May 5 Update?

[toml_12953]

(05-07-2021 07:37 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  I received an email asking me about the 5/5/2021 firmware:

When running the Connectivity Kit and he clicked on the calculator on the Kit, the calculator shut on and off.

Any recommendations?

That happens to me too with pre-G2 hardware.

[Wes Loewer]

(05-07-2021 12:07 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  If you're using Windows, you can simply use File Explorer.

Thanks for that tip. I was having trouble with the command line ftp program.

[BruceH]

(05-07-2021 12:07 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 11:55 AM)StephanP Wrote:  Web browsers no longer support ftp:// connection so you will need to use an FTP app with anonymus login.

If you're using Windows, you can simply use File Explorer. Copy the ftp: url and paste it in File Explorer's address bar, it works fine.

No idea if this works in macOS Finder; I'd guess not, but would like to know if some Mac owner could give it a try.

On the latest Macos (Big Sur), pasting "ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/calculators/Prime/" into the address bar of Safari pops up an authentication dialog asking for a username and password to be entered or to connect as a guest. Choose guest and the ftp site is mounted as a network drive, and a Finder window opened. Files can be downloaded by drag and drop.

[ijabbott]

(05-08-2021 08:33 PM)BruceH Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 12:07 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  If you're using Windows, you can simply use File Explorer. Copy the ftp: url and paste it in File Explorer's address bar, it works fine.

No idea if this works in macOS Finder; I'd guess not, but would like to know if some Mac owner could give it a try.

On the latest Macos (Big Sur), pasting "ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/calculators/Prime/" into the address bar of Safari pops up an authentication dialog asking for a username and password to be entered or to connect as a guest. Choose guest and the ftp site is mounted as a network drive, and a Finder window opened. Files can be downloaded by drag and drop.

For the GNOME desktop's File browser ("Nautilus"), Clicking "+ Other Locations" (or local translation thereof) in the side bar brings up a "Connect to Server" box where you can enter a URL of various types, including FTP URLs. Then press "Connect" and login to the FTP site anonymously, and it will appear as a directory in the side bar. That requires the GVFS backends to be installed (GVFS = "GNOME Virtual FIle System"). If you also install the GVFS FUSE daemon (FUSE = "Filesystem in User Space"), it will also be mounted as a filesystem under the user's "$XDG_USER_DIR/gvfs" directory. E.g., HP's FTP site appears mounted as "/run/user/1000/gvfs/ftp:host=ftp.hp.com" for me (1000 is my local UID number). This allows access to files on the FTP site from the command line using the regular UNIX commands such as "cp" to copy files.

[rprosperi]

(05-08-2021 08:33 PM)BruceH Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 12:07 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  If you're using Windows, you can simply use File Explorer. Copy the ftp: url and paste it in File Explorer's address bar, it works fine.

No idea if this works in macOS Finder; I'd guess not, but would like to know if some Mac owner could give it a try.

On the latest Macos (Big Sur), pasting "ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/calculators/Prime/" into the address bar of Safari pops up an authentication dialog asking for a username and password to be entered or to connect as a guest. Choose guest and the ftp site is mounted as a network drive, and a Finder window opened. Files can be downloaded by drag and drop.

Thanks Bruce!

I like this better than having to copy/open file explorer/paste, etc. And acting like a mounted network drive is elegant, because that's essentially what it is.

[rprosperi]

(05-08-2021 09:10 PM)ijabbott Wrote:  For the GNOME desktop's File browser ("Nautilus"), Clicking "+ Other Locations" (or local translation thereof) in the side bar brings up a "Connect to Server" box where you can enter a URL of various types, including FTP URLs. Then press "Connect" and login to the FTP site anonymously, and it will appear as a directory in the side bar. That requires the GVFS backends to be installed (GVFS = "GNOME Virtual FIle System"). If you also install the GVFS FUSE daemon (FUSE = "Filesystem in User Space"), it will also be mounted as a filesystem under the user's "$XDG_USER_DIR/gvfs" directory. E.g., HP's FTP site appears mounted as "/run/user/1000/gvfs/ftp:host=ftp.hp.com" for me (1000 is my local UID number). This allows access to files on the FTP site from the command line using the regular UNIX commands such as "cp" to copy files.

Thanks for this note Ian. I haven't dabbled with GNOME in a very long time... when it was new-ish, I always preferred KDE, much like the classic mac/pc approaches, though I've often read that GNOME improved steadily over the years.

This is an elegant solution too; being able to treat the ftp: site from the command line is nice but that path is a bit unwieldy; is there some shortcut for the root "/run/user/1000/gvfs/" portion?

