Installing latest 49g+/50g (emulator) ROM on a 49G
in [HP48]
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From: James M. Prange on 18 Dec 2006 12:21 Veli-Pekka Nousiainen wrote: > "James M. Prange" <jmprange(a)i-is.com> wrote in message > news:8495b$45833e29$4267ea90$4917(a)123.NET... > X >> pressed" menu. Press 4 (Terminal Mode) on the 49G, and then press >> any key on the emulator. The emulator should now be at "Xmodem >> Server Waiting for command" and the 49G at the "Download" menu. On >> the 49G, press 1 (Download System) to commence the download; the >> emulator should display "Xmodem Server" with various messages > X > After 4 Terminal mode I only get a blank screen > whether the (right type of) cable is plugged or not Same here; when you get that blank screen, click on a key (I normally use SPC for "any key") on the emulator; that should get you to the Download menu on the emulator. Other than that, I've seen some strange communication problems from a loose DB9 connection; apparently okay from the calculator to the PC, but not from the PC to the calculator. -- Regards, James
From: James M. Prange on 18 Dec 2006 12:51 Hello Heiko, Heiko Arnemann wrote: > Hello James, > thanks a lot for your detailed information and instructions, how to > update HP 49G to ROM 2.09 > news:8495b$45833e29$4267ea90$4917(a)123.NET... > > I made the ROM-update just after the post from Andreas Moeller > news:1156233631.510946.151880(a)74g2000cwt.googlegroups.com... > in August this year. Your link doesn't work for me, but I expect that you mean this post: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.hp48/browse_frm/thread/b20c66cdf6c2a524/b5e2ed54f9f9ea44? For other newsreaders, it may be possible to find Andreas's post by a search for this header: Message-ID: <1156233631.510946.151880(a)74g2000cwt.googlegroups.com> Yes, that's when I first upgraded my 49G to 2.09 too. I mentioned that it was possible in the Museum of HP Calculators forum, and when a question was asked I went into detail, and then it was suggested that I post the information to this newsgroup, so I started this new thread on the subject. I'm hoping that many who have a 49G will give it a try; if it doesn't work out, it's always possible to revert to an earlier ROM revision. > It is maybe requirred to call the PINIT command ones and loose some > files in the flash? I canot remember well, but it was nothing dramatic I didn't lose anything from the user flash banks or have to execute PINIT after the upgrade. Thomas Rast's pfree program shows me that I still have various objects (and objects marked as "deleted") in banks 8 through F after upgrading to 2.09, with no CRC errors. For pfree (Port Browser), see: http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=5439 Has anyone who's tried 2.09 on a 49G experienced such problems? > and > for me it was required to re-load the new EQ-library (mentioned in your > post). Quite so. With some of the previous ROMs (I don't recall exactly which ones) the equation library was built-in; in revisions 2.08 and 2.09, if you want it, then you have to install it as external libraries. > The ROM's have obviously been updated, taking care for the HP 49G, Well, at least we have an "unofficial" 2.09 ROM that seems to work just as well on the 49G as it does on the 49g+, except of course being slower. Why not "officially" support it? Okay, I suppose that there could be concern that some wouldn't purchase a current model if the 49G works well enough, but I really don't think that it would cut into their sales very much, and I expect that it would result in some customer goodwill and restore some confidence in HP calculators. > and I can understand HP, giving not an official release of the ROM for > HP 49G because of missing documentation for some bugfixes and missing > effort > to test it. For the missing user documentation, why not combine the on-line documentation for the entire 49 series (49G, 48gII, 49g+, and 50g)? The AUR for the 48gII and 49g+ is already combined; it seems to me that adding the 49G (using the same ROM revision as the 49g+) and 50g wouldn't require all that much extra effort. Including information on the differences between the models shouldn't be that difficult. My guess is that they could get trusted members of the user community to do it for free. Maybe they could make the 49 series documentation some sort of "Wiki" project? Of course documentation of the added Saturn+ instructions for the ARM-based models would be a separate project. For what's available so far, see: http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=6259 As