1. General
Emu42 base on the sources of Emu48 and is an emulator for the Hewlett Packard High End Pioneer series HP17B, HP17BII, HP27S and HP42S and for the Clamshell calculators HP19BII and HP28S hardware. These calculators base on the 1LR2 Lewis chip.
2. Acknowledgements
I want to thank Raymond Del Tondo who convinced me to begin with a HP42S emulator and for his HP42S ROM entry point list. A big thank also to Cyrille de Brebisson for his technical assistance, without him the emulator would only be a "Proof of concept". Jean-Francois Garnier spend a lot of knowledge and material on the HP17BII and HP28S calculator. Warren Furlow's V41 emulator spend some basic parts of the HP42S User Code import/export handling. Also thanks to Sébastien Carlier for his Emu48 v1.0, without him this emulator would never have been created. A big thank to Erik Ehrling for his beta testing and his suggestions. And finally I want to thank all the unnamed authors for publishing material about these calculators.
3. ROM Images
You need ROM images. The ROM images are copyrighted by Hewlett Packard and I have no license to distribute them. Please don't ask me, I don't send you mine.
ROM images are valid in a packed (even address lower nibble, odd address higher nibble) or unpacked (one nibble per byte with even address first) form. They can be validated with the LEWISCRC.EXE command line utility. To do that, start a Command Prompt while running Windows, and type:
Lewiscrc <image-file>
where <image-file> is the ROM image you want to test. As result you will get a report of the CRC check.
4. Installation
To install Emu42, just unzip the emulator and the wanted emulator skins into an empty directory. Finally copy your ROM images into this directory and adjust the ROM image name to the name used in the corresponding KML script. When you first run Emu42, it will detect the directory in which you installed it, and will write the configuration to a file named Emu42.ini in your Windows directory.
5. How to Start
When Emu42 is installed and you have put the valid ROM image(s) into your Emu42 installation directory, you can start Emu42. You'll see a "Choose Your KML Script" box.
KML scripts in fact define the visual aspect of Emu42, the behavior of the buttons, of the keyboard, ... It's a GREAT way to customize your copy of Emu42.
Check that the path in the "Emu42 Directory" text area is correct. Modify it if the directory in which you installed Emu42 is not the directory displayed. Click the refresh button ("V") after modifying it to update the list box or use the ("...") button to start the directory browser.
Choose a KML script in the list box for your calculator ROM you put into Emu42's directory.
Available scripts from the author at the moment are:
- Christoph's Real HP17B
- Christoph's Real HP17BII
- Christoph's Real HP19BII
- Christoph's Real HP27S
- Christoph's Real HP28S
- Christoph's Real HP42S
And if you are interested in writing new scripts, get the KML 2.0 documentation from the authors Emu48 page.
Once you have selected a script, press OK to start the emulator. In most cases, when Emu42 crash after pressing the OK button, you are using an invalid ROM image. While it's running, you can use the View/Change KML Script... command to change the visual aspect of Emu42.
6. Command Line
The command line syntax is "Emu42 [file]". The parameter sets the filename for the emulation data independent from the "LastDocument" setting in the Emu42.ini file. The argument is optional.
7. Virtual Keyboard
There are two ways to use the virtual keyboard on the emulated calculator:
The easiest way to use the emulated calculator is using the mouse. The KML script define buttons with an area where mouse input is active. By default the mouse cursor change from an arrow to a hand cursor in these areas. Remember, this behavior can be disabled! The state of the virtual key follow the state of your left mouse button. When the mouse cursor leaves the virtual key area the virtual button automatically release. In some cases you need to press more than one key on the emulator. For these cases press the virtual key with the right mouse button. When you release the mouse button or leave the area of the virtual key, the key is still hold. To release all hold virtual buttons, just use the left mouse botton again. A single release of a hold virtual key isn't possible.
Another convenient way is using the PC keyboard. The KML script language support a large variety of commands to implement this feature. So keyboard usage depends on your used KML script and not on the emulator. Because of this it's impossible to say what's happen when you press a key on the PC keyboard. For further details read the KML 2.0 documentation mentioned before please.
8. File Menu
8.1 New...
Create a new emulation session. You're asked for a new KML script where you can select the calculator type and skin to emulate.
