Hello,

just in case you have not noticed yet:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=3732535&prodTypeId=215348&prodSeriesId=3732534&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=54

a collection of files constituting a SDK for the HP 20b has 'magicaly' appeared on the HP.com website.

Enjoy,
Cyrille

Holy cow, that is impressive! One of the pdf's is created using the 'trial version of pdfFactory', so I'm not sure how long this document will stay there.

I can only imagine how many people will be excited about this, if it becomes more public knowledge that they offered some very nice info on the 20b! (MAKE people come to mind - btw, if you don't get this magazine, don't subscribe to it. You would have even less time if you do.... And the whole PIC/JTAG community...)

Anyone want to put the voyager and 41 simulators on the 20b platform?

Great post!

Cheers

Peter

... never thought that I would ever see an SDK for an hp calculator !!

Just need to get a hp20b now, but I have at least something to play with until it will be available in Europe.

Many thanks Cyrille for the time you've spend preparing this SDK and all the thoughtful design of this calculator for the developers.

Wow! What a great resource. This contribution goes "above and beyond", with respect to what one would expect from any company for a calculator. Thank you very much.

Thanks Cyrille!!!!

hello,

well, I have done my part, now it's your turn to get cranking and produce awesome stuff based on the 20b...

Please keep me updated and do not hesitate to ask me questions!

regards, cyrille

Wow! I'm now looking forward to the arrival of our next rainy Northwest winter!

This is really cool . . .

It wasn't called an "SDK", but HP published all of the source code and hardware specifications for the HP-71B back in 1984. However, back then you had to pay hundreds of dollars for it, and the code was only supplied as printed listings.

Edited: 31 July 2008, 3:09 p.m.

Perhaps someone should install PDFcreator which is an open source one and rexport the doc to avoid any trouble. . .

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

TW

Awesome!

I note on the schematic it has:

"Inventec Multimedia & Telecom Corporation" as the company name.

and also "HP Little EURO" as the product name

and MJ920A as the model number.

Dave.

In the document in the SDK:

"If you represent a company that has a need for large volumes, please contact cyrille as HP might be able (depending on the cases) to make a special manufacturing run with your program pre-loaded and/or modification to the calculator color and artwork."

Holy Custom Calculator Batman!

Dave.

I just noticed that too. (Is there an "HP big EURO" coming?)

I saw this and my immediate though was how many/much to get custom labeled or even blank keys. Ditto for a screen with "scientific" annunciators, although that would likely be prohibitive.

Still waiting for my 20b's :-(

- Pauli

hello,

Changing the screen artwork will be quite expensive (think >>10K).

having a special artwork will need > 2K units and will depend on our current load, price negotiation and other factors.

cyrille

Awesome!!

This is the kind of thing that one wouldn't expect at all these days... This looks like an "old times" thing, a sort of practice long ago forgotten :)

So I have a reason to buy a financial calculator, even though I use to be interested only on scientific units.

I'm really impressed, it seems HP is fueling the calculator division and even doing some unexpected moves like this.

Thank you very much :)

Well, if HP keeps doing things this way, I will continue with that strange reflex that makes me buy their calculators, even though I don't need one more scientific.

Thanks for that.

I figured a new LCD would be hugely prohibitive.

- Pauli

Hello all,

That SDK is just what I was waiting for. Many thanks to HP and Cyrille !
Some questions though:
- Would it be possible to buy some blank keys from HP to personalize the calc ?
- I tried to launch the HP20b emulator on my PC (XP SP1) but it does not start and I have a configuration trouble message which ask for the app to be re-installed. But as far as I know, there is no install. What's wrong ?

Best regars

Edited: 4 Aug 2008, 1:44 a.m. after one or more responses were posted

hello,

you are probably missing some of the MFC dll. If you install Visual C++, it will work.
Anyhow, you will need VC++ to develop

regards, cyrille

This is a really great idea. Thanks Cyrille!

...perhaps featuring an LCD like in the 17bii+ Silver? This would be another great step in the right direction.

(As other forum members, I'm interested in scientific calcs only - but I'll think of purchasing an open platform allowing for a reasonable menu system, as mentioned earlier.)

Cyrille,

I'm having trouble with the emulator - I installed VC++ 2005 SP1 redistributables, and the calculator launches, but other than entering the number keys and the clear key, not much happens. No errors, but it doesn't even add/subtract.

Is this just a shell for recompiling into a real application? (The large word doc may be implying that, I'm not sure.)

I just wanted to play...

Thanks.

Jon

Quote:

---

Is this just a shell for recompiling into a real application? (The large word doc may be implying that, I'm not sure.)

---

Yeah, I think it's got the "guess a number" game compiled into the demo (look in the application.cpp file for the relevant code). There is no full HP-20B calculator sim in the SDK.

With 128K of firmware and 4K of RAM, has anybody thought of the possibility of shoehorning the HP41 functionality into this package? The two-line display might actually allow both the X register *and* a scrollable ALPHA register to be visible at the same time. True the 41 has 39 keys while this beast has 37, but I bet a clever placement of functions would overcome this difference. Could a Nut emulator be written in ARM code and have HP41 microcode over top of that? Just a wild thought...

Jake

Quote:

---

With 128K of firmware and 4K of RAM, has anybody thought of the possibility of shoehorning the HP41 functionality into this package? The two-line display might actually allow both the X register *and* a scrollable ALPHA register to be visible at the same time. True the 41 has 39 keys while this beast has 37, but I bet a clever placement of functions would overcome this difference. Could a Nut emulator be written in ARM code and have HP41 microcode over top of that? Just a wild thought...

Jake

---

Only 2kB is battery backed in the lowest power mode. You can battery back all 6kB, but you'd have to trade off battery life (when the calc is 'powered down').

Quote:

---

Yeah, I've thought about it. Eric Smith recommended that we start with the HP-45. I've hacked up his great casmsim code and currently my 20B is simulating a partial HP45. Just the digit keys and the four functions, but it's a start.

Only 2kB is battery backed in the lowest power mode. You can battery back all 6kB, but you'd have to trade off battery life (when the calc is 'powered down').

---

Didn't I read that the 20B has a blank spot on the board for an external EEPROM?

Dave.

When looking at the HP20b, Jake Schwartz and I were talking about the HP41 put onto the HP20b hardware.

One basic issue: There aren't enough keys.

With the HP41 rocker keys at the top, we are short some keys.

HP 41 has 35 keys and four rocker keys at the top for a total of 39 keys.

HP 20b has 37 keys.

But, it would seem a creative use could be made of the two extra physical non-rocker keys on the 20b to address this issue.

Perhaps the UP and DOWN arrow key could be used for ALPHA or PRGM as shift functions, etc.

Might be possible. :-)

Gene

P.S. Oops. Just occurred to me that someone might have clicked on this thinking I had an HP 20b actually RUNNING the HP 41. Sorry, but no... not yet! :-)

Given the restriction on key quantity, the PRGM and USER functionality could be obtained by pressing and keeping pressed for more that 2 seconds a key which has a regular meaning when just pressed. You don't switch to and from these modes all the time...

I met with some of the TI guys at LinuxworldSFO last week - they had an interesting ARM board called Beagleboard - at $149 it is a very powerful option. As the HP code is based on open source isn't this another ideal opportunity to do something different/better ?