ILPer v1.44 update

[Christoph Giesselink]

(10-08-2014 11:51 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  1. Does any name that starts with "HP9914..." get interpreted by the Portable Plus as a real HP drive, and therefore it tries to use SS/80 protocol?

I'm not owner of a Portable Plus, but cutting behind "HP9914" make sense, because you have two disc drives "HP9914A" (5.25'' disc) and "HP9914B" (3.5'' disc) using the same command set.

(10-08-2014 11:51 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  2. Are there restrictions on what name I can use for the emulated drive? For example, can I use HDRIVE1 for my first ILPer session (on virtual loop), and HDRIVE2 for 2nd ILPer session, etc? Can I use any name, e.g. ILPER1 ?

There're restrictions on some calculators with names, so you cannot use the ID$ of the generic printer "DISPLAY", because DISPLAY is a reserved name like MASSMEM on the HP71 for a group of display drives. With the HP71B you have the possibility to access a device by three methods:

1. by address ":1"
2. by type ":MASSMEM(1)" or short ":MASSMEM"
3. by name ":HP9114B(1)" or short ":HP"
   

With the HP71 there are several possibilities to access a device by name. Let us assume we have two ILPer sessions in one loop, the mass storage in the 1st ILPer session has the name HDRIVE1, in the 2nd session HDRIVE2.

When you now want to show the directory of the 1st mass storage you can say:

• CAT:2
• CAT:MASSMEM
• CAT:HDRIVE1
• CAT:HDRIVE1(1)
• CAT:HD
• ...
  

When you now want to show the directory of the 2nd mass storage you can say:

• CAT:4
• CAT:MASSMEM(2)
• CAT:HDRIVE2
• CAT:HDRIVE2(1)
• CAT:HD(2)
• ...
  

[J-F Garnier]

(10-08-2014 11:51 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  2. Are there restrictions on what name I can use for the emulated drive? For example, can I use HDRIVE1 for my first ILPer session (on virtual loop), and HDRIVE2 for 2nd ILPer session, etc? Can I use any name, e.g. ILPER1 ?

You can use any name, but for compatibility with the HP-41C the name length must be at least 7 characters. That is a HP-41C will not be able to FINDID a device with an ID$ shorter than 7 characters.

(10-09-2014 06:30 PM)Christoph Giesselink Wrote:  There're restrictions on some calculators with names, so you cannot use the ID$ of the generic printer "DISPLAY", because DISPLAY is a reserved name like MASSMEM on the HP71 for a group of display drives.

The printer device of ILPer has an ID$="DISPLAY" although it has a AID class of a printer (this ID$ comes from my Emu41/Emu71 emulations where it was a true display emulation) .
For the reason Christoph explained, the HP-71B command PRINTER IS DISPLAY doesn't work ("Device Not Found"). But PRINTER IS PRINTER, or DISPLAY IS PRINTER works!

[J-F Garnier]

(10-10-2014 08:28 AM)Mike (Stgt) Wrote:  To use an HP-41 as a controller of the virtual IL the only chance is currently a real one linked in with your PILbox. Or is there already an "all virtual" replacement? Your Emu41??

Yes, only a physical HP-41C.
Emu41 - an (very old now) 16-bit, text mode DOS application - can't interact with the Christoph's virtual loop based on TCP/IP. And the more 'modern' (meaning graphic, Windows-based) HP41 emulators have never been expanded with HP-IL capability although there was an attempt made by Khanh-Dang Nguyen Thu Lam based on a patch of Nonpareil.

I don't plan anymore to make a Emu41/Win version but my HP-IL emulation for the HP-41 is open source...

[Dave Frederickson]

(10-11-2014 07:46 AM)J-F Garnier Wrote:  Emu41 - an (very old now) 16-bit, text mode DOS application - can't interact with the Christoph's virtual loop based on TCP/IP.

Would it be possible to access the virtual loop using this technique by Egan Ford using the serial port virtualization using TCP/IP capability of DOSBox and running Emu41 in DOSBox?

Dave

[Sylvain Cote]

(10-13-2014 01:35 PM)Mike (Stgt) Wrote:  IMHO TPC/IP on DOS is feasable.

In the 90's I used to use Trumpet TCP for Win16 (and DOS).

Here is a page dedicated to TCP for DOS
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~dank/trumpet/

Sylvain