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pamphonica · (This post was last modified: 11-20-2021 06:39 PM by pamphonica.)

I've searched but cannot find a detailed write-up for making custom ROMs. There is a lot of good information scattered about in this forum. Did Martin H do a write-up at some point?

There is basic documentation and the essential tools here in the Tools and Documentation section. Thanks Jeff!

But I am still a little unclear about putting software into a ROM. I think it goes something like:

1. get EDISK, IMAGE and possibly BURN utilities (on Disk or ROM from Jeff's page)
2. make a suitable size (128K or 64K) EDISK (matching the 27C512 eprom size) and format it
3. put required files in that directory
4. use IMAGE to make an image file
5. use MARK, FENCE, CHECKSUM to make boot sector etc
5. use SAVE to produce an output file (.HAF for half-bank) or files (.EVN and .ODD for full-bank) ROM
6. burn ROM(s)
Is that about right?

I'm still working out the exact command line switches to use with EDISK and IMAGE.

Martin Hepperle suggests:
" A 64KB EPROM (27C512) is possible without problems.
You would configure a half bank with EDISK.SYS /2 /H
to create a .HAF file with 63488 bytes on ram drive"

But the documentation is confusing.
/2 allocates 128K of system RAM (128K bytes presumably)
/H allocates two halfbank drives of 128Kb (Kbits presumably)
I want to blow one 64K ROM (27C512)

Any illumination on this would be appreciated.

Dave Frederickson · (This post was last modified: 11-21-2021 05:05 PM by Dave Frederickson.)

I believe you need to run ROMNAME, too, in order to get the directory to show up on the B: drive.
Refer to p.4 of the Vger doc and the example on p.25.

pamphonica · (This post was last modified: 11-23-2021 06:11 PM by pamphonica.)

Thanks Dave, I now have the Edisk, Image and Burn utilities on the PP, I just didn't realise that the suite of three utilities was called VGER! Now I have found the VGER manual, I can proceed.
For those who follow on behind, a good scan of the VGER suite document is available on J-F Garnier's site: http://www.jeffcalc.hp41.eu/hpplus/files/vger.pdf
I wish I had found that manual at the outset instead of trying to blunder my way through!
My other nice discovery today is that I can simply transfer files from my PC to the PP using MS-Dos formatted disks and my 9114A disk drive. Actually a lot simpler than DOSbox and Ilper.
thanks all,
Jeremy

Dave Frederickson · 11-23-2021, 08:05 PM

(11-23-2021 06:09 PM)pamphonica Wrote: ... I just didn't realise that the suite of three utilities was called VGER!

I think it's a tribute to Star Trek the Motion Picture.

**rprosperi** · 11-23-2021, 08:20 PM

(11-23-2021 08:05 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:
(11-23-2021 06:09 PM)pamphonica Wrote: ... I just didn't realise that the suite of three utilities was called VGER!

I think it's a tribute to Star Trek the Motion Picture.

You think so? Odd choice as that was 5 years old already, and Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock had already come and gone by the time this came out.

Dave Frederickson · (This post was last modified: 11-23-2021 08:53 PM by Dave Frederickson.)

(11-23-2021 08:20 PM)rprosperi Wrote:
(11-23-2021 08:05 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote: I think it's a tribute to Star Trek the Motion Picture.

You think so? Odd choice as that was 5 years old already, and Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock had already come and gone by the time this came out.

You have to filter out a lot of "star trek" from a Google search before you find anything even remote. I'm open to other ideas.

EDIT: If I OCR the document, copy the text "VGER", and paste it into a text file I get "v GER", leaving a space for an apostrophe as "V'ger" is the proper spelling of the movie's Voyager.