General > General Technical Chat
Making the HP Prime a great EE calculator (Poor man's Casio FX-61F)
Black Phoenix:
--- Quote from: TopQuark on January 23, 2023, 01:08:39 pm ---It's done! My 3D printed kickstand for the HP Prime that doubles as a slide cover.
https://github.com/TopQuark12/primeKickstand
--- End quote ---
So you are the one who published in r/calculators this mod.
I know i had saw it somewhere other than here...
SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: Zucca on January 18, 2023, 06:48:47 pm ---I prefer to turn on a real PC/Laptop if I need a computer and grab a RPN calculator/emulator (for example free42 on the phone) if I need a pocket calculator.
It is my very personal taste and way of thinking, I personally don't like the things in the middle....
--- End quote ---
Yeah, that's a pretty recurring topic. I find little use for pocket calculators myself these days, except when I'm on the go/in lab and need a quick calculation.
Depends on your workflow and habits, but not having a computer nearby these days when you are working is kind of rare. Now the key is to find the right tools for you as software, that work for you.
That said, pocket calculators are this kind of devices that I have fond memories of, and I can appreciate them as technical objects.
SwissMicros have done a great job at this. The HP Prime is good, but I think it's either too little or too much, and not really on par with the good old HP calculators.
TopQuark:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on January 24, 2023, 07:26:43 pm ---Yeah, that's a pretty recurring topic. I find little use for pocket calculators myself these days, except when I'm on the go/in lab and need a quick calculation.
Depends on your workflow and habits, but not having a computer nearby these days when you are working is kind of rare. Now the key is to find the right tools for you as software, that work for you.
That said, pocket calculators are this kind of devices that I have fond memories of, and I can appreciate them as technical objects.
SwissMicros have done a great job at this. The HP Prime is good, but I think it's either too little or too much, and not really on par with the good old HP calculators.
--- End quote ---
I think I'm a bit old school in that sense, even though I have just left university. I usually prefer intuition, back of the envelope calculations, hand drawn schematics, building physical prototypes and measuring things IRL. I have trust issues with simulation tools, but am slowly warming up to it and incorporating it into my workflow. I also find my attention rapidly drifting away when I touch my PC or smartphone.
All that I am saying is, I find a dedicated calculator that I can configure/program to deal with boilerplate calculations really helpful, such as the Prime, so that I can ideate faster without distractions. The dedicated keypad is certainly a big plus.
tooki:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on January 24, 2023, 07:26:43 pm ---Yeah, that's a pretty recurring topic. I find little use for pocket calculators myself these days, except when I'm on the go/in lab and need a quick calculation.
Depends on your workflow and habits, but not having a computer nearby these days when you are working is kind of rare. Now the key is to find the right tools for you as software, that work for you.
That said, pocket calculators are this kind of devices that I have fond memories of, and I can appreciate them as technical objects.
SwissMicros have done a great job at this. The HP Prime is good, but I think it's either too little or too much, and not really on par with the good old HP calculators.
--- End quote ---
As someone who never used a “classic” HP calculator (and has no interest in learning RPN, no matter what alleged advantages it may have), they’re not what I compare it to. My calculator experience before the Prime was nearly 100% Texas Instruments, first with standard scientific calculators, then early graphing calculators (TI-85 and TI-86), and then with algebraic-entry scientific calculators (TI-30 X II, etc).
Anyhow, with that background, the Prime has found a permanent spot on my desk. A real, high-quality keypad is something I value enormously. (TI is miserable in this regard.) I don’t want to switch to my computer to do simple calculations. Like TopQuark, engaging with my computer is asking to get distracted with something else.
As for the Prime itself, I love the capacitive touchscreen, which does add some real value. The processor is extremely fast, so this is a calculator that never makes you wait. (As of today, it’s the fastest graphing calculator by a wide margin.) It’s also very thin and light without feeling cheap. It’s not perfect (they really need to add a proper engineering notation mode, and they need to make it easier to enter units, and make it an option for it to automatically simplify the output units), but even so it’s an incredibly useful tool.
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