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Unfortunately, the bug in the newest Apple software that results in some photos being saved and emailed in thumbnail resolution seems to affect saved printer roll output from i41cx+.

This seems to be a documented bug with the iPhone/iPod touch and is not due to Antonio's software.

If you have some way to get the actual photos off of the iPhone/iPod touch (e.g., Apple Aperture will detect the device as a camera), the full size resolution images can be downloaded. But they are just not properly displayed on the device or maintained in full resolution if emailed.

Thought this may be of interest to any using Antonio's excellent simulator.

Les

I have an iPod Touch Mk1 and to me i41cx+ is next to useless - no keyclick, the 3D effect when pressing a key is invisible, takes ages to start and keeps restoring printer roll even when printer is disabled; Turning iPod off doesn't turn i41cx+ off so if the app is left running in 2 hours battery is flat, and yes, I know this is a known bug, but still... I gave up on it for the time being

Regards,

Reth

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In addition:

Version 1.3 is heaps better than the one I was reffering to above;

So I take most of my words back, this app is really a gem :)

Best regards and keep up the good work

Edited: 4 Dec 2008, 4:37 a.m. after one or more responses were posted

I came by to alert people about the OS 2.2 image save bug but I see that Les has already beat me to it ;-) . Thanks, Les.

Nevertheless, it looks like my visit may not have been in vain since I think that I can help you Reth (and perhaps others with similar experiences).

First of all, let me say that there is nothing I can do about the lack of key click sounds on the 1G iPod touch. This is a limitation imposed by the current version of the iPhone SDK. As you know, Apple's built-in keyboard generates key click sounds on the 1G iPod touch but the API to generate these sounds on the 1G iPod touch is not available to third-party developers. Until/unless Apple provides the API(s) for key click sounds on the 1G iPod touch, key click sounds will be only audible through the headphones. For what it's worth, I've submitted a "bug report" to Apple about this but I have no idea when or if Apple will address this in a future SDK update.

The other "issues" have solutions, however.

Starting in version 1.1, i41CX+ provides several options in the global Settings application. One of these is the option to always start with a new printer roll. Of course, I recommend saving the printer roll before quitting the application so as not to lose important printout contents when this option is enabled. Why is the printer roll restored even if the printer is disabled, you ask? Because in a real printer, the print out is not affected by the power state of the printer. Moreover, it would be confusing to many users if the printer roll appeared/disappeared depending on the printer power state.

The battery drain issue was resolved in version 1.2.4 with the addition of a global option called "Suspend Mode". From the release notes:

"Added global setting to suspend all operations while the device is inactive to minimize battery drain. Note that time will still be maintained with no power consumption impact because the app will determine the time interval that it was inactive and adjust the time accordingly when it resumes operation."

So if you're not interested in running programs or alarms while the device is inactive, I recommend that you enable this option. With this option enabled, i41CX+ will consume no more power than Apple's own applications (e.g. Apple's calculator) while the device is inactive.

In short, I am hopeful that if you update to version 1.2.4 and enable/disable the appropriate global options, you should be able to find a combination that suits your usage pattern.

Last but not least, if you ever run into any issues/bugs, please visit the i41CX+ Known Issues page. I regularly update that page as soon as I become aware of any issues/bugs. If you don't see the issue/bug that you experienced there, please don't hesitate to contact me. I will do my best to help you.

Best Regards,

Antonio

EDITED link

Edited: 2 Dec 2008, 6:30 a.m.

Thanks Antonio,
Still I'll probably get back to it when I get an iPhone

Cheers,

Reth

Antonio,

When reading your post, I wanted to ask you a question: I wrote some programs that run for quite some time (say 10m to 30m). Currently I have the problem that my iPhone turns itself into stand-by after a few minutes. Is there a way for the i41cx application to keep the iPhone running as long as it is still cranking away at a problem? What does it do if I 'switch' out of the application with a program still running. Is the run suspended or does it continue?

Thanks so much for your tips!

