Plus42 Equations, Preview Release

[Thomas Okken]

(04-29-2022 07:02 PM)OlidaBel Wrote:  

(04-29-2022 09:39 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  The iOS version is live in the App Store now.

Got it on Apple Store !
It overwrites the beta version, now it indicates a version 2.

The version number is a bug, it should say 1.0. Long story...
It will be fixed in the next release.

(04-29-2022 07:02 PM)OlidaBel Wrote:  Proficiat voor deze fantastische applicatie, Thomas !

Dankjewel. Graag gedaan!

[nickapos]

(04-29-2022 09:39 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  The iOS version is live in the App Store now. (link)
The Android version is still waiting for approval.
I changed the status of the app from "1.0 beta" to "1.0", but note that there have been no code changes since the last update.

Hey Tom congrats, i got a copy. It is an excellent tool and i hope it is a hit. It deserves it.

[johanw]

I'll have to wait on Google then. But if the version number in Google Play is 1.0 I'm not sure if I even get the offer to buy it as it will see I already have it installed. I'll see.

[Thomas Okken]

I believe you only get notifications for apps that you have installed from the play store, so you won't get an automatic alert when Plus42 goes live there for the first time. But I will post an announcement here.

[johanw]

(04-29-2022 09:39 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  The iOS version is live in the App Store now. (link)

Not available for iPads? I run both Plus42 and Free42 on my Android tablet too and that's no problem.

[Thomas Okken]

It should run fine on iPads, just like Free42. Being an iPhone-only app just means that it doesn't offer any iPad-specific functionality.

[nickapos]

(04-30-2022 12:38 PM)johanw Wrote:  

(04-29-2022 09:39 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  The iOS version is live in the App Store now. (link)

Not available for iPads? I run both Plus42 and Free42 on my Android tablet too and that's no problem.

I am using it in my ipad without any issues.

[Thomas Okken]

Speaking of issues, I found a bug: DIM "FOO", if FOO exists but is not a matrix, causes the app to crash.

The fix will be in 1.0.1. Free42 is not affected.

[jonmoore]

Just picked it up on iOS (been testing the beta on Android for a while).

All's great as expected, although, I agree it's a pity to have to use scaled graphics on my iPad Mini (seeing as I get proper high res graphics on all other platforms). I didn't mind this with Free42, as it's a free app, but for £8.99 I hadn't expected a scaled iPhone UI.

Also, I noticed that the softkey buttons replicate the original top row of Free42 when not in a soft menu subset. This made sense on Free42 but you've added a new top row to Plus42 so logically, the soft keys should duplicate this new top row. Another (IMO) better option, would allow the user to customise the default functions of these softkeys in the preferences. There's no need for labels as most people will be able to memorise their 6 default functions on the soft keys. And this would ideally be separate to the 'Custom' user soft key settings that are available via the original HP42s customise approach. In effect, you'll be providing 12 custom soft keys - which can only be a good thing.

Sorry to nitpick. Plus42 otherwise strikes a near-perfect balance of new enhancements whilst still staying true to the spirit of the original 42. In many ways, it's a software enhancement of the DM42. And as others have mentioned. I'd love to see Plus42 available on the DM42 hardware at some point. It will map perfectly (there's no need for the dedicated softkey buttons as these never existed on the original HP 42 either).

[Thomas Okken]

(04-30-2022 07:27 PM)jonmoore Wrote:  All's great as expected, although, I agree it's a pity to have to use scaled graphics on my iPad Mini (seeing as I get proper high res graphics on all other platforms). I didn't mind this with Free42, as it's a free app, but for £8.99 I hadn't expected a scaled iPhone UI.

I'm sorry your expectations weren't met, but I never claimed it is an iPad-optimized app, and neither does the App Store listing. If you feel you've been misled, you can request a refund from Apple.

[Thomas Okken]

Reminder:

(04-25-2022 07:55 PM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  

(04-25-2022 05:51 PM)Pierre Mengisen Wrote:  When will we have an iPad version of this excellent development?

Version 1.1, I hope. iPad support has been on my wish list for a while.

[Steve Simpkin]

I thought it looked really good on my iPad Mini. Here is a link to a screenshot.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QGmeU9ooKtWeishcA

[Marco Polo]

I am trying to make an equation that, when solved (CALC), automatically initialize the variables with a number with unit.
I could not yet figure how to do.

[Thomas Okken]

(04-30-2022 07:27 PM)jonmoore Wrote:  Also, I noticed that the softkey buttons replicate the original top row of Free42 when not in a soft menu subset. This made sense on Free42 but you've added a new top row to Plus42 so logically, the soft keys should duplicate this new top row. Another (IMO) better option, would allow the user to customise the default functions of these softkeys in the preferences. There's no need for labels as most people will be able to memorise their 6 default functions on the soft keys. And this would ideally be separate to the 'Custom' user soft key settings that are available via the original HP42s customise approach. In effect, you'll be providing 12 custom soft keys - which can only be a good thing.

While I don't agree that "logically the soft keys should duplicate the new top row," I can understand that the way the menu keys behave when there's no menu can be a bit surprising.

The explanation lies in the way the two new keyboard rows were added. Despite what it looks like, the two new rows are not the first and second rows, but the second and third. The new rows are mapped to functions using "direct command mapping," a Free42 feature that lets a skin layout define custom keys that don't press a sequence of virtual calculator keys, but instead activate a function directly, the function being specified by name in the layout.

