic?  But perhaps I am the only HP48 user to ever dream of
such a great tool that would be free and widely available and have a use 
for
such things?
The routines really aren't that complex individually (intermediate algebra
at most), but I'd like to see something that I could enter something like
3-5 various variables and have a display of the remaining ratios and
equalities.  However, I'd like an intelligent solver (~20-30 total
variables, ratios, etc...) to specify which other vars would need input
after already inputting some in (all variable) since I hate having to
remember all the damn formulas...gets harder with age, and looking them up
is a pain and a time waster.
Perhaps I'm just dreaming and better stick with Excel.  Excel is a great
program, but I know the 48GX is more then capable, and would be way more
convenient to carry then a laptop for these simple on-a-whim calculations.
news:xW6m7.56474$8c3.12594109@typhoon.tampabay.rr.com...
solvers
might
else's
for
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 00:04:20 GMT
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138658
Thanks John.  Recently I received a free calculator from OmniSky as a thank
you for beta testing the service.  It has a thick plastic spring loaded
cover over the screen.  When you press the open button, the cover flips 
open
and angles the calculator.  What a great idea.
Regards-Michael G.
news:3B969D68.8CDF75EC@miu.edu...
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2001 21:25:47 -0500
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Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138662
rcobo@eng.morgan.edu wrote:
Angle View [TM] was the name given by Pachrahe to its very well
made plastic folding stand, so if that's it, buy them up, even if
you can no longer get anything at EduCalc's kind of prices :)
They were made in Albany, Oregon (near Corvallis, you know, home of
the mysterious Armstrong Publishing, Donnelly's elusive publisher :)
Is anything left in Oregon?  Do they still grow trees there?
This mentions HP and injection-molded plastic parts in Corvallis:
http://www.mvonline.com/focus/innovators/innovators-01.html
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From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138754
Hello
Have you tried the double speed module of cynox?
Can someone tell me how to install it myself in my hp48gx?
Thanks
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138680
The same procedure as every night, what rcobo?
Greetings,
Nick.
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138681
Hi Lindi!
Isn`t an only-software solution also possible? Make a program for
the 48 that only waits for data to come from the wire. Data can be
everything, numbers, commands, programs, etc. Data send from the 49 to
objects. The program running on the 48 is aware to switch to IR,
perform printing, and the switch back to wire, when it receives PR
or other commands for printing. Couldn`t this do the job? I`ve
programmed something similar, but it is not aware of special handling
of printing commands. It could be modified though...
Greetings,
Nick.
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138682
Hi James!
What if serial transmitting via XMIT is used? The 49 could transform
an object to a string, then chop it in small portions, and send the
portions one after the other to the 48, that waits until the last
portion is received. The 48 then concatanates the strings, switches to
IR, prints, and switches back to wire. Checking routins could also be
added, for checking if errors occured while transmitting and
re-requesting data. Seems like writing a comms protocol, but it is
achievable. Or did I forget to take something into consideration?
Greetings,
Nick.
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp48
Subject: Re: Engineering a HP49 IR Printer Indirectly
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 00:37:55 -0400
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Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138720
Hi Nick,
I'm not Linda, but I'll comment anyway.
Nick Karagiaouroglou wrote:
This step is a bit of a problem for the 49G object types that the 48
doesn't know about.
Personally, I'd prefer an add-on hardware device to using a 48 as a
print server.
Regards,
James
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp48
Subject: Re: Engineering a HP49 IR Printer Indirectly
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 01:12:39 -0400
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Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138722
Nick Karagiaouroglou wrote:
It does indeed sound very much like what the Kermit protocol already
does.
I suppose that one _might_ be able to design a better protocol for this
purpose: Bigger packets, perhaps a more efficient method of
concatenating the packets, and as long as the strings are to remain as
strings, error checking (beyond that already implemented in SRECV) might
not be necessary.
But I think that most users wouldn't be printing out book-length
documents from their calculator, and I expect that the built-in Kermit
protocol should suffice for the purpose.
