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WP 34S: Quick access to bitwise operations as on the 16C
01-27-2015, 02:24 AM
Post: #20
RE: WP 34S: Quick access to bitwise operations as on the 16C
A dedicated overlay designed specifically for a device that's primarily a programmer's calculator (while of course also supports every single function the 34S has) could be useful. However, that's not a small undertaking because we have to provide very easy access to four related operations: directly switching to binary, octal, decimal and hexadecimal modes, and that requires a major reshuffling of the keys.

The only place those functions can go is the top 6 by 2 block and 6 keys are already taken up by the digits A-F, and those six keys don't fit anywhere else. Therefore the shifts must go and there's only one place the shifts can end up: XEQ and the arrows, so the arrows must also be relocated. I've given it some thought and I think these changes are unavoidable.

Below is a diagram of the only reasonable starting point for a programmer's layout I could come up with, given the HP 30b's keyboard. Three things could possibly be changed:
1. The bin/oct/dec/hex keys could be reversed or moved to the left side (but then STO/RCL would need to be relocated).
2. The window operations, <( and )>, could be moved anywhere. But both window operations must be on the same shift to allow fast operation when switching back and forth, [f] for left and [g] for right as on the original 34S is slow.
3. The arrows could be made f-shifted instead of h-shifted. (It wouldn't be optimal to have them g-shifted because your finger can more easily find [h] below the large ENTER key or [f] above the lowered EXIT key.)

The arrows are shifted but since there are no letters assigned to those keys, the + and - keys could be used to navigate in catalogs without a shift, so it wouldn't be very painful. STO and RCL should probably remain in the original positions, stack rotate could be on the right of ENTER, pushing x<>y and +/- to the right while getting rid of EEX. EEX in floating point mode could be to the right of the decimal mark, so either EEX or R/S would need to be in a shifted position.

Some food for thought...

Code:

   --------    --------    --------    --------    --------    --------
  |   A    |  |   B    |  |   C    |  |   D    |  |   E    |  |   F    |
  |        |  |        |  |   <(   |  |   )>   |  |        |  |        |
 A --------  B --------  C --------  D --------  E --------  F --------

   --------    --------    --------    --------    --------    --------
  |        |  |        |  |  BIN   |  |  OCT   |  |  DEC   |  |  HEX   |
  |        |  |        |  |        |  |        |  |        |  |        |
 G --------  H --------  I --------  J --------  K --------  L --------

   --------------------    --------    --------    --------    --------
  |       ENTER^       |  |        |  |        |  |        |  |   <-   |
  |                    |  |        |  |        |  |        |  |  CLx   |
   --------------------  M --------  N --------  O --------    --------

  ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------
 |    h     |   |    7     |   |    8     |   |    9     |   |    /     |
 |          |   |          |   |          |   |          |   |   RMDR   |
  ----------   P ----------   Q ----------   R ----------   S ----------

  ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------
 |    g     |   |    4     |   |    5     |   |    6     |   |    *     |
 |          |   |          |   |          |   |          |   |          |
  ----------   T ----------   U ----------   V ----------   W ----------

  ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------
 |    f     |   |    1     |   |    2     |   |    3     |   |    -     |
 |          |   |          |   |          |   |          |   |    /\    |
  ----------     ----------   X ----------   Y ----------     ----------

  ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------
 |   EXIT   |   |    0     |   |    .     |   |          |   |    +     |
 |          |   |          |   |          |   |          |   |    \/    |
  ----------     ----------     ----------   Z ----------     ----------
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RE: WP 34S: Quick access to bitwise operations as on the 16C - Bit - 01-27-2015 02:24 AM



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