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rpc README

Version 0.98

DESCRIPTION

Do you use an RPN calculator, but don't always have it handy?
After using your RPN calculator for some time, do you find yourself unable to use algebraic entry?
Do you use vi?
Do you think emacs (especially xemacs) is for the weak?
Do you use a GUI simply so you can open more console windows?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, then rpc may be for you! rpc is a console calculator application based on the ncurses library. It behaves roughly like some of the more popular RPN calculators available on the market today, but data entry has been optimized for efficiency on a PC keyboard. Some of the primary features are:

Reverse Polish Notation
A visible data stack
Extensive scientific calculator functionality
Extensive stack manipulation functionality
Configurable keymapping
Small memory footprint
Low CPU usage
Speedy to use
Your coworkers won't know how to use it

I wrote this program primarily for myself, because sometimes I just wanted a fast console calculator that worked like my venerable HP48. I have never been happy with other RPN calc applications--they generally require too many keypresses, lack a visible stack, or fail to implement useful functionality. rpc is my solution, and my hope is that it will also end the suffering of other RPN-calc-using computer geeks. Consequently, I have GPL'd it and made it available for download.

LICENSE

rpc is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See 'COPYING' for details.

REQUIREMENTS

rpc is developed under x86 GNU/Linux with gcc-3.2 and ncurses-5.2. Recent versions have also been compiled under FreeBSD and LinuxPPC, and I expect that there should be little difficulty with most unix-like platforms. Please let me know if you have compiled rpc on another platform--I would like to maintain a compatibility list.

rpc depends on the CCMATH library (http://freshmeat.net/projects/ccmath). Only version 2.2.1 has been tested with this release, although other versions will probably work. It may be necessary to edit the default attributes of the CCMATH header file in order to use it to compile rpc, e.g.

chmod a+r /usr/include/ccmath.h (as root)

COMPILING/INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:

From the rpc root directory, enter:

./configure
make
make install

For more installation options, see 'INSTALL'.

USAGE

See 'doc/manual'.

BUGS

I have some irritating display problems when using rpc under the KDE 2.x 'konsole'. This appears to be a bug in konsole itself, as rpc seems to run fine under other terminal emulators (e.g. aterm). Maybe I'll check on that with the KDE guys one of these days.

The behavior of the numeric keypad is dependent on the terminal emulator being used. In particular, the numeric keypad is not useful under gnome-terminal and Eterm, but works fine under aterm, rxvt, and many others (with NumLock turned on).

CREDITS

There are a couple of people who I would like to thank for their contributions to rpc:

Claus Brunzema, for preparing autoconf/automake support. This

                    probably would have been left undone for some time
                    if not for his efforts.

Greg Smethells, for informed coding advice and numerous bugtesting

                    instances.  Plug: Check http://rip.sourceforge.net
                    for a great command-line CD->ogg/mp3 automation
                    script.

FUTURE RELEASES:

rpc has more than enough features to satisfy my needs, so most future releases will be focused on bugfixing. One of the few bigger tasks I have in mind is to implement a 'libcursesrc' that parses generic configuration textfiles, and use that to handle keybindings and macros within rpc. (I'm thinking of something inspired by Mutt's configuration files.)

At some point, rpc may be migrated from ccmath over to the GNU Scientific Library, which looks to be better maintained and offers more potential for future growth.

If anyone is interested in tackling either of these tasks, or other interesting enhancements, I would welcome patches.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

I would like to do what I can to make rpc run on a variety of unices, but I really only have access to Linux/x86. If you have successfully run rpc on some other platform, please let me know so I can add it to a compatibility list. If you have made some small changes to port the code, I would appreciate that information as well.
If anyone is interested in putting together binary packages (rpm, deb, slackware tgz, ...), I would certainly post them on the website.
Get the word out! Demand that rpc be added to free software directories! Try to get rpc included in your favorite distribution! Link to rpc on your website! Tell your friends! WORLD DOMINATION! :-)
Donations. If you like rpc, and feel obliged to contribute in a more tangible fashion, check out the contributions page: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~pelzlpj/rpc/contrib.html

CONTACT INFO:

e-mail: pelzlpj@eecs.umich.edu
rpc homepage: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~pelzlpj/rpc my homepage: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~pelzlpj/

Feel free to contact me if you:

find bugs (or better yet, have patches for bugs)
added cool new functionality
ported rpc to some new platform (e.g. Mac, Qtopia, Palm OS)
want to suggest a feature
want to tell me how rpc has changed your life
think rpc sucks

rpc is developed using the Arch RCS, available at http://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-arch/ . My public Arch archive can be accessed via

tla register-archive pelzlpj@eecs.umich.edu--2003 \

ftp://pelzlpj.dyndns.org/pub/paul/tla/2003

If you intend to hack on rpc in larger amounts, then it would be helpful if you would use Arch as well.