DM42

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-24-2016 11:47 AM)BartDB Wrote:  My preferred currency just dropped around 8% overnight

Choices, consequences...

[BartDB]

(06-24-2016 12:18 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  

(06-24-2016 11:47 AM)BartDB Wrote:  My preferred currency just dropped around 8% overnight

Choices, consequences...

As a non-British EU national I did not have a choice, but have to live with the consequences.

Back to calculators - I will seriously consider purchasing a DM-42. I use Free42 but like to use a physical calculator too. The 50g is nice but sometimes too cumbersome, and the 35s is just not "it". The Pioneers were a good size, and it seems the DM42 will be a similar size (even a touch smaller).

[lrdheat]

I know this is blasphemy, and would open the door to all sorts of requests, but I would love to have an "X root Y" key on the DM 42...

[Nigel (UK)]

(06-26-2016 02:37 AM)lrdheat Wrote:  I know this is blasphemy, and would open the door to all sorts of requests, but I would love to have an "X root Y" key on the DM 42...

This is merely mild unorthodoxy. To ask for an algebraic mode would be blasphemy!

Nigel (UK)

(Just to be clear, I'm not asking for this!)

[ArneStolti]

(06-26-2016 02:37 AM)lrdheat Wrote:  ... but I would love to have an "X root Y" key on the DM 42...

... and you could not get along with the "y ^ x" which function is (incidentally, I'm sure) together with the "1/x"-button?

[lrdheat]

Doesn't have to be a button...happy to see it in a menu...I will get the 42 regardless...

[JDW]

(05-16-2016 09:02 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Display resolution: 400x240.

My 28S has a display resolution of 137x32 pixels.

So long as it is a black LCD and not blue, and so long as it is crisp and with adjustable contrast, this should be an interesting calc indeed.

Is this really going to be introduced in September this year?

Lastly, have a look at the mockup photo again. Are the buttons going to be that recessed? And are they going to be perfectly flat like that? I would of course want them to stick up a bit and be beveled like the Pioneer series keys.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-29-2016 06:20 AM)JDW Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 09:02 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Display resolution: 400x240.

My 28S has a display resolution of 137x32 pixels.

So long as it is a black LCD and not blue, and so long as it is crisp and with adjustable contrast, this should be an interesting calc indeed.

Is this really going to be introduced in September this year?

Lastly, have a look at the mockup photo again. Are the buttons going to be that recessed? And are they going to be perfectly flat like that? I would of course want them to stick up a bit and be beveled like the Pioneer series keys.

I think it will be ready when it will be ready ;-)
However, until now, Swissmicros have been faithful (and way more!) to their promises.

I don't remember reading "September" anywhere, rather generally "wait for summer", so september could be a safe bet...
Anyway, since I waited until today, I can wait another year. I think that the same platform will be later used for other projects, like the WP34 was for the HP30B (WP36?, if the dynamic trio will find the time to apply). So waiting a little more could also be beneficial.

I think we'll have to wait for the final product to see the true positioning of labels, fonts and colors.
As far as keys are concerned, if you look at the 3D rendering, you will see that they are slanted as are in Pioneers, probably less beveled. But I can't really judge from there.

[JDW]

(06-29-2016 07:26 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  ...like the WP34 was for the HP30B...

That is interesting and useful hack to be sure, but having to place stickers on the buttons certainly isn't desirable for long term use.

[Paul Dale]

(06-29-2016 07:32 AM)JDW Wrote:  That is interesting and useful hack to be sure, but having to place stickers on the buttons certainly isn't desirable for long term use.

Any WP firmware based on the DM hardware will not require stickers. The keys will be properly printed. Given the serious time constraints Marcus and myself are living under at the moment, don't hold your breath: Marcus had the best part of a year off work for the hardware port to the 20b/30b platform. I'd spent 2-3 years before this working on the firmware.


Pauli

[Paul Dale]

(06-23-2016 07:14 AM)J-F Garnier Wrote:  I may ask: what is the purpose of the TOP.FCN command, now that there are dedicated soft keys for the menus?

I do not believe it serves a useful purpose. Better would be to reassign this key position to something useful.


Pauli

[Paul Dale]

(06-24-2016 03:44 PM)BartDB Wrote:  Back to calculators - I will seriously consider purchasing a DM-42.

I'll definitely purchase one as well. Probably two since I'll need a development platform for the next WP device

The current question we've got is should we continue with the WP 36S or move over to the converted Free42 firmware and go for the WP 43S directly. I have no real feeling either way here -- our 36S firmware will be a lot more frugal with memory (flash and RAM) on the device but it will lack features (matrices, possibly complex, strings). Whereas something based on Free42 will have the features but will be more memory intensive.


