Pavel,
short form of my comment: see title
Long form:
BEWARE: I have yet to see a single printed page about the 41 manuals, so don't flame me too much if you read something completely wrong. I am a rookie here.
HPIL serial dump
A HPIL->RS232 "stupid" converter is good, I am interested in building one by myself, but if you have one ready, I will gladly beta test it for you (building one by myself, maybe using a Z8 Encore, a pic or a isopod board. This will avoid me to buy a second HP-41.
A bi-directional link would be a plus.
Christoph, please contact me off list, I leave you the guess about what :))
HPIL Sniffer
As a sniffer project, you could mimic the features of already available network sniffers, one of the clever one is (was) Expert Sniffer from NAI (formerly Network General).
It let you see the same packet of data with different "meanings", one every level, from phisical to application level. It goes even further, diagnosing potential problems, starting from syntoms.
Obviously, it is a pricey software, you could simply display the lowest level.
Contact me offlist, I could try to write some Windoze code to display frames graphically.
PC CARD "EMULATION"
One of the most interesting project I see is a "emulation" of the PC card, so you could connect your 41CV using a serial/usb cable to the laptop without having an ancient ISA bus. One plus could be a support by both EMU41 and the "other forbidden on this site emulator" that should be able to support serial communication with low overhead.
Dealing with the serial port is feasible both for DOS applications and windows, so you could bypass problems related to windoze drivers.
This is not the same as having the HPIL->RS232 module, obviously.
Another choice is USB support, but you could not support dos applications (not easily I suppose). A USB->RS232 should (or better could) do the trick for those that don't have serial ports.
HPIL->YOUNAMEITSTANDARD GATEWAY
This could be seen as a gateway to use I2C devices for example. It should be feasible with standard like II2, 1 wire, S.N.A.P. etc.
Isolation & portability : better have it, no dubt.
HPIL CONNECTORS
Yes they are a problem, but please avoid DIN, usually they don't have .1 spaced terminals (protoboarding) and the boxing is way difficult. Conecting and disconnecting them stresses the board and it is not easy to build cables.
Maybe a better reasoning is to find a scheme where you don't have to put transformers for every peripheral you put in the bus, something like a bridge (a gateway) between the current loop of actual hp41 peripherals (they already have transformers) and the *new* hpil/ng, where the long distance and low noise are not so important.
Is not possible to separate the standard from the media? If so, maybe the phisical connection could it be quite different from the original hpil. HPIL over TCP/IP?
There is no need (and indeed a lot of problems) trying to keep the same connectors, AFAIK they are not available.
HPIL CHIP
Emulating it is excellent, but this is not the only problem, we need to find a suitable replacement for the transformers too. The chips is somewhat available, but what about the transformers?
I would gladly contribute about what I know, as long it is a hobby paced project, and it is in the GPL or low profit spirit.
If appropriate, I could setup a portal where this kind of discussions are held, just not to poison the forum too much with low level details.
Thank you,
Giuseppe Marullo