☰ pyILPER

Drive Tab

Description

This virtual device emulates either an HP82161A cassette drive, an HP9114B disk drive, or a virtual HDRIVE1 device to access files on a LIF image file.

The directory listing of the current LIF image file is displayed on the tab. The listing is updated if the drive has been idle for 3 seconds. The column headers can be checked to get a sorted list of the directory.

The virtual devices have the following HP-IL configuration:

Device TypeAccessory IDDefault AddressDevice IDStandard Capacity
HP82161A0x100x02 131.072 Bytes
HP9114B0x100x02HP9114B630.784 Bytes
HDRIVE10x100x02HDRIVE1655.360 Bytes

If a nonexistent file is mounted to the virtual drive, it must be initialized by the HP-IL controller first. The resulting LIF image file is initialized with the standard capacity of the current device type

In most cases you should apply the HDRIVE1 drive type. Apply the HP9114B drive type if you use software that requires compatibility with that device. Use the HP82161A drive type if the controller is an HP-41.

Note: the HP-41 can only access the first 130K bytes of larger disk media.

Note: pyILPER requires a valid LIF header when mounting existing LIF image files including:

  • The LIF identifier 0x800 at offset 0
  • The media size information (number of tracks per surface, number of surfaces, number of blocks per track) starting at offset 24

If you mount a LIF image file with incorrect header information you get a warning and the default medium size of the current drive type is used. In this case you have to select the proper drive type. Otherwise the image file may become corrupted.

If a LIF image medium is initialized by an HP-41 module or an HP-71B with an early HP-IL module, the virtual drive of pyILPER will fix the header information.

Warning:Be extremely careful with PRINTER IS, DISPLAY IS, and KEYBOARD IS commands in relation to the current loop configuration. See the caveat below.

Device Controls

The drive tab has the following controls:

  • LIF image file Change button: mount a disk file that contains the image of a LIF file. If a nonexistent file was specified, the medium must be initialized by the controller. Note: the file is only opened by pyILPER during HP-IL read or write operations.
  • Drive type combo box: Choose the proper drive type that shall be emulated (see above). The LIF image file must be reopened after the drive type was changed.
  • Device enabled: If checked, the virtual HP-IL drive is available and can be used as an HP-IL device. The HP-IL loop must always be reconfigured after activation or deactivation.<(li>

Tab configuration menu

  • Font size: Set the font size of the directory listing. If Default is selected, the setting of the pyILPER configuration is used.
  • Character set: select the character set that is emulated. See the documentation of the Terminal Tab.

File Management Functions

If pyILPER detects a compatible version of the LIFUTILS (at least Version 2.0.0 is required) at launch, the drive tab enables the following buttons:

  • Pack the mounted LIF image file (very fast!)
  • Import a file from the local file system into the mounted LIF image file
  • Label the mounted LIF image file
  • Directory Listing outputs the directory listing to a PDF file

File context menu (right mouse button click on selected file in the directory listing):

  • Purge the selected file
  • Rename the selected file
  • Export the selected file to the local file system
  • View the contents or summary information of the selected file. Note: this entry is only available for certain file types. To view text files, the proper character set must be configured in the configuration menu.
  • Barcode output for HP-41 program and SDATA files to a PDF file.

To avoid data corruption, the virtual drive must be deactivated (Device enabled check box unchecked) in order to use the file management functions.

The LIF image file management functions only support file names that contain letters and digits. Unfortunately, the HP-41 IL-Module is less strict, and file names may contain other characters. You can rename these files to proper LIF file names.

To use the LIF image file management functions, it is recommended that you know the basics about LIF image files, LIF files, and the LIFUTILS. Reading the LIFUTILS tutorial is a good starting point.

Caveat

Before adding or (reenabling) a virtual drive, be sure to reset any DISPLAY IS, PRINTER IS or KEYBOARD IS assignments before issuing a RESTORE IO to assign a new address to the new virtual drive. In the worst-case scenario, the virtual drive might become the current display, printer, or keyboard device, which can result in data corruption.

If you notice any strange things, e.g. the calculator beeps and displays mixed-up characters, shut down pyILPER immediately! Then reset all device assignments and start pyILPER again.