- Pauli

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-29-2016 07:44 AM)Paul Dale Wrote:  The current question we've got is should we continue with the WP 36S or move over to the converted Free42 firmware and go for the WP 43S directly.

If this was a poll I'd vote for the 43S! ;)

[JDW]

(06-29-2016 07:52 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  ...I'd vote for the 43S!

I must say the 43S certainly is attractive!

[mtern]

Yes,

but please without the cumbersome hp42s alpha menu based input...
Want back the 41 alpha keys....

I'm not sure I understood correctly, but maybe someone said that the DM42 won't have this problem?

[toml_12953]

If the creator is taking asking for suggestions, I'd buy it in a minute if it had the IR port with a greater range than the 50g.

Tom L

[Alejandro Paz(Germany)]

400x240 ? That's a Sharp Memory Display. They are supposedly very low power (but they seem to need 5 V). Only Mouser seems to carry them. Finally a high-resolution display in a calculator !. I'll start saving some money now !.

[Logan]

I like the 43s mockup.

[vido]

(06-29-2016 10:53 AM)mtern Wrote:  please without the cumbersome hp42s alpha menu based input...
Want back the 41 alpha keys....

Yes, having to juggle through a menu to painstakingly access individual letters instead of a dedicated layer of the keyboard is a major annoyance.

[MDBarrett88]

Hope it's not too late to jump in, but I had a thought about the DM42 that I'd like to share. If I understand correctly from the images/teasers posted earlier in this thread, this device will have an extra 6 buttons dedicated to soft menus. The way I see it, it would be a shame to not utilize them to cram more functionality into this calculator. I propose adding shifted functions to this top row of keys. My idea is to add all the functionality of the HP 17BII to the DM42 in order to give it all the functionality that the Pioneer series has to offer. Dedicate a shifted key to each of the items in the 17BII Main Menu: "FIN", "BUS", "SUM", " TIME", and "SOLVE". Let me go through these.

• FIN: This option leads to a menu of financial features, including time value of money, interest conversion, cash flow calculations, bond valuation and depreciation.
• BUS: This menu helps perform business calculations like % markup and whatnot. I'll admit that this is not the most important menu, as most calculations could be pretty easily figured without this menu.
• SUM: the 42S already has a pretty healthy stats menu, but the sum menu in the 17BII could add the ability to name, save, edit and load lists pretty easily. I think these functions would be worth adding one way or another.
• TIME: if the DM42 is going to have time functionalities (and I hope it does), I think a time menu would be a good place to put them.
• SOLVE: I know that the 42S already has a solver, but it requires the equation to be entered as a program, and must evaluate to 0. On the 17BII, in this menu, equations can be entered in directly, not necessarily having to equal zero, and variables can be solved for.
  

For more info on these menus in the 17BII, the manual for the 17BII+ is on HP's website, and describes these. If I'm making a wish list of what I would like to see in this calculator, I would add a few things to the base functionality of the 17BII. For instance, on the 17BII, in the SUM menu, lists can be of only one variable, and it would be nice to allow lists of 2 variables. Also, why limit the SOLVE menu to being only able to evaluate variables? I would like to see it with the ability to evaluate numerical integrals of stored equations. I would also rename it form SOLVE to EQN, to avoid confusion with the existing SOLVER menu.
To allow for these functions, accommodations would need to also be made in the PRINT and CLEAR menus of the DM42. PRINT would need to include REGS and TIME options, and CLEAR would need options to clear anything that these menus introduce, such as an option to clear the time value of money menu. Adding these options, and these menus, would make the DM42 a functional superset of the 42S and the 17BII, incorporating some of the best that the Pioneer series has to offer.
Some final thoughts:
You cannot access shifted functions on the soft menu keys when there are soft menus open on the 42S, so maybe make them behave as on the 50g, where you need to hold the shift key and press the function key to access the shifted function.
Another neat feature on a Pioneer is the the 32SII's decimal point fraction functionality. That may be a nice thing to include.
I do realize that the people at SwissMicros are already hard at work on finishing the hardware, and that the free42 project already has a list of priorities. I am not making demands, rather some suggestions and humble requests.
TL;DR: I think the DM42 could include functions not only from the 42S, but also the 17BII.
If you have been keeping track, I have only utilized 5 of the 6 top buttons. What would be a good thing to include on the last one? What do you all think of giving a scientific calculator financial functions? Would you do anything different? What? Any other thoughts?