6 ms·

64 bits registers on such a small and slow (1Mhz, 4bits) CPU was unexpected. I really loved learning how to push this little gem to its limits, so many tricks

64 bits registers on such a small and slow (1Mhz, 4bits) CPU was unexpected. I really loved learning how to push this little gem to its limits, so many tricks were possible with the weird addressing schemes. (I wrote a hobby OS for the HP48 series when I was a student) https://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/apps/shell/ https://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/apps/shell/

netmonk 4y ago
Great your older brother from me. He was our tutor during his military service at st Cyr. I myself had an hp48 during my high school and now I own 6 of them I bought on Leboncoin or eBay for cheap. Also found an hp32sII for 5 euros but after three years I own it it decided to die in my hand.
- stephc_int13 4y ago
  Are they working correctly? Most of the models seems to age well except for the rubber-like connector between the key plane and the motherboard, and the keys are either not registering presses or you have to press hard on the body.
  - GekkePrutser 4y ago
    Mine still works ok. Though I never got my head around RPN though.. I just don't use maths enough to get accustomed to it. If it would have supported normal notation as well it would still have been a useful tool to me.
    - stephc_int13 4y ago
      What is the exact model? Would you sell it?
      - netmonk 4y ago
        I’m looking for memory card either diy or genuine. Do you know if it exists anymore ? I often find custom Ron card with specific application (EE or advanced physics) but I cannot find 1mb black card for sell.
      - GekkePrutser 4y ago
        I don't remember exactly, have to look it up. I think it was a 48GX. But the problem is sending electronic items to the US is a real PITA. I'm in Europe myself. We shipped a MacBook with work one day from the US to EU and it would have cost us more than the thing was worth in import and brokerage charges, it was ridiculous :( In the end we had to decline and the thing went back but it still incurred a lot of charges there.
        stephc_int13 4y ago
        I also live in Europe, I am French but I live in the UK at the moment.
        GekkePrutser 4y ago
        Ah the UK is also a problem now unfortunately :( Thanks to Brexit. But sending to France might be doable if that could work (I'm Dutch, in Spain). I'll have a look for it and ping you.
  - netmonk 4y ago
    Beside the hp32sII which refuse to switch on since this last august, my 6 hp48gx are running very well. I have a serial cable and was able to upload program on it ( the famous dune game) I also grabbed some French books (classic one for hp48)
    - stephc_int13 4y ago
      The best game was Phoenix, made a guy from Croatia, smooth gameplay, tight controls, sound effects, difficult and a bit short but enjoyable. Diamonds was also very good.
      - netmonk 4y ago
        https://imgur.com/a/JRorpqY https://imgur.com/a/JRorpqY My little collection
        stephc_int13 4y ago
        Impressive :) I had most of those books and a few others at some point. My almost 30 years old GX was unfortunately stolen last year. :(
      - 0xabe 4y ago
        I was always amazed that a game like Phoenix was possible on it. Really enjoyed that game. Didn’t know about Diamonds. Something to look up. Thanks!
marklgr 4y ago
Did you hang out at Maubert Electronics? I also recall a few RTC servers, blast from the past!
- stephc_int13 4y ago
  I was not living in Paris at the time, I've been there a few times, but yeah, the French HP48 scene was super active and exciting.
  - curdstown 4y ago
    The French HP48 phenomenon was always interesting to me. How did that happen? I'm in the US and we had a French high school student visit over the summer. Always talking about the HP48SX, though he didn't bring it with him. But when I needed to get a graphing calculator I ended up buying an HP48GX instead of the recommended TI-83 (I ended up getting one of those as well). I used the 48GX throughout middle school and high school w/Meta kernel, Erable - the developers of which all French, ended up working for HP ACO. Used a 50G later on. It was always interesting to me how the development powerhouse for the HP48 series was all French, but never really understood how that happened. Was there some schooling mandate similar to TI in the US?
    - stephc_int13 4y ago
      It was a hacking scene with a few talented guys with strong enough personalities to organize meetups and write fanzines articles. Also, the model was popular in preparatory schools because of the expansion slots, it was possible to extend the memory by a huge margin. This memory was useful to store, well everything you could, and at the time those calcs were not forbidden during exams. Some people (including me) even wrote text editors and viewers with support to display a mix of text and picture for schematics, physics or chemical diagrams... The US scene was also extremely helpful, with people such as JK Horn or Eric Rechlin.
    - nicolas_t 4y ago
      Most schools recommended TI instead of HP (at least in the late 90s). The few people I knew who also had an HP48 or HP49 tended to be enthusiasts and all ended up studying CS at an Engineering school.
raverbashing 4y ago
It's funny how the HP48 series had a very poor hardware but it had an amazing software for its capabilities
- curdstown 4y ago
  It had pretty good hardware I would say for the tradeoffs involved. One thing you should remember is that 30 years ago, the current semiconductor processes meant that if you put a faster/more capable CPU or color display tech in it, it would not last very long on batteries. The HP48 had phenomenal battery life on 4 AAA. A hand held gaming system like a game gear or Atari Lynx would last only a few hours on 6 AAs.
  - stephc_int13 4y ago
    3 AAA to be exact, it was a bit less than TI models and lasted longer.
- PaulHoule 4y ago
  Poor compared to a modern calculator like the HP Prime. https://www.amazon.com/2AP18AA-ABA-Prime-Graphing-Calculator/dp/B07HF6RXGG https://www.amazon.com/2AP18AA-ABA-Prime-Graphing-Calculator... but pretty good for the time.

