New (and compact) ZVC design.

[bxparks]

(05-19-2024 02:17 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  

• Zeprom Programmer's Manual
• A UV light box is needed to erase the module.
• A Zeprom Voltage Converter (ZVC) or the new module from Diego is needed to program the module.
  

Thank you for providing this informative context for people like me who don't know the HP-41. (I've always wanted one, but could never afford one, and when I had the money, I had no need for a calculator).

So this ZEPROM requires a UV light to erase, which can be inconvenient if recall. An EEPROM (aka "flash memory") would be a lot easier.

Are there any HP-41 ROM modules that use a modern embedded microcontroller with built-in flash memory to emulate the HP-41 ROM module? I'm thinking along the lines of an ESP-8266 with 1-4 MB of QSPI flash memory. I think the cost for that combo is somewhere in the $1-3 range. I would expect the 80 MHz CPU could bitbang the HP-41 I/O interface in software. And the deep sleep power drain of the ESP8266 is in the range of 20 microAmps, which I would think is low enough for an HP-41 ROM module.

If the ESP-8266 isn't fast enough, there are many other cheap, powerful, and low-power ARM-based microcontrollers: the 48 MHz ATSAMD21 Cortex M0+, the 120 MHz ATSAMD51 Cortex M4, the RP2040 with its dual-core 133 MHz Cortex M0+, to name just a few.

(Apologies if I'm regurgitating a well-beaten topic... I don't follow the HP-41 world.)