New beta april 26

[cyrille de brébisson]

Hello,

Another beta is available at http://www.hpcalc.org/prime/beta/

Here is the change log.

Code:

polynomial wizard improvements
stat wizard is not linked by defaults
no more reset in spreadsheet if goto and no entry
translation of python symb view title
CAS python modules were missing
more dutch translation
some strings were not translated while they needed to be
could not restart an exam mode
proba wizard normal and chi² displays were incorrect

Have a good day.
Cyrille

[Vincent Weber]

Thanks Cyrille, this speed in releasing betas is much appreciated !

Could you just tell us if you plan any improvements in the python editor for the final release (correcting the "indent" bug, auto-shifting for a new block, syntax coloring, auto-completion, more keywords readily available in menus such as "yield"...) ?

Many thanks in advance and best regards,

Vincent

[ggauny@live.fr]

Hi,
Thanks Cyril, Tim, Eric.
All is ok, and no problem now for installation.
Good evening.
(For my G2, I will do tomorrow.)

[akmon]

Thank you for your quick update and solving the bug I reported. Now it does not do it, but there was something "hidden" in my unit that behaved odd even with the update. Anyway I did a clear memory, and it works well now.

[Dougggg]

on the new version my input statments dont work any more
x_value = float(input('The x value: '))
worked before for a number but now it gives an error:
invalid syntax for number
before I enter anything, when it runs it stps before input

[Joe Horn]

The 32-bit version of the beta Virtual Prime won't run on my Windows 7 laptop. Attempting to run it pops up this error message and does nothing else:



Is ANYBODY having success running the 32-bit version of the beta Virtual Prime on Windows 7?

EDIT: Needless to say, YES, I have tried fully uninstalling it and reinstalling it.

[Eric Rechlin]

Windows 7 reached end of life over a year ago, so nobody should be running it anymore.

You can still (unofficially, but still legally) get a free upgrade to Windows 10 through the accessibility loophole. It is irresponsible to be using Windows 7 on an Internet-connected device due to lack of security updates.

Yes, it would be nice if HP would fix the virtual Prime to work on Windows 7, but the last thing we want is another incentive for people to keep running Windows 7.

[Joe Horn]

(04-27-2021 02:09 AM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  It is irresponsible to be using Windows 7 on an Internet-connected device due to lack of security updates.

If you are correct, then both BruceH and I are irresponsible. But I don't see it that way. I personally am of the opinion that relying on security updates from Microsoft for ANY version of Windows is less responsible than using prudently cautious online hygiene, which is what I do (obviously!) with my Windows 7 computers, which is why they never get infected with anything.

Disclaimer: The above was my opinion when I wrote it, but it might no longer be my opinion by time you read it, because my opinions change as my knowledge changes, and I enjoy learning.

[cyrille de brébisson]

WARNING, WARNING!

I just found a major bug in Python, I messed up the string structures and strings basically do not work as any user entered string turns into an empty string...
I will fix this ASAP. but in the meantime, it means that most python stuff will be borked.

Cyrille

[jonmoore]

Thanks for the warning Cyrille.

[BruceH]

(04-27-2021 04:22 AM)Joe Horn Wrote:  

(04-27-2021 02:09 AM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  It is irresponsible to be using Windows 7 on an Internet-connected device due to lack of security updates.

If you are correct, then both BruceH and I are irresponsible. But I don't see it that way. I personally am of the opinion that relying on security updates from Microsoft for ANY version of Windows is less responsible than using prudently cautious online hygiene, which is what I do (obviously!) with my Windows 7 computers, which is why they never get infected with anything.

I'm using Windows 7 in a VM on a Mac because there is no Mac version of the betas yet. Ironically I'm not using Win10 because of security: I don't start the VM very often so if it were Win10 then it would mean waiting 20 minutes while multiple updates were applied before I could use it, whereas Win 7 takes 20 seconds to boot and then I'm ready to go. :-)

[Craig Bladow]

(04-27-2021 02:09 AM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  Windows 7 reached end of life over a year ago, so nobody should be running it anymore.

You can still (unofficially, but still legally) get a free upgrade to Windows 10 through the accessibility loophole. It is irresponsible to be using Windows 7 on an Internet-connected device due to lack of security updates.

You can also get a free (there's a paid option too) micro patch service for Windows 7 from https://0patch.com/

Also Microsoft is continuing to update Windows Defender on Windows 7.

[Eric Rechlin]

(04-27-2021 09:56 PM)BruceH Wrote:  

(04-27-2021 04:22 AM)Joe Horn Wrote:  If you are correct, then both BruceH and I are irresponsible. But I don't see it that way. I personally am of the opinion that relying on security updates from Microsoft for ANY version of Windows is less responsible than using prudently cautious online hygiene, which is what I do (obviously!) with my Windows 7 computers, which is why they never get infected with anything.

I'm using Windows 7 in a VM on a Mac because there is no Mac version of the betas yet. Ironically I'm not using Win10 because of security: I don't start the VM very often so if it were Win10 then it would mean waiting 20 minutes while multiple updates were applied before I could use it, whereas Win 7 takes 20 seconds to boot and then I'm ready to go. :-)

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. But I see your point -- when you are using an OS that no longer receives updates, you no longer have to worry about waiting for updates to install!

On Joe's point, I agree that being prudently cautious is far more effective than just relying on the computer to know what to do. It's why I don't believe in antivirus software, which cries wolf too many times with false positives and drags down the computer's performance. The main concern with an unsupported OS, though, is the potential for unattended attacks by unpatched remote execution flaws, which can add your computer to a botnet without you even doing anything on it, but this is much less of a problem if your computer never leaves your private network and your network doesn't forward any ports to your computer (that is, a firewall/NAT prevents it from being fully connected to the Internet). In that case, your use of proper "hygiene" and at least keeping your browser updated should be good enough.

But still, in my opinion there is no good reason not to take the free upgrade to Windows 10 unless you have hardware that doesn't support it. Even the biggest holdouts I know personally finally upgraded last year when support was dropped.

[cyrille de brébisson]

Hello,

Sorry about the windows 7 stuff...

Honestly, WE do not use that dll, it is probably used somewhere in the bowels of QT, which is the framework that we are using for the prime emulator. Not much we can do about it.

I made sure that we supported win7 as long as we could, myself using win7 until I switched to my current computer 3 years ago or so...

However, win7 has now been discontinued around 10 years ago and is not a target for us anymore.

I personally preferred windows XP and stayed with that one as long as I could! I do not see what ANY of the subsequent version of windows brought to the table (besides support for newer HW)...
We actually had to drop XP support because it lacked a critical system call, the ability to cancel an IO operation that was running in a different thread. This was critical in getting the USB sub system to work...

Anyhow, sorry for the long winded text here... The short answer is: I do not know exactly what is wrong, I know that it is not on purpose, but I also know that we don't have much choice here. Sorry.

Cyrille

[BruceH]

Thanks for the feedback Cyrille.

If you've moved to QT 6 then this no longer supports Windows 7 as a target. If you haven't and you're still on QT 5.15 or lower then Windows 7 is supported and it's probably just a compiler or QT config settings error.

P.S. If you have moved to QT 6 then that's fine by me.

[Joe Horn]

(04-30-2021 04:55 PM)BruceH Wrote:  Thanks for the feedback Cyrille.
...
P.S. If you have moved to QT 6 then that's fine by me.

Same here. I'll just install the virtual calculator on one of the Win 10 computers here at the abbey. This will give my ancient Win 7 laptop some much-needed rest.