HP 35s Calculator

[airship]

The Wikipedia article on the 8502 CPU used in the C128 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_8502 ) claims that the HP 35s calculator ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_35s ), released in 2007, uses the same chip!

This article ( http://www.embedded.com/underthehood/205918957?pgno=1 ) talks about the 8502, and shows the 35s circuit board. It says the 8502 inside is manufactured by a Taiwanese company called 'Surplus Technology' (which according to the Googles may actually be Thai). The chip is potted on the board. The article also says...

The 8502 that's used here also contains the system's power management and all the typical chip-set functions. This includes an LCD diver, a keyboard controller, and so on.

...which means that only a part of the mask is being used for the 8502 itself.



The article adds that the calculator firmware is also on the 8502 chip mask. A commenter on the thread points out that the 'flash' memory is actually 32K x 8 of RAM.

All of which begs the question: Could the code be 'liberated' and turned into an HP calculator program for the C128?

[StyleCHM]

perhaps the only similarity is the number?

[airship]

perhaps the only similarity is the number?

Well, whoever edited the Wikipedia article claims it's the same chip, if they know what they're talking about.

The article linked to above says this (though admittedly it could be wrong):

The 8502 is designed by Sunplus Technology, a Taiwanese company. It's based on the 6502, an 8-bit processor that first appeared on the Commodore 64, which was popular around the same time that I purchased my 15c.

With no more than it's doing, and with the amount of RAM and flash that it's addressing, there's no reason I can see why it couldn't be an 8502.