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New to the HP-86

OK! I spent some time today, and I got back to where I was 5 years ago. I can use the disk imaging tool called 22disk to read HP-86 formatted 3.5 inch floppy disks. I can also read the CP/MSYS file directory, and I can move files into and out of the CP/MSYS file. This is excellent!

Again, many, many thanks go to Lee (leeb) and Glen (gslick), for all their hard work so many years ago to make this possible for us.

Hey, AkBKukU, how are you making out? Have you been able to explore your new equipment?

smp
 
Hey, AkBKukU, how are you making out? Have you been able to explore your new equipment?

I haven't had a chance yet. Work stuff picked up right after I got it.

When I do get around to it though it will take some effort. The only GP-IB devices I have are a Commodore 8050 disk drive for the PET and an HP 34401A DMM. I'm going to try interfacing with the DMM using the SCPI protocol it supports. I am already familiar with SCPI because I wrote a GUI for controlling that DMM from a modern computer using an RS-232 interface.

I just took a quick look at my I/O ROM manual and it seems like it should be pretty easy to get started. It looks like most of it is done with the output command. I have some free time right now so I'm going to go try it out now.

I'll eventually want to get the specific manual for the HP-IB module. The only ones I can find available now are an installation guide and a theory of operations manual.
 
I've just installed the card and powered up the computer and am getting an "Error 110 : I/O CARD" message

of0-GU6QEkW66-6bRY0P8rPKnKZ8odEcfPx-XsnV6mil0cYUFBNLVdo-v11Fn549nONBgSBHKqJwXR9u87ir059I_yUJxS12n5TM2mPzoo3uH70-578tlw01TG9WCsqDVN5ZVpkQzcl3dY60sVOW9B2oUFazi67KOZcYwZ0Ioe_WyiFA_qRXdqCWpf9E2qDIuwSM_O1bIKD559OPNNbCz8Bq_ol4C_MsLLF3MHxrFsFR1iBhx5WQVfai_F28dQGSUH3acyE6oOD9tXEdOq5S5pLYpA2f5m_UX59438FYrSzbgWUDBfJMekSZA6ZLJ0e8bXzLU9vra3BGkkyCr6f6xBlQCW1CVxqsv5OQM8iVvu3aEMrLn6H7zmquYskHOoP6q6I3fm-NkIk_2iM3kBeR7GDDe_6Hpm0SSEd6FlQUS44C_fcPHoyHlOMr1B6Txy3V71VB2PiSx_fRt3VPj8_6fLQr7eac-Nlh6VFrJqnKG_7orexZLXhn65eeTDBKl8LCD5SEpOm98d6-v4UFuececag_oOq3ZwHJaTsxCWTtcNpbEmVX8M8jqVbV6hl44O-7qJ3m9r08raccjZmxE0Wg3ptmXvPXpYdxUuId9LlaggfFSJvVmdVo=w1240-h930-no


I looked it up in the manual and it says to run "ERRSC" to see where the problem is originating.

YWxxCBRL0cY1vqi6JMFvfq-I9AvXUKaZBVluOcZjn4DqK00h2JdjTN6tQSYvyWMu30N774FChD9c43q5MlifEcc3NsGkLqsrAPg974ZfgokAk2rKtHHjbFIYSnNlu8zKECWxmXQ2fy8DwpG_81ZhiXlhpDTIfKoLvmjrz1Www7qUwj9uYvONLI-4TtghcyKK6VH7mWZSjrMS5Baxqtwqlpi7u9MVKFhg7GbyBuFLvvhObzn2TNv8GYRWgOaZieF4qB9lR5WeYktYcybjxZCZPImTZIzc76VR06H99HCyOuJsu7-foRrzeo-0fNecyKrN6iBCRIqM4nYDV3ZTP4N1hxtq0gsYgiN6HYhI9IA63wakHehul6bj6_qaBs6ssdTOhRhVS1vx2W1Go9vTCQJQQXyJS8GK5opHaprBCtr0Y2b-r5fTzWjoZzrspkCtXI6ovoelhLkmfMRqDpav_fflkK0jcAOWurOaen7gl_XEJDmyiAC-rQldIsqTm3pav3c2itH2PRrDhynUnbYQX1JsHb1eYzyOEzNyb9RHWCJzVCWcdp_VM2yHxYsThsGFi9D0h8pGNlYZ3KCO8nzX4YVbW-99XeOYolWwLEtXy0mlazd_bBp5=w1240-h930-no


