joshua@csustan.csustan.edu (10/28/90)
Geeezus! I just had the scare of my life! I'd downloaded a binary object into my rev E. HP 48SX, and it was meant for an 'A' machine. (I.e. it loaded into a string, and "HPHP48-A..." started out the string -- it seems that the calc will only recognize binary progs saved from the save rev of calculator -- Why is this?) Anyway, I decided to try putting one of the objects (That looked like { External External... } onto the command line. My machine's screen went blank, and would beep each time I pressed a key. Even the "grand reset" of ON-A-F wouldn't do anything. Fine, I think. I'll just cut off it's juice, and get things back to normal. I replaced the batteries with new ones, and NOTHING happened. Now it wouldn't beep, it wouldn't turn on. No Self Tests worked. This, according to the manual, means it needs service. Fine, I thought. I'll let it REALLY drain, and see where I'm at. I let this sucker sit here for a good 5 or 10 minutes with no batteries (pressing ON a time or two for good measure), and then replaced the original batteries (I've only had it two weeks -- they should still be good). It STILL wouldn't turn on! Just as I was getting ready to pack it up to send it off, I remembered the mysterious hidden button under the foot, that noone is sure of. I went ahead and tried it. My machine is now back to working order, and I owe it to all of you on c.s.h! Man, do I feel better now. Interestingly enough, even after having sat here for a good period of time with no juice, the calculator still recovered about half of what had been in it. Probably not enought that it'd be dependable, but pretty neat just the same. Perhaps rechargables would be workable in it? Three things: o I think it's REALLY neat of HP to put feet on this baby that don't require adhesive. "The wave of the future," indeed. Right down to space-age rubber feet. o Anybody know the format of HP48 binary files? It seems to stick "HPHP48-x" (where x is the version # of the calc), plus 4 or 5 bytes at the start, and then perhaps some bytes at the end. Is there any possibility of writing a conversion program? Or perhaps something really did change enough between revisions so that the binary files would be invalid? o [On an unrelated note:] Anybody get Tetris for the 48 converted to assembler yet? The RPL version is very impressive looking, and it's fun to play while on the phone with unwanted callers :-), but it just screams "ultimate potential." Not that I bought my 48 to use as a Gameboy replacement -- it's just neat what can be done (and FUN too!) -- Joshua
hp48sx@wuarchive.wustl.edu (HP48SX Archive Maintainer) (10/28/90)
There is probably a problem with the binary file you have got. If you have a program on your computer that will make a hex-dump of your file, then try to run it and look for any hex-numbers containing the digits 8 or 9 or the letters ABCDE or F If you do not find any of theese, a<nd there should be some of them all over the program, then it means that you have downloaded the file in 7 bit ASCII mode somewhere it the transfer. So you have spoiled the program and must obtain a new copy. I have recently transfered files to/from a version A machine, and mine is a version D. There was no problems, and we used binary mode to speed up the transfer a bit. Povl -- ******************************************************* Povl H. Pedersen hp48sx@wuarchive.wustl.edu HP48sx archive maintainer
prestonb@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM (Preston Brown) (10/30/90)
> Or perhaps > something really did change enough between revisions so that the > binary files would be invalid? There should be no problems with binarys between revisions. Be sure you have kermit set to binary mode on the sender. You must do a "set file type binary" command on a PC to send binarys. The binary flag on the 48 only affects transmission. Preston
akcs.azz710@hpcvbbs.UUCP (Jeffrey R. Broido) (11/01/90)
This reply is addressed to Preston Brown, and refers to his reply. MS-KERMIT does NOT have a file type switch, so SET FILE TYPE BINARY is not a legal command. I suppose I shouldn't make that such a flat statement as I've only used MS-KERMIT through V2.32 (the one you supply) and haven't seen V3 yet. I will tell you I've used many old versions, and there's no file type in any of those, either. On the other hand, C-KERMIT, the one you supplied for my beloved IPC, does have this switch. It uses text mode for the same reason that the HP48 uses it: conversion of text files to/from a unique format. Binary mode in C-KERMIT is simply a verbatim mode (absolutely no conversion); this is not quite the same with binary mode on the HP48.