Regards,
James
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138738
Hello
I was comparing the risch command of erable in my hp48 GX with the CAS 
Risch
and I noted a difference doing the antiderivative of ((x)^1/2)/((x+1)^1/2).
In the 49 the cas returns an answer based in arctangent while in the 48
Erable gives a LN and complex solution wich is different with the 49 and
other calculators output.
How can i make my 48 give real (not complex) answers to this problems?
(I have put erable in real mode.)
Another question is how can I make erable give rational number based
solutions instead 1.4142... like is giving me now.
I have Erable and ALG48 v4 installed if it helps.
Thanks
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2001 10:51:12 +0200
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Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138752
Fulcrum wrote:
How did you do that? For me, INTVX returns
'INT(sqrt(Xt*(Xt+1))/(Xt+1),Xt,X)' :(
RCLF
{
  #7280030E81910FF0h
  #10h
  #5800040A100048h
  #18000h
}
Thomas
-- 
Thomas Rast
t.rast@iname.com
ICQ# 103670088
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138753
Thomas Rast schreef:
here's the trick!
when you get the 'INT(sqrt(Xt*(Xt+1))/(Xt+1),Xt,X)'
do an EVAL on that and you get:
'(2*sqrt(X+X^2)+LN(-(1+2*X-2*sqrt(X+X^2))))/2'
works the same for INT
strange right?
--
This message was entirely written with recycled electrons
Pivo
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138756
Dennis Brothers wrote:
        Remember that it should be in a standard format, not in a Microsoft 

format, only readable by Microsoft users.
        Borja Marcos.
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138663
Fiorina is sinking a once-great company.
By Michael S. Malone 
FOR MORE than six decades, Hewlett-Packard has played a special role in the
life of Silicon Valley.
It has always been the antipode, the counterpoint, to the Valley's 
excesses.
In a town of wildcatters and lone wolves, HP was the home of Little League
coaches and den mothers. Good companies emulated HP, bad companies were
shamed by it. And when things went bad -- your company died or you grew
tired -- HP was sanctuary, where you could rest, retune your skills, 
unlearn
your selfishness, make a real contribution, then charge back out into
battle.
Hewlett-Packard has also been a social contract unique in American 
industry.
It says to employees: Live up to the tenets of the HP Way and the company 
in
turn will give you a fulfilling lifetime of work.
Thousands of employees have done just that, some into the second 
generation.
But that was before Carly Fiorina.
Under her tenure, HP has been changing before our eyes into something we
know all too well. It is becoming just another Silicon Valley company:
massive layoffs, living from quarter to quarter, serving stock analysts
rather than customers, emphasizing pricing and market share rather than
innovation and profits.
``We just have to trust that Carly knows what she's doing,'' one 20-year
employee told me recently. Then he shook his head. ``She's supposed to be
really smart, so there must be a plan there.''
But now, with this week's announcement of a buyout of Compaq, even the most
loyal HPer must be asking: Does Carly Fiorina have a clue what she's doing
with Hewlett-Packard? Does she understand that this is the jewel of 
American
industry she is toying with as if it is just some resume entry?
The answer is: No. She didn't understand the company when she got there, 
and
she doesn't understand it now. And she will soon kill the greatest company
ever known.
Harsh words, but they pale against the magnitude of what is going to be
lost. Fiorina's dwindling population of supporters -- computer retailers 
and
the inexcusably stupid HP board of directors -- say that she has no choice,
the world has changed and HP has to change with it. That these
extraordinarily difficult times require radical measures.
Oh? The economy was far worse in 1974, when HP chose to cut everyone's
salary by 10 percent rather than undergo layoffs. That was radical. When HP
metamorphosed from an instrument company to a computing giant -- that was
real change.
But the biggest myth of all is that the HP Way is somehow obsolete. In 
fact,
it is never more competitive than right now.
