Updated PPC HP Calc Archive Available

[Jake Schwartz]

The PPC HP Calculator Archive (formerly on DVD and now offered on USB thumb drive) has been updated for its eleventh annual Spring release, with roughly 770 additional pages of material. Version 2.37 adds another handful of HP Handheld-related documents, including the 2019 issue (V36N3) of HPCC's Datafile magazine; various HP65 Users Club, PPC and CHHU special sample issues; plus a bunch of HP-related documents and periodicals, including some issues of the SMI Forty Eight Forum and the Solve and Integrate newsletters. For additional information, check here.

Thanks,
Jake

[rprosperi]

Great update Jake, even after all these years you're still adding lots of new stuff!

This is also new: For folks that have purchased Jakes PPC Collection in the past 5 years, note that you can now buy an "upgrade" (similar to how Dave offers an upgrade for the MoHPC Collection) and get all the new content, much of which appears to be in color, and now on USB, so much faster and easier to move around.

Very Cool, thanks Jake!

[KimH]

Jake

It continues to amaze me what this group have to offer and how much time is invested.

Thanks a lot for that!!

Before I transfer the 39$ to get a copy to Germany I have one question.

Is there anything about 71B and M-Coding in the extensive material?

I assume there is, but can't really tell browsing your web-site.

/Kim

(04-01-2020 03:20 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  The PPC HP Calculator Archive (formerly on DVD and now offered on USB thumb drive) has been updated for its eleventh annual Spring release, with roughly 770 additional pages of material. Version 2.37 adds another handful of HP Handheld-related documents, including the 2019 issue (V36N3) of HPCC's Datafile magazine; various HP65 Users Club, PPC and CHHU special sample issues; plus a bunch of HP-related documents and periodicals, including some issues of the SMI Forty Eight Forum and the Solve and Integrate newsletters. For additional information, check here.

Thanks,
Jake

[Joe Horn]

(04-02-2020 11:56 AM)KimH Wrote:  Is there anything about 71B and M-Coding in the extensive material?

Yes, lots about both. In particular, all the PPC Journal issues are in there, and reading all the articles about the 71B and 41 M-Code in the PPC Journal would keep you happily busy for a long time.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

Hi Jake, you have mail! ;)

Thanks a lot!

[Jake Schwartz]

(04-02-2020 12:11 PM)Joe Horn Wrote:  

(04-02-2020 11:56 AM)KimH Wrote:  Is there anything about 71B and M-Coding in the extensive material?

Yes, lots about both. In particular, all the PPC Journal issues are in there, and reading all the articles about the 71B and 41 M-Code in the PPC Journal would keep you happily busy for a long time.

I should also mention that all seventeen issues of the Australian PPC Technical Notes (1980-84) are also included, which are full of advanced HP-41 topics. In addition, Joe Horn's 102-page HP-71B Titan File collection from the CHHU Chronicle is together in one place, located under the HHC2015 conference materials (and also accessible from a link on the Quick-Reference page). This is in addition to the full set of CHHU Chronicle issues (from 1984-86) in their entirety.

Thanks,
Jake

[KimH]

Oh Joy,

Just PayPal'ed 39USD to you Jake.

Thanks again for making your extensive compilation available!

/Kim

(04-02-2020 07:17 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  

(04-02-2020 12:11 PM)Joe Horn Wrote:  Yes, lots about both. In particular, all the PPC Journal issues are in there, and reading all the articles about the 71B and 41 M-Code in the PPC Journal would keep you happily busy for a long time.

I should also mention that all seventeen issues of the Australian PPC Technical Notes (1980-84) are also included, which are full of advanced HP-41 topics. In addition, Joe Horn's 102-page HP-71B Titan File collection from the CHHU Chronicle is together in one place, located under the HHC2015 conference materials (and also accessible from a link on the Quick-Reference page). This is in addition to the full set of CHHU Chronicle issues (from 1984-86) in their entirety.

Thanks,
Jake

[Sylvain Cote]

(04-03-2020 01:02 PM)KimH Wrote:  Thanks again for making your extensive compilation available!

Same here, I just ordered my copy today.

[cdmackay]

Thank you Jake; ordered!

[ignazio]

Thank you Jake; ordered today with paypal.

[SAllendorf]

Thanks Jake. Ordered via PayPal.

-Scott

[Orome]

Navigating using the provided files doesn't work on macOS. I get

The file “...” couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it.

[Sylvain Cote]

(04-11-2020 05:13 PM)Orome Wrote:  Navigating using the provided files doesn't work on macOS. I get

The file “...” couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it.

