HP 71b Debugger

[Michael Fehlhammer]

The original HP debugger (HP 82478A) consists of 4 files, DBGMAINA, DBGLEX1A, DBGLEX2A and DBGLEX3A. I got the manual, and there is one file (DBGMAINA) on the lexfl1.lif - disk. Unfortunately I couldn't find a source for the missing three files. Can anyone help?
Or maybe there is an alternative to the HP debugger?

[Walter B]

Google may help (I don't say it's your friend): Look here http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv016.cgi?read=101457 .

[Michael Fehlhammer]

I found that six years old(!) post also, but John Pierce keeps his email address private, so I cannot contact him directly. Moreover I don't know whether John succeeded in finding the missing file DGLLEX1A meanwhile.
Hello, John? Any others who used a debugger on the 71 out there?

[Walter B]

You can contact John via museum mail, I guess. That should do for a first contact asking him about the three files you want.

And about the age of said posting: after all, the 71B is significantly older, so why do you expect any more recent information at all? ;-)

Edited: 21 Sept 2012, 12:27 p.m.

[Michael Fehlhammer]

:-)
of course you are right concerning the age of the 71, Walter.
And of course I would be happy to find a solution to my problem even if the post would date from the Middle Ages.
I clicked on "John Pierce", but I only get the message that it's not possible to contact a poster from an archieved post.
Unfortunately it seems that John hasn't been active on the forum this year (yet).

[Joe Horn]

All of the HP-71B debugger files that you seek can be found in this zip archive:

http://holyjoe.net/HP71/dbg71.zip

For future reference, my entire collection of 334 HP-71B lexfiles (!) is available in this zipfile:

http://holyjoe.net/HP71/lexfiles.zip

They're in binary format, directly off the LIF disks, so transferring them to your HP-71 is your challenge. I hope you can figure out how to do so, because these lexfiles have been languishing for decades, yearning for somebody to use them.

Happy debugging!

-Joe-

[Walter B]

Thanks! I guess that's what Michael was looking for :-)

[Michael Fehlhammer]

Thank you so much, Joe!
And I promise not to ask you for documentation of all these wonderful lex files! :-)

[Sylvain Cote]

Thank you!

I have been searching for those debugger files for quite some time.



About the lexfiles.zip ...

Since the compressed file contains lif files, you can individually mount them as mass media.

I use ILPer application to mount them and then transfer it to a real HP-71B (w PIL-Box) or directly to Emu71.

I have successfully combine them into a single lif file (~700K floppy image) using HPDir app .

for %i in (HP71BLEX\*.*) do hpdir -add HP71BLEX.DAT %i 

The only problem with this approach is that the HPDir add them as ASCII and not LEX files.

hpdir -list HP71BLEX.DAT

                           SYS  FILE   NUMBER   RECORD     MODIFIED    PUB OPEN

FILE NAME             LEV TYPE  TYPE  RECORDS   LENGTH DATE       TIME ACC STAT

===================== === ==== ===== ======== ======== =============== === ====

ADBUFLEX                1 98X6 ASCII        4      256 00-<?>-00 00:00

ADNEXTLX                1 98X6 ASCII        3      256 00-<?>-00 00:00

ADVPRLEX                1 98X6 ASCII        8      256 00-<?>-00 00:00

ALARMLEX                1 98X6 ASCII        5      256 00-<?>-00 00:00

...

I am still investigating that issue ...



Sylvain

[Jerry Raia]

I have tried using that method to mount the individual lex files as lif files and they all show up with the file name WS_FILE of type LEX in a CAT of the :HDRIVE1. Is that usable as a lexfile?

[Sylvain Cote]

yes!

Because the 71B is not able to enter the underscore character directly from the keyboard,

I was not able to copy the file with that filename to the calculator.

I tried several methods, but all proved unsuccessful.

Finally I did the following ...

1) unzip the dbg71.zip to a temp folder

2) go to the temp folder

3) rename all WS_FILE files

hpdir -rename DBGLEX1A WS_FILE DBGLEX1A

hpdir -rename DBGLEX2A WS_FILE DBGLEX2A

hpdir -rename DBGLEX3A WS_FILE DBGLEX3A

hpdir -rename DBGMAINA WS_FILE DBGMAINA

4) make IRAM space for the debugger files

-- you need to free a RAM port for the debugger files

-- assume that I have in port 1 a 32K RAM module

-- DBGLEX1A, DBGLEX2A & DBGLEX3A must be in IRAM (independent ram)

-- DBGMAINA must be in MRAM (main ram)

HP71B> FREE :PORT(1)

5) copy all the files to the HHC

HP71B> OFF IO

ILPER> STOP

ILPER> select mass storage file DBGLEX1A

ILPER> START

HP71B> RESTORE IO

HP71B> COPY DBGLEX1A:MASSMEM TO :PORT(1)

HP71B> OFF IO

ILPER> STOP

ILPER> select mass storage file DBGLEX2A

ILPER> START

HP71B> RESTORE IO

HP71B> COPY DBGLEX2A:MASSMEM TO :PORT(1)

HP71B> OFF IO

ILPER> STOP

ILPER> select mass storage file DBGLEX3A

ILPER> START

HP71B> RESTORE IO

HP71B> COPY DBGLEX3A:MASSMEM TO :PORT(1)

HP71B> OFF IO

ILPER> STOP

ILPER> select mass storage file DBGMAINA

ILPER> START

HP71B> RESTORE IO

HP71B> COPY DBGMAINA:MASSMEM TO :PORT(1) // for backup purposes

HP71B> COPY DBGMAINA:MASSMEM

HP71B> DEBUG // you should see PC:00000: some hex numbers

HP71B> QQ // to quit the debugger

Sylvain

[Sylvain Cote]

first update ...

My previous attempt to combine the file was unsuccessful because I was inserting a LIF inside a LIF file. No wonder it did not works! 8-(

I have tried numerous combinations and nothing works .

I have been able to create a single LIF file with all the files inside with the propers type tags.

The HP-71B sees it correctly and is able to load it, but ... it crashes the 71B all the time.

I did a binary comparison and the contents are identical but some reasons they are not ...

I am almost to the point of writing my own LIF file handler program.

until the next update ....

Sylvain