HP 41

No clue Shelby...

But then I have been using the same software in my 41(s), that I wrote back in the late 70s! I don't think that a day goes by without using one of the routines, and I KNOW that I pick it up DOZENS of times a day for something or another.

I still have 5 of them, and they all still work (altough two of them have a sticky key or two). When the last ones goes, I'll have to follow...

🙂
Loyal

Shelby-I've got the "Keys Surveying" module in my 41CX-great program. If I recall correctly, the author, Fred McMichael, is a full time pastor and part time surveyor out of Texas.

This is the best basic stuff ever written in my opinion!

Zengrange was one major outfit that made programmable modules for the 41C. If you have the programming tools (hardware interfaces) you can take your own native 41C programs and 'burn them' into the module. This was a significant innovation over the custom ROM's which took possibly 10's of thousands of $ to get HP to make a run. The technology was used in the early CO-OP 41C system modules which was actually produced by TDS in it's infancy. Sort of coming along at the end of the 41C run in the market, it became and inexpensive (once you had the hardware) way to produce custom modules.

The modules are now fairly rare. Underneath a label on the side is a window which if exposed to strong UV light will erase the module programming, allowing it to be reprogrammed if you had the equipment.

I worked 'with' TDS at one time to develope an in house data collection system and have had some of the hardware to program the modules and a few years ago picked up some additional one off of ebay.

For example, I took a bunch of my own programs and burned them into a module so I do not necessarily have to worry about the cards, cardreader, tapes and tape drive or IL interface floppy drive hardware to access that stuff.

As I recall the module contains 4 4k programmable blocks. These could be configured as an 8K module or a 16K module. In the addressing scheme of the 41C if you had a 16K module it would occupy the address space for an adjacent physical module port. and so forth..

The 41C was the cat's meow when it came to the personal programmable calculator era.

- jlw

Got my 41CX on Day 1 of surveying courses back in the day. It was a large sum of money at the time but my first "investment" in my career. I remember thinking I would never need to buy a new one because I would never know how to make it do everything it was capable of. I still have it but it is in a box in my basement because I upgraded to my two 48gx's about six years later. Still use the 48's daily - one in my office and one in my truck.

I hated to quit using mine so I added a new function. Might as well make it dual purpose.

I still use my 41CX on a daily basis that I purchased in 1989. I also have two HP41's (batteries removed) at home for backups just in case. The infrared HP printer worked when I last used it 15 years ago, but the paper might be now be bad.

same here, except I only have 1 brand new backup...

If you have an iPhone you should check out the i41CX!

Haha....
I wonder, if you have that infrared insert, if you could figure out the right codes for your tv.....? I still have my cx, infrared printer and module and extended memory module, card reader, and I don't remember what else.

Deral...

Where did you get that mouse pad?

Deral...

> Where did you get that mouse pad?

Yeah man, I need one of those mouse pads too.

Nice cheat sheet for the desk.

HP 41 - true story based on imperfect memory

Like many others, I have an HP41-CX containing, among others, programs that I wrote. I still use it every day.

But,years ago I was the Faculty Advisor for the Student Chapter at Oregon's Institute of Technology. On a field trip in the late 1980's (or early 1990's)we visited the HP plant in Corvallis, Oregon. It was an impressive tour that ended in a long hallway behind the receptionist desk. HP had a display of HP calculators on the wall starting, I believe, with the HP-35 and leading up to the (then) present. The surveying students in the group commented that the HP-41 was by far the best calculator HP ever built. One even asked the question, "Will HP start making the 41 again?" Our tour guide responded, "Yes, management did decide to make more HP-41's, but we couldn't find the recipe."

I still have a 41CV with the survey module that all works. I got it when I was a senior in college in 1984. I still have all the books and boxs. It seems like a looked at them in e-bay a few years back and they were worth as much or more than a HP48.

Deral...

Not really my picture. It was on my facebook feed yesterday. Not sure who's it was.

Thanks for all the responses, I think it goes without saying that the HP 41 is/was one of the most loved calculators ever for surveyors. I bought my first in 1979 (maybe 1980) and still have it along with two others now.

SHG

Actually the HP 42 aced the HP 41 BUT HP for some reason left out the I/O ports so you couldn't save programs to mass storage media. The programming language was the same as the HP 42 but as I recall it operated faster. I still have a working HP 42 that I program with Sokkia solar shot instructions once in a while, a very nice calculator.

T.W.

Getting one for Christmas . My last one was stolen out of my car back in college when i worked at night , to put my self through school. Client of mine had one in the box with manuals . Wifey getting it for christmas. She was going to just give to her because she wanted a good home for it. Good times

Deral...

Those mouse pads were produced by BLM Cadastral Survey, Eastern States where I worked my last 20 years. They would often give them away at seminars and conferences such as ACSM where they had a booth. I think they have 'reprinted' them several times. There is a version which is incorrect in the identification of sections in the 1 tier of adjacent townships and so a rare collectors item.

Perhaps you can inquire at www.glorecords.blm.gov and make a request and perhaps they can add it to some kind of order form or something for a nominal fee.

- jerry