Great video! I have a 48SX, and agree with the description of the short-comings, however I still feel it is an amazing example of an awesome machine (especially for 1990!) that was so far ahead of all of the competition. I have the equation library card, which really adds so much to this calculator. A quick addition to what you said about this card, the periodic table is amazing, and has like 25 properties for each element that can be pushed to the stack with the proper units automatically added! (the 50g has this built in, but the 48G or GX does not have the periodic table)
I still have my 48SX! Mine is in mint condition! Out of all my calculators I have in my collection, it is still my favorite! Simply incredible what you are able to do on this brilliant machine! 👍
Fantastic video, Antony! I used my HP-48SX as my primary engineering calculator for over 27 years. I remember driving down to EduCalc back in 1991 to buy it. I really enjoyed watching this video.
Great video, which is just right as the 48SX deserves it for the many reasons you mention. It's hard to cram even just innovative features in, but you hit the big ones quite well IMHO. To easily see what may not be visible on the menu keys, just press [L-Shift] [Down] and a temporary display spelling out the full name (and type) is shown. This is helpful, but there are so many functions in here, it may not always be enough. Please keep these videos coming...
I feel like the art of making and joy of using good keyboards for mobile devices has gotten lost with the smartphone era. Wish someone could make a smartphone that also included physical keys like those of the HP calculators.
The HP48SX was a revolutionary calculater. It actually had a total of some 33 object types. Many of those types were not normally directly accessible to the user. some that were were real numbers, complex numbers, strings, real arrays, complex arrays lists, global names, local names programs, algebraics, graphic objects. Binary Integers, unit objects. library names, directories, libraries. The most complex objects were libraries some of which were built-in and created the command set for the HP48SX. The calculator had no means to create a library but libraries to create other libraries could be downloaded.
❤ “The Art of Electronics” by Horowitz and Hill (6 minutes into the video) Both the book and the 48SX were vital parts of my EE studies back in the early 1990s. Thanks for this great video!
2:45 I think the HP 48SX was actually introduced before the HP 32SII, so it's probably the other way round wrt influence with the 2 shift keys and so on. A great calculator, the 48 SX, probably the best series. I still have mine and it's working fine. Great keyboard we don't see anymore with cheap calculators (or even expensive ones like the Swissmicros).
I enjoyed this video. I had a TI-59 that I used in college because I couldn't afford the HP-41C. I later won an HP-11C in a raffle that I used extensively when I didn't need the software I developed for the TI-59. The '59 served me through graduate school (supplemented with the 11C). The TI-59 was finally replaced in the late 1980s with an HP-28S (or C model, I can't recall) which was a frustrating machine for me -- I had issues with the hinge connection. Hence I bought an HP-48GX when they came out and discarded the 28. I developed a lot of programs for that HP-48GX to solve practical civil engineering programs. I used them when I taught civil engineering and still use them today. Four-years ago I bought a HP-41CX. What a nice machine. I also have some of Swiss Micros calculators and think that their HP-41CX and HP-42S implementations are very nice, especially the large LCD display. What a lovely display that is.
Talking about history... my "calculator career" began with an borrowed ti-30 back in the early 80's, then I switched to the Sharp EL-512 (with memory for 4 formulas - yeah), later to the ti-54 (which keyboard sucks, but it could deal with complex numbers) and in the end of highschool I was the proud owner of one of the first Casio fx-7000Gs with graphics and whopping 422 bytes of memory. In the university I heavily used an Casio fx-850P (pimped to internal 64 KB RAM and an RTC). When I graduated, I switched to hp-48GX (I literally inhaled the AUR- manual) and later to its successor hp 50G which I use still today. Based on my experience with various calculators, I can say that durability and functionality of hp's is unbeatable.
I bought the 48SX to replace a 28s. I needed the symbolic integration capabilities offered by the 48SX. Unfortunately the 28s was limited in it's symbolic integration to polynomials. After buying the 48SX I found it to be a very complete system that was only missing some equations. The equations that weren't in the calculator were in my notes so it was not a great hardship. The units were a great help in my physics classes. I knew that if the answer did not have the proper units then I did not set up the problem properly. I became very proficient with the calculator and even preferred to input integrations in the stack, which took at least three lines, instead of the equation writer because I thought it was faster.
