Connectivity / Development Tools for HP48 on Win7/8 PC?

[TomC]

Has anyone any experience using the 'vintage' communication and development tools for the HP48 on a more contemporary (Win 7/8/10) PC? I certainly have an FTDI cable and HP48 cables.

(or need I resurrect a Win98 PC?)

Thank you,
TomC

[rprosperi]

(10-02-2016 04:48 PM)TomC Wrote:  Has anyone any experience using the 'vintage' communication and development tools for the HP48 on a more contemporary (Win 7/8/10) PC? I certainly have an FTDI cable and HP48 cables.

(or need I resurrect a Win98 PC?)

Thank you,
TomC

Tom, HP's latest Connkit4 (here) runs fine on Win7x64 and works perfectly with a 48GX, though not the SX. When you begin, you need to 'bootstrap' by downloading the (included) XMODEM library to the 48GX; just follow the instructions. The only thing in Connkit4 that seems to not always work (with a 48GX) is the feature to capture screen-shots.

[DavidM]

I've been using Debug4x for a while now on my Win7 laptop without any problems. Most of what I do is SysRPL and Saturn for 48sx/48g/48gx/49g+/50g, but I occasionally do UserRPL as well.

I use a regular serial port/cable for communicating with the 48 variants, so I can't comment about the FTDI cable. The standard USB cable works fine for me using the 49g+/50g.

As Bob points out, you are best off using the XMODEM server that the HP ConnKit can install for you on the 48g or 48gx. It's much faster than using a Kermit connection, and works seamlessly with HP's Connectivity Kit. For communicating with my 48sx, I use HPComm 2.4. There's a newer version of that app, but I could never get the installer to work properly so I've simply stuck with the older one when linking with the 48sx.

[TomC]

Thanks Bob, DavidM.
TC

[TomC]

So, I ran conn4.exe which showed me that it was extracting files....but I cannot find where they went! What are the files called? I searched documents, program files and program files (64bit). Oit!

(10-02-2016 06:16 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(10-02-2016 04:48 PM)TomC Wrote:  Has anyone any experience using the 'vintage' communication and development tools for the HP48 on a more contemporary (Win 7/8/10) PC? I certainly have an FTDI cable and HP48 cables.

(or need I resurrect a Win98 PC?)

Thank you,
TomC

Tom, HP's latest Connkit4 (here) runs fine on Win7x64 and works perfectly with a 48GX, though not the SX. When you begin, you need to 'bootstrap' by downloading the (included) XMODEM library to the 48GX; just follow the instructions. The only thing in Connkit4 that seems to not always work (with a 48GX) is the feature to capture screen-shots.

[Brad Barton]

(10-29-2016 10:34 PM)TomC Wrote:  So, I ran conn4.exe which showed me that it was extracting files....but I cannot find where they went! What are the files called? I searched documents, program files and program files (64bit). Oit!

Mine is in Program File (x86)/Hewlett-Packard/Conn4x
Brad

[rprosperi]

(10-30-2016 02:08 AM)Brad Barton Wrote:  Mine is in Program File (x86)/Hewlett-Packard/Conn4x

Same here; I'm using Win-7 Pro x64.

The setup Program also created a program group (in the Start... All Programs menu) called "HP48g,49g,50g series Calculator Connectivity Kit"

[TomC]

Ok, so I never got to the bottom of why the files were not extracted, but I got a copy of conn4x.zip, downloaded and extracted it myself. Installation seems fine.

How does one get Conn4x to recognize com10 or com8? As I recall it would only recognized com1 or com2.

BTW this is on a Win8.1 machine.

TomC

[rprosperi]

(11-06-2016 02:43 AM)TomC Wrote:  Ok, so I never got to the bottom of why the files were not extracted, but I got a copy of conn4x.zip, downloaded and extracted it myself. Installation seems fine.

How does one get Conn4x to recognize com10 or com8? As I recall it would only recognized com1 or com2.

BTW this is on a Win8.1 machine.

TomC

Conn4x sees COM5 (USB virtual COM port) on my Win7x64 machine doing nothing special. As COM10 or COM8 are presumably virtual COM ports, are the drivers installed?

[TomC]

Yes, the usb/serial adaptor is properly installed on the Win8 PC.

The Conn window shows only 'Auto'. When I tell it to connect, I get the error..

TomC

[TomC]

I'be tried a different USB/Com cable which now shows up as Com3.

Still Conn4x shows only 'Auto' in the 'Connect Using' window.

Using File/Connect yields an error window.

I noticed the help in Conn4x (I'm using Version 2 Build 542) shows only Com1 or Com2 in the help files.

TomC