Read Me

Requirements

The Simulator is written in the Tcl/Tk script language. It should run on all operating systems supported by Tcl/Tk. It has been tested on several UNIX/Linux flavours, Windows XP/Vista/7 and Mac OS X.

Each distribution contains an executable for the particular platform or, in case of the source code distribution, the simulator Tcl/Tk source code file. To run the executables no further software is required. To run the Simulator from the source code file you will need to install Tcl/Tk version 8.5.0 or higher.

Installation

1. Create a new directory, e.g. "HP-15C", and extract all files. The directory tree must be preserved when extracting the files. If you have already installed a previous version of the Simulator you can just copy the new version over the previous one.

2. Under Linux/Unix you must mark the file "HP-15C" as executable.

3. From the new directory, install the font "HP-15C_Simulator_Font.ttf". If you are not familiar with installing fonts, information for your operating system can be found here:

   • Windows
     

     Click here for information about Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. If these links don't work anymore, go to the Microsoft home page and search for "install fonts windows xp" (or "… vista" or "… 7").

   • Linux
     

     Go to your user directory (e.g. "cd $HOME") and create a directory ".fonts" if it doesn't exist. Copy the file "HP-15C_Simulator_Font.ttf" to that directory. Done.

     This should work on all current Linux distributions, e.g. Debian based distributions like Ubuntu or professional distributions like SuSE and RedHat. It should work also with all popular Window Managers, like KDE, Gnome or XFCE.

   • Mac OS X
     

     Using the "Finder" file manager, navigate to the directory where you installed the HP-15C simulator software.
     Then Double Click the mouse on the file named "HP-15C_Simulator_Font.ttf".
     In the "Font Book" window that opens click on the button labeled "Install Font".

4. Read the documentation "<new-directory>/doc/index.htm".

   The documentation is best viewed with the following or a higher version of theses browsers: Firefox 5, Internet Explorer 9, Safari 5, Chrome 10, Opera 10.5, Konqueror 4.4.

5. Start the platform specific executable (see below), or run the Simulator source file "HP-15C.tcl" with the Tcl/Tk "wish" application.

Files and directories

Base directory

doc directory

progs directory

The source code distribution contains the following, additional directories and files:

Base directory

css directory

icons directory

lib directory

msgs directory

Release Notes

Version 3.2.00, Build 5319

• Bug fixes
  • In Complex mode with X = 0 and iX > 1, g TAN^-1 computed the wrong sign for the imaginary part.
  • In Complex mode with X = 0 and iX = 1 or -1, g TAN^-1 resulted in an "ERROR 0" instead of an overflow.
  • In Complex mode with X > 0 and iX = 0, g HYP^-1 TAN computed the wrong sign for the imaginary part.
  • In Complex mode results of f →R are more accurate for even multiples of 90° (π).
  • When single stepping through a program in Complex mode, the imaginary X-register was not reset to zero when it should.
  • When a RCL +, −, × or ÷ command immediately followed an ENTER command in a program, the imaginary X register was wrongly set to zero.
  • When single stepping through a program some stack lifts were suppressed, thus the content of the X register was overwritten.
  • Using g F?, g TEST, f DSE or f ISG in Run mode could result in an invalid program status.
  • After interrupting a running program with a key or mouse click, restarting the program with R/S sometimes failed.
  • It was possible to open a program that required more program registers than were available. Now this gives "ERROR 4".
  • In Run mode R/S did not look pressed when pressed and did not show the current program line.
  • Rolling the stack up and down with the mouse was broken in version 3.1.00.
  • Numbers were not rounded correctly to the decimal places. For example with f FIX 2 the number 2.005 was displayed as 2.00 but the correct form is 2.01. Please note that the rounding applies to the display, but not to the value of the number itself.
  • In USER mode the keys A…E did not work correctly. Whether pressed directly or prefixed.
  • After ∫xy ran into in error ("ERROR N") you had to restart the simulator to use the function again.
  
  
• Known issues
  • Linux:
    If keyboard-repeat is enabled in your window manager, and one of the functions f PREFIX, g MEM or f i is invoked via the keyboard, the pause after releasing the last key is longer than it should be, if the key was held longer than 5 seconds. This doesn't happen when the functions are invoked using the mouse.
  • Fedora:
    You may need to install "libXss.so" or a package containing this library, e.g. "libXScrnSaver", to run the Simulator.
  
