[HP-41] Today is Clonix-41's X Anniversary... :-)

[Garth Wilson]

Diego Wrote:[HP-41] Today is Clonix-41's X Anniversary... :-)

Congratulations, and thankyou for your extremely valuable contributions to the 41 field and community!

Diego Wrote:I'll also try to find a way to celebrate this occasion with something more than a few words, and create some sort of special edition bundle. Stay tuned. ;-)

Wow, that would be terrific! I have been wanting to get a NoV-64, but my wife keeps coming up with more things she wants to do the house (or another car repair or something), so I have kept delaying getting a NoV-64-- although I have gotten the keyboard overlays for Ángel's 41z and Sandmath modules that I want to put in the NoV-64 and have downloaded and read the manuals.

bhtooefr Wrote:Use a USB-capable MCU, and maybe add in HP-IL/PIL-Box emulation. That way, one module can do it all, ROM, RAM, and file transfer, without any additional hardware other than a Micro-USB cable. And then you've also got access to power the calc over USB, I think.

If one module could do all that, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I think it'd be a great way to quickly get a 41CX to full capability without having to buy a bunch of accessories, and it could be far more compact than the HP-IL module

One thing I have against USB is that a handheld device cannot act as a controller. There is USB OTG that allows peers to be connected together, but what originally got me into the HP-41 was that HPIL allowed it to connect to and control and take data from many lab instruments at once (31, although I've never gone over 6, using the HP82169A HPIL-to-HPIB interface converter). USB cannot compete in that way. I do have two HP82161A tape drives but have not needed them in years, as I have not lost memory in the 41 since I was new at synthetic programming in the late 1980's. I also have the 82162 HPIL printer but I usually use a big parallel Epson printer instead, going through the FSI-164 (which is like the 82164A) or 82165A interface adapters.

Diego Wrote:On the other hand, the footprint of the mini or micro USB female connector, anthough not very big, is an important drawback.

(and the size of an IR transmitter & receiver offers no improvement in footprint either, right?) I would prefer any small 3-conductor connector for a TTL-level serial interface that's more hobbyist-friendly than USB. Then it could be connected to an FTDI USB-to-serial converter externally if desired. As you said, Diego,

Quote:Last year's project, USB-41 interface module, actually handles it by means of an USB<>serial converter and it's enough since HP-41s needs neither a high speed or data volume for its transfers.

Diego Wrote:Regarding the TI MPS430 uC series, it lacks enough FRAM (max 64K) since they don't have flash. Note that a NoV-64 currently has 64Kbyte Flash ROM + 128Kbyte FRAM. It (MPS430) also have a working voltage of 3.6v max,

We in our company know from plenty of experience over the decades that TI's technical customer service is terrible; so I would discourage using a TI part. The times we've gotten our hopes up, we ran into problems after having a lot of development time into a product, and TI's applications engineers were no help at all. One of the last was a DSP. Another was a class-D audio amplifier that made the drunken-mosquito noise in the background. TI seens ti be far worse than any other semiconductor manufacturer in this area.

Diego Wrote:Also count on me among the users that will be very happy with a new MLDL (or any other project from your hands).

Ditto here. I bought a card reader on eBay in order to have the shell to build the MLDL or similar into it if the need/oportunity arises. Such a shell is more suitable fore things that take the space, like SD card and other connectors, and IR port.

Michael Fehlhammer Wrote:You can upgrade any calculator without undertaking a cardiac transplantation, and speed in many typical calculator applications is of minor importance.

+1. I have a halfnut 41cx, so the CL upgrade is not an option for it, and the time module is extremely important to me (and built into the cx) but difficult to find separately.

Michael Fehlhammer Wrote:I know that isn't fair. You expected us to bake a birthday cake, instead you receive a big job list. Life is unjust, and calculator fans are insatiable!

We're just excitable visionaries who agree with Diego that even more can be done with the 41!