HP Forum Archive 20

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WP 34S - major changes! Message #1 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 17 July 2011, 3:59 p.m. We've made some major changes to WP 34S recently which will likely break many functions: - The first message you'll see is "Erased". If not, you should manually force a clear. - The assembler is no longer compatible with the current set of op-codes. (Edit: Already fixed by Neil) - The flash image has yet to be tested. I've added the lost flash region again. The commands to save and restore user state have changed: STOM nn will save the user settable mode settings in register nn. The register contents may be inspected in 64 bit integer mode but shouldn't be viewed in decimal mode since it's a pure binary value. Type STO, then MODE (the CPLX key), then the destination. RCLM nn will restore these settings from a register. The user has the sole responsibility for the validity of the restored value! Type RCL, then MODE (the CPLX key), then the destination. I'll stop for now, it is getting late here. If the software crashes, just go back to an older release... Edit: command names have changed. Edit again: Walter has won the internal command naming contest. ;-) Edited: 19 July 2011, 5:37 p.m. after one or more responses were posted

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #2 Posted by Neil Hamilton (Ottawa) on 17 July 2011, 5:24 p.m., in response to message #1 by Marcus von Cube, Germany Quote: - The assembler is no longer compatible with the current set of op-codes. Assembler is now up-to-date for SVN 1242 opcodes. Hurray for the 4th flash page being back!

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #3 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 17 July 2011, 5:36 p.m., in response to message #2 by Neil Hamilton (Ottawa) Thanks for the hurray! We need testers to make sure the space savings haven't introduced more bugs then can be fixed in the limited flash space left now.

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #4 Posted by Paul Dale on 17 July 2011, 5:50 p.m., in response to message #1 by Marcus von Cube, Germany Another big squeeze. The things effected are commands that don't take arguments from the stack (but they are allowed to return values to the stack or not) and every command that accesses user settable state has changed (both read and write accesses). The first saved us a kilobyte, the second about half and put back the user state save and restore commands. Quote: The register contents may be inspected in 64 bit integer mode but shouldn't be viewed in decimal mode since it's a pure binary value. What Marcus failed to mention is that looking at the state value in real mode is capable of locking up the device. Something on my to do list. - Pauli

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #5 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 17 July 2011, 5:59 p.m., in response to message #4 by Paul Dale Since you can store any bit pattern in a register when in integer mode or by storing Alpha, the lockup, if any, could already be produced in earlier versions of the firmware.

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #6 Posted by Paul Dale on 21 July 2011, 3:24 a.m., in response to message #5 by Marcus von Cube, Germany Actually, this doesn't seem to be a problem. Look at but don't modify the value in real mode. Not that looking at it there is at all interesting. Officially, the mode word is opaque and cannot be user modified without risking a complete lock up. - Pauli

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #7 Posted by Cristian Arezzini on 17 July 2011, 11:46 p.m., in response to message #1 by Marcus von Cube, Germany I haven't followed the latest developments very closely, but if opcodes changed again that means that if I update I'll loose my programs... Is there a way to convert them? Can the assembler be used to do so?

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #8 Posted by Paul Dale on 17 July 2011, 11:52 p.m., in response to message #7 by Cristian Arezzini You will need to disassemble them using the version of the assembler that matches your firmware and then reassemble them with the latest. - Pauli

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #9 Posted by Paul Dale on 18 July 2011, 3:18 a.m., in response to message #7 by Cristian Arezzini Updating is also optional :-) The basic functionality seems to be pretty robust & has been for a while. - Pauli

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #10 Posted by Cristian Arezzini on 18 July 2011, 3:31 a.m., in response to message #9 by Paul Dale I know! :) In fact I haven't reflashed since 1151. But as many changes are being introduced lately, I would like to stay a bit more "current"... Cristian

Re: WP 34S - major changes! Message #11 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 18 July 2011, 4:37 a.m., in response to message #10 by Cristian Arezzini The serial routines are in but totally untested (because I need to implement the emulator counterpart for them first.) You should wait until I do announce the new features here.

I would say updating is necessary not optional :-) Message #12 Posted by gene wright on 18 July 2011, 10:25 a.m., in response to message #9 by Paul Dale The stack changes are critical enough that updating should be a necessity. The earlier builds do not handle the stack the way all earlier RPN HP's have done. If you wish to use any code previously written as a base and convert it to the 34s, then you really must update or debugging the code will be a nightmare. The SST change is another reason to reflash if you ever plan to step through code to debug. Seeing the step executed and its result in the display is critical to work like previous calculators. So, IMO, update!

Re: I would say updating is necessary not optional :-) Message #13 Posted by Namir on 18 July 2011, 10:56 a.m., in response to message #12 by gene wright URL for the latest update, please? I go to the typical URL ad get an old version.

Re: I would say updating is necessary not optional :-) Message #14 Posted by gene wright on 18 July 2011, 11:23 a.m., in response to message #13 by Namir Latest Version list the URL above always shows the latest builds but remember - these are often NOT necessarily stable. :-) download and use at your own risk.

Re: I would say updating is necessary not optional :-) Message #15 Posted by Namir on 18 July 2011, 11:50 a.m., in response to message #14 by gene wright Thanks Gene! What s the URL for the emulator? Namir

Re: I would say updating is necessary not optional :-) Message #16 Posted by fhub on 18 July 2011, 1:11 p.m., in response to message #15 by Namir Quote: What s the URL for the emulator? I'm using the following link: http://wp34s.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/wp34s/ Here you can see immediately the current version at the top after the item "Directory revision:". If this number is newer than your latest verison, then just click on this number and you'll get the site with ALL files changed with this revision, and you can also download the files from here. For the emulator you need the following files (which are all in trunk\windows\bin): wp34sgui.exe wp34s.exe (not absolutely necessary) emulator.dll 1 Medium 34s.skin 2 Compact 34s.skin 3 LED 34s.skin wp34s_medium.bmp wp34s_compact.bmp wp34s_LED.bmp Edited: 18 July 2011, 1:13 p.m.

Re: I would say updating is necessary not optional :-) Message #17 Posted by Walter B on 18 July 2011, 1:26 p.m., in response to message #16 by fhub ... and once you've downloaded these, you will only need updating wp34sgui.exe until the layout will change. Walter

Re: I would say updating is necessary not optional :-) Message #18 Posted by fhub on 18 July 2011, 1:32 p.m., in response to message #17 by Walter B ... and sometimes also emulator.dll is updated. ;-) (not-updated files don't even appear in the revision list)

Re: I would say updating is necessary not optional :-) Message #19 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 18 July 2011, 1:45 p.m., in response to message #17 by Walter B Quote: ... and once you've downloaded these, you will only need updating wp34sgui.exe until the layout will change. ... or until I change the linkage between the exe and the emulator dll. That's what I had to do today. You will need emulator.dll because it contains a new function which is called by wp34s.exe.

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