installing and using libraries 49G+
#1

I never really used libraries with my 48G, 48GX and now my 49G+. I really like the HP line. However, I have become extremely use to the equation library on the 48 series. I have researched on hpcalc.org. They indicate that Libman was a good program to manage libraries and eql49r27 was a good library to replicate the equation library. However I have no idea what I am doing with the libraries, how to install them or how to run them. the directions for the programs are clearly for someone who knows what they are doing. Please help me with any advise. Thanks.

#2

Hi,

since you have at least two HP-48G type machines, you propably still have the user manuals. Installing of libraries should be explained there. I don't know the quality of the 49G+ manual, but if it's like the 49G manual, then go for the 48G manual.

However, there are FAQs on www.hpcalc.org covering the topic of libraries.

Raymond

#3

As for installing the libraries, I agree with Raymond. It's essentially the same since the 48SX.

There are a few differences though. The 49g+ has the SD card as port 3, but libraries won't work from there, you have to use ports 0, 1, or 2 for active libraries. The File Manager application is perhaps an easier way to move the library to a port. For the 49 series, turning the calculator off and back on no longer executes the library configuration routines. Do an ON-C warmstart after storing the library in a port to run the configuration routines.

If you have a misbehaving library, you may want to have them all detached so you can find and purge the buggy one. On the 49 series, hold down the backspace key while doing a warmstart, which bypasses the configuration routines, so no libraries will be attached.

Except for I/O and the SD card, the 49g+ is very much like the 49G, at least as far as UserRPL goes.

As for the 49g+ user's guide, in some ways, it's a big improvement over the 49G, but it lacks an "Advanced User's Guide" with information on each command. I suggest using the 49G Advanced User's Guide with it. See http://www.hpcalc.org/search.php?query=advanced+user%27s+guide&hp49=1
Even then, you still want information on system flags and reserved variables, see http://www.hpcalc.org/search.php?query=Federico&hp49=1

In general, keep in mind that most of the information on older model RPL calculators still applies to the newer models.

#4

Hi James,


I have been using a 48gx for a year or so now (finally got MetaKernel and ALG48 up and running thanks to R. Lion--wow! what a difference MetaKernel makes! Totally cool! The filer is an exceptional improvement--it makes the task of acutally using all the memory fun rather than daunting--and totally simplifies backing up stuff to cards--its just like copying a file on a computer. And the equation writer actually works fast enough to be useful now--and allows implicit multiplication! And the ALG48 seems to make some interesting things possible [like this exact integer business]---just have not really explored it yet. Begs the question: just why did HP leave so much room for improvement, anyway?)


But I keep hearing this term "warm start" and I don't know what it means---it doesn't say that word anywhere in the manual that I can find. Can you please explain this term? And how about the other starts--if there is a "warm one, is there also a "cold start"? I must be doing it, because all my "libraries" are obviously attached!

#5

Quote:
Begs the question: just why did HP leave so much room for
improvement, anyway?

Didn't Bill Wickes once write "Life is short and ROM is full."?

The 48 series calculators are still amazingly useful products with
just the built-in operating system. Sooner or later, you have to
abandon or shelf the project or else decide that the current design is
good enough and start manufacturing and marketing the product. How
many products would be available if we waited until all designs were
beyond improvement? It seems to me that we'd still be "naked apes",
perhaps discussing what the "perfect" design for some sort of clothing
would be. Maybe chimpanzees are the real perfectionists.

Quote:
But I keep hearing this term "warm start" and I don't know what it
means---it doesn't say that word anywhere in the manual that I can
find. Can you please explain this term? And how about the other
starts--if there is a "warm one, is there also a "cold start"? I must
be doing it, because all my "libraries" are obviously attached!

Sorry about that. I think that the manuals mention the [ON] and [C]
keypresses together operation to exit the system tests, but I don't
know that they bother to give it a name. And yes, the 48 series
automatically does the warmstart for you, if you haven't already done
it yourself.

I suppose that a "cold start" would be just turning the calculator on
when none of the conditions (mentioned below) that would cause a
"warmstart" are present. Or maybe that would be a "hot start", with a
"cold start" being a complete Memory Clear.

What's commonly referred to as a "warmstart" is what Bill Wickes calls
a "system halt" in his "Insights" series. The "Try To Recover Memory?"
event is commonly called a "TTRM". This will tell you more than you
asked for, but I think that it's all good to know. The "father of RPL"
explains it better than I could, so plagiarizing from "Insights":

Quote:

Calculator Resets


The HP48 provides a special operation, called a memory
reset
, that clears all global and port 0 variables and
restores all of the calculator's default modes. Part of the memory
reset is a system halt, that by itself resets the
HP48's execution without affecting stored objects.

