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From: Stan DeHaven on 29 Aug 2006 12:42

>gorfle wrote:
>>Is there an easier way to convert between
>> units on the 50G? Has anyone written any programs that allow unit
>> conversion just using the soft menu keys (F1-F6) like on the 48GX?
>

Setting the calculator to RPN, radians, and soft menus (flag 117)
through the mode menu makes the calculator quite 48ish. Who would
think a new HP calculator would have a learning curve? Good luck!

I generally regard a HP calculator much like a mark of distinction
indicating one could read a manual independently and learn on their
own as a dedicated student or professional. This is similar, in some
respects, to a dedicated career criminal having a prison tattoo.
However, a HP calculator is not indelible.


Regards,

Stan

From: John H Meyers on 29 Aug 2006 14:10
On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:08:28 -0500, gorfle wrote:

> On the HP48GX, it was quite simple. You went into the unit menu, used
> the soft key to choose "length", "area", whatever, and then, to convert
> anything on the stack you just hit left-shift and then the unit you
> wanted to convert to.
> With the 50G, it looks like I have to have...

The unit menus 42 thru 58 are the same on 48G/49G/50G
(as are *all* the original menus from the 48G[X],
although *some* of those original menus
now have no navigational path to reach them!)

On 49G/50G, of course, new "choose" menus for any menus
originally designed to use shifted menu keys are pretty useless,
so not setting flag -117 leaves the calc sort of crippled,
but marketers care only for form, not function :)

Come to think of it, the default state of the 49 series
is a bit like an "Adventure" game -- you have to spend time
learning what set of flags you need to set just right,
before the calc begins to let you even survive
to reach the next level -- only after which
the game finally begins to become a real pleasure.

[r->] [OFF]
From: gorfle on 29 Aug 2006 15:51
Yup, I noticed the default state of the RPN and Radians mode and fixed
those straight-away. I caught the mention of flag 117 in the printed
User's Manual but didn't make the connection between the "soft menu
keys" and the unit conversion menus.

Stan DeHaven wrote:

> Setting the calculator to RPN, radians, and soft menus (flag 117)
> through the mode menu makes the calculator quite 48ish. Who would
> think a new HP calculator would have a learning curve? Good luck!

From: gorfle on 29 Aug 2006 15:54
LOL - That's a great analogy. I felt, on first power-up, that the HP
50G was meant to feel like a TI "out-of-the-box". First thing I did
was set it "back" to RPN mode and into degrees. I just missed the flag
117 thing.

Now I'm tickled pink with my 50G! :) I'm thrilled at the speed and
the standard expansion port. I was hoping for a higher resolution
screen, but this display is still better than the old one.

John H Meyers wrote:
> Come to think of it, the default state of the 49 series
> is a bit like an "Adventure" game -- you have to spend time
> learning what set of flags you need to set just right,
> before the calc begins to let you even survive
> to reach the next level -- only after which
> the game finally begins to become a real pleasure.
>
> [r->] [OFF]

From: John H Meyers on 29 Aug 2006 18:13
On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:54:57 -0500, gorfle wrote:

> I felt, on first power-up, that the HP 50G
> was meant to feel like a TI "out-of-the-box".

From the sound of their champagne corks popping,
I think that's what the marketers wanted to hear!
(it's like receiving their Academy Award
for best-supporting actors, I suppose :)

> First thing I did was set it "back" to RPN mode...

I think that instead of the old "demo" library that used to
come with HP49G, there should instead be a set of pre-programmed
alarms which gradually "morph" the original (flawed) character
into the super-hero who emerges at the end -- a sort of
"step by step" mode, which could at various perfectly timed
moments pop up a little tutorial about the next feature
to be introduced, and then automatically change the setting
that buries a particular darker aspect of "TI mode"
and takes the next step into the Light of the Future,
so that by the time the New Owner has found his/her way
to the newsgroup (prompted of course by a final pop-up
as the "credits" roll at the end), (s)he will have been
properly prepared to take her/his place among the Converted :)

[music rises to ultimate crescendo,
then fades to "Bill's Theme" as HP logo fills the screen]
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