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From: Carl J. Morris on 3 Aug 2006 17:46
"Cyrille, not speaking for HP, like always..."

said

"hello,

this pops out the question of why someone would like to do so?
- to connect to a PC? there is a provided USB cable (and the number of PC
with no USB is < 'inser verry low % here')
- to connect to other equipement (dataloger..) the required 'trick' to power
the voltage level translator (using the RTC pins, like in the 48Gii) does
(most of the time) not work on these equipement as it requires specific
configuration which is usually not possible. In addition most of these type
of equipement use a non standard connector, so...

now, I am not saying that there is not a use for it (we put the RS232 here
for a good reason!) but is hardly would be worth the time and cost
associated with creating, testing, packaging and selling through the
channels such a cable.

the only reason would be to connect the calculator to proprietary legacy
programs... well, HP gave all the information on how to connect to the
calculator using the USB drivers in order to allow them to convert their
programs..."



1. The WHY is not as important as THAT IS WHAT HEWLETT-PACKARDASDVERTISES
AND SELLING AS BEING IN THE PRODUCT.

Do you expect a new car purchase to be delivered without one wheel?


2. My LEGACY hp-48gx ALMOST has a GENUINE RS-232 interface. I can set BAUD
RATE and PARITY but not STOP BITS. It has recognizable voltage swings (Level
Shifting) built-in.

It has 3 transfer protocols, KERMIT, XMODEM & OTHER. The manual provides a
wiring diagram for connecting it to another device. The manual has
step-by-step instructions on the operation of the serial port.

I downloaded Debug4X to see the HP 50g's I/O operation. Under this
emulation I only see USB as a port and KERMIT as the transfer protocokl.

Where is the LEGACY RS-232 support in the HP 50g? One posting indicates
there is no section in the manual that describes this interface.

Is it coming in the HP 50g+ or ROM Update 3.54?


3. Hewlett-Packard does not need to design a cable, they just need to make
another connector adapter similar to "F1833-88001" which is included inthe
HP Graphing Calculator PC Connector Hit ( HP P/N "F1897A").

It should be supplied with each hp 50g. Then you could sell more
connectivity kits to attach to what I believe is a non-functional RS-232
inteface!


4. I have a LEGACY hp7586 plotter, Oscilloscopes, DVMs, Generators, etc.
that provide multiple means for communication, but not USB. This equipment
cost thousands of dollars. Most manufacturing companies require their
production engineers to utilize current assets if possible. LEGACY
equipment is the LIFEBLOOD of manufacturing.


5. The hp48-GX is considered by most engineers to be a TOOL not a toy.

Since the introduction of the hp49, it appears "the handheld calculator
group" has decided to remove some of the TOOL capability by eliminating or
further crippling the RS-232 interface capability. I do not quarrel with
your business objective, but I do expect you to be honest in your product's
advertised capability specifications.


6. During the past years when I specified the purchase of Hewlett-Packard
Test Equipment for use in miltary equipment production testing, I never
doubted a written capability specification and never found one in error. I
have had ATE set-ups that had calculators permanently built-in.. That's
LEGACY.

It appears that the handheld calculator group does not have any person who
CAN and WILL stop shipments when the product does not comply with the
published specification literature (on the "hp Shopping" web site).

Where is HP QUALITY hiding?




From: Jean-Yves Avenard on 4 Aug 2006 01:38
Carl J. Morris wrote:
>
> 2. My LEGACY hp-48gx ALMOST has a GENUINE RS-232 interface. I can set BAUD
> RATE and PARITY but not STOP BITS. It has recognizable voltage swings (Level
> Shifting) built-in.
Neither my HP48SX nor my HP48GX came with a serial cable.
So until somebody found out how the serial cable worked, I had no other
choice than buying the HP cable.

How is the 50g any different?
> I downloaded Debug4X to see the HP 50g's I/O operation. Under this
> emulation I only see USB as a port and KERMIT as the transfer protocokl.
you probably don't have the latest version of Debug4x with the latest
emu48.dll then

>
> Where is the LEGACY RS-232 support in the HP 50g? One posting indicates
> there is no section in the manual that describes this interface.
patience.. the 50g has just been advertised on HP web site!

> It should be supplied with each hp 50g. Then you could sell more
> connectivity kits to attach to what I believe is a non-functional RS-232
> inteface!
Why?
I'm not keen on paying extra $$$ for something I will not use. What the
percentage of people requiring a serial port. As long as I have a way to
connect my calculator to a computer I'm happy.

Soon you will start screaming that none of the new laptops I've seen
using a core duo processor have a serial port !

[more rant deleted]
> production engineers to utilize current assets if possible. LEGACY
> equipment is the LIFEBLOOD of manufacturing.
yeah right..

> Where is HP QUALITY hiding?
missing some coffee again?
From: Scott on 4 Aug 2006 01:48
Sorry Cyrille,

While not nearly as angry as Carl about this, it does seem disingenuous
for HP to advertise an RS-232 port that cannot be implemented by an
ordinary user who needs RS-232 capability. If HP really wants to
succeed in the calculator business, they should not keep making these
mistakes.

This one can be fixed. Make us a cable, or get someone like Samson
Cables to do it, and put the code in the machine so it will talk to our
machines, just like the HP48 did.

Don't you want to get the surveyors/engineers excited about HP calcs
they way they once were? Those guys want the RS-232 port, so follow
through!

Regards, from a long-time supporter,

Scott Guth

From: Antti Louko on 4 Aug 2006 03:19
Jean-Yves Avenard <me(a)privacy.net> writes:

> Neither my HP48SX nor my HP48GX came with a serial cable.
> So until somebody found out how the serial cable worked, I had no
> other choice than buying the HP cable.

> How is the 50g any different?

Where can we buy the HP serial cable for 50g? What is the HP part
number?
From: Jean-Yves Avenard on 4 Aug 2006 05:59
Scott wrote:
> Sorry Cyrille,
>
> While not nearly as angry as Carl about this, it does seem disingenuous
> for HP to advertise an RS-232 port that cannot be implemented by an
> ordinary user who needs RS-232 capability. If HP really wants to
> succeed in the calculator business, they should not keep making these
> mistakes.
For me the only mistake is to advertise a RS232 port as it's not. Just a
serial port.

JY
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