The company Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard built was dedicated to producing
the most innovative, highest quality products possible for targeted markets
that needed them. For these products, customers would pay premium prices 
and
still feel they'd gotten a bargain. From this simple model, everything else
followed. You only stayed in markets where the model worked, and abandoned
those (especially the ones becoming commoditized) where it didn't. You took
the long view in all of your business planning, assuming that stock prices
always followed success. And most of all, you trusted and retained your
employees, because only they fully understood both the technology and the
customer.
The power of the HP Way has only been underscored by the dot-com debacle, 
in
which thousands of would-be Bills and Daves ignored everything but the 
stock
options and the Friday afternoon beer busts. A little more dedication to
real products and real profits would have changed history.
Apparently they didn't learn the HP Way at Lucent either. Why else would
Fiorina throw away thousands of years of HP intellectual capital, chase a
dying, commodity market like PCs and make every decision as if she's got 
one
eye cocked on CNBC? Why else would she abandon the one business philosophy
most other companies wish they had the guts to try?
And now the Compaq deal. Fiorina has decided to bet Hewlett-Packard on a
fading industry that her predecessors would have long since abandoned. And
she is doing so by making HP the final link in a daisy chain of failure.
Gloomy, dying DEC bets the ranch on a new computer chip and fails. It, in
turn, is bought by creepy, dysfunctional Compaq, which fails to effectively
absorb it. And now Hewlett-Packard buys this unhealthy, inassimilable, mess
in order to gain economies of scale in an industry where scale ultimately
doesn't matter.
It will fail. The market knows it. HPers know it.
At least Fiorina will now find herself surrounded by people who don't
believe in the HP Way either. Together they can price-cut and lay off the
merged companies into oblivion.
Still, mindful of role HP has played in the history of Silicon Valley and
the electronics age, Carly Fiorina can perform one last service to the
memory of William Hewlett and David Packard.
She can name the new company Compaq.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Longtime Valley observer Michael S. Malone is editor at large of Forbes 
ASAP
magazine.
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138689
Amen to everything Mr. Malone said.  Rest in Peace, Bill & Dave.  I'm glad
you don't have to see what a sad mess others have made of the wonderful
thing you started.
-- 
Wayne Brown                | When your tail's in a crack, you improvise
fwbrown@bellsouth.net      |  if you're good enough.  Otherwise you give
http://betsyrandle.cjb.net |  your pelt to the trapper.
http://urbmyth.cjb.net     |           -- John Myers Myers, Silverlock
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138708
Oh, I think they see what's happening from where they are, and planing
to appear with some HP48-driven bazooka and support from all angels
who still use HPs up there.
Greetings,
Nick.
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
X-Trace: nnrp.atgi.net 999905596 4724 64.40.160.12 (7 Sep 2001 23:33:16 
GMT)
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138711
Nice article.  Sounds good.  Too bad it isn't in accordance with a number 
of facts.
First, the HP Way was officially abandoned in stages going back to the 
'50s and accellerating through the '80s.  Back when HP made Test and 
Measurement non-commodity items in a small (well under US$1E9 market), it 
could charge what it wanted as nobody competed with its products which 
defined the state of the art.  And that solidity afforded the the ability 
to treat their people as they did.  The HP Way was an integrated whole - 
break one part and the structure would fail.
Second, HP is defined by *much* more than the CEO (Fiorina).  The Board 
has always had a say and, if they choose not to use it, that is their 
fault.
Third, Bill and Dave chose to fade away on purpose decades ago as they had 
lives to live and, if their creation was as good as it was said to be, it 
would be able to go on its upbringing.  The current administration may be 
steering it away from the original course, but much of the turning took 
place years ago.
Fourth, HP's original products - which defined the best - were akin to 
Digital Equipment's Alpha processor and HP's PA-RISC architectures: the 
best of their breeds.  In buying Compaq, HP gets *both* of those in its 
tent.  Remember, by the way, where Intel's 64 bit Itanium ('Itanic' to 
some) / McKinley comes from.  Blaming a perceived future HP failure on 
Digital is worse than absurd - and woefully ignorant of the parties 
involved.
