a few HP41 Questions

[Christof]

The first I think has been addressed before, but I don't seem to be able to find the thread-

Is there any way to get the data from extended memory to magnetic cards withoutconverting it into main memory programs or data? Is there a way to code somethign to do this?

the second thing is:

is there any method for copying cards directly without having to determine type, enter program mode, etc.? I imagine somewhere along the line someone did this and I'd rathe rnot reinvent the wheel if I can avoid it :)

(otoh, if it involves getting a PPC rom, I think I'm out of luck.)

[db (martinez, ca.)]

unfortunatly, no. and not by i.l. either. but if you get good at synthetic programming you might be able to take the store ascii file function (saveas) and knock off the ascii part then grab the bytes describing a data file and tack it on. i was looking at doing that with il but i'm too stupid. good luck and if you figure a way; please tell me.

[Mike (Stgt)]

Hi,

1st question: no, 2nd question: no. Sorry. Both answers imply AFAIK.

Ciao.....Mike

[Christof]

What next?

Is there a way to synthetically get the reader to be ready for a card read (like with VER) nad then grab the bytes and store them directly, reverseing the process to write?

I'm not up on synthetics enough to be totally sure about where to start on a project like that.

For the file copying... I think db has a good idea, but it seems to me that that would very nearly require mcdoe programming to accomplish.....

[Mike (Stgt)]

Correct, with MCode you could do such things. But only with engough skills about the card reader. Synthetic programming does not help too much here.

M.

BTW, is it realy worth the time you spend on that. Look for a disk drive or two and copy "huge" amount of data gets so simple. And read/write of XM-Files too. ;-)

[Chris Catotti]

I used to use a program that could take Extended Memory files (PProgram, Data, ASCII) read from EM and write to Cards, and then read from cards and store in EM. I believe the program was written by Tapani Tarvainen (in my opinion one of the best synthetic programmers of the time).

Should I try to locate this priogram?

[Mike (Stgt)]

Hi Chris!

I aggre that Tapani Tarvainen was (and AFAIK still is) an excelent programmer. But Christof's killing factor was: No PPC-ROM. Tarvainen's routines changed the filetype of anything in XM. For example you could save a program and read it back as data, useful for a BarCode program <G>.

Ciao.....Mike

[Christof]

If that's possible without the PPC ROM then I'd love it :)

if it requires the PPC ROM I may be able to afford to find one of those someday. new job, new house, new bills....

[David Smith]

I am pretty sure that the PANAME module from France will do it.

[db (martinez, ca.)]

chris; YES PLEASE DO TRY TO FIND IT!!!!!! sorry for shouting. i got excited. i really hope you can find it.

mike; i might have misunderstood you but when you said: "BTW, is it realy worth the time you spend on that. Look for a disk drive or two and copy "huge" amount of data gets so simple. And read/write of XM-Files too. ;-)" i think that you were either not noticing that cristof wants to move data files, not ascii files, or you have the answer to what has been for me, the big problem in the 41 i.l. system: it will move ascii files back and forth between x-mem and mass storage but not data or program files. it's as if hp thought we bought the 41 to do word processing and not anything like math.

there are two bad ways to do it: under program control, recall each extended register into the stack and have the 41 move the data four registers at a time, slowly////or do the same thing but dump it into (and waste) main memory and do it in bigger chunks, a little faster.

the tds surveying program got around that by writing two new functions called load and save and putting them in their rom. works like a charm, if you have the rom. i do but cristof dosn't.

cristof: if you find a way to copy a function, not program, from a rom i will bring it next time the 3 musketeers get together. hell, afik it might be easy to copy. when i got the rom it stopped being a problem to me and i never worried about it again.

[Christof]

I looks like there is a function (well, pair of functions) in the paname ROM to dump the entire extended memory to disk/tape and read it into extended memory. it seems that this only operates on the entire extended memory, though.

Actually, the manual is unclear- it seems you can read into EM without clobbering what is there, but WRTEM writes the whole contents of EM to mass storage.

(and it won't write to cards)

I will play with this once I either get my disk drive stable or find tapes :)

The paname ROM does have some pretty useful utilities.

[Chris Catotti]

Perhaps I was thinking of the program that changes file types of EM programs. Do you know where that is in the PPC Journal ?

PPC V14N4 PG 4547 "SAVING PROGRAM MEMORY IN EXTENDED MEMORY DATA FILES"

This program SPM (Save Program Memory) and GPM (Get Program Memory) allows the user to store and retrieve the entire contents of program memory in extended memory data files. The program requires an HP-41CX or an HP-41C/CV with an extended functions module.

PPC V14N3 PG 4547 pg 21-24

ASCII FILE PROGRAM - Part II
A follow-up article to "Creating Programs in Extended Memory ASCI Files" published in PPCaL V13N8

"Creating Programs in Extended Memory ASCI Files" PPCaL V13N8

HP-41CX DISPLAY DEMO (mcode) PPC V13N8 Pgs. 14-15

[Ellis Easley]

Maybe you can't get a PPC ROM but you might be able to get the PPC CD-ROMs! that Jake Schwartz distributes:

http://www.waterw.com/~jakes/index.html

(The link on the Museum Links page has a "-" between "jake" and "s", I just remember that and use the link and then correct it in the address bar!)

Every time I look for something in the PPC Journals I'm amazed by the discussions of topics that come up here on the Forum all the time, only they took place 20-25 years ago!

Only thing is since they are PDFs of scans, they can't be searched. There are some indexes (indices?) that were published periodically and the table of contents for each issue has links to its articles. But I'm not kidding, just jumping from one issue to the next and reading the tables of contents, or paging through the issues, is like looking for something in a dictionary or encyclopedia. (Somehow I think calculator people know what I mean by that.)

[Christoph Klug]

dear HP41 enthusiasts,

Also the advanced CCD-Module includes the feature of up/downloading any types of files from X-Memory to magnetic card. The CCD-Module manual describes two routines WF = write file and RF = read file.

The EXT-IL ROM (from SkwidInk)includes up/download of complete X-Memory contents (or main memory) to a mass-storage unit. This rom is ideal for controlling larg mass storage units like IL-Disk Drive and virtual drives :

Yes virtual mass-storage dirives. Use the surprising "HP41/PC gateway & emulator" solution for today mass-storage applications. Furthermore you get much more features. Refer to HP-Museum articles forum item 311....

Best wishes from Germany - Christoph Klug