WP 34S v3.3

[walter b]

... is in the make. We took three features of the new WP 31S (our thanks go to Bit who introduced them):

1. There will be a permanent y display if you want it (turn it on by YDON). Within the limits of the 43x6 dot matrix, of course. So date mode can't be indicated anymore with YDON.
   If you find the y display distracting, you may turn it off again by YDOFF, and everything should be as you are used to.
2. Fraction entry will show a fraction bar with the entry of the second point immediately. Thats mainly cosmetical but may help in understanding, too.
3. ->POL and ->REC will result in a two line display regardless of YDON / YDOFF.
   

There is a build available for testing (3599). Please try.

And before you ask:

• We cannot take over UNDO. Sorry. That's for space reasons and was explained earlier.
• There will be an updated manual. It will be printed on A5 paper.
  

d:-)

[Leonid]

It’s possible to make manual for mobile format (EPUB)?
Unfortunately PDF (even A5) isn’t very useful for mobile devices.
--
Anyway, thanks for your works!)

[walter b]

(04-06-2014 09:10 AM)Leonid Wrote:  It’s possible to make manual for mobile format (EPUB)?
Unfortunately PDF (even A5) isn’t very useful for mobile devices.
--
Anyway, thanks for your works!)

You're welcome. Would added publishing on kindle help?

d:-?

[anetzer]

(04-06-2014 02:08 PM)walter b Wrote:  Would added publishing on kindle help?

But how much work will it take to publish such massively complex documents in epub or mobi formats?

However, that would be really great

a.n.

[BarryMead]

My brother uses a kindle every day, and his biggest complaint, is that "Graphical Figures", like charts, tables, diagrams, and photos cannot be enlarged by zooming in. Regular text can, but not graphical figures.

If the wp34s manual were released on kindle it would probably require some special attention to
make sure any graphical figures were appropriately sized prior to release so as to be readable in
the fixed size of a kindle. And "Readability" is a relative thing depending on one's eyesight. Older people tend to need larger text sizes than younger people do.

Additionally most kindles (except the newer fire) are not color but black and white. The wp34s manual makes extensive use of color to encode special meaning to many items in the manual. This color would be
lost to all black and white kindle users. Approximately 75% of kindles in distribution are black and white. Many people prefer the paper-white kindles to the color kindles, because they can read them in bright sunlight, and
because the battery life is about 6 times longer than the color version.

Another complication is that indexes and tables of contents (which refer to page numbers) would not work on a kindle. As you zoom in or out the
kindle re-paginates. There are no "Page Numbers" on a kindle. The equivalent on a kindle is a "PERCENTAGE" of total document length.

This would mean that it wouldn't be a trivial endeavor to publish a kindle version (in my humble opinion).

[walter b]

(04-06-2014 03:29 PM)anetzer Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 02:08 PM)walter b Wrote:  Would added publishing on kindle help?

But how much work will it take to publish such massively complex documents in epub or mobi formats?

However, that would be really great

Hmmh, maybe it's naïve assuming it can be easily done. If such devices work in b/w only, however, that would be a show-stopper.

d:-?

[Jonathan Cameron]

(04-06-2014 03:58 PM)walter b Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 03:29 PM)anetzer Wrote:  But how much work will it take to publish such massively complex documents in epub or mobi formats?

However, that would be really great

Hmmh, maybe it's naïve assuming it can be easily done. If such devices work in b/w only, however, that would be a show-stopper.

d:-?

I think it is not realistic to expect to use a full-color large format document on a cell phone or a grayscale Kindle. I use my 3.1 PDF manual on my 8 inch tablet and that works pretty well. But it would be painful on anything much smaller (without teenage eyes ).
-Jonathan

[Leonid]

(04-06-2014 02:08 PM)walter b Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 09:10 AM)Leonid Wrote:  It’s possible to make manual for mobile format (EPUB)?
Unfortunately PDF (even A5) isn’t very useful for mobile devices.
--
Anyway, thanks for your works!)

You're welcome. Would added publishing on kindle help?

d:-?

I tried to convert WP-34s PDF Manual on http://www.online-convert.com but result was bad. EPUB contained useless paragraph mark and most importantly missing special WP34s fonts..( Nevertheless, the images were of good quality..)
Since you have the source page layout manual very hope that you can do EPUB (and may be MOBI) the same quality as your perfect PDF Manual.

[Marcel Samek]

(04-06-2014 03:58 PM)walter b Wrote:  Hmmh, maybe it's naïve assuming it can be easily done. If such devices work in b/w only, however, that would be a show-stopper.

I do believe it would be a very significant effort to do it right. That said, the hardest part - writing the content - has already been taken care of! And, I also believe that with even more effort, the grayscale vs. color issue might be resolvable too.

One of my biggest gripes is that the most recent version of the manual is not available in a searchable e-format. The calculator is so feature rich that a searchable manual is a very important feature to me.

I also understand that writing the manual was a huge task and you would like to make some revenue from selling the latest version of the manual.

I think that publishing on the kindle would be an excellent way to resolve those two goals.

This is an effort that I would be willing to volunteer time to help with.

[Eric Rechlin]

(04-06-2014 06:13 PM)Marcel Samek Wrote:  One of my biggest gripes is that the most recent version of the manual is not available in a searchable e-format. The calculator is so feature rich that a searchable manual is a very important feature to me.

