Learn how to connect your HP48 to your PC

Reading the HP48 News Groups comp.sys.hp48,   comp.sources.hp48,   comp.sys.hp48,   comp.sys.hp48.d,  (not all NGs are available in all areas)  I find that a lot of "newbies" and pro's have trouble downloading their ROM to a PC.   I had trouble when I first started.  Not that I am a PRO now, but I am familiar with both the SX and the GX.  I am not a PRO at Operating Systems either but I can get around.   The point that I'm trying to make is that I know a way of downloading your HP48's ROM to your Computer.  There might be other ways but this one works just fine.

To start off, I am assuming that you have an HP48, you have access to a computer, you are running Windows 95, you have a serial cable to connect your HP to your PC and that you have already downloaded an emulator with a 'ROMDump' utility in it. (WinNT and Win3.1 users: You should be able to follow these instructions -- Just use your noodle)

If you need an emulator with a ROMDump utility, you can download this one that contains all the files you will need or go directly to Emu48's official home page.   Emu48 is a freeware HP48 emulator for Windows 95 and Windows NT

Once you download these files, extract them to find the ROMDump utility

PART I

First, your HyperTerminal

• Start HyperTerminal
• A pop-up window should come up asking for a new connection
• Create a new connection; Call it anything you want (like hp48sx/gx) and assign it an icon.
• Select OK

• Don't worry about the "Country code", "Area code" or "Phone no."
• The last drop-down window select "Direct to COM1" or whatever COM port you have your HP hooked up to.
• Select OK

• Bits per second 9600
• Data bits  8
• Parity   None
• Stop bits  1
• Flow control  Xon / Xoff

• Select OK

Next,

• Press Alt+F+R  (File, Properties) this brings up your "Properties" window.

• Under "Function, arrow, and ctrl keys act as": Terminal keys
• Under "Backspace key sends": Ctrl+H (if available)
• Under "Emulation", select: Auto detect
• Selecting Autodetect will set "Telnet terminal" to "ANSI" if not, type in "ANSI" for Telnet terminal (if available)
• "Backscroll buffer lines" should be set to 500
• Check "Beep three times when connecting or disconnecting"

• Do not select "Send line ends with line feeds"
• Check "Echo typed characters locally"
• "Line delay"= 0 ms
• "Character delay"= 0ms
• Do not check "Append line feeds to incoming line ends"
• Do not check "Force incoming data to 7-bit ASCII"
• Check "Wrap lines that exceed terminal width"
• Press OK, OK, to finish the settings

Now, we need to save our session in case something goes wrong and we have to start the terminal again.  All your settings will be saved this way.

• Press Alt+F+S  (File, Save)

PART II

We now need to set your calculators settings

• Change to the directory where the object are to be stored (i.e. HOME)

For the S/SX and G/GX:

• Press "left-shift" I/O
• From the menu, select "Setup" for the S/SX or "IOPAR" for the G/GX
•  IR/wire: select wire
•  ASCII/binary: select ASCII
•  baud:  select 9600
•  parity:  select none 0
•  checksum type: select 3
•  translate code: select 1
• S/SX only: When done, press "ENTER"
• S/SX only: press "left-shift" I/O again
• S/SX only: press "SERVE" to go to a server mode.  
• On the G/GX press"NXT", "I/O", "SRVR", "SERVE".

PART III

On your PC, make sure the HyperTerminal is still connected or online

• Alt+C+C will do the trick.

From the terminal's menu, under "Transfer" select "Send File".
We need to find the file called "ROMDump" on your hard drive. (NOTE: You should have already extracted this file from the "Emu48-1_0-bin.zip". You can download this file from my site or go directly to Emu48's official home page). Select "Browse" from the pop-up window and look for this file in your hard drive.  When found, double click on it.  This brings you back to the "Send File" window
NOTE: This file has no extension. It is just called "ROMDump"

• Under Protocol, select "Kermit"
• Hit the send button. ...and away she goes.

In the event that nothing happened, then something went (the obvious) wrong with the settings.  Review all settings and check your physical connections.  You cannot proceed beyond this point until you have successfully upload this file to your HP.

Once you have uploaded this file, press the "On" button on your calculator. Now, we need to ensure your calculator is in Hexadecimal base mode. To do this, press "MTH", "BASE", "HEX" and then return to your Variable directory mode by pressing "VAR".
Type in the following:

For the S/SX

 #0h (ENTER)
 #7FFF0h (ENTER)

For the G/GX

 #0h (ENTER)
 #FFFF0h (ENTER)

Note: The "0" above stand for zero and pay special attention to the CAP letters

At this point, we need to set HyperTerminal to receive data.

• From your menu, select "Transfer", "Capture text".
• Under "File", type in something like "raw.rom" and note the location you are saving this file to (by default C:\Program Files\Accessories\HyperTerminal\raw.rom). You can press "Browse" to change the location where you would like to save this file.
• Press "Start"

At first, nothing will happen but as soon as you press "ROMDUMP" from the menu on your calculator, you will see on your computer a list of addresses that looks like this: "00EF0:000000A9F0031000"
It is very important that you do not interfere with the download process. It can corrupt the actual ROM from your calculator or the file you're downloading. Shut off your screen saver before you begin to download and close all programs.
This will take about 15 minutes on the S/SX, 30 minutes on the G/GX.
When done, press "STOP" from the Transfer / Capture menu and send me $5.00 for helping you out.  ...just kidding.
 
 

PART IV

So you have a copy of your ROM in your computer... What next?

You should have a file about 1,573,862 bytes for the SX and 1,572,864 bytes for the GX. Emu48 by Sebastien Carlier, requires that you convert your ROM using the "Convert.exe" utility found in the "Emu48-1_0-bin.zip" file (the same archive that contains the ROMDump utility).

For simplicity purposes, let's call the file you extracted from your calculator "raw.rom". Move "raw.rom" to the same folder that contains the "Convert.exe" file.
Start DOS (Oh-oh, did I say DOS? ...yes, DOS!) and navigate your way to that same folder. Type in

"convert.exe raw.rom rom.48s"  for the S/SX

"convert.exe raw.rom rom.48g"  for the G/GX

We are now done with the hard stuff!
Now, Make sure this file is in the same directory as your emulator and start the emulator. Select the KLM script you prefer. Obviously, if you have a G model, select a G KLM script version ("Casey's Sx/Gx with Toolbar and Touch Screen" are my favorite from the default selection). A second window will pop-up, read the info, DESELECT "Always" from the bottom left to avoid this window in the future. When the emulator finally starts, it will ask you if you want to recover your memory. Select "NO" since it is the first time you run this program. I suggest you save this session as soon as possible so that you have a memory to recover in case things go wrong.

...and that is all there is to it.

Part V

Don't have any yet

However, I must mention, the procedure above is for Win95 only. For Windows 3.1 or NT users, most of it applies except when I refer to the HyperTerminal setup procedure. E mail me with your questions regarding download procedures for these operating systems. Do not email me for Emu48 questions.

Thank you for keeping track.

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