A few makers sent this in... the latest HP 20b biz calc can be modded' (they're releasing a dev kit). I downloaded the dev kit, they're not messing around, schematic is included. Gang, this is an Atmel ARM, an LCD with the power supply done - what the heck is going on here? Way over powered for a calc, just asking for projects - Makers please do something cool with this!
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 18, 2008 09:17 PM
|
Permalink
| Comments (11)
| Email This |
| Digg this!
Oldest comments listed first.
Subscribe to MAKE Magazine!
Subscribe today, save 42% and get web access to MAKE free. MAKE Digital Edition is available only to subscribers.
$34.95 / 1 year
(4 Quarterly Issues)
Check out all of the episodes of Make: television
 |
MAKE on Facebook Visit our Facebook page and become a fan of MAKE! |
 |
MAKE on Twitter Follow our MAKE tweets! |
 |
MAKE on Flickr Join our MAKE Flickr Pool! |
Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!
Click here to advertise on MAKE!
Gareth Branwyn
Senior Editor
Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
| AIM | Twitter
Becky Stern
Associate Editor
| AIM | Twitter
Marc de Vinck
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter
John Park
Contributing Writer
| Twitter
Sean Ragan
Contributing Writer
| Twitter
Matt Mets
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter
Dale Dougherty
Editor & Publisher
| Twitter
Shawn Connally
Managing Editor
| Twitter
Goli Mohammadi
Associate Managing Editor
Kip Kay
Weekend Projects
| AIM | Twitter
Collin Cunningham
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter
Adam Flaherty
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter
More contributors: Mark Frauenfelder (Editor-in-Chief, MAKE magazine), Kipp Bradford (Technical Consultant/Writer), Chris Connors (Education), Diana Eng (Guest Author), Peter Horvath (Intern), Brian Jepson (O'Reilly Media), Robert Bruce Thompson (Science Room)
Weekend Project: Beetlebot
Simple robot from your parts bin that avoids obstacles. Thanks go to Jerome Demers for the original article in MAKE, Volume 12. To download the Beetlebot video, click here or subscribe in iTunes. Check out the complete Beetlebot article...
More...
www.flickr.com
|
www.flickr.com
|
Help | Write for MAKE | Contact Us | Subscribe | Advertise with Us | Privacy Policy| About MAKE | FAQ
© 2009 O'Reilly Media, Inc.
All trademarks and registered trademarks appearing on makezine.com are the property of their respective owners.
RSS
Small correction, this is an Atmel ARM, not an AVR. AVR = tiny, mega, xmega, etc.
Reply to this comment
All in a $40 dollar calculator. Wow! HP gets their mojo back.
Reply to this comment
Not only HP's mojo but their cred and it's overdue.
Reading through the documents, one gets the sense that a tinkerer is at the helm of this idea. Backtracking the name and Email address listed in the documentation outs the head of R & D for Hewlett-Packard, Cyrille de Brebisson as the hero behind getting this out of the corporate murk:
http://cyrille.hydrix.com/eng/index.html
Wouldn't it be great if every widget maker were this amenable to messing around with their products?
Reply to this comment
HP may have made a snazzy bit of kit here, but it's not RPN! Oh, wait, how about a mod that turns the "=" key into "Enter" and makes it calculate the way that a proper HP would do! With the stack, and the postfix notation...
Reply to this comment
Since the interesting links are missing in the article:
Developer Kit download: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=3732535&prodTypeId=215348&prodSeriesId=3732534&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=54
Wiki for the HP 20b repurposing project: http://hpwiki.fatcity.com/doku.php?id=20b:repurposing_project
And - to complain - of course the Calculator has a pricing point of 55 EUR in Europe. Which currently is twice the price as in the US :-(
Have fun,
Simon
Reply to this comment
I take it all back -- the HP 20B has an RPN mode, described by HP as "time-saving RPN". Yes, HP is back in the calculator business. Now, I wonder if the PCB is gold-plated all over, like they used to be? And I wonder if it can work in hex?
Reply to this comment
It'd be a lot cooler if it were a "landscape" form-factor, like the old HP 12c and its ilk (like the mid-1980s HP 15c I had back in the day.
Reply to this comment
I'm catching the link to HP's product page but I'm missing the link to modification info. Any help? Training wheels?
Also let me second anachrocomputer's comment. I just got a new HP-35s. HP calculators are back. I'd love to know if the same mods will be practical for the 20B's similar-looking bigger cousin.
Reply to this comment
I can't help but wish that it were starting out as a scientific calculator-- I'm not sure that I'd want to be seen with a business calc! :P
But... 30 MHz AT91SAM7 and 9 months battery life on two CR2032s... wow. My old HP48SX graphing calculator-- no slouch at the time-- had a 2 MHz 4-bit CPU. This thing is a monster!
Now, the *real* test of whether it's mod-able is the construction. Many classic HP calcs were molded shut and could only be destructively opened. Anyone know?
Reply to this comment
To answer the last posters question:
The user manual for the device talks about opening the calculator case. There's also a programming (JTAG) header in the schematic, and the developer kit has all the source code for the ROM.
Looks like your covered. =)
Reply to this comment
Looks like his covered what?
Reply to this comment