So the top row of the Plus42 skin really is the top row of the HP-42S keyboard, and performs those functions when there is no menu.

I don't think this is particularly useful behavior, but then again I don't think replicating the second row would be any better. Personally, when there is no menu, I don't touch the top row at all, so I don't care what it does while in that state. They might as well all perform NULL as far as I'm concerned.

I think the best suggestion I've come across so far is to add an option for a permanent CUSTOM menu. I have looked at the DM42 patch for this feature, and I have decided to implement this in Plus42 as well – just not in 1.0. Details are still to be worked out, I'm thinking of a different and somewhat cleaner implementation, but it will be a bit messy in places regardless of how it is done, so I ruled it out from 1.0, since even my initial set of features ended up taking longer to implement than I had expected.

[jonmoore]

(05-01-2022 12:22 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  I thought it looked really good on my iPad Mini. Here is a link to a screenshot.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QGmeU9ooKtWeishcA

Don't blame my 20/20 eyesight, but I can clearly see compression artefacts on the scaled bitmap. But not to lose my main point, my issue is that the iPad alone gets scaled graphics. The PC, Mac, Linux and Android versions all have dedicated high res graphics for running Plus42 in larger formats/pixel densities (Plus42 BTW looks fantastic on my iPhone Pro Max).

And @Thomas, why the sulky reply to me and the polite one to Pierre. It's good to hear that iPad support is on the list for 1.1. Did you not read the rest of my comment, I'm very complimentary about Plus42? And to be frank I only purchased Plus42 to support your efforts over the years with regard to Free42. I have no wish for a refund but I do believe the current behaviour will lead to customer disappointment in others so be prepared for similar feedback on the app store.

I have so many physical calculators I rarely launch virtual ones on either iOS or Android other than to tinker with emulators. Although the exception to the rule is that I do regularly use EMU48 on Android (the 10" Amazon Fire is a near-perfect form factor for the emulation, and is cheap as chips to boot). I sold my physical 48GX a few years back as I have a pair of physical 50g's, one running the stock OS and one newRPL; and much as the 50g OS is an evolved version of ALG, Erable and Meta Kernal, I still prefer the workflow and customizability of the 48GX with those enhancements). In all honesty, the ability to have a 48GX with 4Mb RAM running Meta Kernel, ALG48 and Erable is a far better experience than the physical hardware (stability, 'backlight' and processor speed being the main advantages). My use of Free42 was also greatly reduced when I got my DM42 (that and/or my DM41x are always at arms reach).

Hopefully, sour grapes haven't stopped you from taking note of the off-kilter UX issue regarding the soft keys. That will particularly affect younger customers who have never used a physical 42 (or Free42) so they'll have no frame of reference for the behaviour, it will simply be perceived as illogical. I'm a UX guy by trade, hence the focus of my feedback.

[Thomas Okken]

(05-01-2022 10:16 AM)Marco Polo Wrote:  I am trying to make an equation that, when solved (CALC), automatically initialize the variables with a number with unit.
I could not yet figure how to do.

The direct solver will do that; in fact, it will even populate the variable being solved for with a complex number, if that's what happens to come out of the equation.

But with the numerical solver, all parameters must have initial values provided by the user, even the one being solved for. Normally, the numerical solver will use 0 and 1 if no starting guesses are provided (or X and X*1.000001 if only one starting guess is provided), but if the variable being solved for requires a unit, it must be provided by the user, because the numerical solver cannot work out what the unit should be by itself.

[Marco Polo]

(05-01-2022 10:27 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  The direct solver will do that; in fact, it will even populate the variable being solved for with a complex number, if that's what happens to come out of the equation.

But with the numerical solver, all parameters must have initial values provided by the user, even the one being solved for. Normally, the numerical solver will use 0 and 1 if no starting guesses are provided (or X and X*1.000001 if only one starting guess is provided), but if the variable being solved for requires a unit, it must be provided by the user, because the numerical solver cannot work out what the unit should be by itself.

All clear, but maybe I could make my question a clearer.
I am not looking for a way to force solver to make guesses, but only to populate variable with a pre-chosen set of values and units, in order to save time when inputting the values (time is saved non having to tipe the units).
I tried with L but it does not allow it

[Thomas Okken]

Once a value has been populated with a unit, you can then assign new values without a unit, and the existing unit will be applied to the new value. It sounds like that's what you're asking, but if it isn't, could you give the exact sequence of keystrokes that you would like to use? Because I'm not sure I understand the problem.

[Thomas Okken]

The Android version is live at Google Play now. (link)

[Marco Polo]

(05-01-2022 11:25 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  Once a value has been populated with a unit, you can then assign new values without a unit, and the existing unit will be applied to the new value. It sounds like that's what you're asking, but if it isn't, could you give the exact sequence of keystrokes that you would like to use? Because I'm not sure I understand the problem.

1) select equation
2) CALC
3) I would like to find the all the variable inizialized with a default value (i.e. 0_unit or whatever) according to a definition inside the equation itself.

Example
Equation X/Y=Z
Default values: X=1_bar Y=1_m Z=1_bar/m

I am looking for a way to define this into an equation, so that I don't have to input the units if the variables do non exist from a previous calculation