A system halt is obtained by pressing [ON] and the [C] menu key
together. This operation does all of the following:

  • Aborts all current execution;
  • clears the stack, the return stack, all local memories, last
    arguments, the recovery stack, the command stack, and the graphics
    display;
  • turns off user mode;
  • sets the last error number to zero and the last error message to
    an empty string;
  • detaches all libraries currently attached to the home directory,
    and executes the configuration programs of all libraries in the
    various ports;
  • reestablishes the home directory as the current directory;
  • activates the MTH menu;
  • leaves global or port variables, alarms, and key assignments
    unchanged. All flags are also left unchanged, except flag -62, which
    is cleared.
A system halt is performed automatically when you turn the HP48 on, if
you have stored or removed any libraries from any ports since the
previous time the HP48 was turned on, or if you have inserted or
removed memory cards, or changed a RAM card's write-protect switch
position. This ensures that there are no references remaining to
library objects that you may have removed.

A memory reset, for which you press the [ON], [A],
and [F] together, starts by executing a system halt. Then the HP48
displays

   Try To Recover Memory?

YES NO

If you see this display when you turn the calculator on, or at any
other time when you have not deliberately performed a memory reset, it
indicates that the calculator has detected a corruption of memory
contents such that it can not continue normal operations without at
least a partial memory reset. This corruption can be caused by a
hardware fault, including the effects of static electricity, by the
execution of a SYSEVAL with an incorrect system address, or just by
defective built-in or add-in software.

If you choose [NO], the HP48 performs a complete reset, deleting all
global variables, port 0 variables, key assignments, and alarms and
resetting all flags to their default values. The calculator displays
Memory Clear when it is ready to resume manual operation.

If you choose [YES] at the Recover RAM prompt, the HP48
attempts to recover or restore as many user memory and port 0
variables as it can by scanning through memory for recognizable
objects. If it detects a valid user memory, then it can usually
restore it unchanged, except that key assignments and alarms are
always lost. If it finds invalid objects, it discards them and
rebuilds as much of the user memory structure as it can. In some
cases when the home directory itself is corrupt, subdirectory objects
there can be reconstructed, but they lose their names. The HP48 makes
up variable names for these directories, naming them D.01, D.02, and
so forth. When the automatic reconstruction process is finished, the
standard display is restored. Then you can inspect the VAR menu to
determine how much of user memory is intact.

During variable reconstruction, the HP48 looks for library objects in
memory to try to determine where port 0 begins. Unfortunately, if it
encounters a library that was stored in a global variable, it takes
that as the start of port 0, which means that some part of user memory
will be discarded. For this reason, you should not keep libraries in
user memory for long term storage--store them in a port instead.


Note that the 49 series don't do a warmstart on turn-on just because
libraries stored in the ports have changed since the last turn-on, so
you have to force the warmstart, and it seems that purging a library
from a port automatically detaches it first. Of course, if the new
library doesn't have a configuration routine, you'll have to use an
ATTACH command, and if all that the configuration routine does is to
attach the library (the usual case), then you can use ATTACH instead
of a warmstart. And of course the 49G doesn't have cards, and although
the 49g+ has an SD card, you can't have an attached library in the
card.

Ordinarily, all keys except [ON] are put into the key buffer as soon
as they're pressed, and execution continues, and the buffer is
accessed when the system is next ready to take something from it. But
the [ON] key is different; when you press it, all execution (except
changing the LCD darkness for [+] or [-] and system tests) stops until
you release [ON] (and all other keys pressed while it was down), and
which operation occurs then depends on what (if any) other keys have
been pressed while the [ON] key was down. Note that in the
[ON]-[A]-[F] memory reset operation, you have to release the [F] key
before the [A] key, or else you'll go into the [ON]-[F] test mode. If
you've pressed [ON] and some other key, but change your mind before
you've actually released [ON], then press and release [B] before
releasing [ON] to cancel the operation.

A warmstart may be needed if a buggy operating system or misbehaving
program (or library) "hangs" the calculator. Or if you happen to
assign keys such that you can't otherwise get out of user mode, such
as 0 DELKEYS 'S' DELKEYS for example. It's also used for getting out
of the various system tests.

But sometimes the crash is so bad that even the [ON]-[C] operation
won't work. A warmstart can also be forced with a "hardware" (AKA
"paperclip") reset through the hole marked "R" under one of the upper
feet on a 48 series, or the hole in the back of a 49 series. Note
that, as long as memory hasn't actually been corrupted, this doesn't
cause a TTRM, just a warmstart.

A paperclip reset also adds an entry similar to "C-03/20/04 21:35:31"
to the warmstart log (execute WSLOG to put it on the stack), where the
"C" indicates "Hardware reset occurred (for example, an
electrostatic-discharge or user reset).", and of course the rest is
the date and time that it occurred. A warmstart invoked from the
keyboard, or a warmstart due to a library or port change at turn-on,
doesn't affect the warmstart log.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, on the 49 series, holding down the
backspace key through a warmstart bypasses the library configuration
routines.

