Sharp PC-G850VS

[Zaphod]

I've seen these before and avoided cos it's from Japan and I'd have import duties VAT etc to pay on top

Anyone got one?

It's looks quite cool

[grsbanks]

Found this page and it does indeed look like an interesting machine with a C compiler and Z80 assembler built in.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_PC-G850V

[Zaphod]

The only snag I see so far, perhaps , is the owners manual might only be in japanese? (as it's a jap market only thing), although the whole GUI/program entry is clearly in english?

I'm currently searching for an english version book

[Zaphod]

(04-16-2018 08:58 AM)grsbanks Wrote:  interesting machine with a C compiler

Found elsewhere:

Quote:the C was a bytecode language instead of a true compiler

....perhaps

[andylithia]

It's a cool little machine. I've had a lot of fun with it when I first entered the world of real programming, and today the unit is still somewhere in my home boxed.

In my opinion, this perhaps is the most fun-to-play Japanese pokecom (despite its lack of expandability), since it has a big screen, many languages, a system bus port and a handy user port.

Here is a useful English document:
http://silicium.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41175
the device is somewhat compatible with legacy pokecoms. Documents for those older Sharp Z80 pokecoms can be useful for assembly programming. I've never gone any deeper tho.

[mfleming]

(04-16-2018 12:26 PM)andylithia Wrote:  It's a cool little machine. <snip>

Here is a useful English document:
http://silicium.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41175
the device is somewhat compatible with legacy pokecoms. Documents for those older Sharp Z80 pokecoms can be useful for assembly programming. I've never gone any deeper tho.

Very nice reference link. Thanks! I have a half-finished PIC burner board based on the design in the second link (I keep getting distracted by other projects!) I have a link to a second, simpler PIC burner design I found on a Japanese BBS that I can post later.

The serial port works as documented, but the Sense/Mark levels are reversed, so you get nonsense on a USB to TTL Serial interface. An inverter would fix that. It also seems to send a long Break before transmitting data.

Lack of documentation is the biggest catch. I've yet too see any of the TAS sellers include a copy or a link to the user manual. As andylithia mentions, it's close enough to some of the earlier models that you can find user manuals online that help with its built-in BASIC and C. I wish I could find more programs and such for it, but relevant Japanese web sites don't turn up often in my regular Google seaches.

If you get one, expect to spend time taking notes and learning to use it. Imagine if the TI Voyage 200 were a discontinued niche product that no one bothered to save documentation for!

~Mark

[Helix]

I own this machine. It has many interesting features.
When I was a student, my calculator was a Sharp PC-1401, which was the first is this line combining a scientific calculator and a Basic pocket computer. Although I liked the 1401, it had some limitations that have been removed in the 850VS. It's a well-designed calculator.
The contrast of the screen is very good, better than the HP 50G.

Unfortunately, there is no English manual. There was recently an attempt to translate in English the German document available in the post pointed above by andylithia, but unfortunately there seems to be no more activity in this project :
http://www.silicium.org/forum/viewtopic....46&t=42449
I've tried myself to translate one chapter, but since I don't understand German, I had to use Google Translate, which is bothersome and certainly inaccurate.

There is another short document describing this machine, but only in French.

[mfleming]

Here's the site on which I found the PIC burner schematic as well as a serial interface to the G850. You'll need to run this link (and others) through Google translate, of course:

http://kurikou.sakura.ne.jp/pokekon/index.html

Other comments I've seen indicate the G850's were derived from the PC-E220. The PC-E500 was a follow-on to the E200 series, and its manual can be found on the web.

There is a link to the source for an emulator called g800 below. It emulates the G850, G815 and E200. Who knows what a perusal of the source might reveal?

http://ver0.sakura.ne.jp/

So, it is an interesting model if you don't mind spending your evenings playing Sherlock Holmes, figuring out how to use it!

