The LIFUTILS are command line utilities to handle LIF files and LIF image files. LIF, the Logical Interchange Format was developed by Hewlett Packard as a standard mass storage format that can be used for interchange of files among various HP computer systems. Although the scope of application was much broader, the LIFUTILS are limited to LIF files and image files for the HP calculators HP-41, HP-71 and HP-75.
During the changeover to program version 2.0, the individual utility programs were combined into a single program called lifutils for technical reasons. A LIFUTILS utility is now invoked by calling lifutils and specifying its name as the first parameter PROGNAME followed by all other parameters that are required by the utility. The parameter PROGNAME is case-insensitive which is important under Windows. The help text of the program lifutils shows which utilities were integrated. However, shell scripts are provided for Windows, Linux and macOS which, as before, allow a single utility to be called directly. Because of limitations of the Windows batch system it is not possible to use this scripts in Windows .bat or .cmd files.
Thus, the utility lifget can bei either invoked with:
lifutils lifget hp41disk.dat VLBL vlbl.raw
or using the shell script:
lifget hp41disk.dat VLBL vlbl.raw
The tutorial contains all the basic information you need to work with the LIFUTILS. You should read this document first!
On Linux and mac OS you can use the man command to get the command reference document for each utility. HTML-documents of the man pages are linked to the command reference table below.
HP calculator enthusiasts may find interesting information in the comments at the start of some source code files.
The following table lists the available command line utilities in alphabetical order:
| Program | Description |
|---|---|
| barprt | Diagnostic dump of a HP-41 intermediate barcode file |
| barps | Convert an intermediate barcode file to PostScript |
| comp41 | Compile a HP-41 program |
| decomp41 | Decompile a HP-41 program raw file |
| er41rom | convert a scrambled Eramco MLDL-OS rom file to an unpacked HP-41 rom file |
| hx41rom | convert a packed HEPAX rom SDATA file to an unpacked HP-41 rom file |
| inp41 | Translate a HP-41 hex program into a raw file |
| in71 | Read a file from a HP-71 via (e.g.) a RS232 interface |
| key41 | Display a HP-41 key definition file |
| lexcat71 | Display main and text table information of a HP-71 lex file |
| lexcat75 | Display information of a HP-75 lex file |
| lifdir | Print a directory of a LIF image file |
| liffix | Fixes the header information of a LIF image file |
| lifget | Extract a single file from a LIF image file |
| lifheader | Show the LIF header of a LIF file |
| lifinit | Initialize a LIF image file |
| liflabel | Label a LIF image file |
| lifmod | Output the contents of HP-41 module files |
| lifpack | Packs a LIF image file |
| lifpurge | Purge a single file from a LIF image file |
| lifput | Store a single file into a LIF image file |
| lifraw | Remove the LIF header from a LIF file |
| lifrename | Rename a file in a LIF image file |
| lifstat | Display LIF image file statstics, show which file contains a certain block |
| liftext | Decode a LIF file of type TEXt (LIF1) to an ASCII file |
| liftext75 | Decode a raw file of type HP-75 text into an ASCII file |
| outp41 | Translate a HP-41 program raw file into hex |
| out71 | Send a file to a HP-71 via (e.g.) a RS232 interface |
| prog41bar | Produce an intermediate barcode file from a HP-41 program raw file |
| raw41lif | convert a HP-41 program raw file into a lif file |
| regs41 | Display a HP-41 raw file as 'registers' (for analysis of unknown files) |
| rom41cat | Display list of function names in an unscrambled HP-41 rom file |
| rom41er | convert an unscrambled HP-41 rom file to a scrambled Eramco MLDL-OS rom file |
| rom41hx | convert an unscrambled HP-41 rom file to a packed HEPAX rom SDATA file |
| rom41lif | convert an unscrambled HP-41 rom file to an SDATA file that can be used to update the HP-41 CL |
| sdata | Interpret a raw SDATA file |
| sdatabar | Convert a raw SDATA file into an intermediate barcode file |
| textlif | Convert an ASCII file to a LIF file |
| textlif75 | Convert an ASCII file to a HP-75 text file |
| stat41 | Display a raw HP-41 'status' file |
| wall41 | Extract information from a raw HP-41 Write-All file |
| wcat41 | Display a catalogue of the contents of a raw HP-41 Write-All file |
Note: lifdump and lifimage are still stand-alone programs. The are only available for Linux.
Individual command line options have been changed for the following programs: comp41, decomp41, sdata, textlif and wall41.
The LIF Utilities were originally developed by Tony Duell. You find his latest version here. Code was taken from hp41uc (Leo Duran) for comp41 and modfile (Warren Furlow, available on HP41.org) for lifmod.
This software is released under the GNU General Public License Version 2.
For LIFUTILS version 1.x revision history see here.
| Joachim Siebold | Page last modified : 10-November-2024 |