Fresh Hacker News | C47/R47 Calculators

34 points by helterskelter 16 days ago | 6 comments

▲sunpazed 13 days ago

I’m a vintage calculator tragic! I love what the C43/47 communities are doing in reviving RPL and RPN for a modern audience. What’s even more amazing, is that the DB48x calculator is a singular dev effort by the talented Christophe de Dinechin (I’ve contributed briefly to his code).

If you’re curious to try out RPN/RPL without buying hardware, then both the R47 and DB48x calculators are available as apps on the iOS App Store.

Those of you who want to go deeper down the rabbit hole, I strongly recommend you check out Calculator Culture — he reviews both modern and vintage devices; https://www.youtube.com/@CalculatorCulture

▲zokier 13 days ago

There is also another major DM42 firmware project: DB48x https://48calc.org/

▲loloquwowndueo 13 days ago

Still looking for the perfect replacement for my HP48GX which died a mysterious death. Actual 48GX are hideously expensive and I’d be concerned they could also just mysteriously kick the bucket.

▲whartung 13 days ago

Today, the thing that makes the HP48 series much less useful is simply that they lack a backlight.

I find them simply difficult to read and use today because of that.

So, I just use a HP48 app on my phone. It's not as good, lacking the tactile response of the keyboard. But it's close.

I used to program the 48's. You think laptops are convenient, wait until you try coding in bed on a 48. Very comfortable, if you can stay awake :).

▲loloquwowndueo 13 days ago

Dunno man, I did just fine with my 48 and I do just fine with the crappy lcd scientific calculator I have now, but it’s basic and doesn’t hold a candle to the 48.

Did do a fair bit of programming in the 48 too :) fun shit.

▲dmd 12 days ago

“Your body doesn’t work perfectly? Dunno man, mine does.”

▲loloquwowndueo 12 days ago

Well - parent didn’t say “the thing that makes it less useful _for me_ is lack of a backlight”, but a categorical “it’s less useful for everyone due to lack of a backlight”.

▲NetMageSCW 12 days ago

iHP48 is a good app for 48 emulation. Also, the HP-50G is a pretty good alternative that is newer though still discontinued.

▲sghiassy 12 days ago

Zero images on the homepage?

▲Cider9986 13 days ago

An open source calc!

Btw calc stands for calculator, I'm just using slang.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy2fr9d5J3M)

▲raffael_de 13 days ago

From 2025 and order process is defunct.

▲skywal_l 13 days ago

here you go: https://www.swissmicros.com/en/products/r47

▲ 13 days ago

▲helterskelter 13 days ago

It was restocked the other day, SwissMicros had an issue with the button domes and had to wait for replacements to come in from China which took awhile because of Trump/Iran.

▲helterskelter 13 days ago

I forgot to add that development is active:

https://gitlab.com/rpncalculators/c43