HP15c CE POGO programming cable

[Divasson]

Finally the POGO programming cable arrived! Sincere apologies to those who ordered and had to endure this delay. I hope it is worth the wait!!

It is intended for the HP15c Collector's Edition, for the HP12c (with firmware post 2015) and for the HP10bII+.

It does NOT work with HP15c Limited Edition, HP12c prior to 2015, or HP20b - HP30b for conversions to wp34s.

There is a 50% discount for those that bought a HP15c CE from the shop, and it comes included with the HP15c CE Enhanced at the site.

                   

[Gene]

Great job and a wonderful help to the community,

Bravo !
Gene

[Steve Simpkin]

Excellent!
Now if you can come up with a way to use this cable to backup and restore your HP-15C CE memory configuration to a computer, you will be given the title of Miracle Worker

[Eric Rechlin]

Very nice! Thank you for producing these.

[ctrclckws]

Does the cable come with instructions on its use, for those that never had access to such things in the past?

Specific questions.
I believe you need to download the current ROM, modify a few bytes to correct the 16C emulation, and then resend the updated ROM back to the calculator.

Is there a sheet documenting these items?

Have the pre-orders been sent out?

Could you take the downloaded ROM and update a recent 12C to 15C software? (Curious question)

Greatly appreciate the home-grown efforts also.

[Divasson]

(01-25-2024 07:06 PM)ctrclckws Wrote:  Does the cable come with instructions on its use, for those that never had access to such things in the past?

Specific questions.
I believe you need to download the current ROM, modify a few bytes to correct the 16C emulation, and then resend the updated ROM back to the calculator.

Is there a sheet documenting these items?

Have the pre-orders been sent out?

Could you take the downloaded ROM and update a recent 12C to 15C software? (Curious question)

Greatly appreciate the home-grown efforts also.

Answering your questions:

• The cable does not come with instructions - these will be put in http://www.thecalculatorstore.com website, although there are already quite good instructions in HPmuseum.org. I'll try to avoid plagiarism !
• Preorders are being sent out - hopefully all sent by Monday
• Yes, you can take the downloaded ROM and put in a latest generation HP12c. In fact the firmware was originally tested on a HP12c. We have also created HP15c overlays - but not enought to put for sale
  

These calculators are far more robust than the LE - I have probably upgraded firmware on 150 units and none is bricked. I could not say that of the HP30b or the HP15c LE !!

[ctrclckws]

Thank you the answers.
I don't mind going to a web page that I can capture or print out for guidance. I have read all of the 15C ce threads, finding the few relevant posts..., not impossible, but a bit time consuming.

Waiting patiently for my cable, unfortunately I ordered piecemeal and probably without any discounts.
Perhaps I'll take a recent 12C to be the 16C.

Thank you for providing this service to the fans of the older HP calculators.

[Divasson]

We have posted in our website some instructions to use the programming cable with the HP calculators. You can find it here:

How to use the Programming Cable

Part of it is work in process, in particular how to modify the firmware file.

Your comments, suggestions, modifications and feedback are welcomed!!

EDIT: completed the instructions with the modification of the firmware.

[cdmackay]

thanks very much indeed, José.

[vaklaff]

(01-27-2024 02:46 PM)Divasson Wrote:  Your comments, suggestions, modifications and feedback are welcomed!!

Thank you very much. If I may suggest one thing, please consider adding checksums or hashes of the original and patched firmware to make the process a bit safer. Thanks.

[Divasson]

Checksums: a very good idea !! I'll do it as soon as I get to a new calculator to confirm some data.

[rprosperi]

I just used TCS's new cable to up/download firmware from my 15c CE. I'm happy to say this cable works great, just as described, and any serious user of a 15c CE simply must get one!!

Although there is a ton of well-illustrated, new material on how to use the cable, here are some quick links to the key sections on the TCS website to get you up and running:

-- Using the cable

-- Upload f/w to your PC

-- Modify your f/w to fix the DEC bug in 16c mode

-- Download f/w to your PC

Doing all of that took me less than 15 minutes, it's clearly explained and easy to do.

