x11-calc updated

[Mike T.]

The linux users among you (or those with wsl2 on Windows 11) might be interested to know that I've just pushed the latest updates to the unstable branch of x11-calc.

The changes include the addition of the HP10, HP25, HP33E, HP38E, and the renaming of some of the existing models to add the 'C' suffix. Where the executable file name has been changed this will also change the name of the file used to save the calculator state. Apologies for the breaking change. Renaming the existing (.dat) file solves the problem.

The HP10 does support printing but it prints to standard output so the output is shown on the console window, which isn't as pretty as a graphical display but has the advantage that it allows the output to be redirected to a file.

The stable branch will be updated when I've have finished tiding up the code so it will compile on VAX/VMS and True64 UNIX and I'm happy everything still works!

I'd like to take the opportunity to say a huge "Thank You" to teenix for letting me have a copy of his ROM for the HP10 and patiently explaining how printing is supposed to work (it was a lot stranger than I thought!).

[brouhaha]

(12-21-2022 11:16 PM)Mike T. Wrote:  I'd like to take the opportunity to say a huge "Thank You" to teenix for letting me have a copy of his ROM for the HP10 and patiently explaining how printing is supposed to work (it was a lot stranger than I thought!).

If I understand correctly, the "10" ROM is actually something Teenix wrote, rather than the actual HP-10 ROM, which has not been dumped. That actually makes it MORE impressive.

The 10 is unique among pre-Saturn HP calculators in not having any electrical interface to the processor bus. The main chip probably contains the equivalent of the Woodstock ACT, ROM, and the printing portion of the PIK/PICK. There's likely to be some kind of test mode HP used at the factory, but it's unlikely that we can find it. It's probable that the only way we'll get the ROM dumped is by decap and photo (the way Peter Monta dumped the HP-35 ROMs).

I need to talk to someone I know who can do decap & photo. Last time I asked, he was both moving his lab, and too busy.