8.2 Open...
Open an existing emulation session. The emulation continues at the same position where the loaded session was aborted. Loading emulation sessions made with a different ROM revision may destroy the memory content or may cause other unpredictable results.
8.3 Save
Save the current running session with the actual name.
8.4 Save As...
Save the current running session with a new name. You're also get in this dialog when you Exit a new session without a state file name.
8.5 Close
Close the current session without closing the emulator.
8.6 Settings
This calls the Settings dialog. This dialog has three sections: General Disassembler and Sound.
8.6.1 General section
- Authentic Calculator Speed
When this option is checked, the emulation speed will be similar to the real calculator depending on the RATE control register content.
- Always On Top
When this option is checked, the emulator window will always be the topmost one.
- Activation Follows Mouse
This option enables a X-Mouse style windows activation. When the mouse is moved over the emulator window, the emulator is getting the focus and popping up into foreground.
- Automatically Save Files
When this option is checked, the current state file will automatically saved when you change to another state file, but not when you close the emulator program.
- Automatically Save Files On Exit
When this option is checked, the current state file will be saved automatically at the end when the emulator program is closed.
- Show Load Object Warning
When this option is checked, you'll get a warning message box when you try to load an object with the Load Object... menu command. If this option is unchecked, the warning will be skipped.
- Always Show KML Compilation Result
When this option is checked, you see the results of the KML (Keyboard Macro Language) interpreter at every KML script load.
8.6.2 Disassembler section
Choosing the assembler syntax:
- HP Mnemonics
This is the standard syntax used by HP.
- Class Mnemonics
Class (Clarke assembler) was written by Lutz Vieweg in 1991, at a time when HP had not published there own development tools. The syntax is very similar to the AG and STAR mnemonics used at this time. Especially published assembler programs written for the HP28S use the similar AG syntax.
8.6.3 Sound section
There are two possible ways of sound output, with the Speaker selection over the internal PC speaker, or with the Wave selection over a sound card and external speakers. The internal PC speaker hasn't a volume control, so the Volume slider is disabled in speaker mode.
8.7 Exit
Quit emulation. The default actions at finishing are defined in the Settings dialog. If the current session is "Untitled" you are ask for a session file name using the Save As... dialog. If you quit the emulator without a given filename, you're ask for choosing a KML script at next startup.
9. Edit Menu
9.1 Load Object...
This is only valid for the HP28S and the HP42S emulation.
- HP28S
You can load HP28S binary objects to stack level 1. Therefore the object must begin with "HPHP28-S". If the binary header isn't present, the object is loaded as string. Dropping HP objects over the emulator window will also load objects. Be sure that the emulator isn't busy before doing this.
- HP42S
You can load HP42S User Code programs directly into top of the calculator memory. The file must be in a special RAW file created by Save Object... in the HP42S emulation of Emu42 or by Put User Code... of Warren Furlow's V41 emulator. Please remember that the HP42S command set is only compatible to the HP41C and HP41CV non synthetic command set. Some of the HP41CX or plug in module commands are unknown in the HP42S. Non HP42S compatible file can't be edited with the internal editor, you'll get a "Machine Reset" when you try to modify the illegal commands. These RAW files have no special header, so it's very difficult to distinguish them from other files. Be sure that you only use RAW files containing HP41/42 user code programs else your calculator memory maybe get corrupted.
When you now load the User Code into memory be sure that the last program in memory has an END statement. If not, both programs will be merged. The easiest way to make an end statement is executing a GTO .. on the calculator.
9.2 Save Object...
This is only valid for the HP28S and the HP42S emulation.
- HP28S
Save the current object in stack level 1 as HP28S binary object to disk.
- HP42S
You get a selection box with all User Code programs located in memory. Global labels which aren't at the begin of a User Code program are not viewed. This avoids having code parts more than once in the export file. Select one or more of the programs to export. It's recommended to use the file extension RAW for the exported files on the PC. This is the default extension of the V41 emulator. Remember please, having more than one User Code program in an export file is a Emu42 extension, V41 supports only one User Code program in each RAW file.
