Author Topic: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin  (Read 449898 times)

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Offline SpiroH

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kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #135 on: July 13, 2012, 02:43:31 pm »
Hi there,
After cleaning up a bit the previous version code, i've decided to slightly improve the keyboard support.
1. Changed the QuickKeys Assignment dialog:
I guess it's clear (from the previous posts). Added a 'Clear' and a 'Map' buttons.
2. The Map tool, is a simple graphic view of the current assignments. Changes made on the previous dialog, should be instantly reflected on the map.
As a bonus, it tries to identify your keyboard layout with a flag. Dunno if it will work in all countries. Please report it and i'll try to fix it. I've tested about 30 keyboard layout flags, though ;).
As i'm using win7, i did not test this feature in other OSes, but i gather it will still work.

3. A last feature for the keyboard handling has todo with the ability of using the ctrl-key together with another key to reach the 'blue function' above some of the keys: eg: ctrl+click should be equal to 'pick. This feature has not yet been thourougly tested (actually, i've just added it), but then again we have Franz... :P And the ctrl+key color should change to blue instead of lime-green.

That's it for now. Please tell me if it (still) works for you.
SpiroH



Offline SpiroH

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kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #136 on: July 14, 2012, 04:44:56 pm »
Thank you Franz, once again, for your detailed comments.

No, i've never been to the Caribbean Sea yet, but i would love to do it once in my lifetime. Who knows, i'll get a new girl-friend and take a ride in that direction...
Mind you, i'm lucky enough to live by the Atlantic ocean, so I can smell the sea everyday. Not bad for an inspiration. Actually i love it.

1. About (some of) the glitches (i've just read the post):
The BILD_NACH_UNTEN stuff, is rather long indeed. I have the same problem when i use a portuguese translated OS, which normally i don't. I rather stick to the english language and use a PT keyboard layout.
Would you be happy if it would be displayed in english? These extended-keys are only seven, so one way around the problem is simply stick to english?(shorter names for free).
Tell me what you think. Of course, it's always possible to increase the column width, but not a good principle imo.
2. The double-click thing comes as a surprise to me too? No clue at this time. But we'll fix it!
3. Unfortunately (or should we say fortunately) there's not yet an austrian keyboard layout, that's why you get the german flag (sorry about, but i can't help it  :().

I'll think about the remaining remarks (no rush) and i'll comeback. Today i've spent all day gardening. My garden was in a total mess. Now it looks a lot better. Somewhat tired but happy.

Cheers,


Offline SpiroH

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kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #137 on: July 15, 2012, 05:08:16 am »
Franz:
1. I've addressed most of the glitches, except the 3-button ctrl-out-of-sequence-release. The latter is indeed more complicated to fix. I've tried a bit for a while, but to no avail. OTOH it's easy to circumvent too.
Imo, one shouldn't release shift/ctrl before the other key...why? i may happen once in a while. oh well, just redo it, and you'll be fine.
2. I've removed some fixed read-only items from the QuickKeys dialog. It makes no sense to have them (less clutter the better). Besides, we have a map now. btw, i've also added some more colors.
3. Ah, the double-click failure on Xp is due to the fact that in v27 i use a fancy messagebox (TaskDialog - it's the name), which isn't supported by Xp. That was the culprit. Is fixed now. In Win7 you get the TaskkDialog, in Xp a simpler MessageBox. Just the looks changes the functionality is the same.
A request:  Can you please, on your next post, add a shot of your QKMap? Imo we should have a few in the thread for the different keyboard layouts. Maybe that will incentivate other downloaders to to likewise. Here is mine:

Until next fixing-up, please check attachment
SpiroH

Offline Darl181

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kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #138 on: July 15, 2012, 03:36:45 pm »
I was wondering about the name too..why does it keep changing?  And the icon as well 0.o

Overall it's a pretty good emulator, tho I was kind of disappointed that you have to dig around for/make a skin but after a bit of searching (or link clicking :P) it's fine.


Keyboard mapping on Windows 7, US keyboard:
« Last Edit: July 15, 2012, 03:45:25 pm by Darl181 »
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Offline SpiroH

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kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #139 on: July 16, 2012, 11:12:41 am »
...
Your emulator has the filename kArmTI (also in the About dialog), but the window title shows Gi-nspire. Is this intended?
And I would be curious to know what these 2 names mean, i.e. why did you chose them?
Well, I must admit i've messed it up a bit. When we're developping we don't pay much attention to that stuff. The title should be kArmTI (as it started) not Gi-nspire.
About kArmTI origins and your curiosity:
   1: 'Arm' ("nicht 'arm' auf deutsch") is the microprocessor inside the ti-nspire which is being emulated.
   2: 'k' because when i started this project I was developping a 'j' calculator (complex variable calculator)
   3: 'k' + 'Arm' - reminds me of the Sanskrit term 'Karma' (sense/meaning of life)
   4: kArm(a)TI - "Hey TI, get some Karma (get some, give some)"!
   btw: i've already said that before: Have a look not as detailed,though.
Gi-nspire - (much simpler)
   The 'G' simply stands for Global. The rest is the obvious link to the machine.
I'll fix it (put back kArmTI) in a coming post. Btw, thanks for your comments and the QKMap.

Overall it's a pretty good emulator, tho I was kind of disappointed that you have to dig around for/make a skin but after a bit of searching (or link clicking :P) it's fine.
Hi Darl(ing)181 ;), Thanks. I'm afraid you've missed a big part of the discussion, meaning, to forge a skin, i would advise people follow this post:
http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=b0c9d2fbf93e03a69fbd6db45ab7ab44&topic=6763.msg253270#msg253270 and then carry on reading for a while. It's a bit more up to date.
Anyway, in general, such a tool really requires some more documentation lumped together all in one place. Maybe, I'll consider opening a new thread with some more time available. The important thing was to get it working. An that, with the precious help of Franz, has been mostly achieved.
Thank you for the QKMap, that will make people aware of the keyboard-layout (plastic)-diversity :crazy:

Cheers,

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #140 on: July 16, 2012, 06:42:23 pm »
Hi Darl(ing)181

O.O

On-topic, nice to see this is still progressing. I wonder if this emulator should have its own sub-forum by the way (and maybe own thread)?

Offline calc84maniac

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kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #141 on: July 16, 2012, 07:42:58 pm »
Hi Darl(ing)181

O.O

On-topic, nice to see this is still progressing. I wonder if this emulator should have its own sub-forum by the way (and maybe own thread)?
Yeah, splitting this into its own thread might be nice so that Goplat can make updates on his end that don't get lost in this huge thread.
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Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #142 on: July 17, 2012, 12:07:32 am »
Done

Apparently there were more posts in the topic relevant to kArmTI than to the original emulator base :o
« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 12:07:42 am by Deep Thought »




Offline Lionel Debroux

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Re: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #143 on: July 17, 2012, 11:43:46 am »
Quote
so that Goplat can make updates on his end that don't get lost in this huge thread.
Yup.

In fact, there has already been some work on Goplat's emulator - features that are very important to developers :)
Unless SpiroH spends time working with upstream to non-disruptively integrate his useful work into nspire_emu, chances are that kArmTI will go extinct in the mid-term, like all alternative GUI front-ends before it (remember Xspire ?). Especially so if the sources to kArmTI are not published (but maybe I missed them when they were published ?).
Needless to say, kArmTI going extinct would not be a good outcome, since kArmTI's new functionality is clearly useful to some users...