Most libraries seem to include an ATTACH command as part of their
configuration routines. But sometimes libraries use "unsupported"
entry points, and when a new flash ROM is released for a 49 series,
the entry point will have moved, so the library doesn't work anymore.
Trying to use a library intended for a different model may well be a
problem too. And of course some may be corrupted or are just plain
buggy. Sometimes the library will auto-attach and hang the calculator
immediately after a warmstart, or repeatedly warmstart, or repeatedly
TTRM regardless of whether you press YES or NO, before you can purge
the library or even turn the the calculator off, and those are the
main reasons for bypassing the configuration routines.

On the 49G, [ON] and [D] together gets you to the "Tests" screen, and
from there, pressing [Q] for "Reboot" does a warmstart. On the 49g+,
[ON] and [F] together gets you to a different tests screen, and from
there, pressing [ON] for "REBOOT" does a warmstart. I find it easier
to hold down the backspace while pressing one of these warmstart keys
than doing [ON] and [C] together and then (trying to) press backspace
after releasing [ON] but still early enough in the warmstart routine
to be effective.

The 48 series doesn't have a built-in way to bypass the library
configuration routines, but there are applications available to do
this; try hpcalc.org if you want one.

Regards,
James


Edited: 23 Mar 2004, 9:10 a.m.

#6

James Prange gave a great explanation of warm starts as they relate to HP calculators, but I thought I'd add a bit of other HP trivia. Some of these terms probably were borrowed from HP's HP3000 minicomputers and their operating system, MPE (Multi-Programming Executive). Back when I was an HP3000 system manager, this was the procedure we followed after an unexpected crash (system halt):

(1) Perform a memory dump to tape so HP Support could look at it if necessary.

(2) If possible, bring the system up with a warm start, which preserves in-memory tables, temp files, spool (print) files, etc.

(3) Print the spool files or dump them to tape.

(4) Shut the system down again.

(5) Bring it up again with a cool start, which clears spool files and temp tables, and loads the operating system into memory from disk.

(6) If the system wouldn't come up with a warm start or cool start, the next option was a cold start (also called cold load) which copied the essential parts of the operating system from tape to disk and then proceeded like a cool start.

(7) If all else failed it was time for a reload, which cleared the disk packs and loaded everything from tape. This was a drastic last resort and usually was the time that you discovered one of your backup tapes had a read error. :-(

After a normal shutdown (as opposed to a crash) a warm start was all that really was necessary, but we usually did a cool start because it took very little more time and we liked knowing all the temporary stuff had been cleaned up.

An HP3000 warm start was much like a normal "power-on" for an HP48, the 3000 cool start was similar to a 48 warm start, and a 3000 cold load was something like a 48 TTRM. I guess the closest 48 equivalent to a 3000 reload would be clearing all the ports on a 48 expansion card and reloading them from a PC backup.

#7

Hi,

if it's mainly the filer you like, then I'd suggest to try Filer48 from Raul Del Cid Lopez.
THAT is the best filer for the HP-48, far more advanced than that of the MK.

Regards,

Raymond

#8

I need help in finding a program to copy text files onto my HP 49G +. I've tried WinHp, but sadly it's only for the 49G, so there's alot of dot ect... that doesn't belong...

Please Help!



Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Installing Conn4x on Windows 8 Jerry Raia 2 1,122 01-04-2013, 10:28 AM
Last Post: Jerry Raia
  hp50g: installing hpgcc3 Gjermund Skailand 0 914 06-02-2012, 07:19 AM
Last Post: gjermund skailand
  Update to UC-41: Libraries to handle XM and HEPAX files Geir Isene 0 667 11-15-2010, 11:02 AM
Last Post: Geir Isene
  Notes on installing EMU41P on Portable Plus John AS (UK) 0 806 03-04-2010, 03:19 AM
Last Post: John AS (UK)
  HP 71B - installing memory modules Rob Lilley 7 2,016 01-07-2008, 03:06 PM
Last Post: Garth Wilson
  Installing 50G downloads - no kit. RON ALLEN 3 1,717 05-05-2007, 11:20 PM
Last Post: Ron Allen
  Re: Porting 49G Programs to 49G+/50G Les Wright 0 756 02-21-2007, 10:16 AM
Last Post: Les Wright
  Porting 49G Programs to 49G+/50G Les Wright 6 2,020 02-20-2007, 06:27 PM
Last Post: Tim Wessman
  Equation Libraries Howie 4 1,237 08-04-2006, 09:58 AM
Last Post: Howie
  Libraries - HP 49g+ Patricio 2 976 03-06-2006, 10:11 PM
Last Post: James M. Prange (Michigan)

Forum Jump: