HP48GX Newbie Needs Help

[ericwolf72]

Hi. I just got a HP48GX and am blown away by all the programs available and the strong community! Back in my college days in the 90s I used a HP48SX but never had to transfer programs to it (I had the EQLIB and EE cards).

Can someone please help me understand how to get programs onto the GX? I have mostly Macs and 1 new-ish PC. Sorry if this is a stupid question with obvious solution - but I googled it and feel a bit lost.

Thank you!!!
Eric

[Gerson W. Barbosa]

Bueller? Bueller?

While you don’t get a more detailed reply, please try this old thread and the links therein:

HP48GX Connectivity

Welcome to the Forum!

Gerson.

[ericwolf72]

Thank you very much Gerson for replying!
I read through the thread you sent, but unfortunately I still don't know the definitive steps to take.

The ebay links are expired and the link to the company that sells serial to USB adapters - they cost over $200(?).

Any help anyone on this forum can give would be greatly appreciated. I am really good at following instructions I understand

Humbly,
Eric

(02-18-2019 02:26 PM)Gerson W. Barbosa Wrote:  Bueller? Bueller?

While you don’t get a more detailed reply, please try this old thread and the links therein:

HP48GX Connectivity

Welcome to the Forum!

Gerson.

[rprosperi]

(02-18-2019 02:26 PM)Gerson W. Barbosa Wrote:  Bueller? Bueller?

While you don’t get a more detailed reply, please try this old thread and the links therein:

HP48GX Connectivity

Welcome to the Forum!

Gerson.

The link to download HP's ConnKit in that thread no longer works, but you can download it from here: https://www.hpcalc.org/details/5890.

[Gerson W. Barbosa]

(02-18-2019 03:03 PM)ericwolf72 Wrote:  The ebay links are expired and the link to the company that sells serial to USB adapters - they cost over $200(?).

Sorry for the dead links.

What about the HP48 USB cable offered by Samson Cables ($24.99)?

http://www.samsoncables.com/catalog/prod...ku=HP48USB

Would anyone who’s tried it recommend it?

[cdmackay]

There are a number of useful HP-48/49/50 cables at Casio880, both plain serial DE-9, and also incorporating a serial-USB converter.

I recommend Casio880 (based in Spain) as a supplier, and have bought cables and a calculator from them.

I bought both (long story) the official HP kit shown above, which is a plain DE-9 female serial cable at the PC end, and also the €40 48GX cable with integral serial-USB convertor, which works perfectly on my Mac using the Serial app, at least. If anyone wants to know what chip it uses, I can check.

The official HP kit is the PC Connectivity Kit — F1897A, which comprises the HP 10-pin (38/49G) cable (F1897-66000), and an HP 4-pin (48GX) adaptor (F1633-66001). To use it with a PC/Mac that does not have a serial port you will need a USB-serial convertor. Ones with FTDI chips are normally preferred, although some Prolific ones work well too.

Note that the calculator presents as DCE, so you do not need a null-modem adaptor, unless you're connecting two calculators together.

Once you've got the cables connected, you need a serial comms application that speaks Kermit, for the transfers. For Mac I recommend Serial, which has its own USB drivers so you don't have to mess up your OS installing random crap that came with the cable.

[striegel]

(02-18-2019 03:03 PM)ericwolf72 Wrote:  ...company that sells serial to USB adapters - they cost over $200(?).
...

Don't pay that much. This one works very well (at least with Windows 10 Professional).

[ericwolf72]

Thank you cdmackay, Gerson, and striegel!

To confirm:
1. I purchase this:

2. And purchase this

3. Download 'Serial' for my Mac OR HP Connectivity Kit software from HPCALC.ORG

Then I'm good to go? Feels like I'm getting closer

Thanks again for everything!!

