HP41 and ProtoCODER on the road again...

[pilou45000]

Hi !


I’m teacher (physics & Chemistry) working on the history of processing measurements with my students. I’m not yet very good with MCODE but I’m learning and reading many old books about it.

this is my HP41 configuration :
HP41CX + XM1, XM2, ClonixD (many thanks for Diego Diaz ! )
HP82162A cassette drive
HP82164A HP-IL/RS-232C Interface
HP3468B MULTIMETRE
HP82143 Printer
ProtoCODER1 with 2 ProtoROM and 2 ProtoEPROM from Prototech inc. (1982) found by chance for 50US$ on Ebay ! dusty but works well after cleaning and rub contacts.
HP-ILDEVEL , HP41 ADVANTAGE










ClonixD config:




What I can do today :
Keep some mesures (eg temp T°C) from HP3468A, save each point (T°C ; t(s)) in registers Rxx , create a DATA file on cassette drive, curve fitting on HP41, curve printing on HP82143, save file.txt on PC with RS-232C interface.
Load MCODE prgms in the ProtoCODER, (PCwindows11 –> HP82184 –> ProtoCoder) , create FAT,…

What I whant to do :
Import file.txt in spreadsheet Excel (easy to do it).
Create a ROM image on the ProtoCODER with all processing routines and load it in the ClonixD.


Best wishes from France and sorry for my so bad english...

[STOX]

Damn cool.

[Diego Diaz]

Hi there,

Seems you're having a good time with your 41 gear!

Thanks for your kind words and keep on enjoying. ;-)

Best wishes from the Caribbean.

Diego.

[pilou45000]

(11-20-2023 12:14 AM)Diego Diaz Wrote:  Hi there,

Seems you're having a good time with your 41 gear!

Thanks for your kind words and keep on enjoying. ;-)

Best wishes from the Caribbean.

Diego.

Hi Diago, happy to see you here !

[pilou45000]

I have a beginner's question:

To load a word in the ProtoCoder:
1: Put it (HEX) in ALPHA: DD DX XX XX AA AX SS. DDD : data + C00 ; AAA: address where data to be written (000-FFF) ; SS: device select of the ProtoCoder.
2: execute “CODE” for convert in NNN to X
3: execute “SIGN” with the ProtoCODER1 and “ABS” with the ProtoCODER2

What is the difference between “SIGN” and “ABS” ?

[Sylvain Cote]

(11-20-2023 09:07 PM)pilou45000 Wrote:  What is the difference between “SIGN” and “ABS” ?

They just changed the trigger function for the writing action between version 1 and version 2.
I do not know why they changed it thought.

ProtoSYSTEM Owner's Manual, P.3

Quote:After CODEing this data into the X register, execute SIGN to write it to the ProtoSYSTEM.
The ProtoSYSTEM monitors the ISA line of the calculator and when it sees SIGN executed it picks apart the X register and uses what is needed to program the appropriate board.

ProtoCODER2 Owner's Manual. P.2

Quote:After CODEing this data into the X register, execute ABS to write it to the correct ProtoSYSTEM board.
The ProtoCODER monitors the ISA line of the calculator and when it sees ABS executed it picks apart the X register and uses what is needed to program the appropriate board.

[pilou45000]

Bonjour Sylvain,

thank's for your answer, yes I know that it's the trigger command, but i'm looking for what's the change when loading a word (10) in the ProtoCoder. No explain in the manuals...

Bien à toi
Philippe

[brouhaha]

(11-24-2023 05:08 AM)pilou45000 Wrote:  thank's for your answer, yes I know that it's the trigger command, but i'm looking for what's the change when loading a word (10) in the ProtoCoder. No explain in the manuals...

The Protocoder hardware is watching the ISA and SYNC lines on the bus, for the Nut processor to execute an instruction from a specific mainframe ROM address (changed between those versions), and captures the contents of the X stack register as it is shifted out on the DATA line.

[pilou45000]

(11-24-2023 05:44 AM)brouhaha Wrote:  

(11-24-2023 05:08 AM)pilou45000 Wrote:  thank's for your answer, yes I know that it's the trigger command, but i'm looking for what's the change when loading a word (10) in the ProtoCoder. No explain in the manuals...

The Protocoder hardware is watching the ISA and SYNC lines on the bus, for the Nut processor to execute an instruction from a specific mainframe ROM address (changed between those versions), and captures the contents of the X stack register as it is shifted out on the DATA line.

Many thanks for your answer, I understand that the protododer waits for a specific instruction to load a word (SIGN: Protocoder1, ABS: protocoder2), but what is the différence between them ?

[Sylvain Cote]

(11-28-2023 05:27 PM)pilou45000 Wrote:  what is the différence between them ?

What kind of difference are you searching for ?

From the user point of view, except for the command (SIGN or ABS) they are none.
From the protocoder point of view, it does the same things, but what are the differences in hardware/firmware between the two versions, I do not know.

[pilou45000]

(11-28-2023 08:51 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  

(11-28-2023 05:27 PM)pilou45000 Wrote:  what is the différence between them ?

What kind of difference are you searching for ?

From the user point of view, except for the command (SIGN or ABS) they are none.
From the protocoder point of view, it does the same things, but what are the differences in hardware/firmware between the two versions, I do not know.

Bonjour sylvain, merci pour ta réponse,

I just want to know if it's possible to modify Mcode prgm working with ProtoCoder2 ( PCODER.ROM) for working with Protocoder1...

[Sylvain Cote]

(11-29-2023 09:22 PM)pilou45000 Wrote:  Bonjour sylvain, merci pour ta réponse,

Bonjour, de rien.

(11-29-2023 09:22 PM)pilou45000 Wrote:  I just want to know if it's possible to modify Mcode prgm working with ProtoCoder2 ( PCODER.ROM) for working with Protocoder1...

Sure, you need to disassemble both ROMs (NFCROM-1B:ProtoCODER & PCODER-1A:ProtoCODER2), understand the code, do the modification that you want and reassemble the new ROM. The easiest way, I think, would be to use SDK41 Release 6.1 (search for "SDK41 Archive" on google)

[pilou45000]

[/quote]
Sure, you need to disassemble both ROMs (NFCROM-1B:ProtoCODER & PCODER-1A:ProtoCODER2), understand the code, do the modification that you want and reassemble the new ROM. The easiest way, I think, would be to use SDK41 Release 6.1 (search for "SDK41 Archive" on google)
[/quote]

Merci Sylvain,

That's what I did, with SDK41R6-32 (works on Windows 10) but it's not easy for me to understand MCode, I'm a beginner...