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Upcoming Public Beta - Win/Mac/Apps - Printable Version

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Upcoming Public Beta - Win/Mac/Apps - Tim Wessman - 11-23-2016 02:33 AM

Hello,

For the first time, the HP Calculator group is inviting interested users to participate in a public Beta test. Shortly, there will be several exciting additions to the Prime platform and we'd like interested users to test them out and provide feedback. Specifically, we are seeking those willing to help us test new networking capabilities in this beta release.

Should things go well, the HP Calculator group may be able to continue to do this in the future for firmware updates and similar. Should you also prove to be a very enthusiastic individual with quality issue reporting skills, you may also receive an invite to participate in the more closed betas that happen earlier in the development process.


To participate, you will be required to agree to the following EULA:

Quote:Beta Use

Please note that this is a beta version which is still undergoing development and testing before official release. The software and all content found within are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. HP Inc. does not give any warranties, whether express or implied, as to the suitability or usability of the software or any of its content.

What will be part of the general Beta test:

  1. There is a new HP Prime Virtual Calculator, which will join the currently available HP Prime Connectivity Kit. Previously, the virtual calculator you've been using has been an older version based on a Microsoft specific development system called MFC. That has not been the "encouraged" development system for quite some time now for windows software. The new version is written using QT, which is an open source development system that enables easier multi-platform support. This is the same tool used for the current Connectivity Kit. We waited to release the new virtual calculator until after we also had the ability to support additional platforms.
  2. The beta version also runs on MacOS. The new HP Prime Virtual Calculator and HP Prime Connectivity Kit are anticipated to be supported on macOS 10.8 and later.
    [Image: Screen_Shot_2016_11_22_at_4_50_03_PM.png]
  3. The beta version includes updates for all application store versions of the HP Prime - iOS, Android and Windows Store. These synchronize the HP Prime capabilities with the last public release, and enable you to connect app versions of the HP Prime to the HP Prime Connectivity Kit. You can then install programs, share data files, exchange information, backup your Prime, and do nearly everything you could do previously using a USB wire and a hardware calculator. I know many of you have been eagerly waiting for this capability.
  4. In a network environment, you will now be able to connect physical and virtual calculators on different platforms (those platforms that support HP Prime) together using the Connectivity Kit. For example, you could have wireless calculators using the orange Prime wireless modules, some tablets of any variety (iOS/Android/WinStore), phones of any variety (iOS/Android/WinStore), and even desktop computers all connected in a single network.



The windows and mac versions of the HP Prime and Connectivity Kit are anticipated to be made available on an HP ftp site at some point in the future (not the standard http://ftp.hp.com/pub/calculators/ location). Keep in mind that there is a major holiday this week in the USA and that clicking "refresh" in your web browser won't impact when it arrives.



The primary reason for this public beta is so that the HP Calculator group can receive feedback on network connectivity. Networking is one of those things that can have a near infinite number of combinations in terms of network topography, and while we've done our best to ensure it will work, we are unable to check every condition. To test IP connectivity, you must have:
  • More than 1 device on the same subnet running a Connectivity Kit and HP Prime app.
  • IP Multicasting must not be blocked by your network router, switch, or OS.

Provided you meet these conditions, the IP connection between the Connectivity Kit and your HP Prime app should work. If you are on a home network, I'd be quite confident to say that you meet those requirements.

Only the windows and macOS versions of the Prime and Connectivity Kit will be on the HP ftp beta site. We cannot provide copies of the iOS/Android/WinStore apps directly. The stores are controlled by their respective companies and there are already methods in place to perform these "Beta" tests for apps. If you are interested in testing, please send an email to calcbeta@hp.com with your Mac iTunes email account, Google Play email account, or your Windows Store email account. Also indicate to which store account(s) that email applies.

Please DO NOT post your email publicly on this forum. We will try to get people added to the beta system and once the apps are available, you should receive a notification on your device.

Note that we are not completely certain how long the process will take for the various app stores. Please have patience. It is a near certainty that the HP ftp site will have the software before all stores receive it, so testing on either a desktop windows or mac system will be easiest at first.


Please note that these application updates DO NOT contain all bug fixes or new features that may currently be under development. Rather, we have attempted to limit the changes only to items required for the network sharing to work properly. A good number of simpler fixes in the core Prime code have made it in, but this release is NOT focused on adding "calculator" features or UI changes to the HP Prime. If you are waiting for a specific bug or enhancement, it is very likely it will not be in here.

