CP16 is a simulation of the venerable HP-16C calculator. It is the result of many hours of effort by the copyright holder (see below). It is NOT a product of Hewlett-Packard; neither is it endorsed or supported by them. In fact, if their legal department were aware of its existence (in its current form) I suspect they might send me a letter asking me to desist. INSTALLATION There's no funky installers for this baby. It won't pollute your registry or add files to your system directory. And it won't monitor your usage and send the results back to Microsoft. This simplicity is not without a cost. You have to make a decision and perform a couple of the actions an installer typically hides from you. Don't despair. It's easy enough and if you're capable of using the calculator effectively you'll easily cope with the manual installation steps. 1. Create a directory (AKA folder) where you'd like the simulation to live. This directory will contain the program's executable and a few tiny data files. It might also need to hold a copy of the DLL in the ZIP file--but more on that in a moment. I recommend that you don't use an existing folder--but ultimately, that's your choice. 2. Unzip cp16_win.exe into the directory you created in step 1. Don't worry about the other files in the ZIP for the moment. 3. Open the directory you created in Windows Explorer. Confirm that you see a file called either cp16_win.exe or simply cp16_win in the directory. The file will have a calculator icon. If you switch Windows Explorer to "details" view the file type will be shown as "Application". 4. Attempt to launch the application. I say attempt because you might get an error that says something about a DLL called MSVCP60 being missing. If you don't get the error and the calculator appears, continue reading at step 6. If you're passing through this paragraph after you've unzipped the DLL and you're still getting an error, read GOT PROBLEMS? below. 5. Unzip msvcp60.dll (it's in my ZIP file) into the directory you created in step 1. You should then see the file msvcp60.dll or msvcp60 in the directory. It will have the "grinding wheels" icon and will have a type of "Application Extension" in Windows Explorer's details view. Now go back and repeat step 4. 6. If the simulation starts successfully a window showing a rendering of the calculator, with a blank display, should appear. Press the [ON] button. Pr Error will be shown on the display because the simulated continuous memory has been reset. Click on any key and the error message will be erased. You're ready to start calculating. 7. Close the simulation. In Windows Explorer, right-click on cp16_win and select Send To -> Desktop (create shortcut) from the context menu. This will place a shortcut to the simulation on your desktop. If, like me, you'd rather have the shortcut on your Start Menu, you can drag it from the desktop to an appropriate place. GOT PROBLEMS? I can forsee the possibility of DLL-related and other problems. This may come as a surprise to you: Windows is not the standard operating environment that the Microsoft PR Department would have us believe. I may be able to assist you but first you have to help yourself. 1. Confirm that you followed my installation instructions precisely. 2. Write down the text in any error dialog that appears when you try to launch the simulation. Better still, take a screen shot--just the dialog box, not your whole desktop. 3. Send me an email describing the problem. I don't promise to respond instantly but I will reply within a couple of days. In the email you should include the error message (or picture of the dialog box). Some details about your windows version will be helpful too (right click on My Computer, select Properties and include the text information that appears on the first property page). You'll find my email address at the end of this file. USING THE CALCULATOR The software is still under development and the help file has not yet been written. To use the calculator you will need to be intimately familiar with the real device or you will need to have the HP-16C Owner's Handbook. The simulation is very accurate and almost anything you can do with the real one will work. Have a look in the file VERSION.txt (it's in the ZIP file) for details of any known problems or fixes that have been made to successive versions. REPORTING BUGS If you're using a version of the calculator less than 1.0 it's because I've enlisted your aid to test the software. Any bug you turn up will be addressed. If you're using a later version, I may be interested in hearing about bugs. In either case, please supply as much detail as possible when reporting the bug. It is essential that you include a description of the actions needed to reproduce the problem in your bug report. You can email bug reports to me at the address below. Please include the following files: cp16cm cp16uiprefs user.cp16-pgm user.cp16-reg You'll find them in the directory where you installed the simulation. If you are able to program some steps that exercise the bug, please do so. Your program steps, the registers they use and simulator's state will be stored in those files. This will help me pin-point the problem quickly. If you do this, let me know the label(s) I need to to execute your program. When you report a bug it is essential that you include the version number of the executable you are using. This can be found by selecting Help -> About. If the simulation won't run, right-click on a copy of the executable (in Windows Explorer) on your desktop PC. Select Properties and then click on the Version tab of the file's property sheet. NOTE: PPC users will need to copy the executable to their desktop PC to do this successfully. COPYRIGHT The calculator simulator software and its associated documentation is: Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Cameron Paine The copyright holder grants you a license to use the software for any purpose and to distribute copies of the software, provided that: 1. You include everything that you received, without any modification alteration or addition. 2. You do not claim that you wrote it or alter the documentation to imply that you did. 3. You do not charge a fee--of any kind--for providing the copy. I didn't charge you so you should be prepared to give it away for free too. I do not warrant that the software will do anything. The sole responsibility for its use and the consequences of using it rests with you. I am sharing it with you in the hope that you might find it useful. If you find this disclaimer too onerous, you have a simple remedy: don't use the software. The appearance of the calculator used by the simulation, the layout of the standard keypad and the intellectual property embedded in its firmware may or may not be: Copyright (C) Hewlett-Packard Company 1982 As I said at the head of this file, this does not mean that Hewlett- Packard supports or in any way endorses this software. The simulation was not created by reverse-engineering the HP firmware. Their only connection with this software is one of inspiration. I have placed this notice here by way of acknowledgement of a job well done. Thank you HP. FINALLY I have two simple requests. If you're testing the software for me, please resist the temptation to share it with your friends. If you find the software useful (or not), drop me a line. I ask these two things for practical reasons. In particular, I'd like to guage the popularity and usefullness of the software before I implement some of the extensions I have planned. Thanks in advance. Cameron Paine March 2005