HP 15C Collector's Edition and C47 (successor to WP-43S & C43) calculators

[Howardlong]

Well I guess I'd been living under a rock. I only just found out about these in the past week or two.

HP 15C Collector's Edition

The HP 15C Collector's Edition seems to be generally available, I had one delivered next day to me last week from Amazon. This is since Moravia became an HP partner for calculators, and a bloody beautiful job they've made of it too. As I understand it, HP also offloaded their calculator marketing interests between Moravia (EMEA) and Royal (North & South America), with both becoming marketing licensees using the HP brand.

ISTBC, but as I understand it the technical work, manufacturing and EMEA marketing is arranged by Moravia, with Royal acting as the marketing for the Americas.

The keyboard's completely reliable, and is more positive and clicky than my three original 15Cs, all of which are a bit spongy to some degree or other these days.

The HP 15C remains on my benches, it's just so immediate, plus of course it has a great persisted ENG format mode (although I do admit to keeping various incarnations of Casio's FX100D like the 115D/570D/991D around too for exactly the same reasons).

C47 Calculator

The C47 is a progression of the WP-43S/WP43 and C43 fork, built on the shoulders of the WP-34S. The WP-34S is already a great solution for EEs, with things like direct parallel R and L calculation.

The WP-43S and the WP43 are the same thing, a minor rebranding.

Like the HP 15C, these are engineers' calculators for doing numeric calculations: if you're looking for something to do your analytical algebra or calculus homework, these probably aren't the calculators for you.

Frankly, although I was well aware of the WP43, I considered it to be vapourware unless you were within the clique of developers, it had gone on so long I had given up. So imagine my surprise when the derivative, the C47, came out alive and well.

As I understand it, the WP43 and C43 were designed with a SwissMicros hardware platform in mind (eg DM42 with a new keyboard layout), and for a while SwissMicros were intending to commercially distribute a WP43 calculator. The commercial arrangement fell apart (seemingly disagreements in the direction of travel between WP-43S software developer(s) and SwissMicros), leaving a bunch of code and documentation with no hardware to go.

At this point most of the WP43 team joined the C43 team, and the C47 was born, explicitly designed to work directly on a SwissMicros DM42 without needing new keys, but would need a bezel/overlay for secondary functions (see later regarding the bezel).

The biggest pro of the C47 is its configurability, including menus, tailored to the end user's requirements. I particularly like the customisable thousands separators both before and after the decimal point, for example. In my limited us over the past few days, it's a worthy contender as a WP-34S successor, and I prefer it to the DM42 stock firmware.

Regarding the bezel/overlay for the secondary functions, you're going to need one. You can either get a stick-on bezel, or a removable tabbed bezel that slips in neatly into six small receptacles around the DM42 keyboard. I don't know why you'd go for an adhesive bezel when the removable tabbed version is such a good solution. The tabbed C47 bezel I ordered comes in two options: standard and "Big Alpha", I chose the Big Alpha as my eyesight isn't what it was when I was 15. It's very readable, both in font size terms and because of the colour contrast.

To work on the DM42 without new key caps, and only one function button, something had to give. So the fix was to keep one function button, but press it multiple times. I was sceptical, but in practice it works extremely well.

The biggest problem with the C47 right now is the documentation: it's dozens and dozens of separate PDF files. With the help of a handful of Youtube videos, I managed to get started. Be aware that the calculator is still heavily based on the WP-43S, which does have fairly decent documentation, albeit the keystrokes now are likely wrong!

I also find the C47 UI to be a bit laggy. Not sure why that is, as the DM42's is great in this respect. Edit: it's much faster with the USB cable plugged in.

Irrespective, the C47 is highly likely to become my favourite calculator, if it isn't already...

Link to the bezels I bought, they arrived by post in precisely a week: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-20113.html

[armandine2]

I am too fond of the humble calculator - but could not uncover the point of your post - maybe I missed it 

[Howardlong]

I am too fond of the humble calculator - but could not uncover the point of your post - maybe I missed it 

As suggested in the first sentence I wasn't aware of these until recently, perhaps others weren't either.

Furthermore I gave a treatise of how we got here and and a brief synopsis of the points that sprang out to me.

Both of these calculators are especially useful for EEs.
 
I was going to ask you the same thing, what was the point of your post? 

[SiliconWizard]

I personally use standalone calculators less and less these days, but for anyone who does, this C47 firmware on a DM42 device is fantastic.