netmonk 4y ago

Great your older brother from me. He was our tutor during his military service at st Cyr. I myself had an hp48 during my high school and now I own 6 of them I bought on Leboncoin or eBay for cheap. Also found an hp32sII for 5 euros but after three years I own it it decided to die in my hand.

stephc_int13 4y ago
Are they working correctly? Most of the models seems to age well except for the rubber-like connector between the key plane and the motherboard, and the keys are either not registering presses or you have to press hard on the body.
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  Mine still works ok. Though I never got my head around RPN though.. I just don't use maths enough to get accustomed to it. If it would have supported normal notation as well it would still have been a useful tool to me.
  - stephc_int13 4y ago
    What is the exact model? Would you sell it?
    - netmonk 4y ago
      I’m looking for memory card either diy or genuine. Do you know if it exists anymore ? I often find custom Ron card with specific application (EE or advanced physics) but I cannot find 1mb black card for sell.
    - GekkePrutser 4y ago
      I don't remember exactly, have to look it up. I think it was a 48GX. But the problem is sending electronic items to the US is a real PITA. I'm in Europe myself. We shipped a MacBook with work one day from the US to EU and it would have cost us more than the thing was worth in import and brokerage charges, it was ridiculous :( In the end we had to decline and the thing went back but it still incurred a lot of charges there.
      - stephc_int13 4y ago
        I also live in Europe, I am French but I live in the UK at the moment.
        GekkePrutser 4y ago
        Ah the UK is also a problem now unfortunately :( Thanks to Brexit. But sending to France might be doable if that could work (I'm Dutch, in Spain). I'll have a look for it and ping you.
- netmonk 4y ago
  Beside the hp32sII which refuse to switch on since this last august, my 6 hp48gx are running very well. I have a serial cable and was able to upload program on it ( the famous dune game) I also grabbed some French books (classic one for hp48)
  - stephc_int13 4y ago
    The best game was Phoenix, made a guy from Croatia, smooth gameplay, tight controls, sound effects, difficult and a bit short but enjoyable. Diamonds was also very good.
    - netmonk 4y ago
      https://imgur.com/a/JRorpqY https://imgur.com/a/JRorpqY My little collection
      - stephc_int13 4y ago
        Impressive :) I had most of those books and a few others at some point. My almost 30 years old GX was unfortunately stolen last year. :(
    - 0xabe 4y ago
      I was always amazed that a game like Phoenix was possible on it. Really enjoyed that game. Didn’t know about Diamonds. Something to look up. Thanks!

marklgr 4y ago

Did you hang out at Maubert Electronics? I also recall a few RTC servers, blast from the past!

stephc_int13 4y ago
I was not living in Paris at the time, I've been there a few times, but yeah, the French HP48 scene was super active and exciting.
- curdstown 4y ago
  The French HP48 phenomenon was always interesting to me. How did that happen? I'm in the US and we had a French high school student visit over the summer. Always talking about the HP48SX, though he didn't bring it with him. But when I needed to get a graphing calculator I ended up buying an HP48GX instead of the recommended TI-83 (I ended up getting one of those as well). I used the 48GX throughout middle school and high school w/Meta kernel, Erable - the developers of which all French, ended up working for HP ACO. Used a 50G later on. It was always interesting to me how the development powerhouse for the HP48 series was all French, but never really understood how that happened. Was there some schooling mandate similar to TI in the US?
  - stephc_int13 4y ago
    It was a hacking scene with a few talented guys with strong enough personalities to organize meetups and write fanzines articles. Also, the model was popular in preparatory schools because of the expansion slots, it was possible to extend the memory by a huge margin. This memory was useful to store, well everything you could, and at the time those calcs were not forbidden during exams. Some people (including me) even wrote text editors and viewers with support to display a mix of text and picture for schematics, physics or chemical diagrams... The US scene was also extremely helpful, with people such as JK Horn or Eric Rechlin.
  - nicolas_t 4y ago
    Most schools recommended TI instead of HP (at least in the late 90s). The few people I knew who also had an HP48 or HP49 tended to be enthusiasts and all ended up studying CS at an Engineering school.

raverbashing 4y ago

It's funny how the HP48 series had a very poor hardware but it had an amazing software for its capabilities

curdstown 4y ago
It had pretty good hardware I would say for the tradeoffs involved. One thing you should remember is that 30 years ago, the current semiconductor processes meant that if you put a faster/more capable CPU or color display tech in it, it would not last very long on batteries. The HP48 had phenomenal battery life on 4 AAA. A hand held gaming system like a game gear or Atari Lynx would last only a few hours on 6 AAs.
- stephc_int13 4y ago
  3 AAA to be exact, it was a bit less than TI models and lasted longer.
PaulHoule 4y ago
Poor compared to a modern calculator like the HP Prime. https://www.amazon.com/2AP18AA-ABA-Prime-Graphing-Calculator/dp/B07HF6RXGG https://www.amazon.com/2AP18AA-ABA-Prime-Graphing-Calculator... but pretty good for the time.