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HP-35：消费电子产品的起源故事
The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story
2018 — 2025，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这篇文章回顾了惠普 HP-35——世界上第一台掌上科学计算器——的诞生历程，从 Bill Hewlett 要求工程师造出一台能装进口袋的计算器，到它如何终结了计算尺时代。文章从工业设计与消费电子史的角度，讲述这款 1972 年产品的设计细节与深远影响。
为什么经久不衰：它记录了消费电子黄金时代的一个标志性产品，兼具设计史与技术史价值，对今天做硬件和产品的人仍有启发。
HN 评论精选
HP 主动召回有 bug 的产品，体现了那个时代的诚信，用户反而因此更信任 HP
HP-35 的数值算法精度超过了当时大多数大型机，只能靠人工对照数学表来验证结果，还是漏掉了一些 bug。比如 2.02 取对数再取指数会得到 2 而不是 2.02。发现 bug 时 HP 已卖出 25,000 台。在会议上，Dave Packard 问怎么处理已售出的机器，有人说“别告诉用户？”Packard 的铅笔当场折断，他说：“谁说的？我们要告诉所有人并主动提供更换。宁可一分钱不赚，也不能让有问题的产品留在市面上。”结果只有不到四分之一的机器被退回，大多数人宁愿留着这台有 bug 的计算器和 HP 那封主动召回的通知。
teraflop查看英文原文
An anecdote about the HP-35, from the HP Museum (http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp35.htm): > The HP-35 had numerical algorithms that exceeded the precision of most mainframe computers at the time. [...] This forced time-consuming manual comparisons of results to mathematical tables. A few bugs got through this process. For example: 2.02 ln e^x resulted in 2 rather than 2.02. When the bug was discovered, HP had already sold 25,000 units which was a huge volume for the company. In a meeting, Dave Packard asked what they were going to do about the units already in the field and someone in the crowd said "Don't tell?" At this Packard's pencil snapped and he said: "Who said that? We're going to tell everyone and offer them, a replacement. It would be better to never make a dime of profit than to have a product out there with a problem". It turns out that less than a quarter of the units were returned. Most people preferred to keep their buggy calculator and the notice from HP offering the replacement. And here is a scan of that recall notice: https://imgur.com/K1k0cSQ (original source: http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-2821.html)
科学计算器彻底改变了工程师的工作方式，是划时代的工具
科学计算器对工业界的冲击怎么强调都不为过。我的叔公是巴拿马运河公司的工程师，因为计算尺精度不够，他得随身带着厚厚的对数表。HP-35 一上市他就立刻买了，欣喜若狂。我父母后来给我买了 TI SR-52，那是我能想象的最酷的东西，按键上的数字都被我磨掉了。
ChuckMcM查看英文原文
It really is hard to over state the impact that scientific calculators had on industry. My great uncle who was an engineer at the Panama Canal company had log tables, these were tables of logarithmic values given a number, and the inverse. He needed the heavy tome because he couldn't get enough digits of precision out of his slide rule. He was one of those people who immediately bought an HP-35 when it came out and was thrilled. My parents bought me the TI SR-52 when it came out and it was the coolest thing I could imagine. I wore the numbers off the keycaps on that thing.
文章忽略了 Olivetti Programma 101 对 HP 计算器研发的关键贡献
我觉得文章漏了一点：HP 9100A 是在 HP 收购 Olivetti Programma 101 的专利及其意大利研发实验室之后开发的。Programma 101 是史上第一台个人电脑，也是第一台真正能放在桌面上的计算机，还首创了可读写程序的磁卡，是磁带和软盘的前身。这些专利和实验室对 HP 9100A 及其后的革命至关重要。意大利人当年赢了这场竞赛，比盖茨和乔布斯早了十多年。
gioscarab查看英文原文
I think the article misses that the HP 9100A was developed after HP acquired the patent of Olivetti Programma 101 and its italian r&d electronics laboratory. Programma 101 was the first personal computer ever made and the first to actually fit on a desktop. It was also the first to use the magnetic card that was able to read and save programs, the precursor of cassettes and floppy disks or the first memory format based on "magnetic paint". The patents and the laboratory sold to HP were fundamental to fuel the revolution of the following years and to make the HP 9100A. Italians won that race at the time, more than a decade before Gates and Jobs. I had the luck to become friend of one of the engineers of the machine, Gastone Garziera, his funniest quote when he finishes to describe his masterpiece is "Very very easy, as americans say".
工程师出身的创始人凭直觉做产品，是今天 MBA 式管理难以复制的
这个故事最精彩之处在于，Hewlett 本人是工程师，能凭直觉找到产品与市场的契合点。你无法想象一个从财务部门爬上来的 MBA 会有这种洞察力——他在 1971 年绝不会冒那个险。
goatinaboat查看英文原文
What is great about this story is the way that Hewlett, an engineer himself, was able to use his intuition to achieve product-market fit, you cannot imagine an MBA who came up through the finance department having his sort of insight, he would never had taken on that risk in 1971. There is a modern reboot of this, the HP-35s, LCD display but the same curved case.
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