Programmable .Calculator

eBay? New ones no longer exist. Your (new equipment) options are as
follows:

-- Get an HP-33S, about the only significantly programmable non-graphing
scientific calculator left.
-- Get an HP-4xx or TI-8xx programmable graphing calculators. Neither uses
BASIC natively, however. (The HPs use RPL, which is pretty nice to program
in, actually...)
-- Get a PDA. Under both the PalmOS and Windows CE, you can find many
different programming languages out there, including BASIC.

The downside of the PDA approach, of course, is the lack of a large number
of physical keys. There's a product called Qonos which is supposed to come
out 'any month now' that's effectively a PDA reference design with various
extensions including a scientific calculator keyboard; I'm looking forward
to it.

---Joel Kolstad

 

Where abouts are you? I think TI, HP and Casio all make them.

Al

 

Hello,

Can anybody tell me where to buy programmable portable calculator,
preferably in BASIC?

Tia

 

http://easycalc.sourceforge.net/

?

John

 

Why not write Basic programs on your PC? Programmable calculator
programs are limited in function and clumsy to use.

I haven't programmed a calculator in decades, not since the HP9100.

John

 

So how can you comment on modern designs, when you've only used decades
old technology?

Depending on the complexity of the program, I'd get a TI84 ot TI89. Both
can be programmed in basic. The HP line offer a 'basic' that really
isn't much of a basic at all (no GOTO for instance). Dunno about the casios.

Al

 

You could buy a Windows PDA (or PDA/cellphone combo) and program it in
BASIC or Python or PL/1 or whatever.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

Well, I *have* modern programmable calculators, but what with the tiny
screens and limited storage and program documentation and archiving,
they just don't make sense to program. I write Basic programs that
have friendly, colorful menus, commented internals, color graphics,
and that I can save on a backed-up hard drive. And my Pentium will
out-compute any calculator by 1000:1 or something, which is useful if
an algorithm needs a lot of iterating. I must have hundreds of little
Basic applications I've written over the years.

Basic programs are fairly portable, too; one can hack an old DOS Basic
program to be useful in, say, PowerBasic in a few minutes. Lots of
programmable-calculator programs are gone when that calculator goes
out of production.

I bet none of them do file I/O, or big arrays, or accept input from
other programs.

John

 

I am wanting to use the calculator in flight of ultralight and it is
difficult to use a computer on board

I am wanting to know which the programmable calculators found now..

Tks

 

Ah, I see. Sorry for the assumption.

Sounds more like an application for a PDA or Laptop then. It depends on
what you want to do. A calculator will give a month or so battery life
which can be useful sometimes.

In basic? I don't think so. If you want to use C then I think they all do.

Al

 

This is Fernando for forever:

No BASIC, but I like HP48/49 calculators. 49G+ seems rather good with SD
card support. And RPL is easy, anyway.
--
Chaos Master®, posting from Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - 29.55° S
/ 51.11° W / GMT-2h / 15m .

"People told me I can't dress like a fairy.
I say, I'm in a rock band and I can do what the hell I want!"
-- Amy Lee

(My e-mail address isn't read. Please reply to the group!)

 

The HP71 and 75 could be programmed in BASIC.

I believe BASIC is also available for palm pdas.

 

No, really, the 32-bit versions of PowerBasic can do gigabyte arrays,
huge programs, TCP/IP, BIOS/API calls, all that good stuff.

John

 

And you'd want to do those on a calculator because...?

Al

 

I wouldn't. Calculators are for arithmetic, computers are for
programs.

John

 

A PalmOS device would be a *far* better choice for your application.

 

And you can run them on a PC104 system with a serial LCD and a
custom keyboard that is designed for your application, and it
will be about the size of a top-end calculator.

 

You can get an IBM PC like circuit on a card about the size of a PCMCIA
card.

 

Calculators are also for 'simple' programs, such as finding MOSFET currents
after branching based on the mode of operation, etc.

I think of programmable calculators as good for anything that takes less
time to compute than it takes you to bring a laptop out of standby, launch
MathCAD/Matlab/Excel/whatever, open your design file, and use it instead.

 

But it won't run off of a pair or CR2032 batteries through a couple years
normal usage now, will it?