Windows 10 bloody calculator replacement!

[bitseeker]

WTF is that? Is that an actual screenshot of an actual application? 

Yes, unfortunately we've gone from bloated memory and CPU consumption to the addition of bloated screen use.

Anyone have a recommendation for a cross-platform RPN calculator (Linux, OS X, Windows)? I've been using RealCalc on my phones for a long time, instead of dealing with desktop calculators.

[georges80]

An actual calculator works best for my use. I have Free42 on my android phone and looks exactly like my physical HP 42s calculators.

I've never liked having to use a mouse to move and click virtual calculator buttons etc on a non-touch screen laptop. So, Free42 and my 42s calcs are my go to options and mostly Free42 since my phone is usually with me where ever I go.

cheers,
george.

[newbrain]

The app does not have even 1/X in scientific mode , so I can not convert ns to MHz etc... easily! Do you recommend any better app for day to day use.

Just hit "r" to get the 1/x function (for "reciprocal"), "q" for squaring and @ for square root, "!" for factorial and so on.
Not all of the shortcuts are mnemonic, unfortunately.

[hendorog]

In scientific mode there is an upwards pointing arrow. Its in the bottom left corner in the picture above.

That acts like Shift and shows the second function for the keys and 1/x is one of those.

On screen shift key for a desktop with a mouse  I really hope microsoft was having a giggle when they were putting this garbage together. 

On a desktop with a mouse (or other precision pointing device) and no touchscreen? How about you give me something optimized for my usage, instead of something for peoples fat fingers on a small touch screen. FFS

I agree. Optimising for keyboard use seems rare nowadays.
And when they bother to add keyboard shortcuts they are not visible so they are hard to remember.

My benchmark application for efficiency has always been the DOS Lotus 1-2-3 - before everyone laughs, it made some very smart decisions:
* Menus read horizontally left to right instead of from top to bottom, which is how people read the fastest. (or right to left dep on where you live)
* Keyboard shortcuts are part of the commands - so you are learning them just by using the program and seeing them again and again
* Simple macros were just sequences of keyboard commands. Anyone who could use the program could automate it

And it was extremely fast even on crap PC's for the time. Someone with some experience could work so rapidly that a person watching couldn't keep up.

[hendorog]

Indeed, that looks horrible. Funny, Microsoft popularized flat design for UIs, but Apple seems to do a better job at it:

Irritating that there are no keyboard shortcuts at all on the mac calculator though.

[gslick]

An actual calculator works best for my use. I have Free42 on my android phone and looks exactly like my physical HP 42s calculators.

+1 on Free42. I have that installed on my Android devices.

http://thomasokken.com/free42/

I just loaded it on a Windows 8 desktop system to try it there, see attached window capture.

[Dubbie]

Another 42s fan here. Have it on my phone and a real one on my desk at work.


Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

[bitseeker]

Oh, Free42 does run on all the platforms I use. Excellent. I shall give it a go.

I still have my 28S from college, but I rarely use it nowadays since I have an RPN calc on my phone.

[tesla500]

I still use the Windows XP calculator on Windows 7. I almost exclusively use the keyboard shortcuts, and they changed them on the W7 one, eg. Shift+2 for square on the XP calc now does the exact opposite (square root) on the W7 native one 

[Karel]

No complaints here.

[hendorog]

No complaints here.

Whats KDE like these days? I haven't used it for many years since I was forced back to Windows by 'corporate standards'.

[bitseeker]

KDE is quite nice and very configurable. I use XFCE more often, though, because it's super lightweight for use on old PCs and in virtual machines. Of course, it also works on new PCs. However, the tradeoff is that it lacks the "modern" features of KDE.

Windows 10 in a VM is a dog. Or should I say a slug. It's slow.

[Karel]

No complaints here.

Whats KDE like these days? I haven't used it for many years since I was forced back to Windows by 'corporate standards'.

It's not bad but I think I should have switched to Cinnamon or Mate if I weren't so fond of Kate,
my favorite text editor for programming.

[hendorog]

KDE is quite nice and very configurable. I use XFCE more often, though, because it's super lightweight for use on old PCs and in virtual machines. Of course, it also works on new PCs. However, the tradeoff is that it lacks the "modern" features of KDE.

Windows 10 in a VM is a dog. Or should I say a slug. It's slow.

I'm using XFCE at the moment as it's on the linuxcnc box I'm working on. I think thats probably also due to it being lightweight.
 As you say its pretty basic and looks to me the same as it always did.

I've got an old Thinkpad T420 which graphics card isn't properly supported under Win10. Of course that didn't stop it installing itself...
But it performs poorly even just Alt-Tabbing between apps and is just generally sluggish. Maybe thats the same issue in a VM too?

[DutchGert]

In uni we used the Ti-89 so for years i am using an emulator for it on my desktop.
Just remember to set the Emulator Option to 2x view for on any modern screen.

http://www.mesacc.edu/~johrx98491/TI-Emulator.html

[Mechatrommer]

real man uses real calculator... get real! if you cant find a better one in the net, generation X

where by "real" you mean "RPN" of course

whats that? oh no, not the RPN... the closest thing to my real casio fx-570ms in android is... powercalc...

i only reach the OS bundled calc when i need quick arithmetic +,-,X,/ power (press y) and when its quicker than turning on and pressing buttons of my real calc right next to me and the monitor.

[Pack34]

This will work on all desktops
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=ti-89&_sacat=0

[bitseeker]

LOL, that it will, and it'll even work when your computer crashes.

[SeanB]

It's not bad but I think I should have switched to Cinnamon or Mate if I weren't so fond of Kate,
my favorite text editor for programming.

Easy enough to just grab the required KDE libraries to have it run. Rest is cinnamon or mate but you can happily run KDE parts along with minimal issues.