Re: The Times They Are a-Changin' (but not the ROMs)
- From: John H Meyers <jhmeyers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2012 07:29:13 -0500
On 5/31/2012 4:32 AM, Eduardo wrote:
[as to why asking whether #DFFh DOERR is an "entry point" that could change]
I had read something about entry point changes in
the last 2.15 ROM from HP, that gave trouble to programs
for the unofficial 2.10.7 from Parisse.
Don't "Swiftboat" the official HP ROM!
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiftboating>
I'm sure you must have some product, perhaps a disk drive,
on which a seal has been placed, warning that if you break the seal,
or modify the original product in any way, you void the warranty?
Perhaps a Chevy in which you had someone substitute a Ford engine?
Do you expect the dealer to be obliged to honor the original warranty
for that car, which is no longer the product as designed and built by GM?
Didn't BP take a product by HP and replace the CAS (a part which he produced
for HP as an independent contractor) with a version which he personally
wanted to supply to math teachers in France, with Geometry and Spreadsheet
applications which exist in no ROM by HP? In so doing, whether by intent
or accident, I believe he renumbered some very obscure and rarely used
ROMPTRs or FLASHPTRs, which IIRC practically no one but a single programmer
(someone who sells his products commercially?) ever used,
hence "BP's personal ROM" is unable to properly run only that specific software,
or if that software was locked into the specific items "broken" by BP,
then that software's author made his own product to work only
on a car whose engine wasn't made by the original manufacturer.
I suppose that programmer could offer two versions of each program
(and should, if having accepted payment for programs locked into
BP's personal ROM), but it's for sure not HP's fault or responsibility,
and I've never "read" that any ROM compiled by HP
ever "changed any entry points" in the official "supported" list.
Long before that time, a German math professor (WR) had decided
that saving some program bytes by knowingly and deliberately relying on
_unsupported_ entry points was worth risking, and when it turned out
that some of those entry points changed, as is always the risk,
in subsequent ROM versions, some of his libraries did have to be
re-compiled for use on later ROMs, becoming no longer usable
on earlier ROMs instead -- that's what can happen when anyone
voids the implied guarantee of "support" by breaking the rules,
and both BP and WR broke HP's rules, creating for you
a situation where you have to assume responsibility
for the use of their inherently defective product, never sanctioned by HP,
for whatever gain you thought you were getting from that action.
Other programmers, simply from what we could label as limited awareness,
have offered, for free and at user's risk, programs which might crash a 49G
(or an emulator) because its screen is shorter than a 49G+/50G, for example,
or has a couple of functions exchanged on a couple of keys,
which can be avoided if the author has the perspective to take care
and either automatically adjust to all models, or decline to run
on any whose hardware is insufficient, or at the very least,
document any incompatibilities in "ReadMe" files,
passing the responsibility to the "buyer" who declines to read :)
Software quality comes from a combination of original programmer quality
and end user quality, and everyone has equal opportunity to screw up,
just as in the real world, where you can't escape needing
to evaluate all your sources, gauge their level
of knowledge and awareness (including your own), learn by experience,
and develop good judgment to make your own choices as wisely as possible.
At any rate, moving forward to today, you now have a ROM 2.15,
usable on ARM hardware only (I forget whether it's also for 49G+?)
AFAIAA (and I may not be entirely :)
ROM 2.15 may be, except for the later-added "data logger" command,
the same as a really final version 2.10 that was in HP's possession
(as well as in the hands of a group of testers) but which
"powers that be" at HP refused to "regression test" or release,
nor apparently to let Eric offer separately,
as was once okayed for 49G rom 1.19,
that was distinctly "better" than HP's last "official" 1.18
Well that's really too bad, because that version 2.10,
even though now "obsoleted" by 2.15 for ARM-based calculators,
also runs on Emu48 and can even be transferred from Emu48
to a real 49G via a serial port.
My own Emu48 (acting as a 49G) displays as follows:
VERSION -> "Version HP48-C Revision #2.10" [48?]
VER (of CAS) -> 4.20060919
During the ROM production process, all the "Saturn" CPU code
is first compiled, producing a ROM that could be installed to a 49G,
plus a ROM file that can work in Emu48, then additional steps
modify that to produce the ARM version of the ROM.
I understand that version 2.15 additionally replaces the "boot block"
of the 49G, necessary for a real 49G, with "data logger" ARM code,
but I can't imagine it to be very difficult to omit that,
so as to produce what would work in EMU48 and real 49G,
except that no one seems to have done that (or announced it),
nor has mentioned having produced equivalent files
by pasting an older "boot block" part into a 2.15 ROM file,
which should also theoretically be possible.
On the other hand, if the real final unreleased HP 2.10 version
is just as good as 2.15 sans "data logger," then it could be
a boon to all if HP would allow Eric to post that final 2.10,
including the emulator and 49G file, which was available to testers,
without the slightest risk or responsibility to HP,
just as was done for old 49G version 1.19
But I don't work for HP, as I believe will shortly be said by 27,000
"soon to be former" employees who are about to depart --
Google "HP layoff" for numerous views on the matter, including:
<http://www.businessinsider.com/hp-layoffs-employee-reactions-2012-5>
I hope our old friends in the calculator area aren't hit by this storm.
Say, why doesn't latest CEO Meg simply auction off the company,
on the site of one of her previous jobs?
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way --
in short, the period was so far like the present period,
that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received,
for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
<http://www.bartleby.com/73/1818.html>
Carly and Meg have at least two things in common:
"Fiorina served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005."
"In 2008, Fiorina served as an advisor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain."
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carly_Fiorina>
"Whitman joined McCain's 2008 presidential campaign as a national co-chair."
"In January 2011, Whitman joined Hewlett-Packard's board of directors.
She was named CEO on September 22, 2011"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman>
<http://www.BobDylan.com/us/songs/times-they-are-changin>
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