m SERVICE INFORMATION FROM HEWLETT-PACKARD MARCH-APRIL 1982 New Interface Lets HP-41 and HP-85 Personal Computers Control Instruments and New Peripherals New HP Interface Called HP-IL Wald Skowron, Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packarci’s top-of-the-line 80 personal mmpu The drive is designed to give the HP-41 handheld computer can now ble with the HP-IL loop and the new HP-41 mass memory unrivaled in control low-cost, battery-operable HP-IL Interface Card. The interface size and reliability by other cal- systems through a new interface card plugs into the HP-85 and culators or handheld computers and called HP-IL; Hewlett-Packard HP-83, connecting them to the to make the HP-41 capable of data Interface Loop. HP-IL loop, enabling the personal collection and management applica- computer to do tasks such as storing tions that previously required a The new interfami? enables HP41C and analyzing data collected on the larger computer. The digital quality handheld machine. This capability of the drive and the HP cassettes makes certain applications easier, used is designed to lead to greater such 89 mllecting customer data in performance and reliability than is the field with an HP-41 then dump- possible with audio tapes and ing, analyzing and storing data in drives. printer/plotter. The multimeter is the personal computer and reload- fully programmable and has a 12- ing it into the handheld computer. Each tape has a capacity of 131,000 character alphanumeric display. bytes of information, which would The cassette drive uses digitally Read-only memory modules (ROMs) accommodate, for instance, all the certified magnetic tape and for HP series 80 machines, programs from the 26 HP-41 Solu- increases the system’s memary by the UO and PZotter/Printe tions Books on one tape. more than 60 times, to 131,000 bytes. The printer/plotter File management using the drive is bar code printing and e easy because files can be names and graphics. recalled using names sel the user. Another new product is the Converter which ie a componen Quick, bi- signed to be built into third-party the drive to read at nine i devices such as measurement in- second and search at more struments. It connects the internal The HP-IL Module inches per second. It is qiiiet, and battery- or ac-operable. The HP HP-IL loop, 90 a wide v To use the HP-41 to control hstru- 82161 drive and men& or peripherals on an HP-IL able HP. costly computer. Additionally, HP is ments and trolled by future low-c&st The HP 82160 de,and graphics. Many of HP’s new handheld and available now from personal computers with input/ from HP. U.S. price i The HP 82162 provides all &hefea- output capabilities will be able to tures of the HP 82143 Printer/ act as controllers on HP-IL loops. Cassette Drive Plotter, plus enhanced graphics, and a larger 101-element buffer fw The HP 82161 Digital Cassette faster printing and plotting. Handheld Computer/Personal Drive provides 131,000 bytes of on- Another advantage is that the new Computer Communication line mass storage, which is 50 times HP 82162, with its HP-IL mmpati- the memory of the HP-41CV and bility, will work with all future Communicating between HP-41 200 times the memory of the HP- HP-IL controllers as well as with handheld computers and HP Series 41C. the HP-41. 2 BENCH BRIEFS MARCH-APRIL 1982 WWW.HPARCHIVE.COM L. Featurea of the The HP 82183A will be available in Hewlett-Packard include a 24ch mid-1982 from HP dealers and from Inferheie bpFacta . standard characters plus special HP. characters, user-definable charac- ters, and easy-to-use plotting Time Module capabilities. The new HP 82182A Time Module The HP 82162 is battery- or ac- plugs into any of the ports of the operable, and is available now from HP-41, providing it with a precise HP dealers or from HP. U.S. price is clock. This makes possible jobs such $495. as controlling devices, turning devices on and off, and collecting HP-IL Converter data at specific times. It is available now. U.S. price $75. The HP 82166 HP-IL Converter is a component designed to be built into HP-IL Cable other devices, such as measurement instruments, It connects the inter- Cables for HP-IL loops come in nal eMronics of the machine to the lengths of 0.5, 1, and 5 meters (5- Technical Background on the HP-IL loop, thereby letting the meter cables are available only in HP Interface Loap machine communicate dth other U,S.A.). Cable is available now from devices on the loop and be con- HP dealers or from HP: 82167A Why a new interface? Hewlett- cable $12 82167B lm Packard is committed to designing trolled by an HP-41. 