Article 1264 of comp.sys.handhelds: Path: en.ecn.purdue.edu!pur-ee!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!purdue!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!texsun!newstop!sun!imagen!atari!portal!portal!cup.portal.com!Jake-S From: Jake-S@cup.portal.com (Jake G Schwartz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: HP48SX versus HP28S Message-ID: <27508@cup.portal.com> Date: 3 Mar 90 20:25:00 GMT References: <719@telesoft.com> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 274 HP48 Improvements over the HP28S (A rough list in no special order) 1. I/O - Via serial cable- 1200, 2400, 4800 or 9600 baud. 2. I/O - Built-in Kermit protocol for objector directory transfer to and from computers. 3. LCD - 8 lines by 22 characters, 64 by 131 dots. 4. Expandibility - 2 ports for plug-in RAM, ROM or OTP cards 5. I/O - 2-way infrared at 2400 baud. HP48 to HP48 comm. Other units IR output to HP48 via software included in HP82208/HP82209 Serial Interface Kit. 6. Keyboard - Single vertical-format keyboard. Hold in one hand and press keys with the other. 7. Size - Narrower; easier to hold than the HP28, taller; approximately the size of HP41 with card reader attached. 8. LCD - A bit easier to read than HP28 (bluish on yellowish) 9. Keyboard - ALPHA on same keyboard like HP41. 10. Keyboard - 2 shift keys - 3 functions per key plus 3 ALPHA functions per key (with most ALPHA shifted not shown) 11. Keyboard - 15 common trig, log and exponentials on primary keyboard. 12. Keyboard - Left-shifted functions SWAP, DROP and GRAPH may be accessed from the keyboard as primary unshifted functions in "normal" stack mode. 13. General - 20 object types versus 11 in HP28S. 14. Documentation - 850-plus page user manual, quick reference guide included with reference manual in the works. 15. General - Several messages and prompts to aid the user. 16. Memory - 32K RAM, 256K ROM built in. Add up to 256K of RAM or ROM via plug-in cards. Max RAM is 288K. 17. Memory - RAM cards have battery backup with HP48 alerting user if battery is low. 18. Memory - User can archive object, directory contents or whole machine onto RAM card(s). 19. CPU - Saturn chip, 2 MHz, throughput approx. 50 percent higher than 28S according to HP. 20. Keyboard - "Last" functions: Command, Stack, Arg, Menu versus Command, Undo, Last on HP28 21. General - Interactive stack editor mode for manually manipulating and viewing the stack. 22. General - Equation Writer mode - Interactive graphic algebraic equation entry, with connection to the RULES menu (equivalent to HP28 FORM menu). 23. General - Interactive matrix editor mode - allows editing matrices in a spreadsheet-like environment. 24. Statistics - Best curve fit of Linear, Log, Exponential, Power fits in- cluded. 25. General - "REVIEW" mode for equations, variables, etc. 26. General - Rectangular to Polar conversion with 2-dimensional OR 3-dimensional vectors. 3D polar works in spherical or cylindrical coordinates. 27. General - Complex number entry may be either rectilinear like the 28S using parentheses, or polar like the 42S with the range and angle on same line. 28. General - Decimal to fraction conversion via ->Q, ->Q# 29. General - Sigma notation (in equation writer mode) and execution. 30. General - "Where" function. ("f(x) where x equals....) 31. General - ARRY->, STR->, LIST-> replaced by OBJ-> function. 32. General - BYTES functions lists size and checksum of objects. 33. Units mode - Better than HP28... all units accessible via menus with instant conversions by one button press. 34. Units mode - New UNITS object type attaches units to value for better manipulation in stack, algebraics, programs, etc. 35. Time - Clock, calendar, appointments built in. Appointment calendar program available in HP Serial Interface Kit. Stopwatch functionality available through HP Serial Interface Kit. 36. Time - Alarm catalog mode for editing and reviewing. 37. General - TAGGED object type for labelled output. 38. General - DIRECTORY object type for aiding in moving whole directories through RAM. 39. General - GRAD angular mode in addition to DEG and RAD. 40. General - Objects of like type may be organized for review or formed into separate lists. 41. Solver - REVIEW and edit capability of all equations at a glance. 42. General - Increment and Decrement real objects capability added. 43. Solver, Plotter - EDEQ ("edit equation") added for direct equation editing. 44. General - Implied multiplication allowed in equation writer mode. 45. Solver - Equation catalog maintained. 46. Solver - SOLVR menu may be customized to include other types of functions frequently used in conjunction with the equation. 47. Solver - Multiple equations may be "linked" in the solver environment for solution together. 48. Menus - When a menu key is a pointer to a submenu, the key label contains an extra horizontal bar of dots above it as a visual reminder. 49. Solver - In the SOLVR menu, the keys have 3 functions: (1)Pressing the key enters the value into that variable from the stack; (2)Pressing left shift and key label solves for that variable; (3)Pressing right shift and key label recalls the variable's value to the stack. 