J.A.Jones@lut.ac.uk (Jeff Jones) (05/21/91)
Hi We have a number of Hewlett-Packard instruments, many of which have built in floppy disks for the storage of measurement data. It would be very useful to be able to read these disks on a PC. The various manuals say that the disks are readable on HP9000/200 and HP9000/300 under BASIC 3.0 and 4.0 but they do not give us the disk format. All the manuals give the stored file format but this is not useful if you can't read the disks !. We have no access to an HP9000 computer within our institute and hence would like to use a PC compatible to read these 3.5 inch disks. Does any body know of any utilities, PD or commercial, that will allow this ? alternativly if someone knows the disk format, or a reference to it, we could have a go at writing such a routine ourselves. Thanks for your assistance in advance. Jeff ================================================================================ = Jeff Jones = IERI = International Electronics Reliability Institute = = = Dept of Electrical and Electronic Engineering = = = Loughborough University of Technology = = = Loughborough, Leics. LE11 3TU, UK = = = Telephone - +44-509-263171 ext 4196 = = = Fax - +44-509-222854 = = = Email - J.A.Jones@lut.ac.uk = ================================================================================
harper@convex.com (David Harper) (05/22/91)
In article <1991May21.090824.12630@lut.ac.uk> J.A.Jones@lut.ac.uk (Jeff Jones) writes: >Hi > >We have a number of Hewlett-Packard instruments, many of which have >built in floppy disks for the storage of measurement data. It would be >very useful to be able to read these disks on a PC. There is a company called Oswego Software (or something like that) that markets a utility that runs on a DOS machine and reads floppys generated by an HP instrument. I would have liked to have used it, but at $495 a copy I found an alternative solution. You might check with your local HP rep - they were the ones that put me on to this outfit. Dave Harper - Convex Computer Corp. E-mail address: 3000 Waterview Pky. Richardson, TX 75081 harper@convex.COM (214) 497-4525 (W) (214) 727-4206 (H)
kelley@vet.vet.purdue.edu (Stephen Kelley) (05/22/91)
In article <1991May21.090824.12630@lut.ac.uk> J.A.Jones@lut.ac.uk (Jeff Jones) writes: >Hi > >We have a number of Hewlett-Packard instruments, many of which have >built in floppy disks for the storage of measurement data. It would be >very useful to be able to read these disks on a PC. I use ANADISK, found on simtel20 and wuarchive in the msdos/dskutil directories. It is a little clunky to use, but for a $25 shareware fee, it provides huge bang for the buck, and has worked extremely well for us. It doesn't completely convert the disk, but it does cope with non-PC sectoring and generates a file image of the floppy (with an optional embedded sector map), which you then can manipulate however necessary. Steve Kelley kelley@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu Cancer Center Cytometry Laboratories Purdue University
everett@hpcvra.cv.hp.com. (Everett Kaser) (05/22/91)
J.A.Jones@lut.ac.uk (Jeff Jones) writes... >We have a number of Hewlett-Packard instruments, many of which have >built in floppy disks for the storage of measurement data. It would be >very useful to be able to read these disks on a PC. The various manuals > Jeff The format of the disks is something that was designed by HP in the late '70s and is called LIF, short for Logical Interchange Format. It is a flat file system, consisting basically of a two sectors (I believe) "header", mostly containing just a volume label, directory size, and a couple of other things. Then comes the directory, which contains name, size, and location of start of file on disk information (amongst other things). The directory is then followed by the data sectors, with all sectors of a file contiguous, making the files non-extendable. There are many different file formats of course. HP sells a utility (called something like "The LIF-MSDOS Utilities" or some such, that will allow you to read/write LIF disks on a DOS computer, translating various LIF file formats to DOS files. I don't know a part number, but an HP sales rep could probably track it down for you. Everett Kaser Hewlett-Packard Company ...hplabs!hp-pcd!everett work: (503) 750-3569 Corvallis, Oregon everett%hpcvra@hplabs.hp.com home: (503) 928-5259 Albany, Oregon
wehr@fmsrl7.UUCP (Bruce Wehr ) (05/23/91)
harper@convex.com (David Harper) writes: > There is a company called Oswego Software We use Oswego's software. Contact them at: Oswego Software 155 West Washington Street P.O. Box 310 Oswego, IL 60543 (708) 554-3567 (708) 554-3573 FAX -- Bruce Wehr (wehr%dptc.decnet@srlvx0.srl.ford.com) (..!uunet!srlvx0.srl.ford.com!wehr%dptc.decnet) Ford Motor Company - Engineering Technology Services P.O. Box 2053, Room 1153, Dearborn, Michigan 48121-2053 (313)337-5304