ACT available

[BobVA]

1.05 loaded fine (using actflashupdate.exe on Win 7/32 bit machine) and has solved the Fast mode keystroke issue on my HP-25E IR. Thank you!

Bob

[bshoring]

(07-23-2015 10:29 PM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  

(07-23-2015 09:35 PM)Harald Wrote:  I am now the proud owner of my first HP 34C - Thanks to Bernhard and his ACT.
I have always liked the Woodstocks much better than the Spices and am really happy I can now have a Woodstock 34C.
Since I never had a 34C before there will be lots of questions. The first one is: Does the 34C not preserve the stack when it is turned off? I know the 25C doesn't, but the 29C partly does. So I thought the 34C might also do this. But my brand new Woodstock 34C doesn't and I am wondering if that behaviour is correct.

Thanks again to Bernhard for sacrificing so much of his time to for this project!

The HP-34C manual describes which data is preserved:

Quote:When you turn your calculator off, the following information is retained:
• All programs that are loaded into the calculator.
• Contents of the storage registers.
• Display status (FIX, SCI, or ENG, and number of displayed
digits).
Regardless of where you stopped in a program , the calculator returns to
line 000 (top of program memory) when you turn it on again.
Numbers in the stack , LAST X, and trigonometric mode status (DEG,
RAD, or GRAD) are not preserved when you turn the calculator off.
Also, all flags and pending subroutines are cleared.

The Flash "Continuous Memory" of the Woodstock HP-34E does preserve exactly the same data.

The HP-29C does retain also the X register, because it holds a copy of the X register in external RAM, while the stack Y,Z,T registers are stored only in the ACT and not in external RAM. Again the new ACT HP-29E preserves exactly the same data, including the X register.

I wish you a lot of fun with your new woodstock HP-34C

Bernhard

I found this very interesting as I have an HP-38C. On my machine, the stack & last-X are reset to zero on restart, program counter set to 00, but unlike the 34C, the fix/scientific notation get reset to a default of 2 dec places in fix mode. It sort of makes sense though as this is a financial calc. I wonder if the 33C preserves display mode on restart ?

Bob

[PANAMATIK]

(07-26-2015 10:17 PM)bshoring Wrote:  I wonder if the 33C preserves display mode on restart ?

Yes, it does. It preserves program and 8 registers and display mode, like the 34C.

Bernhard

[Dieter]

(07-27-2015 05:18 AM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  Yes, it does. It preserves program and 8 registers and display mode, like the 34C.

Eight registers?

The 34C preserves all available data registers (up to 21 if the program does not exceed 70 steps, and down to 1 with a long 210-step-program), as well as the complete program memory and the display mode setting. There is no 8-register-limit.

The 38E/C also has up to 20 registers. This may drop down to 7 registers as program memory is used (up to 99 steps). I suppose that the 38C also preserves all available data registers, and not just eight. Or am I wrong here?

Dieter

[PANAMATIK]

(07-27-2015 09:51 AM)Dieter Wrote:  

(07-27-2015 05:18 AM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  Yes, it does. It preserves program and 8 registers and display mode, like the 34C.

Eight registers?

The 34C preserves all available data registers (up to 21 if the program does not exceed 70 steps, and down to 1 with a long 210-step-program), as well as the complete program memory and the display mode setting. There is no 8-register-limit.

The 38E/C also has up to 20 registers. This may drop down to 7 registers as program memory is used (up to 99 steps). I suppose that the 38C also preserves all available data registers, and not just eight. Or am I wrong here?

Dieter

Yes, but the HP-33C has only 8 registers. It is " like the 34C" except the number of registers

Bernhard

[Dieter]

(07-27-2015 11:41 AM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  Yes, but the HP-33C has only 8 registers.

Oh, sorry – somehow I thought you refer to the 38C.

(07-27-2015 11:41 AM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  It is " like the 34C" except the number of registers

Regarding continuous memory, that is.
Otherwise the 33C and 34C are two substantially different calculators. ;-)

BTW... is there a table somewhere that lists the different flavours of "continuous memory", i.e. the data that is resp. is not retained?

Dieter

[PANAMATIK]

(07-27-2015 04:44 PM)Dieter Wrote:  BTW... is there a table somewhere that lists the different flavours of "continuous memory", i.e. the data that is resp. is not retained?

Dieter

The Data Set from the Museum is the best source. Each Manual describes very detailed which data is retained in "Continuous Memory" and which not. I don't know about a table, which summarizes "Continuous Memory" information for all calculators.

Bernhard

[Harald]

Integration works fine on the 34E now! Thanks for the update Bernhard!

Does the 34E have extra program memory as well? And if so, how do I access this? The key combinations for the 25E and 29E won't work, as they are already occupied by regular HP34C functions.

