Leibson's Law: It takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to become pervasive in the design community. This blog is about the disruptive technologies that either have or will win over electronic engineers, some that won't, and why. Please feel free to link to these blog entries! Written by Steve Leibson, a marketing consultant specializing in lead generation and content creation for high-tech companies, former VP of Content for Reed Business, and former Editor in Chief of EDN. See my consulting Web site at www.sleibson.com and my history site at www.hp9825.com. You can email me at steven.leibson followed by the magic email symbol @ followed by att.net.
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Blog
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
HP Virtualizes Its Calculators for the iPhone and PC
Jun 24 2009 12:00AM | Permalink |Comments (7) |
The HP calculator enthusiast community has long had calculator emulators running on the PC. Now HP itself has entered the market with multiple offerings running on PCs and Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. “We just felt that HP calculator emulators should really come from HP,” said HP’s Director of Calculator Product Development Sam Kim.
HP 15c calculator emulation running on an Apple iPhone
The first calculator emulations from HP that run on the PC include:
- HP 12c
- HP 12c Platinum edition
- HP 20b
- HP 35s
The first calculator emulations from HP that run on Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch include:
- HP 12c
- HP 12c Platinum edition
- HP 15c
The emulations all run the original code from the corresponding original calculators so the virtual calculators produce precisely the same results as the real calculators—only they produce answers much faster because the underlying PC and iPhone/iPod Touch microprocessors run at hundreds of MHz instead of a few MHz. HP developed microprocessor emulators for both host platforms.
HP 35s calculator emulation running on a PC
The original HP 12c and HP 15c calculators were based on HP’s proprietary 4-bit Saturn Nut series of calculator microprocessors. However, HP recently introduced a new, much faster version of the HP 12c that employs an Atmel implementation of the 32-bit ARM 7 processor running a software emulation of HP's Saturn microprocessor. The HP 35s, introduced a couple of years ago, and the HP 12c Platinum calculators were based on the incredibly long-in-the-tooth, 8-bit 6502 microprocessor architecture, which you would find under the hood of the original Apple II microcomputer circa 1977. The HP 20b, a relatively new calculator, is also based on Atmel's implementation of the ARM 7 microprocessor, which itself was developed in the 1980s. Each microprocessor naturally requires a different software emulator and HP offers a calculator manager for people who buy more than one of its virtual calculators.
The PC-based virtual HP calculators cost $9.99 to $29.99 and are available directly from HP’s Web site. The iPhone/iPod Touch virtual HP calculators cost $14.99 to $29.99 and are available through Apple’s App Store. All virtual HP calculators are immediately available. HP may develop more such virtual calculators and thus resuscitate more of its classic machines, depending on the success of this initial batch.
Related entries in: Computers | Consumer Products |
Reader Comments
at 6/24/2009 8:37:45 AM, Rick Nelson said:
I've never warmed up to the iPhone-like touch screen, but this is an application that might well justify it.
at 6/24/2009 9:18:59 AM, Nelson Sicuro said:
The processor of the HP-12c and HP-15c is called "Coconut" and have 56 bit wide registers and its instructions are 10bit wide, it isn't a 4 CPU bits as stated. They data/address bus is bit-serial. the "Saturn" CPU is totally different and is used on newer calculators as HP-42S, 48 series and have 64 bit wide registers, but it has 4 bit wide data bus externally.
at 6/24/2009 10:43:40 AM, Frank said:
Is this the future? The real thing is harder and harder to sell. This might be the way to boost turn over. But for professional use? Out in the field it is better to have a real calculator one can use at below zero temperatures and that will go for ever on one set of batteries. Try this with an Iphone. Otherwise the Iphone is a marvel.
at 6/24/2009 2:26:51 PM, Brian Dipert said:
As a longtime RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) data entry fan, I can also recommend three freeware apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. Search the App Store for 12C-Lite, RPN Calc, and PCalc Lite.
at 6/24/2009 4:48:21 PM, Steve Leibson said:
Nelson Sicuro, thanks for contributing to the confusion around the HP 1xc calculators. The processors used in these calculators were based on the HP 41c's processor, but they didn't use that exact processor. The HP 41c project was called "coconut," not the processor. The 1xc calculator processors (of which there appear to have been four or so) are usually referred to as the "Nut" processor series, but more often only by their cryptic part numbers. As for not being 4-bitters, they are BCD engines that operate on data 4 bits at a time, regardless of the size of the accumulator. Or were you suggesting that we label them 56-bit processors (which they certainly were not)? It's a tough call, but I classify processors by the size of operand they generally work on. For example, the original Motorola 68000 processor had a 16-bit data bus but its instructions operated on 32-bit data atomically (the processor's microcode did the work in two chunks however). For the programmer, that made the 68000 a 32-bit processor. I must admit however that I was slightly misinformed by HP when discussing these calculator emulators and went right ahead and entered the name "Saturn" incorrectly. For more info on the Nut processors: nonpareil.brouhaha.com/microcode_simulation.pdf
at 6/24/2009 7:00:13 PM, rebo said:
$30 is nuts! Especially when free alternatives are available.
at 6/24/2009 9:26:08 PM, Steve Leibson said:
Hey rebo, I don't think everyone agrees with you. Some of the guys over at the Museum of HP Calculators are figuring out how many of these puppies they'll purchase. Some will prefer free. Some will prefer HP. Isn't it nice to have a choice? HP, Free, or none.
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