7OPwlw95sQNvvPxGqaop-_SSAB8lKEVSQU-NCW0I91Y9vBkcXk7KFQFucO6-mUhEauCxDc3gAbVmcQaQFDSZEeXDlQcLu_EzWUq87CMCB2f_17RQ5YP7HDQ41CjoB1caYXcKafvC5R6IN8X_NjR8BRS4SREewQB9fOzLulBG1M748BHLCIZjBy9jWvT6dXlt3GLpvyd1RC2DHa3iLM8QxTVqDWSlMMo7WMIG-Bn4qBRqruNByKanr-SDvvhlFrpGfsN25H5WjXnZIfYvjqIajoGVNJnQyiRCsuPlsEnN-2IetTCbP2MOAdUYy-24jE1OfpCY-ybkOPesZW2dwrWZJkmCWrhTcMfflD7JhbNcNRYeiYpDIyg-DkjsF9Gc6oR4umo3IBDbLka3LxqPhV33QpNjdOBNsfCVc9Fn5j67DtX0mornzA3_-o3gHIveZjHz4U1_1nbM5az0ocaslFbworKCADm5puxT3gLI-I4SpSqAY9BBkDp8HBSS_MeYHWaG2gtwFQFQjiZAFyOfMWdE8zbWbzJ-O1rOePKqzwnH18_jEaZL2vRmve5An34S0lF_pvigIrZkyOxCXN48QHF_ZA6LBR8P2D8b-87zWF3DLofm9LF7=w1240-h930-no


The install manual states that 7 is the default id of the HP-IB card:

http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?hwdoc=179

The printer is assigned the id of 7 on the 86A. So I'm going to follow the directions in the install manual and change the address of the HP-IB card.
 
Changing the address to 8 worked!

I've hooked up my DMM and am getting the simple display on/off command to work.

Now to write a simple DC measurement program.
 
Changing the address to 8 worked!

I've hooked up my DMM and am getting the simple display on/off command to work.

Now to write a simple DC measurement program.

Excellent! Good for you. I'm glad to hear that things are coming together.

smp
 
IMG_20170701_184116.jpg

It's working great! I'm going to have a lot of fun with this.

That code sets it up to measure a DC voltage between 22V and 0.001V. Then I read it back while I put the probes on a 12V source. The DMM always returns the value in x10 notation. I'll have to convert it to a decimal value manually on this machine I suspect. Although they are both HP and being an engineering computer it might have a command to convert something like this. It could be hiding in the one of the Math program packages though.
 
Your next assignment is to write a program to display a graphical histogram of a DMM measurement over time.
 
Does this syntax work with the HP 80 series version of BASIC?

Code:
10  REAL Rdg
20  ASSIGN @Dmm TO 722
30  CLEAR 7               ! Clear GPIB and dmm
40  OUTPUT @Dmm; "*RST"   ! Reset dmm
50  OUTPUT @Dmm; "*CLS"   ! Clear dmm status registers
60  OUTPUT @Dmm; "MEASURE:CURRENT:AC? 1A,0.001MA"  ! Set to 1 amp ac range
70  ENTER @Dmm; Rdg
80  PRINT Rdg
90  END

Agilent 34401A 6½ Digit Multimeter User’s Guide, page 185
 
Does this syntax work with the HP 80 series version of BASIC?

Code:
10  REAL Rdg
20  ASSIGN @Dmm TO 722
30  CLEAR 7               ! Clear GPIB and dmm
40  OUTPUT @Dmm; "*RST"   ! Reset dmm
50  OUTPUT @Dmm; "*CLS"   ! Clear dmm status registers
60  OUTPUT @Dmm; "MEASURE:CURRENT:AC? 1A,0.001MA"  ! Set to 1 amp ac range
70  ENTER @Dmm; Rdg
80  PRINT Rdg
90  END

Agilent 34401A 6½ Digit Multimeter User’s Guide, page 185

Wow, I have that manual on the table in front of me and I didn't see that in there! There are a bunch of examples in there I'm going to be trying out now!

The ASSIGN command doesn't work. The closest equivalent is ASSIGN# but that is for saving data. I omitted that part and replaced the @Dmm with mine's address and it works perfectly.
IMG_20170701_200040.jpg

Using a REAL seems to have converted the string to a decimal value. I had just found the VAL command will convert a string to a number as well.
 
Last edited:
OK! I spent some time today, and I got back to where I was 5 years ago...

I continue to make progress as I get the chance to use my system. Today, I was able to download a .TD0 file from the HP Computer Museum (http://www.hpmuseum.net) and use the Teledisk tool to recreate a 3.5 inch floppy disk for the HP-86. As well, I was able to download MBASIC.COM (Microsoft BASIC-80 Rev 5.21 for CP/M) and use the tool 22disk to copy the file from MS DOS into the CP/M directory on a 3.5 inch HP CP/M formatted floppy disk.

Nothing very spectacular, for sure, but this is progress with using the available tools to get available software onto useable floppy disks for the HP-86, or the HP-86/87 CP/M System.

smp
 
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