[cdmackay]

(02-18-2019 05:55 PM)ericwolf72 Wrote:  To confirm:
1. I purchase this:

2. And purchase this

3. Download 'Serial' for my Mac OR HP Connectivity Kit software from HPCALC.ORG

I've not tried either 1) or 2), but they look right, yes. The USB-serial converter has an FTDI chip, so should be fine.

The HP ConnKit software is Windows only, I think, so you will need something like Serial, for a Mac.

[AndiGer]

Mouser Europe tells me they are located at Munich. But want to charged 20€ shipping. Subterranean ... Even for small parts. Don't know what they charge you guys in USA. For me it is not acceptable.

[ericwolf72]

It is quite a steep charge. Do you know of another option that would work in the US?

If not, it is what it is

Eric

(02-18-2019 09:13 PM)AndiGer Wrote:  Mouser Europe tells me they are located at Munich. But want to charged 20€ shipping. Subterranean ... Even for small parts. Don't know what they charge you guys in USA. For me it is not acceptable.

[Claudio L.]

(02-18-2019 09:17 PM)ericwolf72 Wrote:  It is quite a steep charge. Do you know of another option that would work in the US?

Samson cables? Gerson already recommended it, it's very specific for this machine.

[pdo]

(02-18-2019 07:21 PM)cdmackay Wrote:  The HP ConnKit software is Windows only, I think, so you will need something like Serial, for a Mac.

There is also my Hoppi program for the Mac (https://cloudycat.bitbucket.io/hoppi/). Which still works, despite the fact that I have not had much opportunity to work on it recently.

If you're running the latest macOS then be sure to download Hoppi-1.4-Mojave.dmg, otherwise use Hoppi-1.4-Intel.dmg.

Paul

[EugeneNine]

I have a QVS (Microcenter) USB-Serial

https://www.microcenter.com/product/2022...ft---black

And then an old serial to HP48 cable bought in the 90's f4om educalc.

Then Kermit for the software.

[ericwolf72]

Wow, that is awesome! Now I can use my Mac laptop instead of my kids' PC in the basement for my HP'ing

(02-19-2019 01:47 PM)pdo Wrote:  There is also my Hoppi program for the Mac (https://cloudycat.bitbucket.io/hoppi/). Which still works, despite the fact that I have not had much opportunity to work on it recently.

If you're running the latest macOS then be sure to download Hoppi-1.4-Mojave.dmg, otherwise use Hoppi-1.4-Intel.dmg.

Paul

[cdmackay]

(02-19-2019 01:47 PM)pdo Wrote:  There is also my Hoppi program for the Mac (https://cloudycat.bitbucket.io/hoppi/). Which still works, despite the fact that I have not had much opportunity to work on it recently.

hah! I use Hoppi for my 50g over USB; never occurred to me that I can use it for my new 48GX too

thanks very much.

[Craig Bladow]

There is also this forum thread: http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-1192-page-2.html

[Craig Bladow]

What I have a hard time in finding is a complete guide to doing transfers between the HP48GX and the PC using Kermit or Xmodem, including steps on the PC. I've found bits and pieces scattered about and have not had consistent success either on Windows 7 or Linux.

[EugeneNine]

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/faq-c-h48.html

Code:

SET PREFIXING ALL
SET MODEM TYPE DIRECT
SET PORT /dev/ttyUSB0
SET SPEED 9600
SET CARRIER-WATCH OFF
SET FLOW NONE
SET PARITY NONE
SET BLOCK 3
SET CONTROL PREFIX ALL
SET FILE TYPE BINARY

[pdo]

(02-20-2019 03:44 AM)Craig Bladow Wrote:  What I have a hard time in finding is a complete guide to doing transfers between the HP48GX and the PC using Kermit or Xmodem, including steps on the PC. I've found bits and pieces scattered about and have not had consistent success either on Windows 7 or Linux.

Here's a couple of scripts I wrote to help with HP48 Kermit on Linux, as well as a short README: https://bitbucket.org/pdo/hp48-kermit.

Hope this helps,
Paul