Maintenance Release V41 R9A

[Christoph Giesselink]

At the Allschwil meeting 2018 I presented a major update of V41 to Release 9 with Virtual HP-IL support. At this time not all wanted features had been implemented.

So the AUTO IDY support was missing enabling the usage of the "Print" and "Advance" buttons in the HP82162A simulation inside pyILPER 1.7.2. But this feature is disabled by default, because in some cases the AUTO IDY frames are annoying, escpecially in the case of HP-IL development.

Because of a design limitation of the PIL-Box in Controller Mode (a HP-IL controller like V41 R9 or Emu71/Win is running on the PC), IDY frames are not shown on the real HP-IL side and so the buttons of a real printer will not work.

Some issues in connection with the Time Modul also gone.

The new version R9A is available on Warrens V41 product page.

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RELEASE 9A (01/29/2019)
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- Added AUTO IDY support to the HP-IL simulation (disabled by default)
- Fixed a HP-IL issue causing an endless loop sending IL frames
- No directory limitations for .LOD files any more
- Improved single instance option
- Fixed some timer related code
- Fixed too large display font issue on recent OS
- The small clicks at wave sound have gone
- Fixed issue with "Untitled" LOD file without file extention
- Speed slider in Mcode Console change speed at slider movement now
- Trace log file now show the actual content of the timer module registers CLK_A, CLK_B and INTV_CNT
- Added x64 source code compatibility

[HP-Collection]

Many thanks for you Christoph for keeping this amaizing emulator updated.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

Yes: thank you Christoph!

[Ángel Martin]

Thanks Christoph for your work updating V41. Unfortunately I'm having problems to get it to work with the Library#4 modules. Adding the library#4 itself doesn't seem to upset the system but adding the OS/X on top of it definitely rocks the boat: unresponsive CATalogs, CAT'4 backfires completely, and power Off/On doesn't return from the polling points.

So far I've only tried it on a Win-10 Laptop, so I should repeat my testing on a Win-7 desktop to see if it's also happening there. I don't suppose you've done some testing with Lib#4- setups, have you?

Best,
ÁM

[Christoph Giesselink]

(01-31-2019 01:31 PM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  Thanks Christoph for your work updating V41. Unfortunately I'm having problems to get it to work with the Library#4 modules. Adding the library#4 itself doesn't seem to upset the system but adding the OS/X on top of it definitely rocks the boat: unresponsive CATalogs, CAT'4 backfires completely, and power Off/On doesn't return from the polling points.

So far I've only tried it on a Win-10 Laptop, so I should repeat my testing on a Win-7 desktop to see if it's also happening there. I don't suppose you've done some testing with Lib#4- setups, have you?

Best,
ÁM

Hi Ángel,

no I haven't made any Lib#4- setups. The module loading, as well as the emulation core is still untouched and equal to Release 8E. My HP41 skills are much behind my Saturn knowledge and so I have no idea about HP41 memory management and I'm struggling with the opcodes of the NUT CPU. At the moment there are no plans to get deeper into the depth of the HP41 design.

So I don't think that changing to Win-7 change anything. Mike earlier recognized that the 3 pass module loading don't fit in all times, so he had a module configuration which worked only after changing the order of the modules inside the module list.

Christoph

[Ángel Martin]

(02-01-2019 12:22 AM)Christoph Giesselink Wrote:  Hi Ángel,

no I haven't made any Lib#4- setups. The module loading, as well as the emulation core is still untouched and equal to Release 8E. My HP41 skills are much behind my Saturn knowledge and so I have no idea about HP41 memory management and I'm struggling with the opcodes of the NUT CPU. At the moment there are no plans to get deeper into the depth of the HP41 design.

So I don't think that changing to Win-7 change anything. Mike earlier recognized that the 3 pass module loading don't fit in all times, so he had a module configuration which worked only after changing the order of the modules inside the module list.

Christoph

So you're correct Win-7 didn't show any different - the same issues occur.
But using breakpoints and tracing the code execution has revealed that the bank-swithing instructions ARE NOT WORKING, i.e. they are ignored as if they were NOPS.

