HP9100B Emulator

[teenix]

Hi all,

I have just uploaded a simulator for the HP9100B to http://www.teenix.org

Firstly, I would like give as many thanks as I can muster to Jurgen Keller who has given up some of his spare time and provided a huge amount of help in getting it working properly.

This project turned out to be much more complicated than I imagined, and I guess this release should be a beta version as once disturbed, I'm sure there will be bugs crawling out of its dusty old memory banks.

I tried to recreate it as close as possible to the real thing, but I don't have the actual algorithms used so the mathematics are done using Windows math. This obviously changes the results slightly but from what I can see only the last guard digit is affected, although compounded results will vary depending on the math involved.

As such, the 9100B Diagnostic program will fail in a few tests because of the SIN, ARC SIN, HYP SIN, ARC HYP SIN etc conversions throughout. However, you can use the CONT key to move on and it will work through the errors.

It is possible, as I have seen in the past, that some PC's may cringe when operating certain code snippets that I have written, but I will cross those bridges if the problems get passed on to me.

The magnetic card reader operates as described and has the original sound. Cards can be write protected if desired.

Also included with the calculator is the printer. It works as the original did and you can view, print and delete the paper roll if you like. The only sound I could find for the printer was buried behind a lot of background noise and is almost inaudible, so it prints like the adverts say - "quietly". If I get hold of some better effects I will add them in.

I have also created the HP9160A Marked Card Reader. You can load and save card stacks for this device and feed them into the calculator memory. There is also an editor where you can mark individual cards and save them to a file or populate a stack with data from other sources, ie text files. The reader is animated with original sounds.

Also included is the HP9125B Plotter and as far as I can tell from the operating manual, works as the original did. All the knobs can be turned, switches work etc. The plotter is also animated with original sounds, although a bit scratchy, and has the 4 pen colours and can put a simple grid pattern on the paper. The drawing speed can be varied slightly if desired.

The sound drivers in the PC have trouble dealing with many small sounds closely spaced, so if the plotter is only drawing small lines, it will do so in silence. I have included the plotter diagnostic program on marked cards, and when executed from the calculator, will get the plotter to draw the spoked wheel as shown in the operating manual.

There is also a code editor where you can import text files of this format...

+0.0 66 To Rect
etc
-d.d 46 end

You can import the files into memory, save as marked card files etc

There PDF help files for the calculator and peripherals.

Unfortunately, due to the size of the calculator and plotter, the minimum screen size to view it is 1280 x 720 or better.

The calculator has a few operating quirks, so it would be helpful to read the manuals before doing too much with it, especially when transferring data to memory.

cheers

Tony

[Harald]

Wow! More toys to play with!

[toml_12953]

(04-01-2017 09:46 AM)teenix Wrote:  Unfortunately, due to the size of the calculator and plotter, the minimum screen size to view it is 1280 x 720 or better.

Tony

The 9100B is amazing! I do wish it was bigger on my 4K display, though.

Thanks for this great piece of software.

Tom L

[Jurgen Keller]

Many thanks for this great simulator of a great machine!
I will try it next week, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun. With all the devices (plotter, printer, marked card and magnetic card reader) there are many things to play with. And the possibility to export programs as text files will allow for easy exchange of programs. I suggest that we should collect the programs into a library.
As my 9125 plotter is currently non-working, I will enjoy the virtual drawing all the more.

[teenix]

Hi all,

As expected a few bugs have surfaced.

New download available.

cheers

Tony

[teenix]

Hi all,

New 9100B simulator uploaded.

I have fixed a few bugs and also added the HP9101A Extended Memory.

I attached an image of the calculator after executing the subroutine example from the manual. It accesses subroutines from the 9101A memory and converts user entry to decimal degrees.

I kept the image of the 9101A small as there is not much need displaying a huge box on screen.

cheers

Tony

[bshoring]

Many thanks, Tony, for doing this. I had always hoped someone would do an emulator of the HP-9100 A or B. This is one machine I don't think I will ever own physically, so it is nice to be able to have this opportunity to get to know it.

[teenix]

(04-07-2017 06:22 AM)bshoring Wrote:  Many thanks, Tony, for doing this. I had always hoped someone would do an emulator of the HP-9100 A or B. This is one machine I don't think I will ever own physically, so it is nice to be able to have this opportunity to get to know it.

No problem

There are a few tricks to using it - have fun

I think there is another one at Source Forge for Linux.

cheers

Tony

[bshoring]

Tony,

Hate to ask for more, as you've made so many available to us, but is there any chance you'll create a HP-92 (Financial) simulation ?

[teenix]

(04-07-2017 07:58 PM)bshoring Wrote:  Tony,

Hate to ask for more, as you've made so many available to us, but is there any chance you'll create a HP-92 (Financial) simulation ?

I looked into the 92 before doing the 9100B. That model is a complicated task as I'm not sure how some of the functions work. If I had the microcode I could do it, but I am unlikely to get it.

I will study it a bit more and see what happens.

cheers

Tony

[bshoring]

[/quote]

I looked into the 92 before doing the 9100B. That model is a complicated task as I'm not sure how some of the functions work. If I had the microcode I could do it, but I am unlikely to get it.

I will study it a bit more and see what happens.

cheers

Tony
[/quote]

Thanks Tony!