pCalc FAQ

Created: 2002.05.30

Q. What is it?

A. Peter's Personal Potent Preferred Pocket PC Processor, or the p-Calculator for short.

Q. What does it do?

A. It is a series of Pocket PC Calculators all rolled into one PocketPC (and if you register, a copy that works on the Windows desktop (and probably other .NET 1.1 machine) as well!)

  • A straight forward so called "normal" hand-held style calculator. But this calculator is anything but normal:

    • First of all you have 4 separate visible registers that you can independently calculate numbers for. This means you can keep one number while temporarily doing a completely different total.
    • You can always SEE the memory value - it displays in the top bar.
    • Efficient Memory keys - saves 50% of the keystrokes over every other calculator
    • You can SEE the pending operation. Normal calculators, if you hit the operation key (+ etc..,) you are never really sure whether you pressed it because normal calculators use "negative feedback" systems (in other words - they leave you in the dark - they tell you nothing). If you hit the key a second time frequently that is when you realize that you did press it the first time. But now your totals are messed up - but at least you know that, if you hadn't hit the key a second time, it would've worked.
    • Number pad on the right of the screen unlike several I've seen. (This is a good for right handed people but I admit, it is bad for Lefties. Now, since my wife and 1 of my 4 children is left handed, you know I will be fixing this problem up on a future release! I will have a setup where you state leftie or rightie. - update ... the current version now works for lefties as well as righties.)

  • A RPN calculator (Reverse Polish Notation) Many engineers and business school graduates swear by this style, it is much easier to use (once you learn how) than a normal (Polish Notation to be precise) calculator. If you know what it is you know why you want it. If you don't do some research on the web. When you are ready to upgrade - simply switch screens!

  • A Conversion calculator. Metric, English and all sorts of Ancient and specialized. Linear, square, cubic, volume, mass, temperature and more!

  • Photographic calculator. What light do you need for situation x, fstop vrs speed changes and much more. Great for any serious photographers (did I mention I have done professional photography for more than 20 years? Hmm, I wonder if that had any bearing on this being here)

  • Real estate/Mortgage calculators. Works for US style, Canadian style and many International style mortgages.

  • Geometry calculator. (Triangles, Rectangles, Circles etc..,)

  • HEX calculator.(Useful for some programming including converting HTML color codes between HEX and Decimal. Includes Octal and Binary calculators for those hard core uses.)

  • Scientific calculator. All sorts of Electronic, mass and other specialized functionality coming in future releases.

  • And yes, I have much more contemplated for future releases. This calculator is already the best in the world for 80% of calculator users, and I intend on it being the best for 95%+. I'm not egotistical enough to strive for 100%, I want an objective that is truly achievable.

Q. What does it cost?

A. First of all it is shareware, you can use it for 30 days for free. After that the cost is based on its value to you subject to the registration minimums. If you like it and pay at least the registration minimum, you are using it legally.

$5 USD - If all you use is the page with the highly efficient "normal" calculator

$10 USD - if you use one or more of the pages (and don't fall into the rules below)

$15 USD - if you use the Photographic page but you are only an amateur photographer

$25 if you use the Photographic page and you make money doing photography

$25 if you are in the Real Estate or Banking industry. (Oh, and I've heard all the excuses why a specific Real Estate Agent shouldn't have to pay the $25 because of blah blah. Do us both a favor if you are tempted to try to convince me to charge less, just lie to me and pay less - that saves us both time and effort. Shareware is on the honor system, if you are going to cheat - just do it and don't waste my time trying to justify your dishonesty. That is just adding insult to injury. So, if you are a Real Estate agent and you feel the need to cheat and steal, just do it and don't bug me.)

$20 - all other professional use

Q. What do I get if I pay the registration minimum?

A. A variety of goodies:

  • The right to use it after day 30 with no guilt!

  • The right to free upgrades throughout version 2.x and 3.x

  • A copy of the Windows Desktop version (If you are a Mac or Linux user and you have .NET 1.1 on your machine, it will probably work for you as well, but I'm afraid there are no guarantees, I'm a "Windows only" kinda guy. But I really do appreciate you Mac and Linux guys keeping Microsoft on their toes.)

Q. Why isn't there a link to pick it up right now? 4 A. It is currently undergoing a major revision to add several of the calculator pages. I am working on it in my spare time (and I'm a work-a-holic so I truly don't have a lot of spare time.) I'm having fun using it, if you are interested in playing with a raw version, contact me and I'll send you a copy to play with. If you have a corporate reason why you need some of the features quickly, lets talk a reasonable price to get your needs dealt with quickly and I will give you a corporate unlimited version (as many users as you want) that will be valid through version 4.x. Think in the range of $5,000USD. Note that I have plenty of experience on bringing excellent software products to completion, both in companies I owned that installed big projects and doing "by the hour" or "by the project" consulting. I do have the ability to juggle some of my other projects around for a paid job.