HP-71B Manual Revisions

[J-F Garnier]

There are different revisions of the HP-71B manuals available on the Web or Museum archives.
Their content are sometimes significantly different, and the corrections give interesting informations.

So I made a little survey of the changes in different revisions or editions of the manuals.
What we can learn is that the latest revisions of the manuals often provide most of the changes/corrections, and should be preferred.
Also, it's worth to note that the final updates of the HP-71B mainframe manuals are dated March/Oct. 1987. Why doing such an update so late and so close to the HP-71B's discontinuation on 1988?
The case of the latest edition of the HP-IL manual is interesting too, see below.


HP-71 Reference Manual
Sources:
Ed.1: personal manual
Ed.2: https://literature.hpcalc.org/items/1054
Ed.3: http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?hwdoc=118
Ed.4: https://www.hpmuseum.org/software/swcdp.htm#cm

Code:

                Ed.1      Ed.2      Ed.3      Ed.4
                Oct.83    Jan.84    May 84    Oct.87
p.23  ASSIGN #                                  x     minor correction of ASSIGN# -> ASSIGN #
p.32  CALL                                      x     Only :MAIN or :PORT as optional memory device specifier
p.68  DEF FN                          x         x     About user-defined string function dimensioning
p.86  DISP$                                     x     Additional explanation on readable characters
p.153 INPUT                                     x     About command stack in INPUT
p.171 LINPUT                x         x         x     INPUT/LINPUT difference on entered string interpretation
p.237 READ #                                    x     Effect of a data type error on the file pointer
p.271 SHOW PORT                                 x     Updated for new SHOW PORT in version 2CCCC
p.285 TIME                                      x     Additional comment on value returned by TIME

HP-71 Owner's Manual
Sources:
Rev.A: http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?hwdoc=118
Rev.D: https://literature.hpcalc.org/items/1043
Rev.E: https://www.hpmuseum.org/software/swcdp.htm#cm

Code:

        Rev.A    Rev.B    Rev.C    Rev.D    Rev.E
        Oct.83   ?        Apr.84   Feb.85   Mar.87
p.4                                  x        x     "Merging Files" added in section 6
p.13                                 x        x     explains Continuous Memory
p.15                                 x        x     corrects the behavior of beep at 96th entered character
p.20                                 x        x     adds a sentence to switch from CALC mode back to BASIC mode
p.22                                          x     adds a note with more explanations
p.24                                          x     reference to the note p.22
p.26                                 x        x     corrects DELAY rate of 8s is infinite
p.34                                          x     corrects typo in example DELAY line rate [;character rate] (still wrong!)
p.58                                          x     rephrases DEFAULT ON description, adds "8, DVZ division by zero" in the table
p.66                                          x     adds section "Relational Operators"
p.77                                          x     minor rephrasing, adds "Relational Operators"
p.92                                          x     rephrasing, slightly more precise description of the clock
p.98                                 x        x     adds section "Merging Files"
p.106                                         x     adds a note on FREE PORT error
p.108                                         x     more details on SHOW PORT, note for version 2CCCC and later  ***
p.116                                x        x     adds "Merging Files"
p.153                                         x     additional details on halting execution
p.182                                         x     minor correction in timer branching
p.197                                x        x     minor corrections in "Math Exception Flags" and code example
p.211                                         x     adds system settings in the global environment list and a note with details
p.212, 213, 215, 221                          x     adds system settings in the global environment list
p.233                                x        x     corrects the example
p.233                                         x     correction and note on WIDTH/PWIDTH line length
p.236                                         x     adds more escape sequences
p.239                                x        x     minor correction in the example
p.242, 243, 245                      x        x     minor corrections in the examples
p.248                                         x     minor rephrasing, more details on ASSIGN #
p.253                                         x     minor rephrasing, more details in the note for READ #
p.256                                x        x     adds more details in "File Records" for SDATA
p.267                                x        x     minor correction for VER$
p.271                                         x     minor rephrasing for DIM, adds mention of rechargeable batteries
p.272                                x        x     warns against pressing keys while changing batteries

(specific changes of Rev. B and C unknown)

HP-71 HP-IL Owner's Manual
Sources:
Ed.1: https://literature.hpcalc.org/items/492
Ed.2: personal manual
Ed.3: https://www.hpmuseum.org/software/swcdp.htm#op

Code:

         Ed.1      Ed.2      Ed.3
         Nov.83    Jan.84    Jan.85
p.29                  x         x     adds the CHAIN, RUN and TRANSFORM commands in the "Working With Files" list
p.96, 97              x         x     adds the CHAIN description
p.181, 182            x         x     adds the RUN description
p.203, 204            x         x     adds the TRANSFORM description
p.216                 x         x     removes "Service contracts are not available" in "Further Information"
p.232                 x         x     corrects the diagram in "HP-41 Compatibility"
p.239                           x     adds the error messages "Low Battery" and "Medium Protect"
p.241                           x     adds a description of the "Low Battery" and "Medium Protect" messages

(page numbers refer to the Ed.2/3)

The reason of the last revision of the HP-IL manual is a mystery.
It only adds the description of the error messages "Low Battery" and "Medium Protect" that actually don't exist and thus are never generated by the HP-IL module (all known versions), as I reported some years ago.

J-F

[Martin Hepperle]

Concerning the error message, see also this old thread.