Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/07

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Subject: [Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M" now HP calculator OT
From: abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)
Date: Wed Dec 7 09:33:15 2005
References: <4395CAEB.B5832339@pacbell.net> <NEBBJDFBIKOBILIKPPBNGECIDDAB.red735i@earthlink.net> <4cfa589b0512061558n11dbc8e8nae98dffc09566053@mail.gmail.com> <43963AF5.6020403@axionet.com> <196D4A7B-FF08-41C5-921B-75250FBB2B51@btinternet.com>

When I was in the Navy we had an HP tech rep who was frequently aboard
working on an off-the-shelf piece of equipment whose very existence on
board a submarine was classified SECRET. He told us that HP35's were
prime deal-making fodder with the managers who'd sign over their
first-born to get ahold of one. I computed a LOT of ECPs (estimated
critical position) for reactor startups using it, and it because a
ship-wide computing resource because we had nothing on board that was
remotely as powerful. All the computers were either analog, often
using syncros and servos, or had 40 WORDS of digital program storage.

A few years later, in college, the HP sales rep told me it was madness
for the first year. An early HP35 was worth its weight in gold to open
doors and engage in conversations that ultimately lead to discussing
things of real import - like scopes and test equipment.

It was an amazing product and would have defined "geek" if the term
existed then.

On 12/7/05, Frank Dernie <Frank.Dernie@btinternet.com> wrote:
> I am an HP fan too. At my first place of work the department has a
> HP45 which could be booked out and chained to the desk. It cost about
> 6 months salary for a UK engineer then. I eventually bought a HP35
> for myself - a serious financial sacrifice then considerably more
> than a top of the line personal computer today.
> My best HP story was my use of my HP41CV to download and analyse wind
> tunnel data. I used it at the end of 1980 whilst waiting for the
> process control computer I had ordered for the job to be delivered
> (in those days computers were not available off the shelf).
> I wrote a programme, which I still have recorded on the magnetic
> strip cards for the HP41CV card reader (if it hasn't faded to noise),
> hooked the calculator up to an HP-IB voltmeter which I connected via
> a connection box to the transducers. Not very impressive by today's
> standards but better than anybody else had at the time. We came first
> and second in the first two races of 1981 :-)
> Frank
>
> On 7 Dec, 2005, at 01:29, Jacques Bilinski wrote:
>
> >
> >> (I also have an ORIGINAL
> >> HP35 that I used all through my time in the Navy. Still works but has
> >> to be plugged in, the battery has gone belly up low these many years
> >> ago. Still love HP calculators though. Reverse Polish definately
> >> seemd
> >> to make sense to me.
> >>
> >>
> > I was wondering when this thread would lead to HP calculators which
> > are one of my fetishes.  I have a small collection of these and
> > dislike using any non-RPN calculator. My PDA has an RPN HP
> > calculator emulator which I often use. Judging by the prices some
> > of the rarer HP calculators fetch on ebay many aging boomers covet
> > these items.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>


Replies: Reply from red735i at earthlink.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M" now HP calculator OT)
In reply to: Message from jerryleh at pacbell.net (Jerry Lehrer) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M")
Message from red735i at earthlink.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M")
Message from abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M")
Message from jbilin at axionet.com (Jacques Bilinski) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M")
Message from Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie) ([Leica] Re: [LRflex] Digital Leica "M" now HP calculator OT)