Pre Release HP01 Running

[teenix]

(07-17-2016 11:09 AM)fhub Wrote:  

(07-17-2016 10:44 AM)teenix Wrote:  1) If you look in the menu you can see an option [Fine tune timer] This will adjust the timer for the processor execution loop and therefore the time updates. A bit like using the crystal trimmer on the watch circuit board. It will never be perfect, but neither was the actual watch. The time will always drift slightly. It will sync to the PC time on start up.

Well, of course I've seen this option, but without showing a scale with any values such a slider is almost useless - how many trials would be needed to adjust the speed to be (almost) exact?
And moreover, is this fine tune setting stored in the cce33.ini or hp01.ini?
If not then you would have to set it again and again ...


Yes, the tuning value is stored in an ini file and reloaded every time the emulator starts.

The tuning is there to try and give a user the ability to try to adjust for the timing differences that exist between different PC's so I don't know a particular scale, only the position of the slider. There is no way that I know of to set an accurate time interval of the magnitude required (1/100th sec) during program execution in a Windows environment, so short of syncing the watch to the PC clock all the time there is no way to reasonably set the time accurately except by trial and error with the tuning. Even if you had a real watch and tried to adjust the crystal trimmer cap to set the timing, you would be faced with a similar problem unless you had some specialist frequency counting equipment.

Quote:The 'a' key sets the time or alarm to [am] if it is in the default 12 hour mode of operation.

Ok, the manual of the official release describes it in the same way, but nevertheless it sounds a bit strange to me: why waste one key (or even two keys in the prerelease version) for am/pm, when you can simply enter the time in both formats (e.g. 4:15 or 16:15)?
So I still don't really understand the benefit of these keys. And BTW, when the stopwatch is running, both keys ("a" and "p") seem to have any other function, but I haven't yet found out what it is - it looks like some kind of 'pause', but showing a different display value. Very mysterious ...

Franz

This is a pre-release watch/calculator, not what was made available to the public as far as I know. The engineers of the day obviously saw the same problem and made some changes before presenting it for sale.

Looking at the code as it executes, the keys don't do anything that I can see unless they are pressed directly after entering valid time/alarm values and set the AM/PM display indicator if in 12 hour mode. Status bit 1 is the flag for 12/24 hour mode.

The A register data changes, but the display change shouldn't have occurred, so I have modified the way the code interacts with the "hardware" but will test further before updating.

I cannot even say for sure what frequency the internal chips operate at because even though I looked over the logic diagrams that are in the patent document, (and there are lots) the circuitry in that area is a bit vague, and the only text reference I could find was "some other frequency...". Therefore, I have assumed that the 38.4KHz from the crystal is multiplied to a similar value as the Classic chipsets run on otherwise the calculator would be painfully slow to use.

cheers

Tony

[fhub]

(07-17-2016 03:09 PM)teenix Wrote:  Therefore, I have assumed that the 38.4KHz from the crystal is multiplied to a similar value as the Classic chipsets run on ...

Wouldn't it be better (and more accurate) to just use the PC's timer or realtime clock (RTC) for the emulator's clock and stopwatch instead of a 'virtual' timer?

Franz

[Harald]

(07-17-2016 03:43 PM)fhub Wrote:  Wouldn't it be better (and more accurate) to just use the PC's timer or realtime clock (RTC) for the emulator's clock and stopwatch instead of a 'virtual' timer?

Franz

That would make it less of an emulator though.

[fhub]

(07-17-2016 08:38 PM)Harald Wrote:  

(07-17-2016 03:43 PM)fhub Wrote:  Wouldn't it be better (and more accurate) to just use the PC's timer or realtime clock (RTC) for the emulator's clock and stopwatch instead of a 'virtual' timer?

Franz

That would make it less of an emulator though.

Well, I would prefer a 'less of an emulator' with accurate times instead of a 'more of an emulator' with a clock showing wrong times.

Franz

[PANAMATIK]

(07-17-2016 09:07 PM)fhub Wrote:  

(07-17-2016 08:38 PM)Harald Wrote:  That would make it less of an emulator though.

Well, I would prefer a 'less of an emulator' with accurate times instead of a 'more of an emulator' with a clock showing wrong times.

Franz

The clock register of the HP-01 is a hardware counter, which is running independant of the microcode. Therefore using the PC clock hardware is the appropriate way for simulating an accurate clock.