Your question force me to finally solve this lingering issue that I have been postponing for a very long time.
Apple Preview does not allow you to open up a file from another file, in this case a PDF from a PDF.
Use Adobe Acrobat Reader for macOS for viewing these files, just tried it and it is working perfectly.
Sylvain

[Orome]

(04-11-2020 07:47 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  Apple Preview does not allow you to open up a file from another file, in this case a PDF from a PDF.

Actually the issue runs deeper. The PDFs are generated with Adobe Acrobat 9 (12 years old; support ended in 2013!), which does not generate PDFs that most modern readers or PDF apps can reliably (or for that matter securely) reliably (nor do the generated files pass validation or error checking).

[Jake Schwartz]

It still boggles my mind that these tools are not backward compatible with files created using an older Acrobat application. Is there a fundamental reason, or is it something "dumb"? :-)

Thanks,
Jake

[Jake Schwartz]

(04-13-2020 06:53 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  It still boggles my mind that these tools are not backward compatible with files created using an older Acrobat application. Is there a fundamental reason, or is it something "dumb"? :-)

Thanks,
Jake

I guess I should ask the group here if there happens to be a way to "convert" files created with an older version of Acrobat into files which don't somehow cause newer tools to "choke". Any ideas?
Thanks

[Valentin Albillo]

(04-13-2020 06:53 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  It still boggles my mind that these tools are not backward compatible with files created using an older Acrobat application. Is there a fundamental reason, or is it something "dumb"? :-)

It's absolutely dumb to the core.

The idea of the PDF format is to have documents that can be read in every operating system under the sun and at all future times so that no information gets lost over time because of format or version issues.

That an older software can't properly read newer versions is to be expected and natural, you can't stop progress and newer options and capabilities are certain to be implemented all the time.

But having newer software incapable of correctly reading the files created with older versions is absolutely unacceptable and completely defeats the purpose of an universal format specification which should be time-proof and version-proof.

As a personal example of this, all my newest versions of one of my sizable programs can correctly read all the files created by versions much, much older. The file format has been evolving through time and it's vastly different now but the latest versions of the program can nevertheless read all the older versions (down to the very first one) and supply the necessary defaults and make the necessary conversions so that the older files display and work correctly. Else I would be losing valuable information or wasting time to try and recreate it with the newer version, which is a definite no-no for me.

Best regards.
V.

[Eric Rechlin]

I wonder if a lot is for security reasons. As someone said above, it appears Apple's Preview app blocks links between PDF files, and I know from experience that both Firefox and Chrome block them also, so you have to use a standalone PDF viewer (Adobe Reader, Sumatra, and Foxit all seem to work fine).

But so many of these things done for "security" reasons seem to be half-baked and more annoying than anything else. For example, something in the CSS for the HHC videos drive that I made needs to load an external file, but for "security" reasons it can't be a local file. But that means that an HTML file, running on a local machine, needs to access the Internet to get a shared resource, because both Chrome and Firefox block it from getting a local file for "security" reasons. That's even less secure than allowing it!

[Orome]

(04-13-2020 09:37 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  I wonder if a lot is for security reasons

I also get other (different) errors in other readers with messages about the target file being "corrupted". And if I run the file through a PDF checker, I get PDF/A errors like "The page reference in a destination is invalid."

So the issue looks to me like one of format compatibility. Adobe is generating files that Adobe can read, but some (many?) other readers cannot.

(As someone said that's not very "portable" — which is what the P is supposed to stand for — but: Adobe.)

[BruceH]

(04-13-2020 09:47 PM)Orome Wrote:  

(04-13-2020 09:37 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  I wonder if a lot is for security reasons

I also get other (different) errors in other readers with messages about the target file being "corrupted". And if I run the file through a PDF checker, I get PDF/A errors like "The page reference in a destination is invalid."

So the issue looks to me like one of format compatibility. Adobe is generating files that Adobe can read, but some (many?) other readers cannot.

(As someone said that's not very "portable" — which is what the P is supposed to stand for — but: Adobe.)

Some points to consider:

• I have PDFs I generated in 2005 that still open perfectly on modern readers.
• Adobe has always made use of proprietary features - mostly around form filling - that are not supported by 3rd party readers. There's nothing new there.
• Lastly, if you run your PDF file through a PDF Checker and it says the file is corrupt then the file is very probably corrupt! (Because the PDF file format was very carefully designed so that new features could be detected and ignored by older software. Any PDF Checker worthy of the name should be able to distinguish new features versus a corrupt file.)