  
• Changes
  • NEW: Support for Michael's and David's DM-15/DM-15CC.
    If you order a DM-15 because of my simulator please mention that in your order at SwissMicros. For "How did you find us?" select "hp-15c-simulator@arcor.de".
  • In DM-15 modes with more then 64 registers, g MEM adds a period between storage and pool registers: "19.110 0-0"
  • In the DM-15 mode with 228 registers, the number of program steps is limited to 999.
  • When changing the interface language while the program documentation window is open, the documentation window is automatically updated.
  • Subroutines in the HTML export can be indented to show the program structure.
  • When copying numbers from the clipboard, all characters at the beginning and the end of the clipboard data that can not be part of a number are removed. Examples: ##1.234## becomes 1.234 , "1.6" becomes 1.6 and -123+ becomes -123.
  • New preferences setting: "Copy program when in PRGM mode".
  • Linux: A native 64bit version is available because most 64bit distributions do not support 32bit applications by default.
  • Added language "Dutch (flemish)". Met dank aan Ronny Verbeek.
  • Additions and corrections to the language files by Gonzalo Balerdi for Spanish, by Zoltan Hubert for French and by Marco Vedovato for Italian.
  
  

Version 3.1.00, Build 5215

• Bug fixes
  • Reducing the number of available data storage registers erroneously reduced the numeric labels addressable with GSB and GTO.
  • The simulator crashed when pasting from the clipboard and if the content contained a new line character. Now only the characters up to the first new line character are analysed.
  • If a program used a data storage register only in a STO or RCL command followed by +, −, × or ÷, that register was not added to the list of used registers in the documentation.
  • Results of y^x were wrong in Complex mode. This was due to an incorrect code change in version 3.0.00.
  • When using register I with GSB or GTO to address a program step, it was possible to address a step one greater than the highest defined program step.
  • When single stepping trough a program with SST in Run mode, pressing R/S while the program was entering a number, the number became corrupted leading to wrong results.
  • f DSE and f ISG sometimes failed due to rounding errors.
  • When the simulator was closed while entering a number, the memory file could contain invalid numbers.
  • Windows executable: After starting the Simulator, the user interface did not have the focus.
  
  
• Known issues
  • Linux:
    If keyboard-repeat is enabled in your window manager, and one of the functions f PREFIX, g MEM or f i is invoked via the keyboard, the pause after releasing the last key is longer than it should be, if the key was held longer than 5 seconds. This doesn't happen when the functions are invoked using the mouse.
  • Fedora:
    You may need to install "libXss.so" or a package containing this library, e.g. "libXScrnSaver", to run the Simulator.
  
  
• Changes
  • NEW: An Mnemonic Converter written by Nina Scholz.
    This tool accepts various mnemonic formats and converts them into valid HP-15C key sequences. HP-15C programs are often shown in mnemonic format only and the converter saves the manual typing of the program.
    It is written in JavaScript and you will find it in the simulator help under "Programs / Mnemonic Converter".
  • Programs run up to 75% faster, depending on the functions they use.
  • Edward Shore contributed several programs from his calculator blog. You will find them in the directory "progs/Eddie's".
  • The highlighting of the blue functions becomes deactivated when the mouse is moved away, even if the key is still pressed.
  • In the preferences, the default for the "Delay value" is now 0 ms instead of 100 ms.
  • The labels A…E are now included in the documentation even if they are only used in a GSB or GTO command.
  • g MEM now returns the correct values for used registers and free bytes. In previous versions it was only an approximation, because it was assumed that all commands allocate one byte, but on the real HP-15C some allocate two bytes.
  • Like on the real HP-15C, Complex mode now reduces the number of free registers by 5.
  • After pasting a number from the clipboard, the stack is not locked anymore. The next input (a digit or a clipboard paste operation) performs a stack lift before writing to the X register. Without the stack lift, the pasted value was overwritten. This new behaviour is the same as when you press e.g. g π.
  • When loading a program while the program documentation window is open, the documentation window is automatically updated.
  • Added Italian language for pop-up menus and dialogues. Grazie a Marco Vedovato.
  
  

Version 3.0.00, Build 5207

• Bug fixes
  • When the X register was zero, some operations could still have a minus sign in the result.
  • Operations on stack and data storage registers could result in invalid values beeing stored in the storage register. This was not detected until the register's content was moved to the X register.
  • The functions y^x, ⅟x, Δ%, ÷, STO ÷ and RCL ÷ sometimes threw an overflow error where they should throw an "ERROR 0".
  • Improved accuracy of the inverse complex trigonometric functions. This was contributed by Barry Mead.
  • Improved accuracy and speed of the Gamma function. This was contributed by Barry Mead.
  • The X register of the imaginary stack was not reset correctly in some cases.
  • Integration (∫_y^x) and root finding (SOLVE) did not work inside a program. Solved with support from Barry Mead.
  • In USER mode, pressing the prefix key f followed by one the five user definable function keys did not invoke the exchanged function.
  • When leaving the "Save program" dialogue box with the "Cancel" button, the program directory path was reset to the default value.
  • Corrected mnemonics:
    • STO (i) was displayed as STO COS
    • STO I was displayed as STO TAN
    • STO and RCL RAN # was displayed as STO and RCL ENTER
    • SOLVE and ∫_y^x using a label A…E were displayed using the basic key faces √x̅…⅟x
    • f x↔ (i) was displayed as f x↔ COS
    • f x↔ I was displayed as f x↔ TAN
    • f SCI I was displayed as f SCI TAN
    • f ENG I was displayed as f ENG TAN
    
    
  • Windows: The path to the memory file could contain invalid characters.
  
  
• Known issues
  • Linux:
    If keyboard-repeat is enabled in your window manager, and one of the functions f PREFIX, g MEM or f i is invoked via the keyboard, the pause after releasing the last key is longer than it should be, if the key was held longer than 5 seconds. This doesn't happen when the functions are invoked using the mouse.
  • Fedora:
    You may need to install "libXss.so" or a package containing this library, e.g. "libXScrnSaver", to run the Simulator.
  
  
• Changes
  • New and improved user interface.
  • If "Access 'f' and 'g' functions directly" is activated, the labels can be highlighted when the mouse is moved over them.
  • More and improved usage of Unicode characters on the key faces.
  • Changes to the preference settings become immediately active.
  • Improved mouse and keyboard handling. Simulator buttons remain pressed as long as the key or mouse button is pressed. In previous Simulator versions this worked only for some keyboard keys.
  • New function to "Reset memory". This is in the "Memory…" sub-menu of the context pop-up menu.
  • Addes missing function RCL DIM (i).
  • A documentation can be stored together with HP-15C programs. Menu entry "Program description…".
  • The program documentation and the program code can be exported as HTML.
  • The preferences dialogue now opens always centered on the screen.
  • Improved documentation (excessive use of CSS3).
  • Windows 95/98/NT4/2000 are no longer supported.
  • New short-cuts
    
    Shift–F1 : Display the help file for the current program (if available).
    F12 : Opens the program description dialogue box.
    Ctrl–R : Reset the memory to the default value.
    
  
  

Version 2.0.03, build 5119

• Bug fixes
  • The function PSE did not really pause a program.
  • The function →R calculated wrong results for the right angles π and 1.5×π in RAD mode, respectively 180° (200°) and 270° (300°) in DEG (GRAD) mode.
  • Enabling "Strict HP-15 behaviour" caused an internal error in some calculations.
  • The function ŷ,r lifted the stack twice instead of once, if stack lift was enabled.
  • The flashing of the word "running" during program execution was unsteady.
  
  
• Changes
  • Added an FAQ page to the online help and the home page.
  • Calculation of TAN for odd multiples of 45° now always results in an integer.
  
  

Version 2.0.02, build 5106

• Bug fixes
  • Language settings of the operating system for British and US English were not always recognized correctly.
  • The fallback to British English language settings failed on some systems.
  • Numbers with more than ten digits could be entered.
  • Pressing EEX more than once while entering a number corrupted the input.
  • Mac OS: Storage menus were corrupted when all 9 digits of the mantissa were used.
  • Mac OS: Clicking with the right mouse button when the application didn't have the focus caused an internal Tcl/Tk error.
  • Mac OS: Clicking the application menu bar while a simulator pop-up menu is open no longer disables the menu bar permanently.
  • Mac OS: System menu entries in the HP-15C menu are now always in the system language.
  • Mac OS: Menu entries not valid while a pop up menu is open are disabled.
  
  
• Changes
  • The language for menus and dialogue boxes can now be set independent from the system setting.
  • Mac OS: Executables is now also packed using tclkit 8.5.9. This results also in a significant smaller installation file.
  • More native operating system GUI elements are used if available.
  
  

Version 2.0.01, build 5037

• Bug fixes
  • Back side wasn't displayed when "Stay on top" was on.
  • After back side was turned off keyboard was inactive.
  • If "Extended Unicode chars for key faces" was not checked some keyboard keys, e.g. period and decimal point on the keypad, were bound to the wrong function.
  • Linux: When X register was zero, ABS and PREFIX had "-0" as result (Tcl/Tk internal error).
  
  
• Known issues
  • Mac OS:
    Clicking the application menu bar while a simulator pop-up menu is open disables the menu bar permanently.
    This is a Cocoa related problem of the Tcl/Tk Mac OS X port.
  • Mac OS:
    Some menu entries in the HP-15C menu are always in English.
  