My only minor gripe/request for future lots of cables is to have the RESET button in a different color (RED seems best, but any bright color will do) than the ERASE button. When your using 3 hands to hold the mouse, cable/buttons and the 15c, etc. it would be a lot easier to pick the right button by color than by tiny labels. It may raise the cost by some small amount, but I'd happily pay an extra dollar for the convenience of a colored key.

Well done José and TheCalculatorStore.com, you're continuing to make the new HP-15c CE better and better!

[Peter Klein]

(01-31-2024 10:54 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  My only minor gripe/request for future lots of cables is to have the RESET button in a different color (RED seems best, but any bright color will do) than the ERASE button. When your using 3 hands to hold the mouse, cable/buttons and the 15c, etc. it would be a lot easier to pick the right button by color than by tiny labels. It may raise the cost by some small amount, but I'd happily pay an extra dollar for the convenience of a colored key.

In the interim, may I suggest a small dot of nail polish? Or, cut a dot out of a round circular colored sticky label. I did the latter (using green and purple) on the shift keys of my HP-33s. I had a hard time seeing the difference between them in dim light, so...

[sjthomas]

(01-31-2024 10:54 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  I just used TCS's new cable to up/download firmware from my 15c CE. I'm happy to say this cable works great, just as described, and any serious user of a 15c CE simply must get one!!

Although there is a ton of well-illustrated, new material on how to use the cable, here are some quick links to the key sections on the TCS website to get you up and running:

-- Using the cable

-- Upload f/w to your PC

-- Modify your f/w to fix the DEC bug in 16c mode

-- Download f/w to your PC

Doing all of that took me less than 15 minutes, it's clearly explained and easy to do.

My only minor gripe/request for future lots of cables is to have the RESET button in a different color (RED seems best, but any bright color will do) than the ERASE button. When your using 3 hands to hold the mouse, cable/buttons and the 15c, etc. it would be a lot easier to pick the right button by color than by tiny labels. It may raise the cost by some small amount, but I'd happily pay an extra dollar for the convenience of a colored key.

Well done José and TheCalculatorStore.com, you're continuing to make the new HP-15c CE better and better!

Thanks for consolidating these, Bob. Waiting for my cable to arrive . . .

[Voldemar]

(01-25-2024 10:48 AM)Divasson Wrote:  the POGO programming cable arrived!

Just ordered

[Tanis64]

Many thanks for the high-quality pogo pin cable! The well-done instructions for installation, configuration, reading and flashing the binaries are also more than helpful.
Thank you for this valuable work and support!

[twoweims]

Mine arrived yesterday. Thanks, Jose!

[Craig Bladow]

Mine arrived Monday, successfully programmed my HP-15CE. Instructions worked in Windows 7 as well as Windows 10. Initially the Windows 10 machine did not recognize the calculator in boot mode so I tried it on Windows 7. I think it may have been that I was either pressing reset too long or wasn't pressing the buttons consistently.

I like the idea of flashing the newest 12C for a dedicated 16C, all of the US shopping sites I checked, including hp.com, seem to have photos of older 12C versions. I know the Calculator Store has new 12Cs, does anyone know of a source in the US?

[Eric Rechlin]

(02-07-2024 09:10 PM)Craig Bladow Wrote:  I like the idea of flashing the newest 12C for a dedicated 16C, all of the US shopping sites I checked, including hp.com, seem to have photos of older 12C versions. I know the Calculator Store has new 12Cs, does anyone know of a source in the US?

I don't think you can go by photos. I doubt many vendors would bother taking a new photo for trivial changes in appearance. Considering a sufficiently new 12C has been sold for close to a decade, vendors would have to have REALLY old inventory for them not to work for the conversion.

[ctrclckws]

Received my cable last night, followed the instructions and updated one of my 15C CE's this morning.

The other is in its box and will take a little more time to get out.

I then attempted to take a 2018 (9CJ8....) 12C and upload the patched file.
The first attempt did not boot.
Since I also captured the 12C ROM, according to the same instructions, I uploaded that back and it recovered.

My question is, what next, to let a sufficiently modern 12C be a 16C.

Evening update: Patched my 2nd 15C CE, and gave it another shot on the 12C. SUCCESS!