[ijabbott]

(05-08-2021 09:47 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  This is an elegant solution too; being able to treat the ftp: site from the command line is nice but that path is a bit unwieldy; is there some shortcut for the root "/run/user/1000/gvfs/" portion?

I use a symbolic link in my home directory: ln -s /run/user/1000/gvfs ~/gvfs

[2302004040]

(05-07-2021 07:37 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  I received an email asking me about the 5/5/2021 firmware:

When running the Connectivity Kit and he clicked on the calculator on the Kit, the calculator shut on and off.

Any recommendations?

That happened to me too. I have a prime with hardware rev A.
The file transfer method need a complete change. I can't transfer large files(over 6MB) to prime, due to the RAM size, but it is just not a good way to hold the incoming file by put it entirely in RAM!

[tooki]

(05-07-2021 12:07 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 11:55 AM)StephanP Wrote:  Web browsers no longer support ftp:// connection so you will need to use an FTP app with anonymus login.

If you're using Windows, you can simply use File Explorer. Copy the ftp: url and paste it in File Explorer's address bar, it works fine.

No idea if this works in macOS Finder; I'd guess not, but would like to know if some Mac owner could give it a try.

It does. But you can also just click the FTP URL and it'll send it to the Finder to open. (Unless, of course, you've installed another FTP client and set it as the default protocol handler, in which case that will open instead.)

I don't remember which version of the Mac OS X Finder added FTP support, but it's been there a long time.

[tooki]

(05-08-2021 09:38 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(05-08-2021 08:33 PM)BruceH Wrote:  On the latest Macos (Big Sur), pasting "ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/calculators/Prime/" into the address bar of Safari pops up an authentication dialog asking for a username and password to be entered or to connect as a guest. Choose guest and the ftp site is mounted as a network drive, and a Finder window opened. Files can be downloaded by drag and drop.

Thanks Bruce!

I like this better than having to copy/open file explorer/paste, etc. And acting like a mounted network drive is elegant, because that's essentially what it is.

FYI, it actually very much isn't a network drive, in that it's a very old, rather simple file transfer protocol without any of the features of a file system, nor indeed even basic statefulness. Our GUIs are just really, really good at masking that. (Kinda like how Windows Explorer opens zip archives as if they were folders, even though they very much aren't.)

[Liamtoh Resu]

The url:

http://ftp.ftp.hp.com/pub/calculators/Prime/

can be accessed via the torproject tor browswer (internet browser)

ps

This blog mechanism adds an unwanted prefix to the above url.
(will try again with it inside quotes).

"ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/calculators/Prime/"

Thanks

[metawops]

Is Mac support dropped now completely?
I can't find a new (May 2021) Connectivity Kit app for macOS.
And the latest one available (2020-01-16) can't update my G2 Prime to the latest May 5 2021 firmware.
I want to make a backup first but clicking the backup button makes the connected G2 Prime say "Your HP Prime had a problem and will reboot in 3 seconds". Which it does. Then the Connectivity app crashes and the process can be repeated endlessly.
(I also deleted the app and the ~Library/Preferences part, downloaded the 2020-01-16 version again but to no avail.)

I already reported this behaviour on the HP forums here but nobody cared to answer, not even Tim Wessman.

No, I don't have a Windows PC, not even a virtual machine and all of my friends and family members are on Macs, too.

(Just updated my TI calcs with their macOS software – works flawlessly.)

[cdmackay]

I appreciate that this doesn't help much, but I was able to both backup my G2, and upgrade it to the latest firmware, using the current MacOS CK.

So there's something about, or on, your G2 that the CK doesn't like, perhaps?

[metawops]

(05-23-2021 09:49 PM)cdmackay Wrote:  I appreciate that this doesn't help much, but I was able to both backup my G2, and upgrade it to the latest firmware, using the current MacOS CK.

So there's something about, or on, your G2 that the CK doesn't like, perhaps?

Definitely! Because the same happens on two Macs (both running macOS 10.15.7). I have one running Big Sur and will try that asap.

[metawops]

(05-23-2021 11:20 PM)metawops Wrote:  Definitely! Because the same happens on two Macs (both running macOS 10.15.7). I have one running Big Sur and will try that asap.

I solved it! And was able to upgrade the firmware to the latest May 5, 2021 version! YAYYY!

Problem was: in the Program Catalog there was a suspicious program ("MYGEOMETRY" – wherever THAT came from?!). When I tried to view/edit it, the Prime crashed with that same "... will reboot in 3 seconds ..." screen!
I simply deleted that program and everything went back to normal! Hurray!! :-)))