New HP-35,45,80 Simulator: HP-1973 (A 50th Anniversary Electronic Slide Rule)

[Z80Sarah]

Hi. I've just released a new (free) simulator for the HP-35/HP-45 and HP-80 calculators on my website, and thought people here might be interested in it.
There are standalone version for MacOS and Windows, plus Python source for everything else. (The standalone versions don't need any sort of Python
installation or knowledge.) There's a download link at the end of this post.

HP-1973 (A 50th Anniversary Electronic Slide Rule)



You can select which calculator you wish to use when the application starts, and also have the option to choose between multiple ROM versions for a given calculator
(with warnings if a ROM is known to contain bugs). In total, six calculator-ROM variations are included.



Calculator operations can be performed with an onscreen keyboard, or using the computer keyboard. The simulator is designed to demonstrate the internal logic and
programming of the calculators as operations are executed.



The interface is very flexible. The keyboard, for example, can be shown on the left or the right. Values are available in decimal, hex, octal and binary. Storage registers
can be shown in raw format, as they are held internally, or in more-easily-read scientific format. And so on. Additionally, the ROM map (which shows which
addresses in the calculator's internal ROMs have been accessed), list pane and keyboard can all be hidden completely.



The list of executed ROM code can be built up as it is executed, or pre-filled with an entire ROM listing through which execution is then traced. There's also a stepping
mode which provides fine-grained control of execution. Steps can be over a certain number of instructions, but can also run all instructions up until the next
instruction of a particular type.



There's a lot going on. The simulator won't teach you how to use an RPN calculator, but the manuals for the HP35, HP-45 and HP-80 are all available online for that.
However, there are thousands of words of help included in the application, covering both the simulator options and also the internal workings of the calculators
themselves. So, without leaving the app, you can find out the meaning of all the values shown, and how the calculators use them in processing operations.



Finally, if you don't like the way the window looks, the app includes seven different colour themes (and you can always create your own by editing the preference file).



Download it here: HP-1973

Oh, and it implements the secret timer function of the HP-45.