50. Integration - Addition of symbolic integration by pattern matching for many integrands besides polynomials. 51. Menus - In the RULES (old HP28 FORM) menus, several functions have shifted positions to add to functionality. 52. Time - alarms are of two types: (1)Appointment and (2)Control alarms like that on the HP41. 53. LCD - In upper annunciator area, the full path to the current RAM subdirectory is always displayed. 54. Menu - In spite of LCD being 6 dot columns narrower, HP48 does a better job to fit 5 chars in menu labels than the HP28. 55. Menu - In VAR (RAM) menus, each key has 3 functions: (1)pressing primary key causes object to be evaluated; (2) pressing the right shifted key causes value of object to be recalled to the stack; (3) pressing the left shifted key causes storage of stack level 1 into the object. 56. Flags - 64 user and 64 system flags versus 30/34 for HP28S. 57. Flags - RCLF/STOF works with a LIST of 1 or 2 binary numbers for system or both system and user-flag review. 58. Menu - The MENU function accepts value of 0 to 59 rather than only 1 to 24 for HP28S. Plus, adding a decimal fractional value dictates which PAGE of menu should be displayed (e.g. 33.1 MENU takes you to menu 33, first page). 59. Menu - Temporary menu ("TMENU") is a temporary custom menu that may be created and used for a short time, after which the regular CST (custom) menu returns active. 60. General - Programmable OFF command added. If encountered in a program, the unit autostarts at the step immediately following the OFF step when turned back on. 61. Printing - Compatibility with both HP82240B and HP82240A infrared printers. ("OLDPRT" maps HP48 chars into old printer char set.) 62. Printing - Printing is possible to the serial port for serial 80-column printers. Graphics objects may be printed to Epson-compatible printers with software in the HP Serial Interface Kit. 63. I/O - ARCHIVE/RESTORE allows all of calculator RAM to be saved/restored to/from a PC. 64. I/O - Low-level serial I/O commands available for other I/O use. 65. Memory - RAM card battery may be changed while plugged into HP48 so contents are not erased. 66. Memory - RAM cards have a Read Only/ Read-Write switch to protect contents if necessary. 67. Memory - Backup objects may reside in Port 0 (main RAM), or Port 1 or 2 (RAM cards). 68. Units - All units of the HP28S are included plus HA (hectares) and 25 additional commonly used compound units (such as cm, mm, ft^2, etc). 69. LCD - A menu is ALWAYS up, in addition to 4 lines for the stack. 70. LCD - At top is a two-line status area, plus annunciators above that. 71. Graphics - Any number of equations may be plotted simultaneously via an input LIST of plot equations. 72. Graphics - User may easily ZOOM in on an existing plot. 73. Graphics - Plot area may be larger than the screen, in a virtual graphics memory area whose size is limited only by available RAM. (One bit per pixel is used for storage.) Real-time scrolling of the graphic image in the display may be done via the cursor keys. 74. Graphics - both graphics and text may coexist in memory and user can switch back and forth between them. 75. Graphics - several plot capabilities - CONIC, TRUTH, PARAMETRIC, BAR, FUNCTION, SCATTER, HISTOGRAM and POLAR plots available. 76. Graphics - Interactive graphics mode - for drawing boxes, lines, points, arcs, etc. 77. LCD - Time and date may be in the display at all times if desired. 78. Graphics - capability to turn on or off any pixel, as well as to test state of a pixel, OR, XOR pixels. 79. Graphics - new GRAPHICS object type added. 80. Graphics - System flag -30 allows optional plotting of both sides of an equation at the same time. 81. Graphics - Move cursor near an intersection, press ISECT and the coordinates of point are computed and displayed. 82. Graphics - Move cursor near a root, press ROOT and coordinates of root of the function is computed and displayed. 83. Solver - The solver variables may contain unit objects. 84. LCD - DISP function accepts a line number of 1 through 7, leaving the menu line unaffected. 85. LCD - FREEZE function allows freezing specific areas of the display during program execution. 86. LCD - INPUT command prompts for input during a halted program with several display options. Stack is protected; ENTER continues program execution. 87. Keyboard - Key assignments are possible on the HP48, with up to 6 assignments per key (primary, left-shifted, right-shifted, ALPHA, left-shifted ALPHA, right-shifted ALPHA). 88. Keyboard - While keys are assigned, the unassigned keys may optionally have their standard functions disabled. 89. Custom Menu - "CST" is the custom menu reserved object name. A different CST object may exist in each and every subdirectory in RAM. 90. Custom Menu - The custom menu key labels may be optionally designated to be different from the names of the objects that the keys evaluate. 91. Custom Menu - The custom menu keys may each have up to 3 functions (Primary, left-shifted and right-shifted functions), although only the primary function would be labelled in the display. 