20th December 2012

PCalc is twenty years old this Sunday! I'll let that sink it a bit...

Yes, the first version of PCalc 1.0 was released for the Mac on the 23rd of December 1992. I'm willing to bet it's older than some of the people using it now... I went back and installed a (virtual) Mac with a fresh copy of System 7 and tried to find the very first version online to install. The closest I could come was 1.0.2 from March 1993, but that's good enough to take some screenshots at least :)

I've written up a brief history of the app here - I hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane.

The Mac version is here, and the iOS version is here.

2nd October 2012

PCalc 3.8 is now released! It's available on the App Store, or you can download it here if you bought it via Kagi.

The main new feature in 3.8 is support for the high definition Retina display of the new MacBook Pro, along with compatibility with Mountain Lion. You can now save the tape again in the App Store version too.

I hope you like this update - if you do, please update your review on the App Store, or even write one! Reviews are a big part of getting people to buy the app, so thanks in advance.

9th August 2012

That's the Mac App Store version of 3.7.1 up now - sorry for the delay, it took 16 days to get reviewed by Apple. I think there are a lot of Mountain Lion updates out at the moment!

The MAS version is now sandboxed which is good from a security point of view, but it's also lost a small feature for annoyingly technical reasons - you can't save the tape out any more. You can however still copy it to the clipboard. I'm still hoping to come up with a workaround for this, but Apple didn't fix the sandboxing bug in Mountain Lion I'd reported to them.

Next up though will be a Retina display enhanced version - I'm just redrawing lots of art at the moment.

24th July 2012

PCalc 3.7.1 with support for Mountain Lion is now available - well, kind of.

If you bought PCalc via Kagi, you can already download the update here.

The App Store update to 3.7.1 will follow shortly, but it will lag behind by about a week while it goes through Apple's review process. The App Store version of 3.7 runs fine on Mountain Lion, but the Kagi version will get flagged by the new "Gatekeeper" feature as suspicious code, which is why I wanted to get an update out for them now. Thanks for understanding!

The full list of changes is here.

I've also just updated the free Dashboard Widget version of PCalc to work with Mountain Lion too - you can get it here.

Enjoy!

20th July 2011

Just a quick note on PCalc and Lion - everything seems to be working perfectly with the latest version 3.7 in my testing. I've been running Lion for some time, and haven't seen any problems. Older versions prior to 3.6.1 may experience problems with the software update mechanism not working, but should be fine otherwise.

PCalc 2.x will not run any more because Apple has removed compatibility with older PowerPC applications. But PCalc 2 is over ten years old, so it's time to update anyway!

1st June 2011

"Weighted Calculation Cube"

PCalc 3.7 is out now!

You should see an update available via the App Store if you bought it there, or you can download the update here if you bought it from Kagi. See the Buy Now page if you'd like a copy otherwise!

This has a lot of features taken from PCalc 2.4 for iOS, including:

• Quick fraction entry, so you can type 2..3 for two thirds.
• An option for a fixed four register RPN stack.
• An option to set the lower value where scientific notation display starts.
• A new "Lighting" section in the conversions, as well as inch/mm of mercury and water in the pressure section.
• Much faster number entry from the keyboard.
• A great new app icon from PyrusMalus!

The full list of changes is here.

I hope you like it, let me know what you think of the update. Leave reviews on the App Store if you can, it's a great way of getting the word out.

And be sure to check out my Twitter feed at @jamesthomson - it's been quite interesting of late!

7th January 2011

If you had a problem yesterday with the non-Mac App Store version of PCalc 3.6.1 not quitting on 10.4.11, delete your old copy and download it again - there was a tiny problem with the build that was up there which I've fixed.

This doesn't affect the Mac App Store version, or people with 10.5 or later, so you don't need to redownload unless you saw the problem.

6th January 2011

Happy New Year - lots of changes to announce today!

Firstly, PCalc is now available to buy from the new Mac App Store. And we're nearly halving the price down to $9.99 to match the iOS version.

We can't distribute the Dashboard Widget via the app store, so it's now available to download separately. And we're making it completely free! If you like it, feel free to buy the apps.

You can still buy PCalc via Kagi - find out more details on the Buy Now page - and updates will of course continue to be available to those who have purchased that way. I think most people are going to be buying via the Mac App Store as time goes on, but it's still early days so we'll definitely be supporting both for the forseeable future.

And PCalc 3.6.1 is now available - if you previously bought it via Kagi and have a serial number, you can download the update here. Otherwise, you can get it from the Mac App Store here.

Brave new world...

30th July 2010

PCalc 3.6 for the Mac has now been released! You can get it here. There's also a corresponding PCalc 2.2 for iOS out today.

Notable enhancements include:

• Dozens of new unit conversions, including all the currency conversions from the iPhone/iPad version.
• A number of new functions including a mod operator.
• Two new stylish calculator themes.
• Various fixes, not least of which is that copy and paste in the Dashboard Widget is now finally working again!

The full list of changes is here.

This is a free upgrade for existing registered users of PCalc 2 or 3. Aren't I nice?

11th June 2010

PCalc for the iPad has just been released!

26th January 2010

A number of small updates today - there's a 1.9.1 update to PCalc for the iPhone and iPod touch, and an equivalent 3.5.2 update to the Mac version. You can get it here.

Both fix some small bugs in the core code, and add a couple of minor features including the ability to avoid clearing the tape when you hit "AC".

Oh, and needless to say, if there's an Apple tablet announced tomorrow, I'll make sure there's a version of PCalc available for it soon!

28th December 2009

And we're nearly at the end of another year! Thanks to everybody who has bought a copy of PCalc or DragThing in the last year.

Actually, it occurs that we're at the end of the decade too... So make that a thank you for the last ten years!

See you in the future...

19th October 2009

I've made a small 3.5.1 update to fix a couple of annoying bugs and bring the code up-to-date with PCalc for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can get it here.

30th September 2009

There's a new version of PCalc for the iPhone and iPod touch out today, you can get it here. I hope you like it!

25th August 2009

Just a quick note to say that PCalc 3.5 is completely Snow Leopard compatible - I've been running it without any problems for a while now. There is a little DragThing 5.9.4 update available for Snow Leopard today though, you can get it here.

13th August 2009

PCalc 3.5 is now available for download here.

As promised, I've moved many the recent features from the iPhone version back to the Mac, including:

• A "2nd" key to show additional functions.
• New functions like hyperbolic trig, hypotenuse, gamma, delta percentage, memory / stack clear, and last x.
• Multiple-memory support.
• Optional HP48-style RPN behaviour.
• Key click sounds.
• Support for regions that use a quote as the thousands separator.

Basically, if you like PCalc on the iPhone, the Mac version should now feel a bit more like home! This is a free upgrade for existing registered users of PCalc 2 or 3.

You can follow me as @jamesthomson on Twitter and I also have a developer blog.

Older news is available here.