Bernhard

[PANAMATIK]

(07-17-2016 03:09 PM)teenix Wrote:  Therefore, I have assumed that the 38.4KHz from the crystal is multiplied to a similar value as the Classic chipsets run on ...

The 38400 Hz crystal frequency is divided by 48 = 800. The microcode execution time is 800 instructions per second (an 800 IPS machine).

Bernhard

[PANAMATIK]

(07-17-2016 11:09 AM)fhub Wrote:  So I still don't really understand the benefit of these keys. And BTW, when the stopwatch is running, both keys ("a" and "p") seem to have any other function, but I haven't yet found out what it is - it looks like some kind of 'pause', but showing a different display value. Very mysterious ...

Franz

When stopwatch is running, pressing "a" or "p" takes the actual stopwatch time as if you had entered it manually and converts it into am or pm time if possible.

Bernhard

[teenix]

(07-17-2016 03:43 PM)fhub Wrote:  Wouldn't it be better (and more accurate) to just use the PC's timer or realtime clock (RTC) for the emulator's clock and stopwatch instead of a 'virtual' timer?

Franz

I have decided to use the clock timing from the PC clock updates. It seems a valid approach as the PC timing just becomes the crystal that the watch used. Otherwise the watch section would be as accurate as the timer in the HP-45.

The Options Menu -> Timing Adjust is still required because the code execution timing is not linked to the PC clock and even though the time will remain accurate you might see the seconds update appear to skip a digit every 20 seconds or so. This will happen if the display refresh is taking slightly longer than 1 second. Just use the adjuster to speed up the simulation a little bit until you see the timing increment normally. The adjust value is stored in the emulator ini file.

The 'a' and 'p' buttons seem to function ok now.

New download available.

cheers

Tony

[fhub]

(07-18-2016 06:00 AM)teenix Wrote:  I have decided to use the clock timing from the PC clock updates.
...
The 'a' and 'p' buttons seem to function ok now.

Yes, everything working fine now - many thanks, Tony!
(I hope I didn't annoy you too much with my numerous reports/requests? )

@PANAMATIK:
I've made a small QRG for this prototype version, just taking 2 pages of your 'Repair Manual' and modifying the HP-01 picture and the function key list for this prerelease model.
Would you mind if I attach this PDF here?
(it can directly be used in the context menu of Tony's emulator)

Franz

[teenix]

(07-18-2016 09:01 AM)fhub Wrote:  Yes, everything working fine now - many thanks, Tony!
(I hope I didn't annoy you too much with my numerous reports/requests? )

Franz

Not at all. It definitely helped to sort out the problems.

many thanks

Tony

[PANAMATIK]

(07-18-2016 09:01 AM)fhub Wrote:  @PANAMATIK:
I've made a small QRG for this prototype version, just taking 2 pages of your 'Repair Manual' and modifying the HP-01 picture and the function key list for this prerelease model.
Would you mind if I attach this PDF here?
(it can directly be used in the context menu of Tony's emulator)

Franz

You can freely use the HP-01 manual for this purpose.

Bernhard

[fhub]

(07-18-2016 06:53 PM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  You can freely use the HP-01 manual for this purpose.

Ok, thanks!

I've attached the small QRG for the HP-01 prerelease version ...

Franz

[fhub]

(07-18-2016 10:08 AM)teenix Wrote:  It definitely helped to sort out the problems.

Ok Tony, here's the next problem to sort out:

I just saw that there's a new update today, and when testing it I saw that the date is completely wrong, it's 1 day and 10 years ahead
(showing 22-07-26 today instead of 21-07-16).

Then I've tried the previous version and this also had this bug already, I must have overlooked it.

Regards,
Franz

[teenix]

(07-21-2016 07:49 AM)fhub Wrote:  

(07-18-2016 10:08 AM)teenix Wrote:  It definitely helped to sort out the problems.

Ok Tony, here's the next problem to sort out:

I just saw that there's a new update today, and when testing it I saw that the date is completely wrong, it's 1 day and 10 years ahead
(showing 22-07-26 today instead of 21-07-16).

Then I've tried the previous version and this also had this bug already, I must have overlooked it.

Regards,
Franz

Me too

Fixed, new download available.

cheers

Tony

[fhub]

(07-21-2016 08:47 AM)teenix Wrote:  Fixed, new download available.

Yep, now the clock is back again in the present after the travel 10 years into the future.

Franz