Power Calc Version 1

When I switched from Windows XP to Windows Vista, the only thing I found that I missed that I couldn't bring forward was the brilliant Power Calculator contained in the PowerToys bundle. The calculator was easy to use, loaded fast, and was just a huge improvement over the built in Windows calculator. I took it upon myself to write a replacement calculator for a couple of reasons:

1. I had been looking for a C# project for a while
2. I wanted something super light weight and fast
3. I wanted it to do EXACTLY what I wanted it to do

Power Calc was born a while later. I've made a few tweaks to it over the last handful of months and I'm pretty happy with the current version.

Features:

• It stores every result in a variable ($1, $2, etc), you can use that variable in future calculation, e.g. $1 + $2 + 3838.
  
  
• You can use the up and down arrows to pull in previously entered equations.
  
  
• If you start an expression with a standard operation (+,-,/,* currently), it will automatically pull in the last result.
  
  
• You can store values in variables and use them later. Type in "x=3", press enter, then do "9*x" and you'll get the result you expect.
  

Caveats:

• The software requires the .NET framework (unsure which version exactly), but most people have that these days, so go download it if you don't.
  
  
• The licenses involved (both mine and for the features I used) can be found in the included README.txt file.

Installation Instructions:

• Download the file from FileDen.com here: http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/2/6/2752189/PowerCalc.zip
  
  
• Extract the zip file and run the setup.exe file.
  
  
• Ignore the certificate warning; I couldn't be bothered trying to get that straightened out.
  
  
• The application should now be searchable in your Start Menu if you just type in "Power Calc." (Unsure where it installs it quite honestly; let me know if you figure it out).
  
  
• To uninstall, merely visit Programs and Features in the Control Panel and remove it there.

I'd love to get any and all feedback that people would have. I'd also be very receptive to any feature requests. You'll quickly notice that I didn't implement the unit conversions or the graphing features from the PowerToy version, don't bother asking for them as they just aren't features I would ever use or care about.

Now: Coming to Your Ears

Just in you are one of the 2 people who read my blog but don't see my updates on Twitter or Facebook, I have an announcement: I was on a podcast!

The kind folks at Game-central.org graciously allowed me to share a few thoughts. You can check it out over on their site:

http://game-central.org/2010/podcasts/gcp-episode-74/

What to expect:

On this week’s GCP: essential features in PC game ports, the “Rockstar Wives” and the ethical issues behind working in the game industry, the games we bought over the holidays, and which game companies we’d work for.

Hope it's at least half as enjoyable to listen to as it was to record.

Disclaimer: while my language is tame, I can't say as much for the others. They are all amazing guys and we had a great discussion, but you may want to skip if you are easily offended.

New Domain Name!

Godaddy.com was having a deal for $2 domain name registration so I registered Morinar.com and pointed it at the blog. You can now get here merely by typing www.morinar.com into your browser.

Caveat: typing "morinar.com" on it's own (without the www) doesn't seem to work, due to some wonko-ness in the DNS CNAME mojo.

Bonus points: anybody know how to make "morinar.com" work with Blogger?

Edit: I figured out that there are multiple ways to do it, including via Blogger itself. Of course in my monkeying around, I set stuff up wrong and now it's broken until things update. I turned off the domain name until then.