I've been searching with Google to try to find out as much information about Forth on the HP-71B.

I keep stumbling across the following two Module part numbers:

82478a
82441a

Both of which seem to be linked with the Forth module.

Given how unlikely I am to find one, and then afford it (!), can anyone enlighten me as to which of these I should try to find in order to use Forth on the HP-71B?

Thanks

Nick

You want to get HP-41 Translator Pac for the HP-71 (HP 82490A) or HP-71B Forth/Assembler ROM (HP 82441A). Both can be run under EMU71 emulation and the docs can be had on the MoHPC DVDs. I cannot tell you if the FORTH is exactly the same or not on both. I think it is.

I use the HP-41 Translator Pac for the HP-71 (HP 82490A) on my 71B as well as in EMU71.

Some of my 71B FORTH Pi Programs (if you are interested):

http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv019.cgi?read=147662

http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv019.cgi?read=148399

HP 82478A - Debugger for the HP-71: Simulator of assembly language

Provided as LEX files to be copied into RAM from mass media.



HP 82441A - Forth/Assmbler ROM: Development environment in Forth/Assembler. Provided as (hardware) ROM.



The debugger may work as a kind of expansion of the Forth/Assembler ROM, but the ROM is what you are seeking for.



If you want to play with it you should use Emu71 and the emulator-based ROM. Visit Christoph Gießelink's and Jean-François Garnier's pages.

I can't tell you the differences between the two, but I have the 82441A Forth/Assembler module, and I will comment that it is a really lousy implementation of Forth. I can't believe how slow many of the Forth words are. But, being Forth, it allows you to raplace words with your own definitions and speed them up. Re-writing many of them in Forth as secondaries, ie, without even using assembly and writing primitives, I was able to improve their speed by a factor of anywhere from two to fourteen! (CHR$ was the one I made 14x as fast.)

Edited: 3 Nov 2011, 11:27 a.m.

Quote:

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You want to get HP-41 Translator Pac for the HP-71 (HP 82490A) or HP-71B Forth/Assembler ROM (HP 82441A). Both can be run under EMU71 emulation and the docs can be had on the MoHPC DVDs. I cannot tell you if the FORTH is exactly the same or not on both. I think it is.

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You're wrong, Egan, the FORTHs are distinct and what's worse, incompatible.

All in all, I'd rather have the FORTH/Assembler ROM than the HP-41 Translator Pac because I see no real use nowadays for HP-41 programs translated to run in the HP-71B while using the Assembler to create and compile your own binary subprograms, FORTH primitives, and custom LEX keywords still holds some magic.

Best regards from V.

Quote:

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the FORTHs are distinct and what's worse, incompatible.

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So the FORTHs are source compatible and the same in that sense.

Edited: 3 Nov 2011, 4:22 p.m.

The FORTH/Assembler ROM is definitely great - especially the SATURN manual that was included.

I used it to disassemble the 48SX ROM initially.

Some month ago I also gone through the Internet searching for HP71B ROM module numbers. That's what I found about this:

HP 82441A was the number of the first Forth/Assembler ROM. This package did not contain the Debugger LEX files. Later the Forth/Assembler ROM was republished with the Debugger LEX files and new package got the number HP 82478A.

At this time I made a cross reference list with all HP ROM module numbers and labels I found:

Number cross reference list

HP 82441A			HP-71 FORTH ASSEMBLER (without Debugger)

HP 82478A	5061-7234	HP-71 FORTH ASSEMBLER

HP 82479A	5061-7290	DATA ACQ

HP 82480A	5061-7226	HP-71 MATH

HP 82481A	5061-7237	AC CIRCUIT

HP 82482A	5061-7239	FINANCE

HP 82483A	5061-7238	SURVEYING

HP 82484A	5061-7241	CURVE FIT

HP 82485A	5061-7240	TEXT EDITOR

HP 82488A	5061-7271	DATA COMM

HP 82489A	5061-7270	AMPI STATISTICS

HP 82490A	5061-7269	HP-71 41 TRANSLATOR

If somebody may recognize a mistake in the list above, don't hesitate to correct me.

Christoph

Hmmm that means I got the second version of the Forth/Assembler ROM but unfortunately I did not get the debugger LEX files.

With the magic of Google Newsgroup archive, the original announcement of the Forth/assembler debugger on net.micro.hp is still available on-line 25 years later:

HP-71 FORTH/Assembler Debugger .

Edited: 4 Nov 2011, 3:33 a.m.