Out of the people reading this thread, probably most know what that is. Out of the SDMB population, probably very few. And in the general population, how many could figure out what you’re referring to with no more clues than you gave?
>5) And a K & E 4083-3 with hyperbolics!!!
Excuse the greenhorn question, but I don’t see my K&E catalog anywhere - is that one of the Duplex Decitrigs?
And if you still remember all of these by their model numbers, then, wow - my hat’s off!
My 15C is 21 years old this month. Bought it freshman year of engineering school and never looked back. The only reason I own a 32SII is that, when preparing to take my P.E. Exam, I became sure that my 15C would choose that moment to die, and I needed a backup. The 15C is still my go-to calculator.
Is HP the only company that commands this degree of devotion to their calculators? I’ve never heard anything remotely similar about any other brands. No I’m just annoyed that my old 48GX’s batteries are long dead, and I don’t have replacements lying around. What a great calculator that was.
Calculators, it’s HP
Oscilliscopes, it’s Tektronix
Tools, it’s SnapOn
Motorcycles, it’s BMW
etc.
Most of these are not the fastest, most powerful, sexiest, not the most stylish, not the most widely sold, yet the products themselves generate legions of rabidly devoted fans.
I think in each and every case it is because they are ergonomically (both physically and mentally) designed, well made, and made to last.
I don’t think other brands like TI warrant any kind of enthusiastic response, at least not like I have for my HP, because TIs are just calculators. I mean, sure, they can do more powerful stuff now, but in doing that they break the algebraic model; and besides, if you want a PDA, then you just go out and get a PDA.
HP calculators, on the other hand, are powerful to begin with. With RPL, it’s not really such a far leap from (say) converting miles to meters, to a full-blown checkbook-balancing program.
It’s been a while for me… but didn’t that just take 3 AAA batteries?
Yeah, I’ll have to remember to pick some up next time I hit up a convenience store. I was just feeling nostalgic and wanted to ply with it right now.
It now occurs to me that another common factor is that none of these is designed to a price point. They are designed to do a job well, and priced at whatever that takes.
If you ever get to really like an HP calculator, you’ve rearranged your brain (or were born with your brain arranged) such that using anything else feels like fighting a particularly stupid and plodding machine. And that makes you feel like a stupid and plodding machine.
This bears repeating, if only because it’s relevant to my point: RPL combines two languages known for fanatical devotion – Forth and Lisp – into a whole that appeals to both mindsets to some degree. Forth lovers get the stack and the ability to define their programs as small words and sentences, Lisp lovers get dynamic typing, higher-order functions, and the ability to define functions within their code.
Of course, if you want to ditch the official programming system and get down into the belly of the beast, there’s an active assembly programming community for HP calculators. (Even more astonishingly, there are programs that can turn your HP-48 calculator into a terminal emulator.)
HPs (now Agilents) too, for lab tools in general, at least in my experience. We had both in the EE lab where I worked a couple years ago, and there were basically HP/Agilent and Tektronix camps, and people in one wouldn’t use a scope from the other unless there was nothing else available (I was in the HP camp, for the record).
Ok, this thread now has me pining for my old 41-C. It served me well for about 15 years or so, then one day … it just wouldn’t power on.
I think I feel a little tear coming on.
Take the batteries out and short the terminals. Put the batteries back in. Worked on my 11C.
Damn. I tossed my 32s when it wouldn’t power up. Now I am wondering if I screwed up royally. I miss that calculator.