☰ pyILPER

File Menu Entries

pyILPER configuration

Configuration of the working directory

This is the location of the log files for scope and the printer output (q.v.). The default is the $HOME directory of the current user.

Custom LIFUTILS location

pyILPER checks for LIFUTILS installations in the following order:

  • At the custom LIFUTILS location.
  • In directories that are specified in the system search path.
  • At system default locations /usr (Linux) or /usr/local (macOS), or the location found in the Windows registry.

Therefore, the custom installation location must only be specified if the LIFUTILS were installed in a nonstandard way.

Autostart

Check this option to start the pyILPER automatically when pyILPER launches. This option is enabled by default.

Set the Qt Style

The Qt framework used to implement pyILPER implements a number of styles to adapt the interface created with Qt to the system user interface. Qt applications use a default style for each operating system, which is defined by the Qt maintainers. Unfortunately, the control elements of the default style for Windows 11 in light mode are quite difficult to see. If you are not happy with the default style, use the Fusion style from the list of styles in the combo box. Other styles might be poorly maintained or have fewer features, like missing dark mode awareness.

Configuration of the terminal, scope, and generic printer display

You can alter the font size of the display. This affects all tabs or windows of that type. This setting can be overridden by local settings.

Configuration of the HP82162A

Configures the size of a printer dot in the printer display. The dot size of the PDF output is not affected. This setting can be overridden by local settings.

Configuration of the HP2225B

Configures the width of the scrollable printer output window. A higher value scales up the presentation of text and graphics. This setting can be overridden by local settings.

Configures the size of a printer dot in the printer display. The dot size of the PDF output is not affected. This setting can be overridden by local settings.

Configuration of the drive directory listing

You can set the font size of the directory listing. This affects all tabs or windows of that type. This setting can be overridden by local settings.

Configuration of the paper size

You may choose the "A4" or the "letter" format. This controls the paper size of PDF output and the paper size setting of the virtual HP7470A plotter. A restart is required for the changes to take effect.

UTF-8 encoding option

This checkbox enables the addition of a byte order mark (BOM) to the UTF-8 text files created by pyILPER. Enable this option if other Windows programs do not recognize the UTF-8 encoding of pyILPER log files correctly. This option is only available on Windows. Note: Since the BOM is inserted at the beginning of a file, all log files must be removed to have an effect when changing this option.

Virtual HP-IL device configuration

The initial configuration of virtual HP-IL devices in pyILPER is:

Device nameDevice type
ScopeScope
Printer1Generic Printer
Terminal1Terminal
Plotter1Plotter
Drive1Drive
Drive2Drive

With the device configuration dialog, you can add or delete virtual HP-IL devices and change the position of their tab. To create a new device, press the Add button, select the desired device type, and assign a unique name. The device name must begin with a letter followed by up to 9 letters or digits. The device name is shown on the tab. For device types that have a logging facility, the device name defines the name of the log file in the current working directory.

To remove or change the position of a virtual HP-IL device, select the device from the list and click the appropriate buttons.

The position of the device tabs corresponds to the position of the device in the pyILPER virtual loop.

Special rules apply for the following items:

  • The Scope cannot be changed at all
  • The Scope probes Probe1 and Probe2 can be moved but not deleted.

If the configuration of virtual HP-IL devices was changed, you have to restart the application for the changes to take effect.

Plotter pen configuration

With this configuration dialog, the 16 predefined pens for the HP7470A plotter can be configured. For each pen, the following properties can be specified:

  • Description
  • R, G, B color values (0 .. 255)
  • Transparency: Alpha (0..255)
  • Pen width in pixels (1..5)

Terminal keyboard shortcut configuration

With this configuration dialog, you can define the key combinations ALT-A to ALT-Z as typing aids for the terminal. If you type one of these ALT key combinations, the text defined for that key is sent to the calculator. The following shortcut types are available:

Shortcut typeAction
Input onlyThe text is sent to the calculator
Input+EndlineThe text is sent to the calculator, followed by an endline
Input+2*Cursor leftThe text is sent to the calculator, followed by 2 times cursor left. If you specify, for instance, "TAPE( )" as text, the cursor is positioned between both parentheses.
Input+2*Cursor left+InsertAs above, but toggling insert mode in addition.

The Reset button restores the default configuration of the keys.

Note: The key combinations ALT-L and ALT-I are reserved and cannot be used as a user-defined shortcut.

Start Loop

Starts the pyILPER virtual loop.

Stop Loop

Stops the pyILPER virtual loop.

Quit

Terminates the application.