Free42 with big stack, test version

[Marco Polo]

(02-05-2021 04:13 PM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  But maybe this is something that doesn't belong in the basic Free42 and should be reserved for Free42+. Regardless of what I do to prevent programs from running in the wrong mode by mistake, there will be a certain risk of confusion, and that might not go over well with the existing user base...

I appreciate a lot you efforts and i'm starting using Free42 more often than Emu48, thanks also to Werner's unit conversion programs (https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-10141.html) which partially satisfies my need (i miss the time to try some improvement, but thinking about it) and is fully configurable.
While i would greatly appreciate a bigger screen (i.e. showing all stack registers), i am starting having some concerns about "big" stack's implication and consequences.

In my experience with HP RPL, it is very unlikey to use more than 4 levels, unless stack is used to store object that would be more convenient to store in variables.
It seems to me that, with big stack and related implementation problems, Free42 is going to depart from the original HP42 concept and is starting to become a strange chimera between RPN and RPL.
Furthermore, the need to preserve backward compatibilty is making, imho, the usage a bit convoluted.

I am not sure if it will be attractive, being "sandwiched" between "classic" Free42 and Emu28/Emu48 (Emu28, provided that i have a legit rom image): if i need units, equations and bigger stack i can go with Emu28/Emu48 and enjoy a full coherent RPL environment, and wide choice of software to load.
If i prefer RPN i would go with Free42 as it is now, eventually with some more features like bigger screen, built in uom and eventually equations which could not impact the original and efficient HP42 concept.

The above considerations coming from a die-hard RPL user, who still cannot get used to the different behaviour of ENTER in RPN but appreciates a lot your work and would likely pay for a Free42+ or whatever :-)