HP-41 and Hepax Filesystem

[Monte Dalrymple]

(02-07-2020 05:55 PM)pablo2000 Wrote:  

(02-07-2020 04:25 PM)mfleming Wrote:  Quite intriguing! But how did you manage the connection to the 41 bus? Even the MLDL2000 and similar projects required a recycled connector. Wish I had an answer to your header question!

Well I had to engineer a new connector. The main PCB runs almost 2/3 of the length of the 'nose'. Then there's phosphour-bronze fingers that I had stamped in China which are tipped with gold contacts - all soldered together during the reflow process. The physical support - the black plastic block of the old connectors - is built into the lower case half and 'nose' cover. The case is in three pieces: bottom, main top and connector top.

There aren't enough old modules kicking around to cannibalize, just to extract an already 30-40 year old part from.

Excellent project! Like Mark, I am interested in the new connector, because I am resorting to cannibalism to get connectors for my Flexible Hardware Module. But I am also interested in the housing, because of the GPS module that I am working on. If you can contact me via email I would like to discuss this more.

There are also some things that you might be able to do to make this more CL-friendly. For example, I'm not sure that the HEPAX automatic relocation plays well with the CL memory management. If you are using a peripheral page address for the serial port it would be nice to coordinate the address with the things I am working on. And depending on how the serial port is done and connected with the USB it might be possible to adapt the CL update process to use that communication path.

Please don't take this in any way as criticism or stepping on toes. I really like the project and am just offering my help.

Monte