  
• Changes
  • Windows and Linux executables are now packed using tclkit 8.5.9.
  • The simulator source code and the various icons are no longer included in the platform specific packages. Please download the source package if you want these files.
  • Linux: More modern behaviour of menus: Active item follows the mouse motion. Help menu entry is not longer right aligned in a menu bar (Tcl/Tk internal improvements).
  • Linux: Icons are now directly packed into in the executable.
  
  

Version 2.0.00, build 5034

• Bug fixes
  • Help file couldn't be displayed if path contained a space.
    
  • PSE paused execution when called from outside a program which it shouldn't
    
  • Clx and ← followed by some functions caused an invalid stack lift
    
  • Pressing EEX didn't work when entering numbers with more than 7 digits in the mantissa but mantissa had comma
  
  
• Known issues
  • Mac OS:
    Clicking the application menu bar while a simulator pop-up menu is open disables the menu bar permanently.
    This is a Cocoa related problem of the Tcl/Tk Mac OS X port.
  • Mac OS:
    Some menu entries in the HP-15C menu are always in English.
  
  
• Changes
  • Added support for Mac OS X. This includes:
    • Special pop-up menus for the stack, the data storage register menus and the program menu. Pop-ups are closed by pressing esc.
    • ON pop-up menu can be invoked via <Command>-<B1>
    • Multi-touch touchpad gestures to emulate the right mouse button are supported
    • Adapted keyboard modifiers:
      
      Ctrl key is mapped to Command (⌘) key
      Alt key is mapped to Option (⌥) key
      
    • Integration in the Apple menu bar
    
    
  • New preferences setting: Direct access to 'f' and 'g' can be switched On/Off
  • New preferences setting: Toggle menu bar On/Off
  • Added function "Stay on top"
  • Extended ON pop-up menu: "Stay on top", "Show back side"
  • Renamed ON pop-up menu entry "1.000,00 -> 1,000.00" to "Swap comma and period"
  • Removed key accelerators from all menus. Each function can be access via a short-cut.
  • Menus for the stack, the data storage registers and the program now always use the fixed width font specified by the windowing system.
  • Menu entries in the stack and the data storage register menus are now right aligned.
  • New short-cuts
    
    Ctrl–, : Show preferences dialogue box (inspired by Mac OS)
    Ctrl–T : Simulator stays on top of all other windows on the screen
    Ctrl–Q : Exit HP-15C simulator
    Shift–Esc : Clear all - set all registers to zero
    
  • In two column mode storage menus show the same number of registers in each column.
  • Added multi language support for pop-up menus and dialogue boxes. Currently English, French, German and Spanish are supported. The default and fallback language is British English (en_GB).
  • Added HP-15C back side
  • "About" dialogue box now appears always in the middle of the screen
  • "URW Fonts" are no longer supported.
  • Changed licence to GPL version 3
  • HP-15C simulator now requires Tcl/Tk 8.5.0 or later.
  • Linux: Font Sets are now independent of the screen resolution
  • All dialogues and menus now use the native operating system GUI elements (switched to ttk widget set).
  • Removed a workaround for Tcl/Tk 8.4.x:
    A decimal point was appended to a number as soon as you typed in the 10th digit make it a real number thus avoiding an integer overflow.
  • When copying data from the operating system's clipboard the number's format is now detected automatically
  
  

Version 1.2.13, build 5001

• Bug fixes
  • When using CHS on the exponent, the minus sign didn't appear while the exponent was zero, i.e. 00. This was a difference to the real HP-15C (Thanks to Mark W).
  • Function →P calculated wrong angles for data outside of the first quadrant (Thanks to Manfred B.).
  • Function →P always calculated the resulting angle in DEG. Now the angle is given in the current mode, i.e. DEG, RAD or GRAD (Thanks to Manfred B.).
  • Function →R calculates more accurate results for multiples of π/2.
  • USER mode didn't switch key ⅟x (label E) (Thanks to Roman K.).
  
  
• Changes
  • Windows and Linux executables are now both packed using tclkit 8.5.7.
  
  

Version 1.2.12, build 4929

• Changes
  • Highest supported screen resolution set to 200 dpi for all operating systems (user request).
  
