[wp34s] A Short Wish List

[Les Wright]

Occurred to me I would love to see some capacity to APPEND a program to flash memory, I guess like HSAVEP in the HEPAX module. (HEPAX is a better analogy than HP41 extended memory, because in that case you can't run programs from extended memory, only archive them.)

Also, it would be neat to write up a program listing following some standard syntax in a simple text file that could be compiled to a format readable by the wp34s emulator so that the program could be manipulated back and forth by the serial commands like RECV, SENDA, etc

Just saying :D

Les

[Paul Dale]

Quote:

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Occurred to me I would love to see some capacity to APPEND a program to flash memory, I guess like HSAVEP in the HEPAX module. (HEPAX is a better analogy than HP41 extended memory, because in that case you can't run programs from extended memory, only archive them.)

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Something like this is planned and a major driving force for the implementation of the END command.

Quote:

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Also, it would be neat to write up a program listing following some standard syntax in a simple text file that could be compiled to a format readable by the wp34s emulator so that the program could be manipulated back and forth by the serial commands like RECV, SENDA, etc

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Isn't this possible already?

The emulator takes the same binary image files as the calculator and things can be transferred between the emulator and the real device via the serial commands or the programming cable.

The assembler works both as an assembler and a disassembler, thus it can be used to produce a canonical text representation of programs.

- Pauli

[Les Wright]

I have never worked with the assembler!

I feel silly--should've researched that more.

I will explore that and see how I get along. It would be so neat for users to swap programs in text and binary form to get into the calc via the emulator.

Les

[Neil Hamilton (Ottawa)]

Typically text form would be prefered since the binary image will not always be compatible between calculator revisions. The opcodes can change between various revisions of the calculator. Actually this was the original impetus for the assembler/disassembler.

Additionally, the text form allows commenting, etc.

While some mnemonics have changed a occasionally, they have been pretty stable lately.

You will already find a reasonable collection of user programs in the library directory of the SVN load. More are probably welcome.

[Les Wright]

Okay--I am apprehending this at a pretty novice level right now.

From what I see the assembler takes a text file in the appropriate syntax and spits out a *.dat file which, if given the appropriate name and dropped into the emulator home directory (or, alternately, concatenated with calc.bin via "join" and flashed to the calculator) for running, copying to and from flash on the emulator, moving over to the calc via SEND* and the cable, etc.

This is only slightly more complicated than using hp41uc to create *.raw files from text to get into HP41C and HP42S emulators and or, in my case a lot, may barcode files for laser printing, wanding into the calc, the writing to cards.

I will play with the assembler in the days to come. I broke a pin on the plug of my cable so I am awaiting the replacement from Gene, so I will have to wait to see i things move over to the real calc okay.