HP Prime Connectivity Kit - on any platform other than Windows?

[#1]

OK, let me stir the pot (just a little), as it has been several days since my last message and the forum seem too quiet.

HP only provides the CK for Windows platform.  But why not Linux, Mac OS, etc.?  You can't say those markets are small anymore (the old excuse from companies on similar inquiries).

Or does Microsoft own controlling interest in HP and will not allow other platforms?  If so, let us know and we'll stop asking and reinforce our opinions of Microsoft even more.

[Maké]

Hi!, davetheguru:

Please, try with ... http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=7474

Note: IMHO, is the best alternative.

[Joe_Horn]

Here's my guess (a guess only) as to what HP was thinking.

Mac and Linux are smart enough to emulate Windows, so if something is written for Windows, everybody can use it (not just Windows people).  On the other hand, Windows is not smart enough to emulate a Mac or Linux.  Besides, the most common operating system in the targeted customer base is Windows.  So the first order of business was to ship the product for Windows, which will make the majority of users happy (all the users of Windows, and Windows emulators), and then (if it's successful enough to warrant the expense) make it available for other operating systems.

[#4]

Thanks, Maké, for that link to libhpcalcs.  I'll have to check that out sometime.

And thanks Joe for your thoughts.  If you are right about HP, then they place a lot of faith on windows emulators.  Most of the time they work.  But sometimes they don't work 100%.  They are getting better.  This is especially true if a manufacturer has done something "non-standard".  Years ago I was trying to get Windows XP, running in a VMware instance on my Linux host to talk to a Apple Ipod over USB.  But I could not get the Ipod to talk to XP because Apple was doing something non-standard on their USB interface and VMware did not like it.  Just an example of not 100%.

I have seen smart groups make their software designs such that they are easy to port to multiple platforms with little effort.  I worked with a group that would use Qt for their user interface code so that it could run on Windows or Linux.  I would have thought HP could have done something like that with little effort up front.

[Tim_Wessman]

> have seen smart groups make their software designs such that they are easy to port to multiple platforms

> with little effort.  I worked with a group that would use Qt for their user interface code so that it could run

> on Windows or Linux.  I would have thought HP could have done something like that with little effort up front.

Thanks for the compliment. 🙂

If you take a look in the connectivity kit install directory you might notice some little dlls like "qtcore4.dll". Might also want to take a peek at the "source" directory on the CD that came with your calc.

The connectivity kit is 100% QT. It also has a complete "headless" calculator running inside of it. This is why you can do things like type FP(A*B) in a numerical entry box and it evaluates and uses your calculation.

[#6]

Wow! there's a lot of C++ code there!  Half the disk is qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.8.4 -- and that is a compressed zip file!

If I were a gung-ho qt savy programmer, I'd tackle getting this running on my Linux machine.

Thanks Tim.

[Tim_Wessman]

To clarify, that is simply the QT source code distrubted under the LGPL. It won't have any of the calculator specific stuff. There are also a few other projects such as freetype2, and simlar that are part of the calculator as well.

[wesleyrmartins]

me too!!!