0.5m U.S., cable $15 U.S., 821671) 5m cable highly portable computational and The converter makes it easy to en- $20 U.S. information management systems. hance a wide variety of electronic In these systems, power consump- instruments so they can be con- tion, size, unit cost, and obsoles- trolled by an HP-41, rather than by Background on HP-41C and cence must be minimized. HP-IL a much more costly computer. HP41CV combines low power, amall size, and low cost with an HP commitment to The HP 82166 HP-IL Converter is The top-of-the-line HP-41Cs and continued support and new product available now from HP dealers or HP-41CVs feature alphanumeric development. from HP. The 82166A Prototyping liquid-crystal display, 58 keyboard Kit contains two 82166 converters, functions, 130 total functions avail- documentation and cables. U.S. able, user-definable keyboard, and HP-IL Designed to Match the price is $395. A package of ten continuous memory. Powerful pro- Needs of Portable Systems 82166 converters only (Prototyping gramming tools such as looping, Kit not included) is $1250. branching, and 56 internal flags are The Hewlett-Packard Interface included in both models. Loop (HP-IL) was designed to match Two other new products are the Ex- the needs of portable computational tended I/O ROM and the Time Four input/output ports give the devices, to make them systern- Module: HP-41s system capability. Peri- oriented. Fundamentally, HP-IL is pherals such as the bar-code- a bit-serial, unidirectional loop. Extended VO ROM reading Optical Wand plug into the This loop design allows for a fmed ports, as do additional memory number of connectors at each prod- The HP 82183A Extended YO RON modules and software modules. uct regardless of system size. plugs into the HP-41 and gives it several extended capabilities per- The HP-41CV is an HP41C with Information on the loop is retrans- taining to the cassette drive, five times the memory - enough to mitted by each device; each device printer/plotter, and other devices. accommodate about 2,000 program supplies only enough power to drive Included are a routine that enables lines or 319 data storage registers. the message on to the next device. programs to be printed in bar code This “pay-as-you-go” power distri- and a routine to copy a cassette tape The HP-41C sells for a suggested bution balances - and minimizes from drive to drive on the HP-IL retail price of $250 U.S.;the HP- - requirements for each partici- loop. 41CV sells for $325 U.S. pant in the loop. The loop’s design also permits sim- operation. The system controller controller. Each device then stores ple, uniform cables, which in turn (e.g., an HP-41 handheld computer) its assigned address internally. reduce cost. is the device that controls and in- itiates loop communication. It can Finally, HP-IL protocol provides for transfer control to another device, excellent error detection. Com- which then becomes the controller mands and data make a complete on the loop - the active controller. circuit of the loop. The originating Similarly, an active controller can device receives the information transfer control to another device. back after all other loop devices (In the case of the HP 82160A have received and retransmitted it. HP-IL Module, the HP-41 computer By comparing returning informa- is always the system controller and tion with what was sent out, errors the active controller.) along the loop are automatically detected. A talker is a device that sends in- Information Flow in the Inter- formation to the interface loop. It is face Loop Transmission Speed and Cable designated and enabled by the con- Length troller. At any time, there can be no Information transmitted in the more than one talker. The control- interface loop can be separated into Current HP-IL configurations per- ler may be a talker. Other examples two categories: commands and data. mit a transmission speed of up to of talkers are a mass-storage device 5,000 bytes per second (equivalent sending data from a tape file and a Commands are initiated by the con- to about one printed page per sec- voltmeter sending voltage troller and are monitored by all ond). This exceeds transmission measurements. devices in the loop. Using com- speed requirements for today’s mands, the controller can initiate loop communication, assign or un- battery-operated computers. A listener is a device that receives information on the loop. There may assign devices as talkers and listen- HP-IL’s transmission speed is also be multiple listeners in the loop at ers, initiate the transfer of data, well suited to many instrumenta- the same time.