My 48SX was stolen back in the 1990s (which is how my ownership of a lot of calculators ended), but I still have the 28S that preceded it somewhere. Wonderful calculators. I still use a 48 emulator on my phone. By default it's in 48G mode but I actually ended up switching it to emulate a 48S because I kept getting accidentally stuck in the menu and wizard interfaces they added to make it easier to use. The 48S was what I was familiar with. At one point when I had the physical calculator, I wrote a 3D graphing utility for it that was more or less identical to the one they later offered as standard software on the 48G. (Not a surprise, since I just extended the design of the existing graphing functionality in the obvious way.) That was the most ambitious program I ever wrote for it. Earlier, I'd written a utility for the 28S that extended its graphing capability to tall scrolling graphs.
I loved playing with mine and kept it for specific uses, but otherwise I hated using it! (late 80s/early-mid 90s) I always preferred my Casio or TI machines once graphing was used in many calculators... Oh that top port cover! I remember using it for something, probably spare batteries or something for whatever other device/toy I'd have with me... Still have an old Casio and TI I love just tossing it a few random equations and play with graphing and zooming in then I'll pull out the batteries and put it back on the shelf. Good times and great video! 🍻🌎❤️🎶🕺🤓 P.S. - to me the battery life for lots of those calculators was almost too good. You had batteries in it, it just worked til they were done for. So, forget for a bit and realize oops, and it still powers on even if dim 🤯
HP 48sx was the chemist calculator! This was the calculator of the early 90's. The Achilles heel is after 25+ years. It has the same issue like many HP calculators, the ribbon starts to fail. another failure is the way it's put together, very hard to take apart, very unfortunate. And with all these faults, it is probably one of the most enduring calculators and probably the last great HP calculator that was made. For anything that HP does today, it's nothing compared to what it was before..
Hold the On button and press (-) to reduce the display's intensity. This one seems to be turned all the way up. I wish SwissMicros would release a modern replacement. I'd enjoy an OLED version of the GX.
Trying to trace a possible candidate ID for an late 70s/early 80s very slim calculator with a 'credit card' form factor (possibly Sharp but just guessing). I very vaguely remember it had a simple game that involved a number counting down, and I think it may have used solar power too. Any ideas?
I’m not sure exactly but it was more likely to be a Casio. They made many credit card sized solar power calculators after the LC-78 released in 78. Some of them did have games, eg the LC-731 played poker. Ledudu has quite a few casio.ledudu.com/pockets.asp?lg=eng&type=435
@@CalculatorCulture BTW, the 48sx is one of my favorite calculators. Got me a mint condition one. I got a wireless printer and 48sx. For $400 back in 1990. -I used to be a Nuclear Reactor Operator in the Navy. I wrote a Nuclear Reactor simulator on it, during my free time. One of the most intuitive calculators ever.
One of the best calculators ever made imo.
I received one of these as an academic award sponsored by HP. One of my favorites.
I bought a HP42S and within months had a HP48GX and then changed the way I thought about calculators. The 48GX was everything I needed.
Great video! I have a 48SX, and agree with the description of the short-comings, however I still feel it is an amazing example of an awesome machine (especially for 1990!) that was so far ahead of all of the competition. I have the equation library card, which really adds so much to this calculator. A quick addition to what you said about this card, the periodic table is amazing, and has like 25 properties for each element that can be pushed to the stack with the proper units automatically added! (the 50g has this built in, but the 48G or GX does not have the periodic table)
And don’t forget the EQ Lib includes minesweeper!
I still have my 48SX! Mine is in mint condition! Out of all my calculators I have in my collection, it is still my favorite! Simply incredible what you are able to do on this brilliant machine! 👍
Fantastic video, Antony! I used my HP-48SX as my primary engineering calculator for over 27 years. I remember driving down to EduCalc back in 1991 to buy it. I really enjoyed watching this video.
Great video, which is just right as the 48SX deserves it for the many reasons you mention. It's hard to cram even just innovative features in, but you hit the big ones quite well IMHO.
To easily see what may not be visible on the menu keys, just press [L-Shift] [Down] and a temporary display spelling out the full name (and type) is shown. This is helpful, but there are so many functions in here, it may not always be enough.
Please keep these videos coming...
Thanks, that's a very helpful tip.