~Mark

[Zaphod]

Tempted I am

I did come across most of the stuff this afternoon that you’ve all linked to , but thanks for the extra’s

The German manual reveals quite a bit actually

http://www.wrabetz.com/computer/resource...german.pdf

And there’s a video on YouTube with someone going through some of the user interface:

[mfleming]

(04-16-2018 07:02 PM)Zaphod Wrote:  Tempted I am

So was I, so was I (and obviously succumbed)

The German language version of the manual really does reveal a capable pocket computer. What other do you know of that allows programming in Z80 and PIC assembly?
Unfortunately one of the annoying shortcomings of the 850 is that it will only print "ERROR xx" if you make a mistake. The error messages themselves are short, vague, and in German

~Mark

[Zaphod]

Ordered what looks like a clean example, watch this space .......

[mfleming]

Report in full your experience with it. Always fun to play with the oddball calc. Mine hit customs in LA after only three days, straight shot cross the Pacific. Not sure going the other direction though.

I really have to finish up and try the PIC burner. Still missing two capacitors I thought were in my junk drawer. I have to accumulate a few more need'ems before meeting that minimum order amount from Mouser. I get boards made in batches of ten, so drop me a PM if you're interested in building a programmer and I'll toss a board in a 1st Class envelope.

~Mark

[Zaphod]

Cool - yes I've got PIC programming kit obvs but worth exploring this on the sharp, I'll PM you

[mfleming]

Here's the schematic, PCB and BOM for the board, based on the design given in the Appendix A 11-pin Interface manual. Excellent source of information. Since the original design did not specify which transistors to use, I picked some common ones I had on hand. One of the BC5xx series used in Elektor projects would work as well, I'm sure.

The PCB layout was meant to just validate the design, so you'll need to use fly leads to connect the board to the G850. I was going to do a smaller plug-in board later!

~Mark

[Zaphod]

Cool, thanks Mark , yeah I’ve got enough GP transistors to sort something out.

I’ll just organise that socket now

[Zaphod]

Just received a nice PCB all the way from the states - thank you very much Mark

The Calc is en-route

The ZIF socket I got from digikey (3M-1802ND) is not right though, pins are flat and wide ... my fault... I should have looked at datasheet closer.... and it covers up LED1 holes

What ZIF socket did you end up using ?

[mfleming]

That was pretty quick. I never can predict how long International Post will take. Sometimes a few days, other times a couple of weeks.

Watch out when soldering the board together, I got the Traco DC/DC converter footprint wrong, but it doesn't interfere with the placement of C1. I ended up just using a regular socket in place of a ZIF (footprint, again!) which should be good enough for infrequent use.

I've populated the last part and will do an electrical test before connecting the unit to the Sharp. Hope all goes well!

~Mark

[Zaphod]

Pretty damn dast delivery from Japan too !!

The calc has just arrived !!

I've a slight problem with the selller though as the photo's showed what looked to me as shiny battery terminals !... and they are slightly corroded (there's been a minor battery leakage in the past , batteries being left in at some stage)

They're clean enough to use I guess , but I think he's used a generic photo of his from another machine.......
Just disapppointing as the rest of it is in great condition (including the all important outer screen)

Anyway a slight price adjustment will be on the cards I'm hoping ..... watch this space.

[mfleming]

Use of stock photos is an unfortunate occurrence on TAS and other sites. See the "39gs why so cheap" thread!

I've succeeded in assembling the example PIC program. The programmer board checked out OK electrically, so I'll try flashing a PIC16f I have on hand once I've validated the config setting. I'll post the code development process steps, since it's quite a task to figure out. Hate to clutter the forum but I've not found anything like this documented elsewhere online, and it certainly qualifies as "Not remotely HP Calculators."

~Mark

[Zaphod]

So.........

I took the german owners manual PDF, split it into 3 equal-ish parts (7MB ish each)

I've just used a free to use on line PDF translator (which ultimately uses google translate when it gets to the nitty gritty) ...... couple of minutes later it sends me back an english PDF and it's suddenly reasonably readable !!

It might need slight reading through and polishing (but only slight), but it looks very promising indeed!!
It retains all (95%+) the screen shots and formatting

I'm just gonna do the other two parts now