Once the beta begins, we ask you to send feedback to calcbeta@hp.com. Please be considerate and try to refrain from discussing the beta version too extensively in public forums. We appreciate enthusiasm, but ask you to send feedback to calcbeta@hp.com for your primary method of getting feedback to the HP Calculator group. Too many posts on a more general forum such as this one can be annoying for those who don't have interest in participating.

We are looking forward to hearing your results and feedback. Thank you for your valuable time!

RE: Upcoming Public Beta - Win/Mac/Apps - salvomic - 11-23-2016 03:22 PM

great Job!
thanks HP! :-)

Salvo

RE: Upcoming Public Beta - Win/Mac/Apps - matthiaspaul - 12-16-2016 09:28 PM

(11-23-2016 02:33 AM)Tim Wessman Wrote:  Previously, the virtual calculator you've been using has been an older version based on a Microsoft specific development system called MFC. That has not been the "encouraged" development system for quite some time now for windows software. The new version is written using QT, which is an open source development system that enables easier multi-platform support. This is the same tool used for the current Connectivity Kit. We waited to release the new virtual calculator until after we also had the ability to support additional platforms.
I know that not many resources can be thrown at this, but with MFC dependencies being removed, are there any chances to support Windows XP and/or Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 (which is supported by Microsoft up to 2019) again - prehaps at least as an "unsupported option" after specifying some /ignoreversion command line switch? Some people cannot upgrade to newer versions of Windows, f.e. due to a lack of drivers for older but essential peripherals, and consequently, they are bound to the buggy #6975 (2014-12-15) version, IIRC the last version that would be supported on XP.

Personally, I always consider it a sign of programming excellence, if a program works on any version of an operating system which supports (or can be made to support with some effort) the necessary core functionality.

I might miss something, but right now I don't see the VC/CK using any core functionality which could not be provided by these earlier systems with limited effort. Qt still seems to support Windows XP. Perhaps only a few easy special cases would be necessary to make it work again. From the viewpoint of software regression testing it might also make sense to stress test a piece of software under as many and as diverse platforms as possible...

Thanks for consideration.

Greetings,

Matthias

RE: Upcoming Public Beta - Win/Mac/Apps - Tim Wessman - 12-19-2016 04:39 PM

(12-16-2016 09:28 PM)matthiaspaul Wrote:  I know that not many resources can be thrown at this, but with MFC dependencies being removed, are there any chances to support Windows XP and/or Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 (which is supported by Microsoft up to 2019) again - prehaps at least as an "unsupported option" after specifying some /ignoreversion command line switch?

Unfortunately not. The reason we had to drop that was because in order to cleanly close communication handles internally, system calls that don't exist in XP were needed (due to being closed in a separate thread).

You could always give it a shot by copying an installed folder from another system, but no guarantees of course. I believe the installer is the only thing that actively "blocks" from running.

RE: Upcoming Public Beta - Win/Mac/Apps - matthiaspaul - 12-19-2016 10:38 PM

(12-19-2016 04:39 PM)Tim Wessman Wrote:  The reason we had to drop that was because in order to cleanly close communication handles internally, system calls that don't exist in XP were needed (due to being closed in a separate thread).
Thanks, Tim, for the explanation.

To the best of my knowledge, CancelIoEx is supported since KERNEL32.DLL V6.0 (at least it does not seem to exist in XP SP3 / 5.1, although some Microsoft header files suggest otherwise). So, are Vista and Server 2008 the minimum requirements at present?

However, if this would still be the only problem, it could be addressed pragmatically simply by not calling this function under earlier versions. This old thread suggests that it would work at least "good enough" to be usable:

http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-3823-post-34969.html#pid34969

Of course, a better solution would be to modify the inter-thread communication model to "pre-6.0-methods", but obviously this would be more than a quick fix and therefore too much to ask for... Nevertheless, this article has a short section sketching down one way how it could possibly be done:

https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/17618/Clean-and-quick-cancellation-of-I-O-operations

Greetings,

Matthias

RE: Upcoming Public Beta - Win/Mac/Apps - Tim Wessman - 12-20-2016 12:58 AM

(12-19-2016 10:38 PM)matthiaspaul Wrote:  To the best of my knowledge, CancelIoEx is supported since KERNEL32.DLL V6.0 (at least it does not seem to exist in XP SP3 / 5.1, although some Microsoft header files suggest otherwise). So, are Vista and Server 2008 the minimum requirements at present?

I think so. WE did put in some code to work around it similar to what you linked to, but in the end the decision was made not to support it any more. There were also 1-2 other things as well from memory.

In addition, HP as an entity doesn't support XP anymore and it just seemed the best to follow the recomendation.