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How to Ask A Question About The HP48 Plug In Cards ?
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TranslucentAmoebae
Jan 3, 2012, 5:14:33 PM1/3/12
to
i have been agonizing over something for several years now,
And the apparent solution just came to me the other day,
And it is so simple that it made physically ill !!!
i have several kilobytes of programming on my HP48gx and i would very
much like to save it all to paper or some kind of digital form that i
can examine, edit & document on my Macbook,
But the Connection links are Obsolete !
Then i thought;
If i could find a device that reads the data on the plug in cards,
Voila !
The problem is: How common ( do they exist at all ) are these Card
Readers ?
And how would i phrase the question to local computer shops
so that my request makes the most sense to them ?
eh?
Thanx!
And the apparent solution just came to me the other day,
And it is so simple that it made physically ill !!!
i have several kilobytes of programming on my HP48gx and i would very
much like to save it all to paper or some kind of digital form that i
can examine, edit & document on my Macbook,
But the Connection links are Obsolete !
Then i thought;
If i could find a device that reads the data on the plug in cards,
Voila !
The problem is: How common ( do they exist at all ) are these Card
Readers ?
And how would i phrase the question to local computer shops
so that my request makes the most sense to them ?
eh?
Thanx!
Bruce Horrocks
Jan 3, 2012, 6:30:38 PM1/3/12
to
On 03/01/2012 22:14, TranslucentAmoebae wrote:
> i have been agonizing over something for several years now,
> And the apparent solution just came to me the other day,
> And it is so simple that it made physically ill !!!
>
> i have several kilobytes of programming on my HP48gx and i would very
> much like to save it all to paper or some kind of digital form that i
> can examine, edit& document on my Macbook,
> i have been agonizing over something for several years now,
> And the apparent solution just came to me the other day,
> And it is so simple that it made physically ill !!!
>
> i have several kilobytes of programming on my HP48gx and i would very
> much like to save it all to paper or some kind of digital form that i
> But the Connection links are Obsolete !
>
> Then i thought;
> If i could find a device that reads the data on the plug in cards,
> Voila !
> The problem is: How common ( do they exist at all ) are these Card
> Readers ?
> And how would i phrase the question to local computer shops
> so that my request makes the most sense to them ?
>
> eh?
>
> Thanx!
The HP48 data cards are of a 'unique' design that is not supported by
>
> Then i thought;
> If i could find a device that reads the data on the plug in cards,
> Voila !
> The problem is: How common ( do they exist at all ) are these Card
> Readers ?
> And how would i phrase the question to local computer shops
> so that my request makes the most sense to them ?
>
> eh?
>
> Thanx!
anything modern. There are no card readers for them.
A way to get the data from the 48 to the Mac would be to run a DOS
emulator on the Mac and then use Kermit to transfer the data from the 48
via a USB<->Serial converter cable.
Resources (assuming you have an Intel Mac):
1) DOS emulator:
Use FreeDOS (http://www.freedos.org/) installed under a Virtual Machine
such as VMware Fusion (commercial software) or VirtualBox (freeware)
(https://www.virtualbox.org/)
2) Kermit for MS-DOS (http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/mskermit.html)
Some more useful info here: (http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/hp48.html)
3) USB<->Serial converters
(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=usb+serial&x=0&y=0)
4) Viewing/editing files
When you set up MS-DOS, the C: drive will be mapped to a folder on your
Mac and you can edit the files as text files using TextEdit or, better,
TextWrangler (http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/). Better
because it understands MS-DOS text file line endings and character set
meaning that you could edit the files (provided they are saved as type
3) and send back to the 48 if you so wished.
PS: You don't have to use FreeDOS - Windows 98/XP will do fine if you
happen to have a copy. In which case, the Windows utilities that came
with the 48 will work instead of Kermit.
--
Bruce Horrocks
Surrey
England
(bruce at scorecrow dot com)
Han
Jan 3, 2012, 6:35:06 PM1/3/12
to
If you have any skills in electronics, you could just buy a broken
HP48GX and rip out the card reader, and build your own device. You
probably could just use the solder pads on the PCB onto which the card
reader is connected, and build your own device that way.
HP48GX and rip out the card reader, and build your own device. You
probably could just use the solder pads on the PCB onto which the card
reader is connected, and build your own device that way.
Eric Rechlin
Jan 3, 2012, 6:40:50 PM1/3/12
to
"TranslucentAmoebae" <thetranslu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> i have several kilobytes of programming on my HP48gx and i would very
> much like to save it all to paper or some kind of digital form that i
> can examine, edit & document on my Macbook,
> But the Connection links are Obsolete !
I assume you have an old serial cable for your HP 48. If so, just get a USB
> i have several kilobytes of programming on my HP48gx and i would very
> much like to save it all to paper or some kind of digital form that i
> can examine, edit & document on my Macbook,
> But the Connection links are Obsolete !
to serial adapter, run a terminal emulator that supports Kermit on your
computer, and transfer the data that way. It's far easier than any of the
other approaches mentioned.
Eric
Bruce Horrocks
Jan 4, 2012, 7:43:46 AM1/4/12
to
character translations that are going one (or rather not going on) when
going direct from 48 to a modern Mac. Hence the suggestion to install
MS-DOS (or XP) so that the software provided with the 48 at the time can
be used.
It's Translucent Amoeba's choice!
Bruce Horrocks
Jan 5, 2012, 7:52:38 AM1/5/12
to
On 03/01/2012 23:40, Eric Rechlin wrote:
emailed me with this link to a Datafile article that he wrote on exactly
this topic.
<http://www.hpcc.org/datafile/V26N6/HP48_Mac_Communications_v2.doc>
[1] Senile because I am the editor so really ought to have remembered
publishing it. :-)
James Cloos
Jan 6, 2012, 1:56:07 AM1/6/12
to
>>>>> "BH" == Bruce Horrocks <07....@scorecrow.com> writes:
BH> A way to get the data from the 48 to the Mac would be to run a DOS
BH> emulator on the Mac and then use Kermit to transfer the data from the
BH> 48 via a USB<->Serial converter cable.
Ckermit ought to compile and run on OSX.
-JimC
--
James Cloos <cl...@jhcloos.com> OpenPGP: 1024D/ED7DAEA6
BH> A way to get the data from the 48 to the Mac would be to run a DOS
BH> emulator on the Mac and then use Kermit to transfer the data from the
BH> 48 via a USB<->Serial converter cable.
Ckermit ought to compile and run on OSX.
-JimC
--
James Cloos <cl...@jhcloos.com> OpenPGP: 1024D/ED7DAEA6
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