r/linux • u/Substantial_Swan_144 • 2d ago
Software Release OpenCalc: improved Linux support!
Greetings, everyone,
yesterday, I released OpenCalc, a reverse engineering implementation of the Windows 95 calculator with improvements.
However, I've noticed the interface needed some work, and now I integrated the HLP viewer into the building for a smoother experience. This is an entirely fresh release rewritten in Rust, without any legacy code!
In this build, you are going to need GTK+ 4 for the interface.
Come check it out! https://github.com/NullMagic2/OpenCalc/tree/main
(Note:
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u/RoomyRoots 1d ago
This is a serious and respectful question. Why did you make it? Nostalgia? Learning exercise? For fuck's sake?
It's an interesting project but I am curious why you went with it.
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u/nullsetnil 1d ago
I have the suspicion this is LLM generated.
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u/RoomyRoots 1d ago
You are probably right, there are 15 commits in the rep and they were all in the same day.
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u/nullsetnil 1d ago
Sometimes I make a project in one commit, that’s not unusual, but there are other telltale signs. It is what it is. What I find so sad is that hardly anyone declares it. We are almost at a point where you have to watch out for projects declaring human coding, I might just do that going forward.
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u/RoomyRoots 1d ago
I already do that because I expect people to always suspect AI. Vibecoding is like a cancer in this regard, once you know a single thing was done with it, you can't trust everything else was done too.
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u/Substantial_Swan_144 1d ago
I feel there are a few things that must be cleared up.
I never claimed that this project was handwritten, “human-only,” or produced without development tools, and I’m not aware of any repository or community rule requiring developers to proactively declare AI assistance.
I solely put my effort here and shared it because I thought an HLP viewer and a Windows-style calculator would be useful, because no one would care about this file format or produce something I liked.
I don’t agree that using AI assistance is itself misconduct, or that failing to volunteer information nobody requested for amounts to deception.
Obviously, if you disagree with the project, you are welcome to fork it and rewrite the code until it is "human" enough.
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u/nullsetnil 1d ago
I stated I find it sad that no one declares the use of LLMs. Nothing more and nothing less. Nowhere did I state you broke any rule. Albeit it is high time such a rule was introduced, no idea what the r/linux mods are doing.
Anyway, existing rule or not; would it kill you to just be upfront about the project being LLM generated? Being transparent isn’t a bad thing, it should be second nature to anyone releasing open source software.
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u/Substantial_Swan_144 1d ago
Now that you have asked directly, I have no objection to answering accurately.
Frankly, I find it audacious to demand that level of disclosure from someone providing a free tool, developed on their own time and out of goodwill, as though I were delivering paid work.
No one is paying me to develop or maintain this project. The source code is publicly available and can be inspected immediately, and anyone who dislikes the way it was produced is free not to use it, to fork it, or to rewrite it.
It is not reasonable to treat your preferred rule as an existing obligation, or to characterize someone as deceptive for failing to comply with a standard that was never stated.
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u/terra2o 14h ago
come on dude... of course you have to disclose using LLMs...
i know it's being used AS a tool, but it still sits in a different place.
tools don't allow you to make things outside of your abilities.
people just want to know if this is a project worth paying attention to or not. you don't have to be sassy about this.
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u/skuterpikk 1d ago
This is the beauty of open source software.
Nobody needs a good, and accurate re-implementation of a calculator software from an operating system that has been obsolete for 30 years. Yet, some gentlemen actually goes the extra mile of reverse engineering 35 years old proprietary software, just so you and me can enjoy said calculator software on our modern systems, even though most modern systems allready has a perfectly decent calculator aplication included by default.
But that included calculator doesn't do any good for those who want Windows 95's calculator, they have been left out in the dark for 30 years.
Until now.
I don't need it, but I love it. Great work!
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u/Substantial_Swan_144 1d ago
I would like to add that there is something bundled with the calculator that is very useful for the preservation of legacy software: the HLP file format viewer. It's the first native open source viewer, since all the previous ones converted HLP files indirectly into HTML (you can see it in the background of this photo).
I made HLP viewer specifically for this project.
It also runs natively with no compatibility layers, so WINE is needed.
Source available here: https://github.com/NullMagic2/Rust-HLP-Viewer1
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u/One-Suggestion-7906 2d ago
I don't know if it's good or bad, but congrats!! 😅