Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Getting an HP calculator for free
I love HP calculators! I have used a 48SX, 48GX, 49G, and I currently have a 50G at work. Pauline's still got her HP28 at home that she uses periodically.
I recently found out that HP makes many of their calculator ROMs available for free, for nonprofit use. That means you can download the ROM, run an emulator program, and presto! you have a free HP calculator that otherwise would cost lots of money.
Here's a step-by-step for Windows:
1. To get an HP49G: Here's the file: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp49/pc/emulators/calc.exe. Click on it, save the file, then run the exe. Unzip the files into a directory of your choosing (I used c:\program files\hp49), then look at the files that have been unzipped. The one called "YUserfast.exe" is the one you want--create a shortcut to it, and place the shortcut in your start menu, on your desktop, or both. It is the ROM and emulator combined.
I didn't like the 49G emulator too much myself because (a) it defaults to non RPN notation, and (b) it didn't register the numbers on my numeric keypad quite right. If you don't like RPN, though, and are OK with clicking virtual calculator buttons with your mouse, though, it's great.
On to the next one:
2. To get an HP49G: This is a little more complicated because the ROM and emulator have to be downloaded separately.
a. Download the emulator. Here's the file: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/emu48v147setup.zip. Click on the link, save the file, and open the zip. Run the exe file, pick a place for the program (I used the default, C:\Program Files\HP-Emulators\Emu48), and install it.
b. Download the ROM. Here's the file: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/gxrom-r.zip. Click on the link, save the file, and open the zip. Save the file "gxrom-r" into the emulator directory (C:\Program Files\HP-Emulators\Emu48).
c. Convert the ROM into the proper format. Open a DOS window in the emulator directory and type "convert gxrom-r ROM.48G". That creates a new file called "ROM.48G".
d. You should be good to go! Run the Emu48 program (you should automatically have a start menu entry), select "Casey's Gx with Toolbar and Touch Screen" as the script, and you've got a very nice HP48GX! (Running in RPN :-) )
You can also similarly get an HP calculator for free for your Palm pilot, by downloading & installing an emulator program, and downloading, converting, and installing the ROM file. See the "Power48 for PalmOS 5.0 1.5.1" about 2/3 down the page here: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/. If you can't get that figured out, email me for more details.
I recently found out that HP makes many of their calculator ROMs available for free, for nonprofit use. That means you can download the ROM, run an emulator program, and presto! you have a free HP calculator that otherwise would cost lots of money.
Here's a step-by-step for Windows:
1. To get an HP49G: Here's the file: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp49/pc/emulators/calc.exe. Click on it, save the file, then run the exe. Unzip the files into a directory of your choosing (I used c:\program files\hp49), then look at the files that have been unzipped. The one called "YUserfast.exe" is the one you want--create a shortcut to it, and place the shortcut in your start menu, on your desktop, or both. It is the ROM and emulator combined.
I didn't like the 49G emulator too much myself because (a) it defaults to non RPN notation, and (b) it didn't register the numbers on my numeric keypad quite right. If you don't like RPN, though, and are OK with clicking virtual calculator buttons with your mouse, though, it's great.
On to the next one:
2. To get an HP49G: This is a little more complicated because the ROM and emulator have to be downloaded separately.
a. Download the emulator. Here's the file: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/emu48v147setup.zip. Click on the link, save the file, and open the zip. Run the exe file, pick a place for the program (I used the default, C:\Program Files\HP-Emulators\Emu48), and install it.
b. Download the ROM. Here's the file: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/gxrom-r.zip. Click on the link, save the file, and open the zip. Save the file "gxrom-r" into the emulator directory (C:\Program Files\HP-Emulators\Emu48).
c. Convert the ROM into the proper format. Open a DOS window in the emulator directory and type "convert gxrom-r ROM.48G". That creates a new file called "ROM.48G".
d. You should be good to go! Run the Emu48 program (you should automatically have a start menu entry), select "Casey's Gx with Toolbar and Touch Screen" as the script, and you've got a very nice HP48GX! (Running in RPN :-) )
You can also similarly get an HP calculator for free for your Palm pilot, by downloading & installing an emulator program, and downloading, converting, and installing the ROM file. See the "Power48 for PalmOS 5.0 1.5.1" about 2/3 down the page here: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/. If you can't get that figured out, email me for more details.
# posted by John Colton @ 10:33 AM 
