If Swiss Micro could release...

[Han]

... a calculator based on the EMU42 rather than Free42. Then one could simply use a ROM from among the list of: HP14B, HP17B, HP17BII, HP27S, HP32SII and HP42S

All those Pioneers would be really nice to have. If the calc accepts a micro SD card, we could have them all on a single platform. They could sell individual DM**P (P here standing for Pioneer) models with specific keyboards, or a generic DM**P model and sell overlays for those who want a generic piece of hardware.

[Thomas Radtke]

Free42 was probably easier to license, as it comes with the GNU GPL already.

[Han]

Well, from http://hp.giesselink.com/Emu42/EMU42.HTM:

Quote:Emu42 - A HP14B/17B/17BII/19BII/22S/27S/28S/32S/32SII/42S Emulator
Copyright (C) 2015 Christoph Gießelink

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

[Dave Britten]

Personally, I'd rather have it running easily maintainable GPL code, rather than a custom emulator and a blob of binary ROM image that would be tremendously difficult to debug/extend. Though having an option for running an emulation of other Pioneers not covered by Free42 would be a nice extra.

[brickviking]

(02-24-2016 06:52 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Personally, I'd rather have it running easily maintainable GPL code, rather than a custom emulator and a blob of binary ROM image that would be tremendously difficult to debug/extend. Though having an option for running an emulation of other Pioneers not covered by Free42 would be a nice extra.

As I remember, Chris Gießelink licenced the emulator itself as GPL, but the emulator still requires a valid ROM from a suitable HP to work. That ROM isn't (obviously) licenced as anything else but commercial. As such, SwissMicros (I'm surmising here) would still have to approach HP for the rights to either the ROM, or something along those lines. IANAL so these comments should obviously be taken at the value they have.

(Post 50)

[Han]

With respect to ROMs, you are quite right -- SwissMicro would not have any rights to distribute it. However, I imagine that if they developed the hardware and firmware (modified emulation) they might still have a reasonable market (perhaps wishful thinking on my part) even if they did not distribute any ROM. The ROM extraction would be something that the users would be responsible for. This is how it has always been for many emulators not directly supported by the company whose product was being emulated.

[Steve Simpkin]

Regarding *possible* firmware copyright status of earlier (prior to 1984) HP Calculators:
http://nonpareil.brouhaha.com/microcode_...ht_status/

Then there is the last "news" for this site from 2008:
"23-AUG-2008: Voyager calculator models have been removed in release 0.79 due to licensing issues."
http://nonpareil.brouhaha.com/

I am not sure what to think of the copyright status of these earlier ROMS.

[Dave Britten]

(02-24-2016 08:44 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  Regarding *possible* firmware copyright status of earlier (prior to 1984) HP Calculators:
http://nonpareil.brouhaha.com/microcode_...ht_status/

Then there is the last "news" for this site from 2008:
"23-AUG-2008: Voyager calculator models have been removed in release 0.79 due to licensing issues."
http://nonpareil.brouhaha.com/

I am not sure what to think of the copyright status of these earlier ROMS.

Very interesting. Always wondered about the licensing (or lack thereof) on these old calculator ROMs with regards to emulators and clones. If it's fair game by law, then more power to 'em, I say.

Does the current (or any post-1984) iteration of the 12C or 15C LE bear appropriate copyright notices to afford it protection, and can it gain that protection retroactively by doing that? Not that this question needs to be extensively researched or anything; just idle curiosity.

[Thomas Radtke]

(02-24-2016 08:44 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  I am not sure what to think of the copyright status of these earlier ROMS.

No license - no copyright.