And this post is meant to be constructive: it would be better to try and prevent users having to choose between an up-to-date emulator and an emulator with an improved UI + animated screenshots :)
« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 01:29:56 pm by Lionel Debroux »
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Offline Lionel Debroux

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Re: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #144 on: July 17, 2012, 01:55:37 pm »
Well, if you ask me, finding "anyone" is easy: myself :)

For my Nspire-related purposes over nearly two years, I haven't had the need for animated screenshots or an improved GUI; but I've had the need for a newer emulator, and most of all, for the GDBstub integration (first introduced by ncubate) for "remote" debugging through any GDBstub-capable program ;)
I know I'm not the only developer ranking a GDBstub feature higher than an improved GUI feature, because it's more useful for my purposes (which, admittedly, do not really match what most users do with the emulator); and in the current state of things, the GDBstub is about part of nspire_emu, while the improved GUI is not. And that's precisely what should be fixed, in order to leave developers like me happy (with the GDBstub), while making the bulk of nspire_emu users happier (with the improved GUI). To achieve this aim, it's best, IMO, to use the same program (the same source tree).
« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 02:03:27 pm by Lionel Debroux »
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Offline Lionel Debroux

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Re: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #145 on: July 17, 2012, 03:39:13 pm »
Quote
but it's SpiroH's decision if he wants to publish his code.
For the integration of kArmTI into nspire_emu to be possible, the code of kArmTI needs to be published first, since nspire_emu is to stay open source software ;)

But let's wait for the views of SpiroH, and other stakeholders, on the matter :)
I have raised the problem of the divergence between the open source emulator containing killer features for developers, versus the closed source emulator (based on an outdated version of the open source emulator...) containing killer features for users; let's discuss about it.
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Offline Jonius7

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Re: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #146 on: July 17, 2012, 11:46:08 pm »
Quote
but it's SpiroH's decision if he wants to publish his code.
For the integration of kArmTI into nspire_emu to be possible, the code of kArmTI needs to be published first, since nspire_emu is to stay open source software ;)

But let's wait for the views of SpiroH, and other stakeholders, on the matter :)
I have raised the problem of the divergence between the open source emulator containing killer features for developers, versus the closed source emulator (based on an outdated version of the open source emulator...) containing killer features for users; let's discuss about it.

However, SpiroH's kArmTI does have a command console option, though I guess that isn't a great substitute for developers. But a semi-user friendly emulator should definitely be there, as a one design with developers in mind isn't going to fit all.
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Offline Lionel Debroux

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Re: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #147 on: July 18, 2012, 02:15:33 am »
Quote
Why outdated?
Because it is ;)
Maybe they weren't distributed yet, but the internal versions do have more than a thousand additional lines of code, originating from ncubate; the most significant change is the GDBstub.

Quote
However, SpiroH's kArmTI does have a command console option
upstream does as well, so I'd say that kArmTI inherited it from upstream :)

Quote
though I guess that isn't a great substitute for developers
Well, it does the job; but the GDBstub gives more possibilities and more choice, such as interacting with nspire_emu from Eclipse, IDA, or whatever GDBstub-capable client.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2012, 02:16:22 am by Lionel Debroux »
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Offline Jim Bauwens

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Re: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #148 on: July 18, 2012, 06:24:42 am »
By communicating with upstream :)
SpyroH's emulator is a nice improvement, but as time will go on the emulator codebase will get outdated. It will be a big job to constantly update his version for every new Nspire_emu version. As Lionel mentioned, xSpire is a good example of this.
Therefore, he should talk with upstream (Goplat mainly) to see if some changes could be merged. That way everybody will have much less work.


Offline SpiroH

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Re: kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin
« Reply #149 on: July 18, 2012, 12:35:52 pm »
Hi all,
I've been somewhat busy preparing a documentation package that hopefully will help, specially the new users, to take some advantage of kArmTI during their studies and/or more ludic activities.

That's what my post is all about today. I've written a small 'QuickStart series' divided into 3 parts:
   PartI   - Emulator Start-Up
   PartII  - Adding a Skin
   PartIII - Keyboard and Keypad
   PartIV - Animated GIF support (packed inside PartIII).

Expect some minor typing mistakes but in general it should not mislead the noob user. Please feel free to comment on it.
I've also made the name 'kArmTI' more consistent throughout, that's why i'm posting the new logo:
   


Hope some of you will like it. Please check attachments.
SpiroH