Ed Huntress wrote:
"clifto" wrote in message
...

m II wrote:

I don't like the direction the company has taken. My experiences with
some of their printers have soured me on the 'new' HP. I loved their
products and philosophy until the end of the HP 41 era. They've turned
into just another mass marketer, with all the cheap plastic trappings
that accompany that mindset. .

I just never could follow a mindset that expresses an equation as

one enter one plus two

when it's meant to be

one plus one equals two


I have two HPs (12C and 15C) and a TI-83 Plus at my desk. When I want to get
something done fast and sure, I use the HPs. When I need a graph or a table
and don't mind being tedious, I use the TI.

Once you get into it, you realize that RPN is about how the calculation
actually *is done*, whether you do it by hand or by the computing device.
Algebraic notation (the TI) is about how you *write it*, which has little to
do with how it's actually done.

RPN probably will fade away, but it's had a great run among scientists,
engineers, and the top financial people. If your banker pulls out an HP-12C
when you sit down to discuss a loan, watch out. g
Hardly. I have RPN calculator programs that work on Windows, Linux and
palm systems. I also have a couple of older HPs that still work fine.
The advantage is that you don't have to write down intermediate values,
which you absolutely have to do with any calculator that doesn't have
either RPN or parentheses.

Recent HP printers are an abomination, and they make no effort to hide
that they give the printers away so they can sell you expensive
cartridges designed so you have to discard expensive stuff (either
laser or ink jet) rather than refill just what is depleted. The latest
wars between the refill suppliers, and the serial numbered cartridge
set up so you can't reuse a print cartridge, is the ultimate assault
on the consumer. Buyers of those printers with such anti-consumer
features ought to sue HP and other makers of such equipment. Imagine
if automakers put an explosive charge in their engines, so when you
hit 100,000 miles the bomb goes off and reduces your engine to scrap
metal. That's what these print cartridges are trying to do on a small
scale.

(rant off)

Jon