HP 48GX to PC Communications

[MNH]

I would like some advice on how to get started with a project. A coworker recently purchased a Tripod Data Systems (TDS) Coordinate Geometry (COGO) card on eBay for his HP 48GX to make his life easier at work. Our field software doesn't have the friendliest COGO, so my coworker wants to use his TDS COGO card to calculate coordinate points. Unfortunately, he will not be able to transfer those points to our Windows 10 tablet for use with our field software.

The TDS COGO card does allow access to its coordinate points file so a user can call a point to the stack. When evaluated the function will return 6 stack levels of data.

6: " " @ A point string
5: 100.000 @ A number
4: 5,000.0000 @ A number
3: 5,000.0000 @ A number
2: 21 @ A number (integer)
1: 1 or 0 @ 1 means the point exists, 0 means it doesn't

If I create a string with a line feed character (■) at the end of each line within the string, will the string be suitable to transfer to a PC?

" "CALC" 100.000 5,000.0000 5,000.0000 21 ■
"CALC" 100.000 5,000.0000 5,400.0000 22 ■
"CALC" 100.000 5,300.0000 5,400.0000 23"

Ultimately, the data must be put into a format (comma-separated values, arranged in a PNEZD format) that is readable by our field software.

21,5000.0000,5000.0000,100.000,CALC
22,5000.0000,5400.0000,100.000,CALC
23,5300.0000,5400.0000,100.000,CALC

[BruceH]

You have a couple of options:

1) Use the built in file transfer programs - Kermit or Xserver - to transfer objects to the tablet. This requires the tablet to be running either Kermit or Xserver.

2) Use the printing commands, with the print device set to be wire [1] and the terminal emulation program on the tablet set to save what it receives to a file.

The advantage of the latter approach is that on the 48 you only need print one line at a time rather than concatenate all the points into a long string, which saves memory. There is is also a CR command which sends a 'carriage return' [2] so you don't need to worry about adding linefeeds. Have a look at CR and PR1 in the manual (and the associated commands listed against those entries.)

Whichever you do, you'll need the HP48 serial cable plus an RS232 to USB adaptor (unless the tablet still has an RS232) to connect the two devices.

[1] Flag -33 clear, flag -34 set.
[2] CR + LF by default but it can be changed in PRTPAR

[MNH]

(02-25-2024 11:25 PM)BruceH Wrote:  You have a couple of options:

1) Use the built in file transfer programs - Kermit or Xserver - to transfer objects to the tablet. This requires the tablet to be running either Kermit or Xserver.

2) Use the printing commands, with the print device set to be wire [1] and the terminal emulation program on the tablet set to save what it receives to a file.

The advantage of the latter approach is that on the 48 you only need print one line at a time rather than concatenate all the points into a long string, which saves memory. There is is also a CR command which sends a 'carriage return' [2] so you don't need to worry about adding linefeeds. Have a look at CR and PR1 in the manual (and the associated commands listed against those entries.)

Whichever you do, you'll need the HP48 serial cable plus an RS232 to USB adaptor (unless the tablet still has an RS232) to connect the two devices.

[1] Flag -33 clear, flag -34 set.
[2] CR + LF by default but it can be changed in PRTPAR

Thanks. I'm looking forward to figuring this out.