18 Feb
2008
18 Feb
'08
6:40 a.m.
The bootstrap listings and manuals are all documented,
have a look at the
manual numbered 12992-90001 (HP 12992 Loader ROMs).
I don't have any other peripherals tested out yet.
Not sure why my real
paper
tape reader is not working yet. My paper tape punch is
a long ways from
working and it's not HP equipment anyway.
I've got tape images that work in SIMH like the HP-Basic. Just want to see
these work on real hardware by loading them over a serial line.
It would seem useful to be able to bootstrap any given
tape over serial. I
know it's only 2400 baud, but just about every HP collector should have
the
needed hardware. :)
I have a BOOT ROM that will work with a High Speed serial card. I'm not sure
the ROM was specifically written for that card but, it does work. I just
make a serial link to a PC and send the ABS image over the link.
Hmmmm... I think the ROM I use is the 12992C mini-cartridge tape loader.
The boot rom expects the image to be in HEX-ASCII format so, you'll have to
convert the ABS from binary to ASCII before sending it over the link. I
wrote a small Perl script to handle this. It works great!
I believe my HS card is configured for 1200 baud. At that speed it takes a
few seconds to upload a large image but, it's not that bad. IIRC < 1 minute
to upload HP BASIC.
Good luck,
SteveRob
steerex [at] ccvn [dot] com