New here! 48 archive to 50G conversion

[tschopp]

Hi, I'm new here, but not to HP calculators. long story, skip to the end for current needs.

I started my junior year in HS with the 28S in 1989. Then my senior year the 48SX came out and I picked one up. I was into math contests so I programmed it to do all sorts of analytic geometry and algebra. Summer after HS graduation I programmed it to do all sorts of advanced math functions like Bessel functions, gamma functions, etc. Freshman year I programmed it to do all the various types of questions in my chemistry class. The multiple equation solver worked great. I would derive all the various types of equations I might need for a various type of problem and throw them in with units. For problems I would just enter all know info and press solve all, it would slowly grind through all the equations and get everything else you might want. For intro physics the pre-canned formula wasn't applicable as the equations really needed to be adjusted based on the problem, but the unit conversions were great. Fast forward a few years, graduated with a couple degrees in physics.

Eventually my calculator was stolen on a business trip. I replaced it with a 48GX, but never uploaded my archives of programs back into it. I had been using Mathematica since high school and it is what I used for more advanced math than my 48. Fast forward some more, My oldest daughter got into math contests in high school, I tried talking her into an HP with RPN, but some lessons must be learned the hard way. She went down the TI calculator path. She did take my advice about learning Mathematica. Fast forward some more, she has graduated university with a chemistry degree.

Now my youngest daughter is in high school and interested in math contests. I picked up a 50G for her. My oldest told her she should take my advice about the calculator.

I have a bunch of archives from the 48SX from 1992. I would like to load these onto the 50G. The archives are a binary format. I'm guessing the path forward is to upload them to a 48 via kermit then download them as RPL and put them on a SD card for the 50G. I have a 48G and a 50G. I might have a 48 serial cable if I look around a bit. Any help on the path forward is appreciated.

If anyone wants to take a shot at uploading, the archives are here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1...sp=sharing

[Eric Rechlin]

I took a quick look at those files, and at least the ones I checked are just User RPL. This means you can just load them into Emu48 with a 48 ROM, use a program like my "ASCIIBIN.48" program to convert them to a string, copy that string to the clipboard, paste them into Emu48 with a 49 ROM, use a program like my "ASCIIBIN.49" program to convert them back to a binary program, and then load them onto the 50g.

[Eric Rechlin]

I take that back. There's a little System RPL in there too. Then it gets a little more complicated. I'd load Jazz onto both the emulated 48 and 49, decompile with Jazz on the 48, and then recompile with Jazz on the 49, for those programs. But just about everything seems to be User RPL, so if you can get away without those few System RPL programs then you could avoid that hassle.

[Wes Loewer]

(11-02-2023 03:28 AM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  This means you can just load them into Emu48 with a 48 ROM, use a program like my "ASCIIBIN.48" program to convert them to a string, copy that string to the clipboard, paste them into Emu48 with a 49 ROM, use a program like my "ASCIIBIN.49" program to convert them back to a binary program, and then load them onto the 50g.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but for the User RPL programs, instead of using a program like "ASCIIBIN.48", would it be possible to just use ->STR on the 48 ROM and then OBJ-> on the 49 ROM? Or am I missing something?

[Eric Rechlin]

(11-02-2023 07:13 PM)Wes Loewer Wrote:  Sorry if this is a dumb question, but for the User RPL programs, instead of using a program like "ASCIIBIN.48", would it be possible to just use ->STR on the 48 ROM and then OBJ-> on the 49 ROM? Or am I missing something?

If you make sure all the settings that affect serialization (fraction mark and angle mode) are the same between calculators I think that will work. I don't remember why I always used my tool since I've been doing it my way for decades. Maybe there is something we are forgetting.

[DavidM]

(11-02-2023 08:28 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  Maybe there is something we are forgetting.

A few considerations:
- If you ever plan to do any editing of the programs on a PC, then ASCIIBIN (or something like it) can convert the special RPL tokens (« » → ← Σ √ ...) to trigraphs that would facilitate easier editing.
- One possible issue when converting UserRPL from the 48sx to 48GX (or 49/50) is that the newer platforms may have new commands that use the same names as global or local variables you created for the 48sx. These issues can be tricky to spot sometimes because the code can look identical, even when it really isn't. The error messages that result from this type of issue are sometimes useful, sometimes misleading.
- Be on the lookout for unnamed PTR calls in the SysRPL code, because those aren't likely to be the same when moving to the newer platforms. It appears that there may be a few of those.

The UTIL directory should probably be replaced in its entirety. I believe there may be a newer version of USAG that would work on the newer platforms. Don't know about INPRT.

These are just the first thoughts that come to mind for me. Let us know if you run into problems with a specific program, we may be able to help if you can provide some details.

Let us know how it goes!

[tschopp]

Sounds like some good advice to get me started. The stuff I am interested in would be the stuff I wrote in RPL. I doubt anything I wrote uses system RPL, there are a few things from the J.K Horn goodies disks, I suspect that would be where the system RPL comes from.

Is there some place that has a list of HP 50G commands, or maybe even better a list of the differences between the 48 and 50G?

[Eric Rechlin]

(11-03-2023 02:45 PM)tschopp Wrote:  Is there some place that has a list of HP 50G commands, or maybe even better a list of the differences between the 48 and 50G?

The 50g Advanced User's Reference is the best list of 50g commands.

https://literature.hpcalc.org/items/253

Appendix I lists all the commands and which model introduced them, so you can see what was new on the GX vs SX or 49/50 (indicated by the ROM version number) vs GX.

[John Keith]

This spreadsheet, the Calculator Command Comparison Sheet, lists the commands in all RPL calculators starting with the 28C. It is very detailed, showing which ROM version in which calculator that the command first appeared.