Philadelphia Area HP Handheld Club Meeting

Tuesday, April 12, 1994 Drexel University

HP48 ROM Version "R" Shipping

The newest ROM version of the HP48G/GX calculators is version "R", shipping for a couple of weeks now. No new features in this version have been identified, however at least one former bug has been confirmed fixed. This is the return-stack bug causing possible crashes if keys are pressed while a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is calculating. We can expect that as more of these units reach the users' hands, more of the known anomalies will be tested.

It's Official: '95 SCES A Philly Happening

The big news lately is the official Electronic Industries Association announcement that the 1995 Summer Consumer Electronics Show will be held in Philadelphia at the new Pennsylvania Convention Center. The dates shall be May llth to 13th, a full month earlier than the usual time. For those local folks interested in attending a CES, this will be the perfect opportunity. The bad news is that the show is coming here because of its current trend downward in size. Apparently, it had been concluded over the past several years or so that June was not a good time to do deals for either the Christmas or back-to-school sales rushes. As a result, many of the major players (such as Sony, Pioneer and even HP) have scaled back to only one CES per year, attending the Winter January shows in Las Vegas. If the Summer show was as large as the most recent Winter show (exceeding a million square feet and 1400 exhibitors), they would need two Pennsylvania convention centers to house the affair.

An HP PDA in the Future

Hewlett-Packard and Novell, having each purchased a small interest in Geoworks, apparently are planning a three-way development of a handheld electronic device not unlike today's PDA'S. The trade press says that this device will have standard two-way wireless comms (like the recently released Motorola Envoy handheld) and cost around 300 dollars as a goal. Considering the starting price of Casiols and Sharp's units at 600 dollars WITHOUT the communication, and Motorola's device at $1500.00 WITH comms, HP's price goal is quite lofty.

EduCalc Now Carries HP Omnibook Sub-Notebooks

With the latest Educalc Newsline (714-582-3976) message of 4/5/94, the announcement was made that they would begin carrying the HP Omnibook products. Prices announced represent somewhat of a discount, with the current top-of-the-line unit (the 6-meg RAM, 105-meg HD model 430) selling for $1515.00. With the removal of the HP95 from the catalog plus the difficulty in making money on the HP100LX (due to HP's newer policy on handheld computers), one would assume that the Omnibook would be available to Educalc under more attractive terms. We are waiting impatiently when the fruits of HP's involvement with battery maker Valence Technology produces a lithium-polymer-battery based Omnibook with a display backlight and/or a color screen.

Programming Class: Input/Output Continues in June

The HP48 programming class, being run on PACS Saturdays at 11 AM in our usual meeting room (in Matheson Hall room 306), will have its third installment on Saturday, April 16th. This one will cover input and output programming commands such as PROMPT, KEY, WAIT, BEEP, INPUT, MENU, etc. Due to this subject being a lengthy one, it may take two sessions to adequately cover all the material. This month, PACS Saturday falls on the same weekend as the Trenton Computer Festival, a perennial favorite for many of us. Hopefully, those interested in both will meet with us on Saturday and go to TCF on Sunday. On the third Saturday in May, I will be en route to Holland to attend the PROMPT group's tenth anniversary HP conference in Amsterdam. If our group wishes to meet on an earlier day in May to continue the programming class, we can make those arrangements.

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