  

Version 1.2.11, build 4909

• Bug fixes
  • Fixed errors due to switch from Tcl/Tk 8.4.13 to 8.5.6 in functions →H and →H.MS.
  • Function Σ (clear statistics registers) did not clear register 7.
  • Fixed missing variables in function ŷ,r (linear expolation).
  • Copy/paste using Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V was broken since version 1.2.09.
  • RCL RAN # did not return the last seed.
  • RAN # did not reset the seed properly. The same seed therefore not always produced the same sequence of random numbers.
  • Mac OS X: Problem preventing starting the simulator on Mac OS X solved.
    Please note that Mac OS X is still not officially supported!
  
  
• Changes
  • Windows and Linux executables are now both packed using tclkit 8.5.6.
  • Linux: Ctrl-V could not be used to copy the HP-15C x-register to Gnome or Qt based applications. Only mouse button B2 (middle mouse button) worked as this is the standard under X Windows. Now both methods to access the clipboard content are supported.
  • New preferences setting: Precision can be set to strict HP-15C compliance or platform maximum. See online help for more details.
  • New preferences setting: Usage of extended Unicode characters for key faces can be switch On/Off. See online help for more details.
  
  

Version 1.2.10, build 4851

• Bug fixes
  • Octal number bug fix had problems with values between 0 and 1
  
  
• Changes
  • More Unicode characters used for interface and documentation to make them look more like the real HP-15C.
  
  

Version 1.2.09, build 4851

• Bug fixes
  • SIN, COS and TAN now return the correct values for right angles.
  • Input with a leading zero followed by either an "8" or a "9" led to an error
    (The Tcl interpreter treats numbers with a leading zero as octal numbers).
  
  
• Changes
  • Executables are now packed using tclkit 8.5.x (was: 8.4.13)
  • Font antialiasing is now available for UNIX/Linux with Tcl/Tk 8.5.x
  • New default font set (DejaVu Fonts) for UNIX/Linux for best effect of font antialiasing.
    If you have already installed an earlier version of the simulator you need to select this font set in the preferences manually!
  
  

Version 1.2.08, build 4730

• Changes
  • MS Windows Vista: Added support for Windows Vista.
  
  

Version 1.2.07, build 4717

• Bug fixes
  • MS Windows: Portuguese and some other regional settings caused error upon shut down.
  
  
• Changes
  • Changed time stamp format in memory file.
  
  

Version 1.2.06, build 4715

• Bug fixes
  • No font set was found when unsupported dpi settings were detected.
  • Linux: Correctly display Unicode characters in X11 titlebars.
  • Linux: Added encodings to tclkit to correctly display all special characters.
  
  
• Changes
  • Executables are now packed using tclkit based on Tcl/Tk 8.4.13 (was: 8.4.9).
  • Added information about operating system, platform, machine type, executable and Tcl/Tk version in the "About" dialogue box.
  • Linux: Popup menus are now "sticky".
  • MS Windows: Highest supported screen resolution changed from 140 dpi to 150 dpi (user request).
  
  

Version 1.2.05, build 4631

• Bug fixes
  • The handling of floating point numbers by the Tcl/Tk internal "int()" function caused wrong results in the time conversion functions →H and →H.MS in some cases.
  • Eliminated remaining HTML warnings in the online documentation.
  
  
• Changes
  • Unix: Made Firefox the default browser.
  
  

Version 1.2.04, build 4608

• Bug fixes
  • MS Windows: Comma was not fully visible when using large fonts (120 dpi).
  
  
• Changes
  • MS Windows: Added fonts sets for 120 dpi and higher
  • Improved appearance of HP logo at higher display resolutions.
  • Changes to the display resolution are detected automatically and an appropiate font set is beeing choosen.
  
  

Version 1.2.03, build 4604

• Bug fixes
  • Memory files saved manually could contain invalid simulator states.
  
  
• Changes
  • MS Windows: Icons are now directly packed into in the executable.
  • Linux: Icons for KDE are provided as PNG files.
  
  

Version 1.2.02, build 4603

• Bug fixes
  • After switching from "RAD" and "GRAD" mode back to "DEG" mode trigonometric functions did not work properly anymore.
  • In ENG mode numbers were displayed wrong in some cases.
  
  
• Changes
  • Display colour is now closer to that of the real HP-15C.
  • Default precision after initialisation changed from FIX(3) to FIX(4) like on the real HP-15C.
  • New short-cuts
    
    Alt–plus : Change the sign of the number in the display. Same as Alt–minus
    l : Lower case L. LSTx
  • Overworked and extended keyboard section in the online help.
  
  

Version 1.2.01, build 4537

• Bug fixes
  • When closing the simulator by clicking the ON key, the status was not stored properly.
  • Clicking close to the f and g button caused the simulator to go into an infinite loop.
  
  

Version 1.2.00, build 4530

• First publicly available version.