Cheers

Peter

Hello Peter,

First of all, let me emphasize that a running iPhone application remains active even after the iPhone goes into stand-by mode. You can easily test this for yourself by writing a simple program that will BEEP after a predetermined amount of time after your iPhone goes to sleep. You will hear the BEEP even though the screen is black. This is why leaving i41CX running will consume power even after the device is locked unless the "Suspend Mode" option is enabled.

The answer to your first question, then, is that your programs that take a long time to run will continue to run even after the iPhone goes into stand-by mode. Of course, you will have no way of knowing when the program completes unless your device is within hearing range and you execute some BEEP/TONE instructions at the end of your program to alert you that the program has completed. This is, of course, assuming that "Suspend Mode" is disabled. If "Suspend Mode" is enabled, all i41CX activity will be suspended while the iPhone is in stand-by.

As for 'switching out' of the application, in the current OS and SDK environment, third-party applications cannot run in the background. When you 'switch out' of a third-party application, that application is quit. As far as i41CX is concerned, 'switching out' and re-launching is effectively the same as power cycling the calculator. The running program will be stopped when you quit the application and will not resume running when you re-launch i41CX unless/until you press R/S.

In case you wonder, there is a way for applications to prevent the device from going into stand-by mode. That is essential for game applications. However, in general, applications preventing the device from going into stand-by is considered bad practice, and rightly so because a) it ignores the user's global preference (e.g. the 'lock time' setting) and b) it consumes a lot of battery to keep the screen active for prolonged periods of time. i41CX takes the latter approach, obviously, and does not prevent the screen from going into stand-by mode.

I hope this helps,

Antonio

yes it does, thanks!!

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As for 'switching out' of the application, in the current OS and SDK environment, third-party applications cannot run in the background. When you 'switch out' of a third-party application, that application is quit. As far as i41CX is concerned, 'switching out' and re-launching is effectively the same as power cycling the calculator. The running program will be stopped when you quit the application and will not resume running when you re-launch i41CX unless/until you press R/S.

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In case you wonder, there is a way for applications to prevent the device from going into stand-by mode. That is essential for game applications. However, in general, applications preventing the device from going into stand-by is considered bad practice, and rightly so because a) it ignores the user's global preference (e.g. the 'lock time' setting) and b) it consumes a lot of battery to keep the screen active for prolonged periods of time. i41CX takes the latter approach, obviously, and does not prevent the screen from going into stand-by mode.

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It would be nice to have suspend and auto-lock off features as part of the calculator and not in the settings so that I do not need to exit the calculator to change the setting.

BTW, I just realized about two days ago that i41CX+ has become my primary calculator, even when I am at my desk. I've stopped launching emulators because they were never as efficient as the touch screen of the iPhone, and 2 days ago I instinctively reached for my iPhone and not a physical calculator. I've cleared my desk of all calculators.

My next ultimate feature request for my new setup would be a way to send the contents of the X register directly to my Mac to whatever application is running. There is an iPhone app that allows the iPhone to be a numeric touch pad for notebooks. I'd think just sending the X register to the Mac would not be to hard.

I have a first generation iPod touch (circa November 2007) and I never noticed the key click issue--I just assumed that one needed the headphones to hear it.

I have the 3D keypress effect just fine, and it is quite clear with the newest photorealistic skin.

I have turned off the printer roll restore setting, and the startup is quick.

I have never enabled Suspend Mode (until just now) but never noticed battery drain issues. I suspect this is because I invariably shut down the app when done with it--I rarely leave it running when the iPod is in locked mode. It is nice to know that by disabling suspend mode one can run lengthy programs even if the iPod goes into locked mode.

Thanks again, Antonio, for a great bit of software.

Les

Hello Egan,

Why did I have a strong feeling that you might make the suggestions that you did ;-) ?