[pdenisowski]

I have the HP15 Collector's edition and the Swiss Micros HP15C clone.  Both are functionally identical (as far as I can tell), but very different keys - HP15 CE is closer to the original, but both are fine.  So nice that we now have multiple, new-manufacture, RPN options

[ebastler]

If you buy a 15C Collector's Edition model new, make sure to ask the seller whether the firmware has been updated.

As an Easter Egg, the firmware offers the option to switch to HP-16C mode (the programmer's calculator). This capability has been in the Collector's Edition since its launch, but originally had a rather annoying bug in decimal mode. Fixed now, and good resellers should make sure that the firmware has been updated.

A silicone keyboard overlay with the 16C lettering is available from https://www.thecalculatorstore.com/, and possibly from other resellers too. They also offer a programming cable, for those who bought the calculator early and want to update it to a bug-free 16C option.

As an aside: While Moravia have a license to the "hp" logo and apply it in the upper right corner of the calculator, they cannot print "Hewlett Packard" in the lower left, as on the original Voyager series calculators. Pity...

[bd139]

I don't post here much here now, mostly to berate hams occasionally, but a quick me too.

Probably the best calculator ever made. I bought two HP15CE's and have an original 15C and manual. After buying the first one I became someone dependent on it so I figured it was probably a good idea to buy a spare one. Worst case it'll sell for way more than I paid for it in a decade. I may have a problem 



New one is a LOT faster



Worth noting that these do actually get used on a daily basis for a number of fairly important tasks.

[cncjerry]

I have a 15c and a 15CE.  the 15CE has a bug if you program it to display an intermediate result, IIRC.  I also have a 16C and 11C.  I was not aware that the 15CE could run in 16C mode so I'll have to look into that and get an overlay for the heck of it.

I also have a DM42 since it was introduced, one of the first.  Showed up the day I got home from shoulder surgery and had to use it one-handed for a while.  But your DM42 looks like it has an overlay on it as well to make it a C47? That's cool, I'll have to go look at it.

I have an extensive collection including several Ti59's with rebuilt card readers that work perfectly, or did the last I tested them.  the card reader wheels tend to get gummy, whatever is causing certain plastics to go soft is just crazy, almost like the movie where there was a plastic-eating bug released...  There is also an HP that reads and write mag strips that I have, can't remember the number.  I love pulling them out in meetings.

I have a number of hand-held computers too.  On my list is an HP 75C or 75D.  I have an HP29C that was ruined.  Now they are over the top in price, up around $600.  I've thought about putting a micro controller in it, more than enough room.  Many old HP calcs go belly-up if you put a charger in them without the battery.

Lastly, someone gave me a scientific adding machine that needs to be rebuilt.  the motor works and the complete service manual is available, written for ages ago, very, very in-depth manual.  Someday I'll get that running.   I tried to find another, hell, there must by thousands stuck in attics.  Some of the adding machines, actually mechanical calculators had 12 digits or more.  I never got mine do much more than clear the register.  I have a feeling that it multiplies by successive adds, probably divides that way as well.  Wonder what happens if you divide by zero...

Thanks for posting.

Jerry

[Gyro]

I'm puzzled by the concept - why would you buy a 'Collector's Edition'?  Surely the interest for collectors is having an original one.  Similar to owning an antique versus a repro.

[cncjerry]

Because at the time, an original 15C was selling between 225 and 350USD depending on condition and many of us loved the horizontal format.  It seems to take up less room on the desk plus the retro aspect.  I still bugs me that HP released the 15CE with the bug in it.

The 15CE sold out quickly, you really had to be lucky to get one in the first batch of 10,000, I think it was. I ordered within a minute of the sale opening and I had found that by accident one evening.  I paid $99 for it and within a week they were selling for much more unopened.  You can get one for that price again sans box.  The original 15C is pretty pricey and you have to look hard for one without dents. 

The 16C is a great calculator but the hex and binary word sizes are really too small to use effectively.  Maybe there is a display digits setting I am overlooking.

If someone gets interested from this thread, The Museum of HP Calculators is the source for information on all things HP calc related.

By the way, I found the overlays to turn the Dm42 into a C47, pretty cool.

Jerry

 

[audiotubes]

The 16C is a great calculator but the hex and binary word sizes are really too small to use effectively.  Maybe there is a display digits setting I am overlooking.

