Any plans for Python on the IPhone or Android Prime apps?

[StephenG1CMZ]

The Python beta has been available on the Prime for over a year now.
Are there any plans to include it on the IPhone or Android apps?

[Jacob Wall]

(06-03-2022 10:20 PM)StephenG1CMZ Wrote:  The Python beta has been available on the Prime for over a year now.
Are there any plans to include it on the IPhone or Android apps?

I am also curious, optimism is in short supply here.

[Steve Simpkin]

I suspect that will be a question for Klaas Kuperus or someone else affiliated with Royal Consumer Information Products (or Moravia Consulting). Hopefully they will see this thread.

https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-17...#pid153940

[calc_freak]

Their lack of response to their own forum speaks volumes about their commitment.

https://hpcalcs.com/support/forum/

[Stevetuc]

(06-04-2022 04:11 PM)calc_freak Wrote:  Their lack of response to their own forum speaks volumes about their commitment.

https://hpcalcs.com/support/forum/

According to the Moravia forum there are 0 support issues.
100% customer satisfaction!

[Giancarlo]

I remember that from time to time the apps in the App Store disappear because of lack of app updates.
Updating the Prime firmware would be an opportunity here. Am I wrong?

Thanks

Giancarlo

[drbarnack]

(06-04-2022 04:11 PM)calc_freak Wrote:  Their lack of response to their own forum speaks volumes about their commitment.

https://hpcalcs.com/support/forum/

The forum appears to be flooded with spam now.

[calc_freak]

That's just more evidence that Moravia doesn't care about the forum or the calculators. Allowing a bot to spam at that high rate is incompetence or indifference.

[jonmoore]

I suspect that features will be frozen in time with the Prime in both hardware and app store varieties. Moravia etc, will more likely focus on low hanging fruit such as the finance calculators, simple scientific calculators and basic calculators. The level of investment required to further develop the Prime or develop a next generation version of the Prime seems unlikely to be palatable to the licensees.

I would have preferred it if HP had given the community the opportunity to maintain the OS. The hardware is good enough for many, many years of further development but sadly I don't think that's something that's likely to happen.

[jte]

I’ve been focused on some of the lower-level aspects of the code base recently (how, on physical Primes, the nand flash memory is interacted with [during boot, dealing with ECC, etc.]) and have been reviewing raw memory dumps taken from flash memory chips removed from calculators, but should be returning to the higher levels of the code fairly soon.

(I’m one of the software developers working on the Prime.)

When I do get back to the higher levels of code, one place I’ll be looking at is the bug tracker I’ve set up for the Prime. People interested in contributing a bit of time towards helping out could certainly file bug reports there. (To get an account there, just send me a PM here.)

[Jacob Wall]

(07-05-2022 06:10 PM)jonmoore Wrote:  I suspect that features will be frozen in time with the Prime in both hardware and app store varieties. Moravia etc, will more likely focus on low hanging fruit such as the finance calculators, simple scientific calculators and basic calculators. The level of investment required to further develop the Prime or develop a next generation version of the Prime seems unlikely to be palatable to the licensees.

I would have preferred it if HP had given the community the opportunity to maintain the OS. The hardware is good enough for many, many years of further development but sadly I don't think that's something that's likely to happen.

Pretty much sums up my suspicions as well. Tim and Cyrille were getting a lot done before being pulled off the calculator development and I wonder if the thought process at Moravia/Royal was that any 2 developers could continue the work at the same rate. Meanwhile it would probably take a team if 5-10 developers unfamiliar with the product to make comparable progress. Unique talents are hard to replace, and for the past 20+ years of HP calculators it appears they rarely were replaced until there was nobody left.

IMHO, the smart thing to do would be to open source the Prime firmware to extend its life. I recall Tim or Cyrille commenting about making efforts to try and get that done before the switchover. Much more likely that the product will just die a slow death.

just bought another 2 Primes recently, one might stay in original packaging forever as a collector item

I hope i am wrong about this, but I am not expecting Python on the apps for Android ir iOS to ever happen.