Since there is a pdf document containing program codes for the 34e, I would assume it can be programmed by sending a program collection file. But what is the syntax in this case? Do I need a program number as you have shown in your example:

Quote:; Program collection example

; Each program must be preceded by "PROGRAM" followed by a number from 18-99
; the last step must be followed by "END"
; if you use the same program number twice, only the last program will be stored.
; unused program steps will be filled by GTO 00 instructions

; use the following syntax for entering your program steps (not case sensitive)

; "GTO", "FIX", "SCI", "ENG", "STO", "RCL",
; "->HMS", "INT", "SQRT", "Y^X", "SIN", "COS", "TAN", "LN", "LOG", "->R",
; "->H", "FRAC", "x^2", "ABS", "SIN-1", "COS-1", "TAN-1", "e^x", "10^x", "->P",
; "0", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9",
; "x<y", "x>=y", "x!=y", "x=y", "LASTX", "PAUSE", "CLR", "REG", "STK", "/x", "s", "E-"
; "x<0", "x>=0", "x!=0", "x=0", "PI", "NOP", "?", "DEG", "RAD", "GRD", "%", "1/x",
; "-", "+", "*", "/", ".", "R/S", "ENTER", "CHS", "EEX", "CLX", "x<>y", "R", "E+"

; simple counter example, store to Program location 20
PROGRAM 20
1
+
PAUSE
GTO 01
END

And while we are at it, are there any other extra features included in the 34E or is it "just" the 34C functionality that you have implemented?

[PANAMATIK]

(07-28-2015 09:18 AM)Harald Wrote:  Integration works fine on the 34E now! Thanks for the update Bernhard!

It's a pleasure to hear that.

Quote:Does the 34E have extra program memory as well? And if so, how do I access this? The key combinations for the 25E and 29E won't work, as they are already occupied by regular HP34C functions.

Key combinations are not the problem, because I could use double prefix f f or g g combinations. However the shared program/register concept made it more difficult to store additional programs. And the HP-34C firmware is double the size of the HP-29C, which is already double of the HP-25. This doesn't leave space for 100 additional programs. But there will be space for additional 4096 program steps.

At the moment the HP-34E has not implemented a program collection or additional features and extras. But I promise a version with additional programs and either Infrared printing or stopwatch function. Both together doesn't fit in the available program space.

Quote:Since there is a pdf document containing program codes for the 34e, I would assume it can be programmed by sending a program collection file. But what is the syntax in this case? Do I need a program number as you have shown in your example:

I'm sorry to tell, that the feature to send a program collection to the ACT is only available for the HP-25E. But I see the possibility to include HP-29E and HP-34E in the future. When I release the HP-34E version with extra features, I will release also the new update tool for sending a program collection to it. I'm sorry not to have done that already. Be careful, If you send a HP-25E program collection to the HP-34E it will overwrite the firmware and you have to flash the firmware again.

As you already have updated your HP-34E ACT, you can transform it preliminary to an HP-25E and try the "send program collection" feature.

Quote:And while we are at it, are there any other extra features included in the 34E or is it "just" the 34C functionality that you have implemented?

Just the 34C functionality (including Integral and Solve). But please wait for the next update.

Bernhard

[Harald]

At the risk of seeming ungrateful - which I am not - here are a few comments about rev. 1.07 you have just emailed me:

Serial number display is still missing the last digit.
The HP34E logo now displays a "1" in digit number 11 - is that intended?
The "RAD" anunciator is not working, probably also because the rightmost digit is turned off.

Stopwatch is a nice feature to have
And also storing programs to flash has worked with the examples I have tried.

Thanks for the update!

[PANAMATIK]

(07-30-2015 08:31 AM)Harald Wrote:  At the risk of seeming ungrateful - which I am not - here are a few comments about rev. 1.07 you have just emailed me:

Serial number display is still missing the last digit.
The HP34E logo now displays a "1" in digit number 11 - is that intended?
The "RAD" anunciator is not working, probably also because the rightmost digit is turned off.

Stopwatch is a nice feature to have
And also storing programs to flash has worked with the examples I have tried.

Thanks for the update!

The problem with the turned off 12th digit seems to be only on your calculator. I have a correct serial number display, logo display and RAD annunciator, also in the previous HP-34E version.

Thanks for beta testing, but I have no idea how to solve the above issue, because it could be hardware related. What calculator are you using?

Bernhard

[Harald]

(07-30-2015 09:05 AM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  The problem with the turned off 12th digit seems to be only on your calculator. I have a correct serial number display, logo display and RAD annunciator, also in the previous HP-34E version.

Thanks for beta testing, but I have no idea how to solve the above issue, because it could be hardware related. What calculator are you using?

Bernhard

I am using an HP25 at the moment. I am pretty sure the 12th digit worked fine when I flashed the 25E, but I will test that again later and report the result.

