HP 41 Bluetooth

[PeterP]

(03-21-2023 07:30 PM)brouhaha Wrote:  I have a lot of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) expertise, and could possibly work on such a thing. What king of user experience would people expect of such a product?

I can imagine several scenarios:

1. BLE module acts like an HP-IL module, using the HP-IL and printer XROM numbers and commands, with the connected computer acting like HP-IL devices: mass storage (disk, tape), printer. Drawback: can't be used simultaneously with actual HP-IL or printer

2. Like #1, but assigned different XROM numbers. Drawback: can't use standard printer functions for Bluetooth. Advantage: can use simultaneously with HP-IL and other printers.

3. Has some entirely new command set we invent

I like the idea of HP-IL as probably the most seamless experience. I am not sure however about HP-IL emulators for MacOS and/or Linux. With the majority of emulators being windows/Dos based I have had a hard time connecting my hp41 to a computer and/or run 41/71 emulators. But that seems a more isolated user problem, which can be solved with virtual machines etc.