HP-71b ROM version

[joved]

Hello,

I would like to know how to find the ROM version on my HP-71b ?
Thanks for your help.

Joe.

[Sylvain Cote]

(10-04-2020 01:20 PM)joved Wrote:  I would like to know how to find the ROM version on my HP-71b ?

Type VER$ then press the [ENDLINE] button, you should see HP71:????? (ex.: HP71:1BBBB)

[joved]

Great, thanks a lot. Mine 1BBBB and HP-IL 1A

Have a nice day.

[rprosperi]

There is lots of useful information about the 71B and 71 HP-IL module ROMs on Jean-Francois Garnier's (often seen in these pages as "J-F", "JFG" or "Jeffcalc") website here:

http://www.jeffcalc.hp41.eu/emu71/bug71.html

Although it may appear from reading these notes that the 1BBBB and 1A have lots of bugs, they are both generally stable and usable for most tasks without fear of losing data. That said, a key one to know about, if you plan to create and use LIF media, is HP-IL bug #3.

Enjoy your 71B - it's a great machine!

[Valentin Albillo]

.
Hi, joved:

Like Bob Prosperi says above, version 1BBBB of the HP-71B ROMs is perfectly usable and despite many bugs being listed for it, I've never been bitten by any of them in ~40 years of using it daily and extremely extensively (thousands of lines of code), so I've never found the need to "upgrade" to another version.

Perhaps you'd like to have a look at some the code I've created for it; you'll probably find it very useful to see what the HP-71B can do and to have a sizable amount of optimized HP-71B BASIC code to learn and use new advanced techniques. These are the links:

Long Live the HP-71B, (full description and history, includes a Text Stereograms generator program)
HP-71B Modest Mater, (program to solve Mate-in-N chess problems)
HP-71B Math ROM Bakers Dozen (Vol. 1), (many tips and useful code snippets, first part)
HP-71B Math ROM Bakers Dozen (Vol. 2), ((many tips and useful code snippets, second part))
HP-71B Short and Sweet Sudoku Solver, (program to solve any Sudoku puzzle)
HP-71B Sudoku Solver Sublime Sequel, (enhancement to the program to solve any Sudoku puzzle)
HP-71B Sudoku Generator and Coach, (program to generate new Sudoku puzzles and coach you to manually solve any puzzle)
HP-71B Fantastic FOUR, (multiprecision multiplication using Fast Fourier Transforms)
HP-71B Minimax Polynomial Fit, (program to fit a set of data to the very best possible polynomial)
25 years of Othello, (program to play Othello (aka "Reversi") versus the machine)
Small Fry - Primes Acounting, (routine to very quickly count primes on a given interval with excellent accuracy)
Small Fry - Let's Be Rational, (routine to convert reals to fractions and find their continued fracton form)
Boldly Going - Matrix Square Root, (routine to compute the square root of a given matrix)
Boldly Going - Identifying Constants, (program to find the symbolic expression which evaluates to a given numeric value, many applications)
HP-71B Advanced Uses of STRNGLEX, (focuses on its less known keywords, whose capabilities are described with examples aplenty)

Regards.
V.

[Dave Frederickson]

No Batteries Required

If it has screws on the back it's 1BBBB or earlier
If the date code is between 2407 and 2646 it's 1BBBB
If it's after 2810 it's 2CDCC
If it's between 2646 and 2810 it could be 2CCCC

[rprosperi]

I can extend some of those ranges a bit:

1BBBB: 2401Axxxxx to 2713Axxxxx (backs w/o screws, or V2, start around 2646Axxxxx)
2CCCC: 2718Axxxxx to 2745Axxxxx
2CDCC: 2810Axxxxx an up

And if anyone else has a machine that further extends and clarifies the date ranges, please post an update (here or elsewhere).

The most interesting week was 2401A, in which there were both 1AAAA and 1BBBB machines produced.

Edit: Corrected 1st char of later VER$

[Joe Horn]

I have a 71B with date code 2412A but VER$ says its ROM is 2CDCC. Perhaps it was repaired and had a brain transplant? To make sure that a rogue lexfile isn't messing with the VER$, I cleared all memory before checking the VER$.

[KimH]

In my pile I have this

2630A00003 Plastic Back 1BBBB - it even has the new CPU - I was able to overclock it

New CPU was supposed to be from 2623A

(10-05-2020 06:15 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  I can extend some of those ranges a bit:

1BBBB: 2401Axxxxx to 2713Axxxxx (backs w/o screws, or V2, start around 2646Axxxxx)
1CCCC: 2718Axxxxx to 2745Axxxxx
1CDCC: 2810Axxxxx an up

And if anyone else has a machine that further extends and clarifies the date ranges, please post an update (here or elsewhere).

The most interesting week was 2401A, in which there were both 1AAAA and 1BBBB machines produced.

[rprosperi]

(10-06-2020 04:26 AM)Joe Horn Wrote:  I have a 71B with date code 2412A but VER$ says its ROM is 2CDCC. Perhaps it was repaired and had a brain transplant? To make sure that a rogue lexfile isn't messing with the VER$, I cleared all memory before checking the VER$.

This is definitely a frankencalc of some kind, a 2CDCC from early 1984 is not possible, the 71B was barely 3 months old and 2CDCC was 4 years away.

Note: VER$ listed in my post above had typos (1st char 1 -> 2), now corrected.

[rprosperi]

(10-06-2020 11:24 AM)KimH Wrote:  In my pile I have this

2630A00003 Plastic Back 1BBBB - it even has the new CPU - I was able to overclock it

New CPU was supposed to be from 2623A

Thanks Kim.

I would imagine that use of the new CPU began at the exact same time they revised the back to plastic, but I've never heard an exact date. 2623A is a bit earlier than all other observed units (by me and a few other 71 obsessed fans), but it fits in with everything with no conflicts so a nice new refinement. Do you know where info on the start date of 2623A comes from?

[Dave Frederickson]

(10-05-2020 06:15 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  And if anyone else has a machine that further extends and clarifies the date ranges, please post an update (here or elsewhere).

I have an email from you identifying S/N 2750A00021 as being 2CDCC.


Edit: Should we do a survey on "left-handed" cases, the ones that unzip right to left or cases with a QRG pocket?
I have one left-handed case with no pocket.

[rprosperi]

(10-06-2020 04:30 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  

(10-05-2020 06:15 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  And if anyone else has a machine that further extends and clarifies the date ranges, please post an update (here or elsewhere).

I have an email from you identifying S/N 2750A00021 as being 2CDCC.


Edit: Should we do a survey on "left-handed" cases, the ones that unzip right to left or cases with a QRG pocket?
I have one left-handed case with no pocket.

That was reported be an eBay seller and not substantiated, though likely true (why would they lie?) so probably worth counting, so then:

VER$ S/N Range
===== =============
1AAAA: 2401Axxxxx 1 sample
1BBBB: 2401Axxxxx to 2601Axxxxx (metal back)
1BBBB: 2623Axxxxx to 2713Axxxxx (plastic back, need source for 2623A)
2CCCC: 2718Axxxxx to 2745Axxxxx
2CDCC: 2750Axxxxx +

As for left-hand and right-hand zippers - that's silly, who could care about that? (making a note to check mine...)

Thanks Dave

[twoweims]

Mine is Left Handed, No Pocket.

[Dave Frederickson]

(10-06-2020 11:51 PM)twoweims Wrote:  Mine is Left Handed, No Pocket.

Seems a small informal survey was performed last June. 10% - 20% of cases are "left-handed". These are dark reddish-brown and from late date code calculators. The pockets were only around early on and quickly disappeared.

[rprosperi]

(10-07-2020 09:09 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  

(10-06-2020 11:51 PM)twoweims Wrote:  Mine is Left Handed, No Pocket.

Seems a small informal survey was performed last June. 10% - 20% of cases are "left-handed". These are dark reddish-brown and from late date code calculators. The pockets were only around early on and quickly disappeared.

I didn't want to say that we've already done that, fearing it might make us look like real geeks... thank goodness that's not the case.

[twoweims]

(10-07-2020 09:30 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  fearing it might make us look like real geeks... thank goodness that's not the case.

Geeks? You say that like it is a bad thing.?????

[twoweims]

Question marks should be laughing emojis.

[Dave Frederickson]

(10-07-2020 09:30 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(10-07-2020 09:09 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  Seems a small informal survey was performed last June. 10% - 20% of cases are "left-handed". These are dark reddish-brown and from late date code calculators. The pockets were only around early on and quickly disappeared.

I didn't want to say that we've already done that, fearing it might make us look like real geeks... thank goodness that's not the case.

Sure, throw me under the bus and make it look like it was my idea!

Okay, the survey was my idea but you brought up the whole zipper thing.

[rprosperi]

(10-07-2020 10:40 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  

(10-07-2020 09:30 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  I didn't want to say that we've already done that, fearing it might make us look like real geeks... thank goodness that's not the case.

Sure, throw me under the bus and make it look like it was my idea!

Okay, the survey was my idea but you brought up the whole zipper thing.

Guilty...