[WP34S] Flags in 42S? Backside decals?



#10

I would appreciate any feedback:

(1) Are 34S flags as in the HP-42S?

(2) Any "%" keyboard shortcut?

(3) New backside decals for printing and special character shotcuts? (How about it, Eric?)

Chris


Edited: 15 May 2012, 7:12 p.m.


#11

Quote:
(1) Are 34S flags as in the HP-42S?

No. All numbered flags are user flags with no system meaning. Most lettered flags are also user flags but some have meaning to the system but never to the point of changing a mode or computation result.


Quote:
(2) Any "%" keyboard shortcut?

f-shift - is the % command.

In alpha mode the % character is in the catalogue on h-shift . There is a design guide: a function/feature shall appear in one place only.


Quote:
(3) New backside decals for printing and special character shotcuts? (How about it, Eric?)

These are supposed to be obvious once you understand the layout of alpha mode and its catalogues. That said, I do have difficulty finding some characters from time to time.

- Pauli


#12

Pauli,

Many thanks. I didn't mean to bug you guys with such trivial beginner's questions but I did do a valiant search effort in the manual.pdf v3.1. Now I need to go back to the manual and find the information you gave (search for your answer) and see why I did not find it there the first time.

I've had some problems with the "D" for double precision showing up in the alpha matrix display very persitently and I've had to RESET as DBLOFF doesn't do anything even following some members' suggestions earlier in that respect. That's why I started to look for a system flag "D" to clear/set.

Chris


#13

DBLOFF is the way to clear this mode. I've noticed a couple of times that the device will spontaneously switch to double precision mode -- usually when generating a domain error. Haven't got enough information yet to track it down.

You want page 98 for the alpha catalogue information.


Setting flag D is generally not a good idea unless you know exactly what you are doing -- this is one of the few lettered flags with an impact -- it allows not number and infinite results from operations instead of raising domain and infinite errors.


- Pauli


#14

Pauli,

The information is indeed in your manual as mentioned by you in both of your responses. I'm getting too used to just search without thinking first.

The DBL mode "issue" is exactly as you say - some domain error message comes up. It is as if the memory gets corrupted somewhere and although it does not appear significant - you are done unless a RESET gets you back again but without you RAM stuff. It occurs while I enter program lines using the lower left keys. I'm getting so adverse to this condition that I use PSTO every 20 minutes, just in case.

Such is life in our beta world.

Thanks for your help.

Chris

PS: Your manual.pdf is great; I am to blame for the oversight.

Edited: 15 May 2012, 10:55 p.m.


#15

This looks like a memory corruption. If this happens it would be helpful to transfer the complete RAM contents to the emulator with SENDA (RECV on the emulator) and then exit the emulator so that a state file (wp34s.dat) is created. I can then try to debug the situation. What version are you running?


#16

Marcus,

A RAM dump would be a great a solution. Thanks.

However, I am just a (10 day) beginner and running the v3.0 made by Eric.

I have on order a serial cable and then I have to learn how to communicate. When capable and if it happens again I will send it to you as indicated.

Marcus, can I take this opportunity to ask you if I will be able to load data in/out of R00-R99 in the WP34S once hooked up?

Thanks.

Chris


#17

Marcus,

I finally found the VERS, not under STATUS :(

and it gives:

34S3.0T2830

Thanks.

Chris

Edited: 16 May 2012, 5:08 p.m.


#18

After you've got your cable please update to the latest revision! If the trouble with "D" persists, try to create a state file for analysis.

The data registers can be transfered to the emulator but we don't have a program to transfer it to a PC application other than the emulator. Printing to the IR Printer emulation and cutting & pasting might do the trick but it's still one way.


#19

Marcus,

Thanks for the details about register data transfers.

I will try to flash update so we are all on the same version. Maybe it is a version specific issue so it makes full sense for me to upgrade.

Thanks for the help.

Chris

#20

The key figure for alpha mode is the layout on page 14. And right below of it is a hyperlink to the alpha catalogues :-)


#21

Walter,

Thanks for letting me know. Now that I have found it I am emberrassed at my own oversight. The manual.pdf is a very well done and precise document. I searched for "%" and expected a key shortcut to come up thinking that the "%" is as commonly used as the "!" which has a shortcut indicated on page 14. The manual.pdf it so happens has a page height which on my HP Ultrabook Folio just manages to cut off that bottom line on p 14. A sorry excuse, yes I know, but none the less a real human error factor.