Great tip, I didn't know that. On my 48G is [right-shift][down]. If the sofkeys are variables, it even shows their contents, very neat. Thank you!
I feel like the art of making and joy of using good keyboards for mobile devices has gotten lost with the smartphone era. Wish someone could make a smartphone that also included physical keys like those of the HP calculators.
The HP48SX was a revolutionary calculater. It actually had a total of some 33 object types. Many of those types were not normally directly accessible to the user. some that were were real numbers, complex numbers, strings, real arrays, complex arrays lists, global names, local names programs, algebraics, graphic objects. Binary Integers, unit objects. library names, directories, libraries.
The most complex objects were libraries some of which were built-in and created the command set for the HP48SX. The calculator had no means to create a library but libraries to create other libraries could be downloaded.
❤ “The Art of Electronics” by Horowitz and Hill (6 minutes into the video) Both the book and the 48SX were vital parts of my EE studies back in the early 1990s. Thanks for this great video!
Ditto. A great book and a great calculator to solve the exercises. 🙂
I used both in physics grad school (and met Horowitz, who was working on SETI).
Perfect for engineering practice, not as the Prime which is for students. I miss these 48 49 and 50s...
IMHO hp missed the chance to bring out the 50g with the display of the Prime - THAT would have been an awesome machine!
@@raspam So true...
Another great video, thank you. I sold my 48SX to get a 48G. Which was stolen during a visit to a hackerspace. Last time I went to a hackerspace.
Great video! I have a 48GX which I used for college. Thanks for the information about the RAM card for the 48 series. I was looking for it.
48gx is the better calc
2:45 I think the HP 48SX was actually introduced before the HP 32SII, so it's probably the other way round wrt influence with the 2 shift keys and so on. A great calculator, the 48 SX, probably the best series. I still have mine and it's working fine. Great keyboard we don't see anymore with cheap calculators (or even expensive ones like the Swissmicros).
That's a good point.
This is another terrific video. Thanks so much!
Let’s go ! I remember those from hs and college days. I had a 20s and then a 48g
I enjoyed this video. I had a TI-59 that I used in college because I couldn't afford the HP-41C. I later won an HP-11C in a raffle that I used extensively when I didn't need the software I developed for the TI-59. The '59 served me through graduate school (supplemented with the 11C).
The TI-59 was finally replaced in the late 1980s with an HP-28S (or C model, I can't recall) which was a frustrating machine for me -- I had issues with the hinge connection. Hence I bought an HP-48GX when they came out and discarded the 28.
I developed a lot of programs for that HP-48GX to solve practical civil engineering programs. I used them when I taught civil engineering and still use them today.
Four-years ago I bought a HP-41CX. What a nice machine. I also have some of Swiss Micros calculators and think that their HP-41CX and HP-42S implementations are very nice, especially the large LCD display. What a lovely display that is.
Talking about history... my "calculator career" began with an borrowed ti-30 back in the early 80's, then I switched to the Sharp EL-512 (with memory for 4 formulas - yeah), later to the ti-54 (which keyboard sucks, but it could deal with complex numbers) and in the end of highschool I was the proud owner of one of the first Casio fx-7000Gs with graphics and whopping 422 bytes of memory.
In the university I heavily used an Casio fx-850P (pimped to internal 64 KB RAM and an RTC). When I graduated, I switched to hp-48GX (I literally inhaled the AUR- manual) and later to its successor hp 50G which I use still today.
Based on my experience with various calculators, I can say that durability and functionality of hp's is unbeatable.
I bought the 48SX to replace a 28s. I needed the symbolic integration capabilities offered by the 48SX. Unfortunately the 28s was limited in it's symbolic integration to polynomials. After buying the 48SX I found it to be a very complete system that was only missing some equations. The equations that weren't in the calculator were in my notes so it was not a great hardship. The units were a great help in my physics classes. I knew that if the answer did not have the proper units then I did not set up the problem properly. I became very proficient with the calculator and even preferred to input integrations in the stack, which took at least three lines, instead of the equation writer because I thought it was faster.
I wish Swiss Micros would do an RPL calculator.. I'd love to have newRPL or DB48X on that hardware platform, with it's wonderful display.
I remain hopeful that Swiss Micros will bring out their version of a 48GX ..... one day.