That would be very nice. At the very least, a PDF of the most recent version of the manual is necessary. But even better would be something like Word format, so we can easily reformat it for things like EPUB so we can read on E-readers or mobile phones or whatever without being fixed to the US Letter or A4 paper size of the original. At it is now, the version 3.2 manual is nearly useless to me, as I'm not going to carry around a paper book.

[Jeff O.]

(04-06-2014 06:31 AM)walter b Wrote:  

1. There will be a permanent y display if you want it (turn it on by YDON)…

Glad to see that y display has made it to the official wp34s build.

I noted that you did not adopt Bit's "single-dot / double-dot" indication of stack height. Was any consideration given to including that change? I did not have a strong opinion either way, just curious if it was considered and rejected, or just not considered.

Also, I think Bit made some changes to improve the responsiveness of the display to keystrokes when entering values. His initial version was a little sluggish such that if you keyed in a mulit-digit value quickly, when you looked at the display, the digits would be leisurely appearing. He made some improvements that seemed to eliminate all delay. Perhaps it is my imagination, but the v3.3 3599 build seems a little sluggish in that respect. Comments?

[Bit]

(04-06-2014 06:31 AM)walter b Wrote:  ... is in the make. We took three features of the new WP 31S (our thanks go to Bit who introduced them):

Part of the credit goes to Nigel whose work my enhanced Y register display code was based on.

[Bit]

Please consider enabling MODIFY_K62_E3_SWITCH in the new default build so that [h] [./,] switches the thousands separator on and off instead of switching between dots and commas. This should have no effect on existing programs etc., it's a purely UI related change.

Rationale:
1. Given that dots and commas are rather hard to distinguish on the screen of the 30b, I find myself turning thousands separators on and off quite often depending on what I find more confusing based on the lighting conditions and on the kind of numbers I work with: The lack of digit grouping or the difficulty of distinguishing the decimal mark from the separators. A shortcut for this operation would thus be welcome.

2. Once the preference for dots versus commas has been set by a user, I think it's very unlikely they'd want to change it again. Relegating this operation to the menus would not be a problem.

[nsg]

(04-07-2014 05:07 PM)Bit Wrote:  Please consider enabling MODIFY_K62_E3_SWITCH in the new default build so that [h] [./,] switches the thousands separator on and off instead of switching between dots and commas.

I would like to second this request, assuming I am eligible.

[walter b]

(04-16-2014 12:24 AM)nsg Wrote:  

(04-07-2014 05:07 PM)Bit Wrote:  Please consider enabling MODIFY_K62_E3_SWITCH in the new default build so that [h] [./,] switches the thousands separator on and off instead of switching between dots and commas.

I would like to second this request, assuming I am eligible.

Everyone is eligible. Two folks, however, aren't a majority yet

Unless there's a storm of requests, we don't see a necessity to change keyboard labels (which, BTW, would become difficult in your case since I don't have the slightest idea how to abbreviate the toggle you want).

d:-)

[RMollov]

(04-16-2014 04:19 AM)walter b Wrote:  Everyone is eligible. Two folks, however, aren't a majority yet

Unless there's a storm of requests, we don't see a necessity to change keyboard labels (which, BTW, would become difficult in your case since I don't have the slightest idea how to abbreviate the toggle you want).

d:-)

Make that three Not a majority, but I find Bit's arguments valid. I don't think this should lead to change of labels either, if someone notices it it will be one-off thing (to change separator symbol).

I'd like to see YDON as default setting as well. A couple of people I know using the WP34S liked it and I re-flashed theirs.

Cheers,

[kusmi]

That's why we use an apostrophe here in Switzerland for the thousands-separator: 1'000'000.25

Perhaps this is the influence of our "big-money" banks here ;-)

It's too bad no calculator supports this - i think it's sleek. Of course I'm biased...

[walter b]

(04-16-2014 08:33 AM)kusmi Wrote:  That's why we use an apostrophe here in Switzerland for the thousands-separator: 1'000'000.25
...
It's too bad no calculator supports this - i think it's sleek. Of course I'm biased...

I've seen some BRAUN calculators supporting that notation.

BTW, to which post you were responding?? Please use <Quote> instead of <New Reply> in the future.

d:-)

[Bit]

(04-16-2014 06:31 AM)RMollov Wrote:  I don't think this should lead to change of labels either, if someone notices it it will be one-off thing (to change separator symbol).

I agree there's no huge need to change the labels. Currently the label says './,', which sort of makes sense: We'd be switching the dots or commas on and off.

(04-16-2014 06:31 AM)RMollov Wrote:  I'd like to see YDON as default setting as well. A couple of people I know using the WP34S liked it and I re-flashed theirs.

I've updated the binary in the Y register thread in post #13 to have Y register display on by default (YDON) and MODIFY_K62_E3_SWITCH enabled as well. Please try it and report any issues.

[RMollov]

(04-16-2014 10:23 PM)Bit Wrote:  I've updated the binary in the Y register thread in post #13 to have Y register display on by default (YDON) and MODIFY_K62_E3_SWITCH enabled as well. Please try it and report any issues.

It all works perfect now, thanks!

Cheers,