92. Keyboard - Multiple custom menus are possible in any subdirectory while having the currently desired custom menu object named CST. 93. Keyboard - several functions exist on the right-shifted keyboard of the HP48 which are not labelled, such as CRDIR on the blue-shifted PURGE key. 94. Keyboard - The HP48 contains slots inside the outer plastic edges of the keyboard to hold a keyboard overlay. 95. Keyboard - The lower-case ALPHA letters are accessable via the left-shifted ALPHA keys. 96. Keyboard - Both numbers and letters are active simultaneously on the primary ALPHA keyboard without shifts. 97. Keyboard - The {, [, (, and << keys have become {}, [], () and <<>> keys, placing both symbols into the display along with the insert cursor in between so no unpaired delimiters are accidentally created. 98. Keyboard - The cursor keys are dedicated primary key functions, which are accessible at all times. 99. General - "UP" and "HOME" functions on dedicated keys allow movement in user RAM subdirectories with greater ease. 100. Menu - In addition to NEXT and PREV functions, the right-shifted PREV moves the user to the first page of the current menu. 101. Programming - DBUG function automaticaly starts a program object running and halts it at the first step for SSTing. 102. Programming - SST| function allows SSTing through subroutine objects called inside of a single-stepped program. 103. Programming - Addition of the CASE construct - as a multiple-way branch based on specific logical conditions. 104. Programming - The editor environment allows optionally placing whole control structures into a program in one key press. For example, in the editor pressing IF places IF in the program, but pressing right-shifted IF places IF/THEN/ELSE/END on four consecutive lines and leaves the insert cursor just to the right of the IF word. 105. Programming - In the SST/DBUG mode, pressing the top-row menu key labelled "NEXT" causes the next 1 or 2 program objects to be previewed in the status area without executing them. 106. Programming - PROMPT function halts a running program and displays a message. The stack may be manipulated at this point, and pressing CONT resumes program execution. 107. Programming - the WAIT function, in addition to instructing the HP48 to suspend a program for an amount of time in seconds, may also optionally be used to wait until a key is pressed on the keyboard, returning the keycode. 108. Programming - DOERR function allows a user-defined error condition to be created so as to be trapped by the IFERR construct. 109. I/O - Graphics objects which have been sent to a PC may be converted to TIFF (Tag Image File Format) format for displaying on the screen or incorporating into other PC documents via software supplied in the HP Serial Interface Kit. 110. Graphics - Text may be added to the graphics picture at the user- specified coordinates in any of three text sizes (menu label size, orignal HP28 size and new HP48 stack size). Characters may be ORed with existing picture, XORed with the picture, overwrite it, etc. 111. Graphics - Graphic objects may be placed onto other graphics objects at the user-specified coordinates via the REPL, GOR, GXOR functions. 112. General - A substring or sublist may be substituted into another string or list at the user-specified position via the REPL function. 113. General - Revised RND function which rounds value in stack level 2 ac- cording to digit number is level 1. New TRNC function truncates the value in level 2 similarly to RND. 114. General - User-defined functions may be defined algebraically and stored via the new DEFINE function. This is equivalent to defining using the program structure which takes arguments from the stack and places them into temporary variables with the "->" command. 115. Menu - New RCLMENU function returns the number corresponding to the current page of the currently displayed menu (see item 58 above). 116. Graphics - After selecting an X-axis display range, the new function AUTO will evaluate the current equation at 40 equally spaced x values in the X range and choose an appropriage Y axis scale. 117. Graphics - The new DRAW function will draw lines between plotted points on the graph. 118. Graphics - One may have the graphics cursor (in the manual graphics environment) alternately be always dark, or to be dark on a light background or light when over a dark background. 119. General - When entering a matrix into the command line (as opposed to the Matrix Writer), after entering the first line and stepping past the inside closing row delimiter, no more delimiters are needed. The delimiters are all added automatically when all data has been entered and ENTER has been pressed. 120. Graphics - Graphics objects may be printed to the HP82240 printer. Those objects which are wider than 166 columns across are printed in sections separated by a dashed line. 121. Display - Individual numbers in the stack are displayed with commas sep- arating every three digits. Jake Schwartz