[COFF] HP16C Re: [TUHS] Re: forth on early unix

[Dan Cross via COFF]

On Wed, Sep 24, 2025 at 1:44 AM Tomasz Rola via COFF <coff at tuhs.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 05:57:54PM -0700, Larry McVoy via COFF wrote:
> [...]
> >
> > Those were the days, my friend, wwe thought they'd never end, but then we
> > out sourced and things went down hill.  I don't know where you buy stuff
> > like what the old HP did.
>
> If you want calculator, you may try your luck with Swiss Micros:
>
>   The DM16C is the programmer's calculator designed to display and
>   work with numbers in hexadecimal, decimal, octal and binary, and
>   convert numbers from one base to another. It provides a wealth of
>   specialized functions, including left- and right-shifting, masking,
>   and bitwise logical operations.
>
>   [ https:// www.swissmicros.com /product/dm16c ]

Oops, I hadn't seen your response before mentioning Swiss Micros myself.

> It looks like HP16C clone (for me at least, I did not look into manual
> and do not own, but seems to have way more memory then original "16")
> and they say titanium case, so perhaps you could do wall test on
> it. If you do, please write about results.
>
> Actually, I doubt it is really a clone. Inspired, probably.

I'll admit to having it, and it is pretty much a clone.  Expanded,
sure, but meant to be an almost exact facsimile.

At one point, they referred to the HP user's manual to figure out how
to use the thing.  I believe he spoke with some retired HP engineers
when designing the first versions to make them accurate; I can't find
the link now, but I remember seeing a video by an HP guy who talked
about the 15C and then mentioned SwissMicros and said something like,
"wow, he's done a remarkable job: I can't believe he hasn't been sued
yet!"  In that video, he did note that the keys were not likely to be
as durable.  As Larry mentioned, on the real HP calculators, they go
all the way through the plastic and so don't wear off, whereas
whatever manufacturing process does that wasn't available to SM (at
least, not at the scale he's doing things at).  I guess travel and
pressure and stuff varies as well; apparently, calculator keys are
quite complex in a way that, say, a keyboard is not (perhaps due to
the limited size?).

With respect to the 16c itself, the bitwise functions are kind of
neat, but I believe they top out at 16 bits; the display is probably
the limiting factor there.

        - Dan C.