WP43 Bug Reports and Maintenance

This area is for discussion about these families of custom high-end Scientific Calculator applications for SwissMicros devices.
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Thomas_ER
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:19 pm
Location: Germany

Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by Thomas_ER »

dlachieze wrote:
Thu Nov 17, 2022 9:23 am
Some issues on my WP43 pilot unit #42 (FW 0.23.1)

...
B. How to exit DMCP menu?
Having taken some screen shots I connected my WP43 to USB, went to the SYSTEM menu (g MODE g SYSTEM) to activate the USB Disk, copied the files then ejected the WP43 on my PC. So far everything went smoothly as expected.
But when I was back to the DMCP menu I didn't found any clean way to exit this menu and go back to the WP43 program. The EXIT key (bottom right) as well as the backspace key acted as ON/OFF. The bottom left (EXIT on the DM42) had no effect.
The only way I found was to choose option 2 Run Program, but then all my memory and programs were cleared.
So is there another way to exit from the DMCP menu without a memory clear ??
On my unit I have DMCP v3.24 (IFC 03.15) BASE

EDIT: One point to note is that at first power-on it was showing a DMCP screen saying “Incompatible Program”, I chose option 1. Start WP43 Anyway (not safe) and the unit started correctly.
I have this same "Incompatible Program" screen every time I select the Run Program option from the DMCP menu.
I’ve seen this issue reported a couple of times here and here but not seen any answer.
Currently BATT? reports 2.692.
B. Confirmed.
Should this be adressed to SwissMicros?

I (and probably all pilot users) would be very happy if someone commits to this.
Regardless of whether the WP43 will not go into production, I think this error(s) should be corrected.

A response would be very desirable.

Many thanks in advance!
[ HP48/49/50/42S/WP34/HP Prime/ DM42 (#00185+00318) ]
rprosperi
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Location: New York

Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by rprosperi »

There is no way to 'exit' from DMCP, because there is no where to go to. From DMCP, you proceed by running a program. It's analogous to being in Windows in Explorer or macOS in Finder- there is nowhere to exit back to; this is the place that one runs applications from. On the DM platform, applications are run from DMCP (the OS/BIOS), DMCP is not running under the application.

The fact that when launching the WP43 application everything is cleared, is a decision (or possibly a bug) made by the WP43 team; I've noticed this behavior of course, but can't say for sure if clearing memory on startup is a deliberate design decision for app behavior during early testing or not, only the dev-team can answer that.
--bob p

DM42: β00071 & 00282, DM41X: β00071 & 00656, DM10L: 071/100
Thomas_ER
Posts: 192
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Location: Germany

Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by Thomas_ER »

Hello Bob,
Thanks for the clarification!
I remembered from DM42 that from the setup menu (which is needed to activate the USB disk) you are subsequently back in the application with EXIT. OK, the difference is, that this is a SETUP menu.
(exactly like this in my DM41X).
My hope is that this should behave the same way when calling SYSTEM from the MODE item (of WP43).
But the use of EXIT switches the calculator OFF, after switching it ON, I'm always back in the DMCP.

Is there another way to do this?
- Does the WP43 / C43 need a SETUP menu within the programm,
or should the call to DMCP menu instead go to an SETUP menu?
- The topic has to be solved with C43 likewise, or am I wrong?

Thanks a lot for your support!
[ HP48/49/50/42S/WP34/HP Prime/ DM42 (#00185+00318) ]
dlachieze
Posts: 613
Joined: Thu May 04, 2017 12:20 pm
Location: France

Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by dlachieze »

Thomas_ER wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 8:44 pm
I remembered from DM42 that from the setup menu (which is needed to activate the USB disk) you are subsequently back in the application with EXIT. OK, the difference is, that this is a SETUP menu.
[…]
The topic has to be solved with C43 likewise, or am I wrong?
Yes, on the DM42 there is a Setup menu you can call from the keyboard (and EXIT returns to the DM42 without clearing the memory). From this Setup menu you can activate the USB disk to transfer files or change settings such as time and date. You can also call the DMCP System menu.
So yes it seems that the WP43 is missing this Setup menu, or a way to activate USB disk or change settings without going to the DMCP System menu, and I suppose this is also the case for the C43 but I’ve not checked.
DM42: 00425 - DM41X: β00066 - WP43: 00042
ben.titmus
Posts: 49
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Location: Cambridge, UK

Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by ben.titmus »

rprosperi wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 8:11 pm
There is no way to 'exit' from DMCP, because there is no where to go to. From DMCP, you proceed by running a program. It's analogous to being in Windows in Explorer or macOS in Finder- there is nowhere to exit back to; this is the place that one runs applications from. On the DM platform, applications are run from DMCP (the OS/BIOS), DMCP is not running under the application.
This is exactly right. The SYSTEM item on WP43/C43 does the same as quitting an application (it literally quits by exiting the equivalent of the main function).
rprosperi wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 8:11 pm
The fact that when launching the WP43 application everything is cleared, is a decision (or possibly a bug) made by the WP43 team; I've noticed this behavior of course, but can't say for sure if clearing memory on startup is a deliberate design decision for app behavior during early testing or not, only the dev-team can answer that.
I don't believe it is safe to do anything other than that. WP43/C43 have global variables which are pointers into memory and there's no reliable way of ensuring that these will be valid addresses. Trying to dereference these would lead to a fault. In fact, as far as I can tell the DM42 also resets when it is started from the DMCP. Certainly the user manual states that "Reset to DMCP menu" leads to "All unsaved data is lost".
dlachieze wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 9:07 pm
Yes, on the DM42 there is a Setup menu you can call from the keyboard (and EXIT returns to the DM42 without clearing the memory). From this Setup menu you can activate the USB disk to transfer files or change settings such as time and date. You can also call the DMCP System menu.
So yes it seems that the WP43 is missing this Setup menu, or a way to activate USB disk or change settings without going to the DMCP System menu, and I suppose this is also the case for the C43 but I’ve not checked.
The DMCP has menu functionality that the WP43/C43 don't use. It is a strange feature of the DM42PGM/DMCP_SDK that this lives in the DMCP rather than the menu code belonging to the DM42PGM which is where I would have expected it. It is possible for WP43/C43 to use this menu, but it wouldn't be trivial. Ideally the interface would be cleaner here (and better documented). But I suspect this isn't a high priority item for SwissMicros at the moment and this could change in DMCP5.

I've raised an issue on C43 for this.
dlachieze
Posts: 613
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Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by dlachieze »

ben.titmus wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 9:57 pm
I've raised an issue on C43 for this.
Thanks !

And for the first issue about long strings slowing down the WP43 to a snail pace, does this also affect the C43?
DM42: 00425 - DM41X: β00066 - WP43: 00042
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Jaymos
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Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by Jaymos »

dlachieze wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:11 pm
ben.titmus wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 9:57 pm
I've raised an issue on C43 for this.
Thanks !

And for the first issue about long strings slowing down the WP43 to a snail pace, does this also affect the C43?
I expect it to be the same for the same reasons due to the same code base.
We may relook at at it later but not right now. I will list it as an issue.
Jaco Mostert
Elec Eng, South Africa
https://47calc.com C47 (s/n 03818 & 06199), WP43 (0015). In box: HP42S, HP32Sii, WP34S&C, HP28C, HP35s, EL-506P, EL-W506, PB700; ex: FX702P, 11C, HP67 & HP85; iOS: 42s Byron, Free42+, WP31S/34S, HCalc.
Thomas_ER
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Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by Thomas_ER »

regarding the DMCP call:
in the meantime, the combination of SAVE before the DMCP call,
and LOAD afterwards helps.
[ HP48/49/50/42S/WP34/HP Prime/ DM42 (#00185+00318) ]
rprosperi
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Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by rprosperi »

On application startup, DM42 automatically loads the last saved state file, so in a sense Ben is right that DM42 does the same, it's merely masked by the fact that the state file is loaded before the user sees the UI. It's certainly not required, but the C43 team could consider doing the same thing, as the last saved state is likely more useful than a blank state.
--bob p

DM42: β00071 & 00282, DM41X: β00071 & 00656, DM10L: 071/100
Nigel (UK)
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 11:08 pm

Re: 43S Bug Reports and Maintenance

Post by Nigel (UK) »

Thomas_ER wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:29 pm
regarding the DMCP call:
in the meantime, the combination of SAVE before the DMCP call,
and LOAD afterwards helps.
Perhaps this saving could be automated when EXIT is invoked, and the saved state automatically reloaded when the program restarts (as with the WP34S port to the DM42)?

Also, there's a DMCP option 2 to "Run Program"; using this rather than "3. Load Program" if the program hasn't changed means that the flash isn't erased and re-written when the program is restarted, saving both battery power and flash lifetime.

Nigel (UK)
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