Since this is under a heading of "decals" I do think, however, that a back side decal indicating the five different shortcuts to the alpha catalogs would be nice. I do not often use the 34S next to the electronic manual and can't (ever) remember how to get to which alpha catalog. I thus have to go back, turn on my Ultrabook and look. A list of all five catalog key shortcuts perhaps followed by a few of the included characters from each group under its shortcut would speed me up.

PS: I just made my own back side decals on a piece of maskin tape and it works great. I also put on some of the green program line catalogs with cue entries for the x.fcn, p.fcn, test, and prob. Eric's decals admittedly would look a lot better though.


Edited: 16 May 2012, 10:39 a.m.


#22

Perhaps there's not enough thickness to allow it but the inside of the back slide-off case would give room for another label or two of less-used but handy to have information. The labels on the back of my HP-67 and HP-41C didn't get a lot of use but they were really handy when needed. With the vastly more capable and complex WP34S this would be even more useful.

Thanks to the great team for this remarkable tool!


#23

Jim,

I agree with both of your points. Thanks to a great team for their invention of the 34S and yes the inside of the cover would also present room for a third label. The cover has "watermark" indentations which prevent perhaps full length labels.

It could be that I need such labels more than others who have better "heads" than I, but with all the functionality, as well as the 10 days of ownership only of my 34S, I am working on my own homemade labels out of necessity.

I somehow have the feeling that labels will be up to the individual user, the need being highly dependent upon the user's own experience profile with the 34S. I wonder if Eric can make custom labels on the fly?

If anything, if there were a long alphabetically ordered CAT comprising all functions and most "standard odd?" characters which one could access via a global gCAT followed by one or more keystrokes to narrow it down that may be beneficial; often I know which function/char. I want but I just can't find out in which catalog. I tried to enter the function name and then XEQ but that doesn't seem to work. But such a "34S gestalt" would consume more storage in flash.

Chris


#24

Quote:
If anything, if there were a long alphabetically ordered CAT comprising all functions and most "standard odd?" characters which one could access via a global gCAT followed by one or more keystrokes to narrow it down that may be beneficial; often I know which function/char. I want but I just can't find out in which catalog. I tried to enter the function name and then XEQ but that doesn't seem to work. But such a "34S gestalt" would consume more storage in flash.

I've been thinking of how to efficiently implement this...


- Pauli


#25

Pauli,

I wish you would indeed implement a "gestalt" catalog. I am using this word cautionsly to entice your world class German founding team friends to come along in this "un-grouping" activity.

Clearly your fellow WP34S team is an international team of the best of the best. Not just in technical software terms, but the team's internal psychological discipline is outstanding and rare.

I am fascinated by following your team efforts. And for you all to talk directly to me here in the Forum is out of this world.

Thanks.

Chris


#26

Quote:
Clearly your fellow WP34S team is an international team of the best of the best. Not just in technical software terms, but the team's internal psychological discipline is outstanding and rare.

We will not disclose our internal discussions here. ;-)

#27

Marcus,

There is nothing as good as a heated discussion among academic friends. That's where I have benfitted the most.

But the fact that you have come this far with what was not a given success at the onset - this is indeed a huge endeavor - is proof of concept. Without internal discipline based upon mutual respect and appreciation your fellow team would have disintegrated under the strains.

The rest of us are glad that did not happen.

Chris


#28

Remember that for the first few years, it was just Walter and myself -- no deciding third voice to add to the fun. Once Marcus joined in we got a deciding vote....well some of the time at least :)

For reference: I've got almost 2,000 archived calculated related threads of discussion since the start of March 2010. The project started in 2008 and Walter & I would have had at least that many before 2010.


- Pauli


#29

We simply were too quiet then - not good in a world governed by marketing :-/

#30

So which of our user(s) is going to produce a small QRG for the 34S?

There is little or no point Walter, Marcus or myself attempting such a thing since we know the device far too well already.


- Pauli


#31

Pauli, please see the respective poll in a separate thread. Already a long queue of takers as usual. Our users don't ever disappoint us ;-)


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