Seriously, though, the primary reason why I decided to force a power cycle upon launch was because I felt that it would be confusing to some users if they quit the app while a program was running but didn't re-launch it for a few days (or long enough to forget that they had quit it with a program running) and came back to the flying goose. I have similar concerns about a "forced awake" mode option because if one is in the habit of letting the iPhone/iPod touch go to sleep automatically (as opposed to manually pressing the power button to lock it) but one forgets that i41CX+ is in the "forced awake" mode then it would certainly drain the battery mighty quickly. Needless to say, it would not be a recipe for a positive user experience... Pestering the user after a certain period of inactivity with "do you really want to prevent your device from going into stand-by mode" doesn't appeal to me either so I'm not keen on the forced awake option.

I'll think about a "resume option" in a future release. Presumably, advanced users that would care to use such an option would not be confused by encountering the flying goose when launching the app.

The feature to send the X register contents would require running a "listening" application on your Mac. I think the best way to transfer the contents to any application would be to populate the clipboard with the X register contents. Is that similar to what you had in mind? While I can vaguely envision an implementation for this for the Mac, I would have no clue how to do it in Windows...

Last but not least, I'm very flattered by your comment about i41CX+ being your primary calculator. I'm really glad to hear it.

Oh, by the way, keep an eye out for the 1.3 update that Apple has just (finally, after 3 weeks) approved. The main new features in 1.3 are support for skins (not just keyboard overlays but full calculator skins) and an optional stack (Y, Z, T, LastX) display. I hope that you will like it. The initial set of skins are very mild variations of the look of a real HP-41CX but an upcoming "Modern" skin will be quite different. If you ever want to create your own skin, please let me know and I will give you the necessary templates and guidelines to do it. Note that, unlike overlays, skins cannot be installed by users (well, unless you have a jailbroken device, that is) and need to be packaged in application updates.

Cheers,

Antonio

Hi Antonio,


Your app is still by far the coolest iPhone app I've seen. At work, my 15 years younger colleagues who think that world started with Java (yuck!) lighten up in that way when I show them the i41cx+. They never knew such things existed. The world started with 1.2 GB Java programs to solve quadratic equation, real roots only.


Even though a real 12C is my main calc, this has quickly become my "second" machine. Endless fun and comfort on smelly, noisy, hot, depressing London underground trains which get stuck every day.


And then there's an opportunity to impress the aforementioned 15 years younger geeks. Last month we faced a challenge of creating an Excel formula for some weird marketing-driven price adjustment, not a straight-forward business. The shortest we could do in Excel was a formula which was about 200 characters long. When we finished it, I took another 5 minutes and put together an equivalent RPN program in about 30 steps. I guess it could have been even shorter as I wasn't trying too hard. It resulted in that look in the eyes of Java kids. I reckon that doing it on an iPhone gave it more credibility with that generation than doing it on a real 12C which I also had at hand.


I've just downloaded 1.3 and skins are a natural evolution. Copy-to-Mac would also be a really nice feature, so keep on updating it and we'll keep on spreading the word :)


Thanks for this great app!

flag 11 is the automatic execution flag. If set, the calculator started executing the current program when turned on.

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The feature to send the X register contents would require running a "listening" application on your Mac. I think the best way to transfer the contents to any application would be to populate the clipboard with the X register contents. Is that similar to what you had in mind? While I can vaguely envision an implementation for this for the Mac, I would have no clue how to do it in Windows...

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Last but not least, I'm very flattered by your comment about i41CX+ being your primary calculator. I'm really glad to hear it.

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Oh, by the way, keep an eye out for the 1.3 update that Apple has just (finally, after 3 weeks) approved. The main new features in 1.3 are support for skins (not just keyboard overlays but full calculator skins) and an optional stack (Y, Z, T, LastX) display. I hope that you will like it.

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• Option to toggle Y,Z,T,L tags (would like to squeeze an extra digit or two in there).
  
• Retro the mini stack display. I.e. a mini 41 font? Dunno how readable it would be, but it'd be groovy.
  
• ALPHA register display toggle (from calc, not settings). Right now if I press the mini stack I get the standard status icons (nice touch). Perhaps a two finger tap to toggle ALPHA? All 24 chars? It would be great to read scrolling messages and long prompts. Of course a finger swiped on the main display to do this would be a nice touch too.
  

