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Sylvain Cote · (This post was last modified: 07-09-2023 07:46 PM by Sylvain Cote.)

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: I fell in love with the concept of the HP41 and managed to get a halfnut CV in VG condition together with a working card reader, printer, XFunctions and Time modules.

Nice setup!

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: I also have a loose leaf PPC rom, but to be honest I didn’t really use it,
...
I fancy writing the odd programme and doing geeky things with the Calculator like synthetic programming and making it do some silly things. So just kind of noobing versus doing anything serious.

Since you like synthetic programming, you should take time to study the PPC ROM manual, the synthetic routines inside it are excellent.
The PPC journals, is also a great place to learn synthetic programming, they are available in PDF format at these locations:

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: So my dilemma is should I get a Nov64d (I have been in touch with Diego, who was very helpful) or for a similar price get a DM41X.

Since you already have an original HP-41 setup, IMHO the NoV-64d is a better option.

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: But am I just being nostalgic, and the DM41 is really the way forward ?

Not really, the original HP-41 and the DM41X are two separate hardware platform.

The DM41X is the cheapest solution overall when you start from scratch.
It has a modern hardware architecture, a big screen, it is very fast, it has a USB interface for file transfer, run a modified version of the 41CX-OS and several other features.
Unfortunately, the DM41X does not support HP-IL nor any of the plug in custom hardware.

The HP-41 is the gold standard, it is compatible with everything and it is extensible through its plug in ports, but it is slow when compared to the DM41X.
Fullnut versions of 41's can be upgraded with a 41CL main board which is a fully compatible step up from the original board.
A 41CL v5 board can store up to 1024 ROMs, comes with 500+ ROMs pre-loaded, add Q-ROMs, Expanded Memory, can run up to 50 times faster than the original board, etc.

The philosophical difference between the DM41X and the original HP-41, is that the former is a finite system while the latter is an open ended system.

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: Is there something to be said for having the “real” keyboard of the DM41.

The DM41X uses the same hardware platform as the DM42 but has the new key domes that resolves all keyboard issues the first generation of DM42 had.
The DM41X keyboard layout is a little different than the HP41, if you are not used to the original layout then it is not important but if you do, some adjustment ou your part will be needed.

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: Is the 4 line screenbig advantage?

Not really, some improvements has been made, but the DM41X is still running the original 41OS that was made for 1 line, so YMMV.

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: Is loading Roms onto the Dm41 much easier than using a Nov64d ?

Clonix-D, NoV-64d, 41CL uses the ROM format which is just a 10-bit to 8-bit encoded raw format.
The DM41X uses the MOD format which has a header describing the module and several payloads that include the ROM and some metadata.

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: I also have some questions about using the Nov64d.
1. It appears that with Hepax preloaded , you have room for 8 other roms ?

HEPAX ROMs is enabled by default, but can be deactivated if you do not need it.
NoV-64d has 64K of RAM that can be used as HEPAX RAM or as Q-ROM.
NoV-64d has 48K of Flash that can be used as ROM.
Not all that memory can be mapped into the HP-41 address space at the same time,

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: Do I or can I keep the XFunction and Time modules in place with the Nov64 installed ?

Yep you can.

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: 2. I have an old Mac Book pro on which I can run XP on Virtual Box, so I assume I could load Roms via these route ? I do not have any window based PCs.

Yes you can.
My setup is a MacBook Pro Intel running macOS Monterey.
I run Diego software on Windows 7 Pro 32-bit under Parallels Desktop.

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: 3. With the Hepax , I can save my programs via that route or use my card reader.

The best route to backup and restore HEPAX RAM is through HP-IL.
HP-41 + HP-IL module (82160A) + PIL-Box + pyILPER on macOS + virtual cassette + LIF Utilities.

(07-06-2023 10:05 AM)highfell Wrote: 4. My card reader seems to chew my battery life ! Does the Nov64 suffer from the same problem?

No it does not.

More infomation on NoV-64d can be found on Diego website, User's Guide and in my HPCC 2020 presentation.

Sylvain

edit: typos