I have no idea if you modified those in your update job, but this is the actual problem (or one of them at least). Hope you can double-check this, here's the list of them:

140 ENBANK3
1C0 ENBANK4
100 ENBANK1
180 ENBANK2

ÁM

[J-F Garnier]

(02-01-2019 06:31 AM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  ... using breakpoints and tracing the code execution has revealed that the bank-swithing instructions ARE NOT WORKING, i.e. they are ignored as if they were NOPS.

At least the bank switching scheme is not completely broken, since the CX ROM is working, for instance the ED editor that is in the bank 2 of page 5.
The Advantage ROM also uses bank switching and seems to run fine.

Maybe an incorrect ROM bank definition in the .mod files, or something related to the .lod file?

J-F

[Ángel Martin]

(02-01-2019 10:28 AM)J-F Garnier Wrote:  At least the bank switching scheme is not completely broken, since the CX ROM is working, for instance the ED editor that is in the bank 2 of page 5.
The Advantage ROM also uses bank switching and seems to run fine.

Maybe an incorrect ROM bank definition in the .mod files, or something related to the .lod file?

Well, this is embarrassing - indeed the MOD file was corrupt !
I tried the HEPAX and also worked fine, that was a clear indication as my modules use the same Bank-Switching approach.

So never mind, false alarm.... so far ;-)

ÁM

[Ángel Martin]

I may have missed it but is it possible to configure a printer or mass storage device on this revision? I guess that's so, otherwise what's the point of being able to load the HP-IL module in the emulator...

I'm using ILPer rev 2.22, and sure enough I see the DISPLAY, HP9114B, HDRIVE1 and DOSLINK listed in the CAT'0 enumeration.
Sometimes it gets on unresponsive status, not sure why. I guess more testing is needed to troubleshoot the root causes...

ÁM

[J-F Garnier]

(02-02-2019 06:09 AM)Ángel Martin Wrote:  I may have missed it but is it possible to configure a printer or mass storage device on this revision? I guess that's so, otherwise what's the point of being able to load the HP-IL module in the emulator...
I'm using ILPer rev 2.22, and sure enough I see the DISPLAY, HP9114B, HDRIVE1 and DOSLINK listed in the CAT'0 enumeration.

Sure, and no special configuration needed, just make sure you are in AUTOIO and start with PRP, LIST and DIR !

Quote:Sometimes it gets on unresponsive status, not sure why. I guess more testing is needed to troubleshoot the root causes...

V41/HPIL runs fine and safe for me, you may upgrade to latest ILPer.

J-F

[derekamos]

Hi Christoph,
Your updated version of V41 (9a) is an interesting one. But on downloading it from the TOS site I got a message from my installed AVIRA antivirus:
"Access to file V41R9A.exe contained the pattern VR/Dropper.Gen was blocked".
The exe was quarantined by Avira so I am unable to run it & install.
So, while the idea of a free update to V41 is appealing, the list of ugly features VR/Dropper.Gen is known for, has sort of dulled my enthusiasm.
THE LIST VIRUS FEATURES:
Download and install other malware.
Use your computer for click fraud.
Record your keystrokes and the sites you visit.
Send information about your PC, including usernames and browsing history, to a remote malicious hacker.
Give a remote malicious hacker access to your PC.
Advertising banners are injected with the web pages that you are visiting.
Random web page text is turned into hyperlinks.
Browser popups appear which recommend fake updates or other software.

# Christoph, can you have the V41R9A exe recompiled without this spurious attachment - please, and give Warren's 41 site the update for us Win10 users.
Thank you, DA

[rprosperi]

(02-04-2019 01:56 AM)derekamos Wrote:  Hi Christoph,
Your updated version of V41 (9a) is an interesting one. But on downloading it from the TOS site I got a message from my installed AVIRA antivirus:
"Access to file V41R9A.exe contained the pattern VR/Dropper.Gen was blocked"...

This is 99.99% likely a false-positive (I always leave room for a tiny bit of doubt). I've installed and used this latest V41 v9a from TOS on a system with fully updated Norton Security (better than Avira) with no issues. You can safely restore the quarantined files and use V41 with no worries.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

Why, oh why, before reporting false positives, you never go through a multiscan engine, such as Virustotal?

Here's the report generated a few minutes ago: you'll find that only Avira flags it...

[derekamos]

Ok, Ok, I hear you.
and thank you for the eye opener report.
DA