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Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:17 am
by Thomas Okken
keithdalby wrote:
Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:15 pm
etn wrote:
Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:26 pm
Another option would be to create a debug menu, for instance accessible from the PGM.FCN menu?
That'd be my preference. Don't want too many esoteric shift functions to remember
The problem with a debug menu is that it would interfere with program-controlled menus.

I'm leaning towards a special debug skin, with some extra buttons for debugging, and where those buttons would completely bypass the normal keyboard handling, so even GETKEY wouldn't catch them. Of course that approach does not translate to the DM42... And I'm totally over-thinking this...

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:22 am
by Thomas Okken
keithdalby wrote:
Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:31 pm
GIFs or even BMPs that grow. A virtual printer.
In other words, how Free42 emulates the printer everywhere except in the DM42. :)

I would vote for the DM42 supporting both: driving a real 82240, and printing to the screen / text files / GIF files.

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:56 am
by toml_12953
Thomas Okken wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:22 am
keithdalby wrote:
Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:31 pm
GIFs or even BMPs that grow. A virtual printer.
In other words, how Free42 emulates the printer everywhere except in the DM42. :)

I would vote for the DM42 supporting both: driving a real 82240, and printing to the screen / text files / GIF files.
I don't mind virtual printing support being added as long as support for printing to a physical printer isn't dropped. Being able to print is the one reason I bought the DM42 over other calculators.

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:48 am
by mcc
Hi,

I would like to mention, that a Bigger Alpha Register woud make it possible to use the whole wonderful :) screen for program
output, if sized in a way, that with the smallest font available the whole could be filled.

This would make displaying multiple results much more readable and appealing.
If this could be compbined with ability to mix it graphics -- oh man/woman YEAH!
...hrrrmmm....sorry. Should be EAHY! (RPN)

Cheers,
Meino

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 6:39 am
by Walter
mcc wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:48 am
YEAH!
...hrrrmmm....sorry. Should be EAHY! (RPN)
Which strange dialect of RPN is that?
(Looks like an output of SHUFFLE of WP34S.)

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 6:45 am
by dlachieze
Walter wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 6:39 am
(Looks like an output of SHUFFLE of WP34S.)
Just a standard RPN Roll Down... ;)

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:34 am
by RAPo
May I propose the following:
introduce negative flag numbers for tailoring new DM42 functionality and separating it from the work from Thomas?
We could introduce a debugflag (e.g. SF -1) do all the things we need to do (i.de. hack into the keyboardmap, showing special info on the nice DM42 screen etc) without worrying breaking existing programs.

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:44 am
by toml_12953
RAPo wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:34 am
May I propose the following:
introduce negative flag numbers for tailoring new DM42 functionality and separating it from the work from Thomas?
We could introduce a debugflag (e.g. SF -1) do all the things we need to do (i.de. hack into the keyboardmap, showing special info on the nice DM42 screen etc) without worrying breaking existing programs.
The problem with that is that the HP 42S (and Free 42) use the absolute value of flag numbers and some people have taken advantage of that in their programs. To maintain compatibility, negative numbers can't be used.

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:40 am
by grsbanks
toml_12953 wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:44 am
The problem with that is that the HP 42S (and Free 42) use the absolute value of flag numbers and some people have taken advantage of that in their programs. To maintain compatibility, negative numbers can't be used.
The same applies to register numbers, which is why virtual variables were introduced.

Re: Bigger ALPHA register

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:58 am
by Krauts In Space
toml_12953 wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:44 am
RAPo wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:34 am
May I propose the following:
introduce negative flag numbers for tailoring new DM42 functionality and separating it from the work from Thomas?
We could introduce a debugflag (e.g. SF -1) do all the things we need to do (i.de. hack into the keyboardmap, showing special info on the nice DM42 screen etc) without worrying breaking existing programs.
The problem with that is that the HP 42S (and Free 42) use the absolute value of flag numbers and some people have taken advantage of that in their programs. To maintain compatibility, negative numbers can't be used.
So "floating point" flags aren't a good idea?
At least my HP41 doesn't moan about that (1.1 SF IND ST X).