Finally, the HP way depended on sustained growth.  With HP pushing over 
US$50E9 in sales per year in a very volatile commodity market, that 
becomes ever more difficult to do.  It has been said (Putt's Law of 
Growth) that all growth follows an S curve: it starts out exponential but 
eventually flattens out asymtotically to a limiting value.  Bill and Dave 
were there for the exponential portion.  Today they're not as it hits 
asymtoticallity.  What's HP to do - sell a million bucks of goods to 
everyone alive each year?  You can't double in sales forever...
This is *not* a blanket endorsement for HP's management (with whom I've 
had my differences for decades), but let's look at things in reality, 
folks.  And mourn the loss of the HP that was, regardless of the causes.
Jim Horn  (PPC/CHHU/former HP #49857/etc.)
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138716
How true. It's amazing how once the beancounters get control of a company
it usually a downward spiral of layoffs and costcutting during which the
beancounters usually get bonuses and rewards ... sigh.
-- 
john R. Latala
jrlatala@golden.net
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
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Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138761
Well, for once I agree with someone on here.  The products and
services provided by Hewlett-Packard have become similar to
those of the neighborhood pawn-shop.  A company once known
for high-quality (and corresponding high prices) has retained
only the high prices, expecting the suckers to stick with it even
tho the quality has become decrepit.
This is clear from the downward spiral ever since the creation
of ACO - itself an organization consisting mainly of non-HP
original talent, non-commercially experienced individuals, and
many of whom who have other, more important (to them)
occupations.  It shows, and it shows clearly - in the complete
lack of documentation, for example, for the HP-49G - and
there never was a machine MORE in need of decent
documentation.  Without that, the HP-49 is a joke.  It is
pretty evident when one walks thru any modern American
University - or aerospace company - and sees virtually NO
Hp-49's - yet plenty of HP-48's and TI machines at pretty
comparable cost.  THAT - by the way, for all you who
have been speculating on other, more unlikely reasons -
is the obvious reason for the rebate come-on;  which,
I understand, HP seems to be dragging their feet on
rather badly in actually honoring. But, why should any-
one expect any different?
The story of HP-printers is exactly parallel.  Once there
was a truly good HP deskjet 500 - black/ white, but it
worked, reliably.  One STILL can buy replacement
cartridges - so there must be still many in use.  The
later HP printers are universally dogs - I've owned about
five - three had to be returned for simple manufacturing
errors, and all of them have faulty HP driver software.
The latest joke is the 932 which continues the tradition
of causing constant crashes to my (several) computers
(no viruses, thank you).  I have some other printers
which are not as pretty and quiet, but they work,
and work well - no problems whatsoever, ever.  What
is HP's problem?
The story continues with HP scanners - a very similar
story - crash, crash, crash, reinstall problems ad
infinitum.
When HP began making desktops, some of the
folks I worked with at the time made the mistake of
buying some.  They were the slowest machines on
the market, it turned out.  This was well into the
HP decline period.
In my opinion, HP is trying to trade on their once-
proud name - and continue to charge high prices
for products that are, by and large, no better
than the less expensive items.  Often, there seem
to be, in my opinion, poorly made, poorly designed,
and poorly documented products now coming
from the company that used to epitomize quality.
(Before the marketeers and bean-counters took
over, that is.)
Of course, please continue to entertain whatever
sugary opinions you may have about HP, if it
makes you feel better.  And by all means, keep
on fantasizing about a new HP calculator.
If that happens, it may sell in Europe, but I think
it will bomb in the U.S., where most folks have
become wise to HP.
jrc
------------------------------------------------
Richard M. Smith wrote:
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999
Xref: newsmst01.news.prodigy.com comp.sys.hp48:138668
hello,
i have just finished playing with a small module (smaller than a flashcard 
and
thin) that has EEPROM-non volatile memory (64K).i was able to write info 
into it
and then read it back. it could be used like a flashcard to store info. it
writes and reads info serially (9600 baud). the module costs $40. i'll be
playing more during the weekend.   
regards
From ???@??? Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 1999