When you want to import User Code programs made by Emu42 into V41 you have to think about, that the HP42S has an extended command set. Unknown commands on the HP41 will be displayed as XROM xx,yy where xx and yy are command specific numbers. Another thing is, that the HP42S has a zero byte after each number in his programs, the HP41 only between two numbers. Unnecessary zero bytes are removed by the normal packing cycle in the HP41 so you don't have to take care about it.
9.3 Copy Screen
Copy the screen content as bitmap to the clipboard.
9.4 Copy Stack
This is only valid for the HP28S and the HP42S emulation.
The decimal point (radix mark) of "Real Numbers" in the clipboard is equal to the calculator setting. This point maybe important when you try to paste the numbers into a program using the locale settings of the host operating system.
- HP28S
Copy a "Real Number" or "String" object in stack level 1 to the clipboard. On all other objects, the command will be ignored. This prevents sending binary objects to the clipboard.
- HP42S
Copy a "Real Number" object in the x-register to the clipboard. On all other objects, the command will be ignored. This prevents sending binary objects to the clipboard.
9.5 Paste Stack
This is only valid for the HP28S and the HP42S emulation.
To import "Real Numbers" from the clipboard, the decimal point (radix mark) of the clipboard and calculator must be equal. A real number is only detected in the case of valid real number characters in the clipboard. Especially heading and tailing white spaces aren't valid number characters also.
- HP28S
Paste the text field content of the clipboard to stack level 1 of the emulated calculator. If the clipboard content is representing a real number, the number will be saved as "Real Number" object, in all other cases as "String" object.
- HP42S
Paste the text field content of the clipboard to the x-register of the emulated calculator. The clipboard content must be a real number, all other contents will be ignored.
9.6 Reset Calculator
This emulates the Reset pin of the internal CPU.
9.7 Backup
9.7.1 Backup Save
This saves the current emulator status into a backup slot. If the backup slot already contain data, it will be overwritten.
9.7.2 Backup Restore
This restores a previous saved emulator status without request. If you changed the calculator model meanwhile, the emulator will switch back to the old model.
9.7.3 Backup Delete
This deletes the data in the backup slot.
10. View Menu
10.1 Change KML Script...
This allows you to change the skin of the current emulated calculator. In opposite to the New... command you see only scripts emulating the same calculator model.
11. Tools Menu
11.1 Disassembler...
This is a simple disassembler.
Enter the address to disassemble in hexadecimal into the "Address (HEX)" field and press <Return>. With the "Next Address" button the next opcode is disassembled. With the "Copy Data" button you can copy all selected lines inside the list box to the clipboard.
11.2 Debugger...
The assembler code debugger of the emulator. For more details refer to the extra documentation of the debugger please.
11.3 Macro
The keyboard macro recorder unit.
11.3.1 Macro Record...
Prompts a dialog to enter the macro file for the data to record. After accepting the confirm message, every key event is recorded into the macro file with it's time information.
11.3.2 Macro Play...
Prompts a dialog box to ask for the keyboard macro file to play. The replay starts immediately after selecting the file.
11.3.3 Macro Stop
Stops recording or replaying a keyboard macro file.
11.3.4 Macro Settings...
Settings for the Macro Replay mode
- Real
Replay macro with the original recording speed.
- Manual
Replay macro with the speed set by the speed slider.
12. Help Menu
12.1 Help Topics
Call this document.
12.2 About Emu42...
The version, copyright and license message...
13. DDE Server
Emu42 has an integrated DDE server to transmit data from and to the HP stack. Because only the HP28S has a stack, all DDE transfers are ignored on the other calculators. You have the same restrictions like with the commands "Load object..." and "Save Object...", that a running program may corrupt memory. In difference you can choose the stack level for the transfer in the DDE item field. Take care to transmit data only after the acknowledge of the last DDE transaction.
Technical data:
| Servicename: | Emu42 |
| Topicname: | Stack |
| Item: | 1 (stack level) |
| Clipboardformat: | "CF_HPOBJ" (user defined) |
The DDE commands CONNECT, POKE and REQUEST are supported.
The structure of the clipboard format "CF_HPOBJ":
| 4 Byte (length of object, LSB first) | HP object (normal HP object) |
14. License
Emu42 - A HP17B/17BII/19BII/27S/28S/42S Emulator
Copyright (C) 2009 Christoph Gießelink
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA