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teenix · 02-02-2021, 06:30 AM

(02-02-2021 01:53 AM)BobVA Wrote: Hi Tony:

Just blue-skying here: Is worth considering replacing the HP thermal printer with a modern serial printer module? Assuming there's a mechanical close match that fits, it would be a lot simpler to interface (just send it ascii, perhaps after loading a custom font), faster, quieter and pretty much zero maintenance (no moving print head).

...but they do take a fair amount of peak power, since they're printing an entire row of dots.

Fun to think about, anyway. :-)

Good idea for a different interface, maybe Bluetooth connection. I'll try to get original printer working first.

cheers

Tony

teenix · (This post was last modified: 02-02-2021 08:51 AM by teenix.)

Hi all,

More progress. I decided to diverge a bit to play with something new. The display is showing the time from an onboard battery backed MEMs time/date chip. This supports a few modes of operation and an alarm which will sound a piezo buzzer when active.

cheers

Tony

Chr Yoko · (This post was last modified: 02-02-2021 07:56 AM by Chr Yoko.)

(01-29-2021 07:52 PM)teenix Wrote: The 97 board should run from a USB port as it is powered by 5V. But the port would have to supply enough current to run the printer and card reader.

It will also charge the battery from the original charger, and a replacement as long as the specs are the same. These chargers cannot supply a 'lot' of current because of the 97's over voltage circuitry which relies on creating a voltage drop when excess current is drawn from it.

I'm looking into battery backed data retention for it.

It has on board memory to hold the programs from 810 cards. I already have PC software available to manage programs via the USB port or via Bluetooth.

cheers

Tony

Great !
As for USB power, i use an AUKEY USB "fast" charger with no problem (it can send 2A on its normal 5V ports and has an AI port in addition).

As for the 810 cards memory, that sounds great and plenty !
Just a question, how will the 97 navigates those 810 cards ?

teenix · (This post was last modified: 02-02-2021 08:54 AM by teenix.)

(02-02-2021 07:55 AM)Chr Yoko Wrote: Great !
As for USB power, i use an AUKEY USB "fast" charger with no problem (it can send 2A on its normal 5V ports and has an AI port in addition).

As for the 810 cards memory, that sounds great and plenty !
Just a question, how will the 97 navigates those 810 cards ?

There is a menu system built into the software that allows loading and saving of programs from the calculator and exchanging them with a PC via Bluetooth. They are split into 15 blocks of 54 programs.

cheers

Tony

albertofenini · 02-02-2021, 08:55 AM

Guys with so many improvements it need to get a new front label, like HP-97CX
Sort of ...
Still calling this a HP-97 is not making honor to this amazing work ...

Chr Yoko · 02-02-2021, 03:16 PM

(02-02-2021 08:55 AM)albertofenini Wrote: Guys with so many improvements it need to get a new front label, like HP-97CX
Sort of ...
Still calling this a HP-97 is not making honor to this amazing work ...

Fully Agree !!!
Just misses an OLED highres display option to replace old broken LEDs ;-)

Paul Dale · 02-03-2021, 07:12 AM

Instead of a fancy display, the printer could be used to output nice menus etc.

teenix · (This post was last modified: 02-04-2021 12:56 AM by teenix.)

(02-03-2021 07:12 AM)Paul Dale Wrote: Instead of a fancy display, the printer could be used to output nice menus etc.

I've looked into displays but haven't found anything suitable yet and can be expensive.

The printer output could also be directed to an infra red port, or direct to a PC. I already have an emulated printer, or as I have a HP printer font, I can print to "PC" paper that can be saved as a PDF or printed on a standard printer.

cheers

Tony

teenix · (This post was last modified: 02-23-2021 11:45 PM by teenix.)

Hi all,

I have some clock functions working on the 97 now. It has a dedicated battery backed clock chip on the PCB and seems to keep accurate time. I'd like to also try and use the battery as a backup to hold data in the PIC. but lots of other stuff to do yet.

The clock has the usual functions like date and alarm and can select ddmmyyyy or mmddyyyy formats and can be set from the 97 keyboard or from the companion PC program.

The image below shows in order, clock, date (ddmmyyyy) and day of week (1 is SUN), Alarm time and OFF(0) ON(1) indicator, and a 100th second 99 hour timer.

The timer is still under construction because the clock chip has a 32KHz reference output available, but this cannot be divided down evenly to the 100th second timing requirements. as this equates to 327.68 of these clock pulses per 10mS. I am fiddling with the PIC internal hardware to see if I can use it for the job.

I converted the HP-65 Day of week function from the Standard PAC to PIC code which was modified slightly because it has Sunday = 0. As you can upload the PC current time and date to the 97, the PC day of week is also 1 = Sunday, so it will match the PIC.

cheers

Tony

Massimo Gnerucci · 02-24-2021, 07:22 AM

Hi Tony, really good stuff!
Keep things going.

albertofenini · 02-24-2021, 08:48 AM

Hi Tony that's another amazing work !!!
Congratulations !!!

**rprosperi** · 02-24-2021, 01:09 PM

Cool!!

Since the 97 has no beeper, what happens when an alarm comes due? Can it be used to run a program instead of beeping, similar to the 41 alarms?

Hans-Peter · 02-24-2021, 10:10 PM

Insted of an beeper we will use 10 time to print a whole line of
beep-beep-beep-beep...
:-)

teenix · 02-24-2021, 11:47 PM

(02-24-2021 01:09 PM)rprosperi Wrote: Cool!!

Since the 97 has no beeper, what happens when an alarm comes due? Can it be used to run a program instead of beeping, similar to the 41 alarms?

The new CPU board has a piezo buzzer.

Anything is possible, bearing in mind that the alarm could sound during a card operation, while printing or during a running program :-)

cheers

Tony

**rprosperi** · 02-25-2021, 03:49 AM

(02-24-2021 11:47 PM)teenix Wrote: Anything is possible, bearing in mind that the alarm could sound during a card operation, while printing or during a running program :-)

All difficult situations to know the best thing to do. The good news is the smart guys that designed the 41 Time Module already figured out what that best thing is. It's probably best to check out what those are, early in the design cycle. They may have made some imperfect decisions, but being consistent with that probably makes the most sense, assuming the new microcode can accomodate them.

I like the idea of using an HP-97 as my alarm clock! A lot!

Massimo Gnerucci · 02-25-2021, 06:30 AM

(02-25-2021 03:49 AM)rprosperi Wrote: I like the idea of using an HP-97 as my alarm clock! A lot!

...glowing in the dark...

teenix · (This post was last modified: 03-02-2021 06:22 AM by teenix.)

Hi all,

A small update, probably the first 97 to have a beeper installed.

As well as the alarm for the clock, it can be enabled to beep when a program has completed and the printer is out of paper, and if an error occurs.

cheers

Tony

albertofenini · 03-02-2021, 08:26 AM

excellent !!!!!
great work Tony !

(03-02-2021 04:04 AM)teenix Wrote: Hi all,

A small update, probably the first 97 to have a beeper installed.

As well as the alarm for the clock, it can be enabled to beep when a program has completed and the printer is out of paper, and if an error occurs.

cheers

Tony

**rprosperi** · 03-02-2021, 01:36 PM

Cool, those are all situations where it makes sense to beep to get the user's attention, but I hope there is also some means to disable the beeper (globally) as there are also times when I may not want audio.

Thanks Tony!

teenix · 03-02-2021, 08:25 PM

(03-02-2021 01:36 PM)rprosperi Wrote: Cool, those are all situations where it makes sense to beep to get the user's attention, but I hope there is also some means to disable the beeper (globally) as there are also times when I may not want audio.

Thanks Tony!

Yes, there is a menu option to enable/disable the beep function.

cheers

Tony