Not sure what you meant but yes, you can cause the display to scroll so that you see the entire number. I'm pretty sure it can do 64 bits but it might be more. Haven't used my HP 16 clone enough to remember how to do it.  I believe there is also a setting for how many bits will be used in logic and arithmetic operations.

[iMo]

I own an WP34, HP48GX, HP25, but using a 4.99 DEM calculator I bought 35y back in a supermarket.

..the 15CE has a bug if you program it to display an intermediate result, IIRC..
..Many old HP calcs go belly-up if you put a charger in them without the battery...

Does Moravia fix both 16 and 15CE bugs?
The first thing I did with my HP25 after I got it I installed the protection zener..

[Gyro]

Because at the time, an original 15C was selling between 225 and 350USD depending on condition and many of us loved the horizontal format.  It seems to take up less room on the desk plus the retro aspect.  I still bugs me that HP released the 15CE with the bug in it.

The 15CE sold out quickly, you really had to be lucky to get one in the first batch of 10,000, I think it was. I ordered within a minute of the sale opening and I had found that by accident one evening.  I paid $99 for it and within a week they were selling for much more unopened.  You can get one for that price again sans box.  The original 15C is pretty pricey and you have to look hard for one without dents. 

The 16C is a great calculator but the hex and binary word sizes are really too small to use effectively.  Maybe there is a display digits setting I am overlooking.

If someone gets interested from this thread, The Museum of HP Calculators is the source for information on all things HP calc related.

By the way, I found the overlays to turn the Dm42 into a C47, pretty cool.

Jerry

Yes, I can see that - they could have picked a better name though.

I used to own a 16C myself. For the price, I was always a little disappointed that they only used a 7 segment display when dot matrix, or at least starburst were available - but of course they were all the same calculator hardware with different coding and overlays.

[RAPo]

Yes, a selectable max word size of 64.

The 16C is a great calculator but the hex and binary word sizes are really too small to use effectively.  Maybe there is a display digits setting I am overlooking.

Not sure what you meant but yes, you can cause the display to scroll so that you see the entire number. I'm pretty sure it can do 64 bits but it might be more. Haven't used my HP 16 clone enough to remember how to do it.  I believe there is also a setting for how many bits will be used in logic and arithmetic operations.

[pdenisowski]

I'm puzzled by the concept - why would you buy a 'Collector's Edition'?  Surely the interest for collectors is having an original one.  Similar to owning an antique versus a repro.

I didn't really care whether it was a "collector's edition" or not.  The HP15C has been out of production for a long time so prior to this, the only way to replace (or have a backup for) an HP15C as to buy used at a crazy price or buy a clone (like the SwissMicros I have, see above)

Strangely, the HP12C (the financial version) can still be bought new at a reasonable price.

[RAPo]

when you get a cable from the calculatorstore, you can do the upgrade yourself.

If you buy a 15C Collector's Edition model new, make sure to ask the seller whether the firmware has been updated.

As an Easter Egg, the firmware offers the option to switch to HP-16C mode (the programmer's calculator). This capability has been in the Collector's Edition since its launch, but originally had a rather annoying bug in decimal mode. Fixed now, and good resellers should make sure that the firmware has been updated.

A silicone keyboard overlay with the 16C lettering is available from https://www.thecalculatorstore.com/, and possibly from other resellers too. They also offer a programming cable, for those who bought the calculator early and want to update it to a bug-free 16C option.

As an aside: While Moravia have a license to the "hp" logo and apply it in the upper right corner of the calculator, they cannot print "Hewlett Packard" in the lower left, as on the original Voyager series calculators. Pity...

[ebastler]

when you get a cable from the calculatorstore, you can do the upgrade yourself.

If you buy a 15C Collector's Edition model new, make sure to ask the seller whether the firmware has been updated.

As an Easter Egg, the firmware offers the option to switch to HP-16C mode (the programmer's calculator). This capability has been in the Collector's Edition since its launch, but originally had a rather annoying bug in decimal mode. Fixed now, and good resellers should make sure that the firmware has been updated.

A silicone keyboard overlay with the 16C lettering is available from https://www.thecalculatorstore.com/, and possibly from other resellers too. They also offer a programming cable, for those who bought the calculator early and want to update it to a bug-free 16C option.

As an aside: While Moravia have a license to the "hp" logo and apply it in the upper right corner of the calculator, they cannot print "Hewlett Packard" in the lower left, as on the original Voyager series calculators. Pity...

Umm, yes?