Thanks!

P.S. I am very happy this is evolving beyond a purists 41CX. This is the 41CXII. Looking forward to future HEPAX support, and even HP-IL support with JFG's new USB to HP-IL box. Just think by Xmas next year I could have i41CX+ -> IP -> Mac -> USB -> HP-IL -> whatever, or i41CX+ -> IP -> Internet -> IP -> i41CX+.

Thanks again (you too Eric).

Edited: 3 Dec 2008, 12:39 p.m.

Instead of just sending the X register, I'd like the ability to use the iPhone to control an identical i41CXp running on the Mac. The iPhone would become an entry pad for a machine running on the Mac. We would also need a way to synchronize the two calcs. Wouldn't that be nice?

It's almost Christmas, we can dream a bit ... :-)

I am glad you revisited the program after the upgrade.

Apart from the key click issue, which is really more aesthetic than anything, the simulator works well with the first-release iPod touch.

There are a few excellent simulators out there now, with RLM's 11C and Tom Fors' SCI-15C being among my favourites, but i41cx+ is still the only one that permits composing and editing a program as a text listing on a computer, converting it to the appropriate format (I use hp41uc.exe in a DOSBox on the Mac), and wirelessly importing it. It would be nice to export out actual RAW files as well, but there are apparently some barriers to this. I have a couple of fun 11C and 15C programs, but entering them the old fashioned way on the small touch keypad is tedious and prone to error.

I am looking forward to Apple fixing the image bug. I miss being able to email printer output to myself.

I got the app at its promotional price, but even for the full price it is a bargain, especially for the collector. It really does make the most of the excellent legacy of Eric Smith and Charles Lee.

Les

I'm glad to hear that you gave i41CX+ a second chance and that the 1.3 update has resolved most of the issues for you!

Antonio

Thanks, Les, but to me the key click is *very* important; it is what replaces the tactile feel of the original; I love the bold font feature - smaller display needs enforcements (so do my ageing eyes).
I have no problem getting iPhone, but still, why something so simple doesn't get fixed?

Thanks to Antonio as well.

Cheers, Reth

BTW one temporary solution would be using the highlight effect "Calc 15C" (and the others) uses - the bright white light flashes around the "key" indicating a kypress - See above under Crimson Research Voyager Simulators. I just downloaded it - beautiful and free :)
As a second thought - *that* effect is very good - can be seen in bright daylight conditions out at the field where noise can affect hearing of the key click. Probably something for the wishlist.

Cheers,
Reth

Edited: 5 Dec 2008, 5:33 p.m.

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It would be nice to export out actual RAW files as well, but there are apparently some barriers to this.

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I have a couple of fun 11C and 15C programs, but entering them the old fashioned way on the small touch keypad is tedious and prone to error.

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I am looking forward to Apple fixing the image bug. I miss being able to email printer output to myself.

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Hi Antonio,
As mentioned already in this thread, how hard would it be to have the "highlight" feature as on Crimson Research's "Calc 15C"? I guess that would solve the key click problem of G1 iPod Touch and probably all other users would be happy to use it as a replacement of the tactile keyboard.
Best regards,
Reth

Hi Reth,

That's not hard at all. The glow highlight effect is provided by the OS so it's just a matter of enabling the effect. I personally don't like the glow effect because it detracts from the "realism" which is why I implemented the animated 3D press effect but I'll be happy to provide a global option to enable the highlight effect in the next update.

Antonio

Thanks Antonio,

I'll be looking forward to see that option; It's really more practical issue rather than aestetical, the future will show what users will prefere. My guess is that the effect will be enabled on all machines all the time;
Thanks again for your prompt replay and for the brilliant job you've been doing.
Cheers,
Reth

Edited: 7 Dec 2008, 2:32 a.m.

BIG THANKS, Antonio!

I love the glow effect in 1.3.1
Best regards,
Reth

No worries. Glad to hear that you like it.

Cheers,

Antonio