[Harald]

(07-30-2015 09:24 AM)Harald Wrote:  but I will test that again later and report the result.

Apologies Bernhard,

digit number 12 is in deed not working (any more?) It appears the display driver has a fault. I could have sworn it worked before...

Cheers,
Harald

[PANAMATIK]

(07-30-2015 09:58 AM)Harald Wrote:  

(07-30-2015 09:24 AM)Harald Wrote:  but I will test that again later and report the result.

Apologies Bernhard,

digit number 12 is in deed not working (any more?) It appears the display driver has a fault. I could have sworn it worked before...

Cheers,
Harald

If a digit remains dark it is more likely a contact problem either at the connector or at the display itself. The cathode driver is normally very robust, compared to the ACT and anode driver chip. But you have to find out the reason. You can measure at Pin18 of cathode driver 1820-1382. This Pin drives digit 12 and must go low every 4 ms.

I had several HP-25/HP-29C with defective anode driver but none with defective cathode driver.

I will release the HP-34E Version 1.07 today.

Bernhard

[Harald]

(07-30-2015 01:14 PM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  If a digit remains dark it is more likely a contact problem either at the connector or at the display itself. The cathode driver is normally very robust, compared to the ACT and anode driver chip. But you have to find out the reason. You can measure at Pin18 of cathode driver 1820-1382. This Pin drives digit 12 and must go low every 4 ms.

I had several HP-25/HP-29C with defective anode driver but none with defective cathode driver.

I will release the HP-34E Version 1.07 today.

Bernhard

In my case it really is the cathode driver that is faulty. I think this is due to corrosion that might have creapt into the IC. At least the PCB was badly corroded from a leaking battery.

Jacques Laport described the logic in the classic series display drivers (unfortunately this has not been recoverd, the pictures are missing on this website http://home.citycable.ch/pierrefleur/Jac...index.html), but is there a schematic of the woodstock display drivers somewhere as well?

Harald

[Didier Lachieze]

(07-30-2015 04:03 PM)Harald Wrote:  Jacques Laport described the logic in the classic series display drivers (unfortunately this has not been recoverd, the pictures are missing on this website http://home.citycable.ch/pierrefleur/Jac...index.html), but is there a schematic of the woodstock display drivers somewhere as well?

Did you check the Wookstock HW page on Jacques site? I can see all the pictures on this page.

[Harald]

(07-30-2015 04:29 PM)Didier Lachieze Wrote:  

(07-30-2015 04:03 PM)Harald Wrote:  Jacques Laport described the logic in the classic series display drivers (unfortunately this has not been recoverd, the pictures are missing on this website http://home.citycable.ch/pierrefleur/Jac...index.html), but is there a schematic of the woodstock display drivers somewhere as well?

Did you check the Wookstock HW page on Jacques site? I can see all the pictures on this page.

Yes, on the Woodstock page I can also see all the pictures, but I couldn't find any information on the display drivers. I suspect it is not much more than a shift register.

On the HP35 page there were schematics for the display drivers, but those pictures are not available anymore.

[PANAMATIK]

(07-30-2015 04:40 PM)Harald Wrote:  

(07-30-2015 04:29 PM)Didier Lachieze Wrote:  Did you check the Wookstock HW page on Jacques site? I can see all the pictures on this page.

Yes, on the Woodstock page I can also see all the pictures, but I couldn't find any information on the display drivers. I suspect it is not much more than a shift register.

On the HP35 page there were schematics for the display drivers, but those pictures are not available anymore.

The cathode driver is a shift register with low active output, which is clocked by Pin 14 STR and reset by Pin 16 RCD. Pin 4 controls the LED current. It should be easy be replaceable by an own circuit.

Bernhard

[PANAMATIK]

Update HP-34E V1.07 released!

http://www.panamatik.de/actupdate.ZIP

For everybody, who has an update kit, you can run the HP-34C Extended Version now on your calculator.

The HP-34E is available to run on any woodstock calculator and has up to 3780 program steps in 18 Programs in "Continuous Memory".The memory is dynamically allocated. If you store a program it will store the registers as well including the I register. In fast mode it is about four times faster than the original HP-34C.

Also available is the stopwatch/game clock with time calibration.

And hex, octal decimal conversion with just one prefixed button click.

See the Quick Guide for more information.

http://www.panamatik.de/ACTQuickInfoHP34.pdf

Have fun!
Bernhard

[Harald]

(07-30-2015 06:00 PM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  The cathode driver is a shift register with low active output, which is clocked by Pin 14 STR and reset by Pin 16 RCD. Pin 4 controls the LED current. It should be easy be replaceable by an own circuit.

Bernhard

Thanks for the info Bernhard!
How is the LED current controlled? Is there a current source in the cathode driver? Is that controlled by the resistor divider on pin 4? And what is the resistor on pin 6 for?

Cheers,
Harald