Raw Drive Tab

Description

This virtual device emulates a raw drive for access to non LIF media. This device can be used by HP-IL controllers which do not use the LIF file system, like the HP-110 portable computer.

If you would like to use pyILPER as a HP-IL device emulator for the HP 110 Plus / HP Portable Plus computer you should read J.-F. Garniers HP 110 Plus / HP Portable Plus Resource Page first.

The virtual raw drive has the following HP-IL configuration:

Device ID	Accessory ID	Default Address
	0x10	0x02
HP9114B	0x10	0x02
HDRIVE1	0x10	0x02
FDRIVE1	0x10	0x02
any	0x10	0x02

The device id is configurable. You may choose one of the predefined values (see above) or enter an arbitrary identifier.

The capacity of the drive is specified by the medium type. The following media types are available:

Medium type	Capacity
HP82161A Cassette	131.072 Bytes
HP9114B double sided disk	630.784 Bytes
HDRIVE1 640K disk	655.360 Bytes
HDRIVE1 2MB disk	2 Megabyte
HDRIVE1 4MB disk	4 Megabyte
HDRIVE1 8MB disk	8 Megabyte
HDRIVE1 16MB disk	16 Megabyte

Note:The HP Portable can only format HP82161A Casette media. If you would like to use media with a higher capacity you need appropriate image files initialized with an MSDOS file system. Image files with a capacity of 640KByte, 4 and 16 MByte can be downloaded from J.-F. Garniers web page.

Warning: Be extremely careful with PRINTER IS, DISPLAY IS and KEYBOARD IS statements and enabling or disabling virtual or real devices. See the caveat below.

Device Controls

The drive tab has the following controls:

• Raw image file Change button: mount a disk file that contains the image of a non LIF medium. The file must already exist.
• Medium type combo box: Choose the proper medium that shall be emulated (see above).
• DID combo box: Choose the DID for the drive.
• Device enabled: If checked, the virtual HP-IL drive is available and can be used as HP-IL device. The HP-IL loop must always be reconfigured after this box has been checked or unchecked.

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. At the worst 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 confused characters shut down pyILPER immediately! Then reset all device assignments and start pyILPER again.