Annuciators

Post here to share useful tips and tricks, to ask questions about using your DM42 or to report software-related problems
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akaTB
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Re: Annuciators

Post by akaTB »

rprosperi wrote:
Thu Dec 28, 2017 5:57 pm
akaTB wrote:
Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:55 pm
First time I saw the term goose was on William C. Wickes' Synthetic programming on the HP-41C
I think the word "goose" for that 'cursor' was first used in an issue of PPC Journal (but may have been Key Notes), but widespread use followed Bill Wickes' famous book as Massimo points out.

""Goose" sticks in the mind of anyone that read that book, since it explained the use of synthetics to make the goose appear to fly backwards (it normally flew forwards across the screen to see program operation was proceeding) plus a heretical reference to the trailing period in the display as a goose dropping.
Oh Bob, those were the times. I had no access to PPC Journal or Key Notes at the time. I found Wickes' book at UNI bookshop and spent three/four nights devouring it and locking my 41C (once an hard lock that took more than a night without batteries to recover).
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    Massimo
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Leechpool
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Re: Annuciators

Post by Leechpool »

I worked out what was setting the Flag 1 annunciator on my DM42. It was the "Convert" programme (converts between units, e.g. cm to ft etc.). (At least I know about flags now).
:)
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4ster
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Re: Annuciators

Post by 4ster »

I noticed that Convert uses at least one flag, but I have not been able to figure out if this is for program house keeping or if it is intended for program control by the user. I didn't see any mention of flag use in the documentation on the Free42 site. In case Thomas Okken sees this... Thomas, do you know?
Steve
Acquired in order: HP 41CV, CMT MC-GPS, HP 41CX, DM41, DM42!
Thomas Okken
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Re: Annuciators

Post by Thomas Okken »

4ster wrote:
Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:23 pm
I noticed that Convert uses at least one flag, but I have not been able to figure out if this is for program house keeping or if it is intended for program control by the user. I didn't see any mention of flag use in the documentation on the Free42 site. In case Thomas Okken sees this... Thomas, do you know?
I didn't write Convert, but a quick glance suggests that it uses flag 1 to keep track of whether it expects a number to be entered by the user or not.
As a user, you should just ignore that annunciator when using Convert.

Bear in mind that the HP-42S doesn't have these flag annunciators, so programs written specifically for the HP-42S (or Free42) don't use those flags in order to communicate status information to the user -- unlike the HP-41, where it was guaranteed that the user would see the states of flags 0 through 4.
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4ster
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Re: Annuciators

Post by 4ster »

Thanks! I am so used to the 41 that the differences trip me up. I have never used a 42s so am doubly slow on the finer points. I had not realized until now that the 42s doesn't display user flags as does the DM42. It makes sense as a programer to use 0-4 for housekeeping if they are not displayed.
Steve
Acquired in order: HP 41CV, CMT MC-GPS, HP 41CX, DM41, DM42!
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salvomic
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Re: Annuciators

Post by salvomic »

Leechpool wrote:
Tue Jan 09, 2018 5:31 pm
I worked out what was setting the Flag 1 annunciator on my DM42. It was the "Convert" programme (converts between units, e.g. cm to ft etc.). (At least I know about flags now).
:)
I was going to ask the same thing about "1" annunciator...
I'm using Convert (very good program!) and so it is the "culprit", well :)

Salvo
∫aL√0mic (IT9CLU) :: DM42 (SN: 00881), DM41X (SN 00523), DM16, HP Prime, 50g, 41CX, 42s, 71b, 15C, 12C, 35s, WP34s -- Free42
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salvomic
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Re: Annuciators

Post by salvomic »

sorry to resume this thread, but I'm remembering of this using Triangle program (https://thomasokken.com/free42/42progs/Triangle.txt) that uses flags and annunciators from 1 to 6...

I can ignore them, but I wonder if there is a way to lit off them all at once.

Salvo
∫aL√0mic (IT9CLU) :: DM42 (SN: 00881), DM41X (SN 00523), DM16, HP Prime, 50g, 41CX, 42s, 71b, 15C, 12C, 35s, WP34s -- Free42
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