Looks like this guy is doing exactly that, and has done a lot:
th-cam.com/video/G27n-0BLCww/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SoVVuvCWGVrXbc3C
th-cam.com/video/G27n-0BLCww/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SoVVuvCWGVrXbc3C
I heard that it's on the way now@@channelsixtysix066
I'm still hunting for a 48, but I do have my DM-42 to keep me warm in the meanwhile.
Thanks for a great vid!
Epic overview of an epic calculator.
9:36
My 48SX was stolen back in the 1990s (which is how my ownership of a lot of calculators ended), but I still have the 28S that preceded it somewhere. Wonderful calculators.
I still use a 48 emulator on my phone. By default it's in 48G mode but I actually ended up switching it to emulate a 48S because I kept getting accidentally stuck in the menu and wizard interfaces they added to make it easier to use. The 48S was what I was familiar with.
At one point when I had the physical calculator, I wrote a 3D graphing utility for it that was more or less identical to the one they later offered as standard software on the 48G. (Not a surprise, since I just extended the design of the existing graphing functionality in the obvious way.) That was the most ambitious program I ever wrote for it. Earlier, I'd written a utility for the 28S that extended its graphing capability to tall scrolling graphs.
I loved playing with mine and kept it for specific uses, but otherwise I hated using it! (late 80s/early-mid 90s) I always preferred my Casio or TI machines once graphing was used in many calculators... Oh that top port cover! I remember using it for something, probably spare batteries or something for whatever other device/toy I'd have with me... Still have an old Casio and TI I love just tossing it a few random equations and play with graphing and zooming in then I'll pull out the batteries and put it back on the shelf. Good times and great video! 🍻🌎❤️🎶🕺🤓
P.S. - to me the battery life for lots of those calculators was almost too good. You had batteries in it, it just worked til they were done for. So, forget for a bit and realize oops, and it still powers on even if dim 🤯
Have you seen the original 48 keyboard design? Ive only seen one Picture on the internet of it
No I’ve never heard of that. Was that from an early prototype?
Nice video, thanks for sharing with us, well done :)
HP 48sx was the chemist calculator! This was the calculator of the early 90's. The Achilles heel is after 25+ years. It has the same issue like many HP calculators, the ribbon starts to fail. another failure is the way it's put together, very hard to take apart, very unfortunate. And with all these faults, it is probably one of the most enduring calculators and probably the last great HP calculator that was made. For anything that HP does today, it's nothing compared to what it was before..
Hold the On button and press (-) to reduce the display's intensity. This one seems to be turned all the way up.
I wish SwissMicros would release a modern replacement. I'd enjoy an OLED version of the GX.
I use it still every day.😊
since you've already covered the 50g, what about the 49g?
Yes I will at some point. The story around Metakernel, Erable and AL68 is an interesting one.
Absolutely! And the story started right here with the HS48SX
Cool calculators, but the UI is painfully slow and the LCD is pretty bad.
Yes, HP 48G / G+/GX or 50 are more enjoyable to work with.
24:06 How does the display compare to that on early Casio ClassPads? I own a ClassPad and cannot read its LCD indoors.
My one beef with the 48 series is the low contrast of the display. The 50g is much better.
Si possono portare allo esame?
Trying to trace a possible candidate ID for an late 70s/early 80s very slim calculator with a 'credit card' form factor (possibly Sharp but just guessing). I very vaguely remember it had a simple game that involved a number counting down, and I think it may have used solar power too. Any ideas?
I’m not sure exactly but it was more likely to be a Casio. They made many credit card sized solar power calculators after the LC-78 released in 78. Some of them did have games, eg the LC-731 played poker. Ledudu has quite a few casio.ledudu.com/pockets.asp?lg=eng&type=435
@@CalculatorCulture Thanks for the info and link.
❤
You never told us who T. A. Was below the spc bar.
I presume they are the initials of the previous owner. they are on the back also.
@@CalculatorCulture BTW, the 48sx is one of my favorite calculators.
Got me a mint condition one.
I got a wireless printer and 48sx. For $400 back in 1990.
-I used to be a Nuclear Reactor Operator in the Navy. I wrote a Nuclear Reactor simulator on it, during my free time.
One of the most intuitive calculators ever.
Good video!!!
I have a HP-48GX.