Also see the other side of it, the product is unlikely to be profitable due to strong established competition, and major investment in development does not guarantee future sales.

Carry on.

[KlaasKuperus]

(06-03-2022 10:20 PM)StephenG1CMZ Wrote:  Are there any plans to include it on the IPhone or Android apps?

Yes.

[jonmoore]

(08-10-2022 09:22 AM)KlaasKuperus Wrote:  

(06-03-2022 10:20 PM)StephenG1CMZ Wrote:  Are there any plans to include it on the IPhone or Android apps?

Yes.

Yet another steller showing of Moravia customer support. The OP posted his enquiry on June 3rd of this year, and more than two months later he gets a single word response. Nobodies asking for a firm commitments here but the enquiry deserved more than a heavily delayed one word response.

At least when @jte (one of the new Prime developers) posted a couple of posts back he provided useful information.

Come on Moravia, your approach to customer service is in serious need of improvement.

[Bill Triplett]

I know many of us have some valid grief about lack of support, but here is how it can look to the HP support people:

When a customer cannot be satisfied, for certain specific individuals, giving that person ten times as many words breeds ten times as much contempt. It does nothing more than expand their verbal hostility.

I suspect Klaas knows. This idea is never quite visible to the people who cannot be satisfied. So, in this instance, Santa is merely answering the question for other readers, along with knowing who is naughty or nice.

As for me, I know in my heart I would never in a billion years need Python on a calculator emulator on an android phone. I use it constantly in other environments, where it is actually useful to me in the ecosystem of other machine functionality. As for making it complete on the Android Prime simulator, I think I understand why the priority is tagging along at the end of the train.

Folks who will surely have their lives dramatically reshaped by having Python on their emulated calculator phone are much smarter than me, of course. So, if it does get built, it won't be wasted.

I know it isn't fair to be mirthful when thinking about frustrated users who need support, and who really don't get enough. I just tend to find humor in odd places. Even the Old Testament is full of humor, if you look for it. Think about how Zipporah saved the life of Moses. Supposedly, an angel that was sent to kill him abandoned the mission after seeing him receive a tongue-lashing from her.

Seriously, why do we see such limited support from HP? It isn't rocket science to explain. The calculator industry is crunching through changes which are shaped by lack of limitless funding. Despite their having limited resources, the workers often do amazing creative work. This is how art and science are better than cold hard cash-making business ventures.

The calculator makers are artists. They create, often by turning straw into gold. The right and proper question to ask is, "How do we support the creators," not "How can we have the creators support each and every one of us."

One way we can help is by helping HP show high-school and university teachers how nice it is to have the Primes connected to a teacher's machine using a simple WiFi router. I have looked closely at every aspect of how teachers must work when using the Texas Instruments solution. Frankly, it is not a "solution." It makes the teachers do way too much twiddling work, with frequent stall outs. As limited as it seems, the Prime classroom method works better, and is more affordable.

Spread the word.

Bill

[StephenG1CMZ]

It's great to hear that there is finally a new release for Windows which will apparently be followed by one for the Android in due course.
But I see no mention of any changes to the Python beta that has been available on other platforms for over 2 years now - which leaves me uncertain whether or not it may finally appear in this next release.
Either way, the new release will be welcome news when it reaches the Android.
I hope the new release will work offline, as mobile coverage is poor here.

[KlaasKuperus]

(04-24-2023 09:50 PM)StephenG1CMZ Wrote:  It's great to hear that there is finally a new release for Windows which will apparently be followed by one for the Android in due course.
But I see no mention of any changes to the Python beta that has been available on other platforms for over 2 years now - which leaves me uncertain whether or not it may finally appear in this next release.
Either way, the new release will be welcome news when it reaches the Android.
I hope the new release will work offline, as mobile coverage is poor here.

Hi Stephen,

Thank you for your kind words and suggestions. We've been struggling by getting everything under control and a new update out, but it's now finally here! We'll be working on MAC, IOS and Android version next and Python is one of the next developments to work on indeed. As soon as more information is available, I will make sure to post it here. Thank you for your patience.