for the effort to test it, it seems to me that the 49g+/50g ROM is basically a 49G ROM, with some added hardware dependent code (such as for external I/O, SD card, display size, and keyboard) and some replacements of hardware Saturn code by faster Saturn+ code. If it's been verified that the hardware dependencies are implemented correctly, and that those code replacements actually do accomplish the same thing, then won't testing in one model effectively test the other model? Other than that, how thoroughly has any 49 series ROM been tested before it's been released? I expect that the developers do make a real effort to test any changes that they make, but it seems to me that much of the testing has been by the user community. But yes, I do understand your points; those are the sort of things that I meant by "corporate red tape". > Up to now, I did not found any negative impact to my HP 49G due to ROM > update > to 2.09. I would say, it is the best ROM, available for the HP 49G. Agreed, and certainly much better than 1.18, the last official ROM revision for the 49G. -- Regards, James
From: James M. Prange on 18 Dec 2006 13:24 Veli-Pekka Nousiainen wrote: > "Heiko Arnemann" <Heiko.Arnemann(a)gmx.de> wrote in message > news:458443dc$0$1120$ba620e4c(a)news.skynet.be... <snip> >> Up to now, I did not found any negative impact to my HP 49G due to ROM >> update >> to 2.09. I would say, it is the best ROM, available for the HP 49G. > > Is it? > You can use the same ROMUPLOAD from Emulator procedure > and Parisse's ROM where there is the Spreadsheet extension, too > > It is! > Because > there exists a better library, which handles columns up to ZZ > and it also includes a nice stack handling super-command It occurs to me that it may be better to implement some "extras" as external libraries instead of including them in a ROM file. -- Regards, James
From: James M. Prange on 18 Dec 2006 14:50 John H Meyers wrote: > On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 18:30:25 -0600, James M. Prange wrote: > >> a calculator that it apparently wasn't intended to be used on > > It looks to me as though compatibility was thought of throughout > the entire development It's always been a strong point with the RPL models that each new ROM usually works with programs developed for a previous ROMs, provided that the program uses only supported entry points. What I find remarkable is that a ROM developed for ARM-based models works just fine with an older hardware Saturn model. > (which included development on an emulator), > which may be why it is in fact compatible still, > both with emulator and the real thing that is emulated, I think that that would indeed explain a lot. It would make sense to use an emulator during development, and since it's the hardware Saturn that being emulated, that would mean using "pure hardware Saturn" code during development. And there's a lot to be said for developing just one ROM for all current models, with some conditional code depending on the hardware detected (I'm assuming that the new ROM is used in new production of the 48gII, and perhaps planned for possible future models). Presumably, it's easy enough to leave code needed for the 49G in place. So at that point, the ROM would be suitable for running on the emulator for any 49 series, and therefore for transfer to a real 49G. So what's left? Add whatever is needed to make it load and run on a real ARM-based model, and where it's known that hardware Saturn code can be replaced by faster Saturn+ code, make those replacements. > and continues to work with Prof. Parisse's > recently mentioned "capes" project, > containing even more recently modified components. "Capes"? I haven't been following the CAS, although certain changes to its behaviour would be very welcome. But I see that he has more recent 49 series ROMs at his site; maybe I'll give it a try. For anyone interested, see: http://www-fourier.ujf-grenoble.fr/~parisse/ (If you prefer, click on "English version" at upper left corner.) <snip> -- Regards, James
From: Veli-Pekka Nousiainen on 18 Dec 2006 17:06
"James M. Prange" <jmprange(a)i-is.com> wrote in message news:c244e$4586dd05$4267ebc2$30790(a)123.NET... > Veli-Pekka Nousiainen wrote: > >> "Heiko Arnemann" <Heiko.Arnemann(a)gmx.de> wrote in message >> news:458443dc$0$1120$ba620e4c(a)news.skynet.be... X > It occurs to me that it may be better to implement some "extras" > as external libraries instead of including them in a ROM file. X I agree, but not all users ever learn about the libraries and if the spreadsheet is already there one can use it in advertizing, too! :-D |