HP Forum Archive 15

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MakeLex for 71B Message #1 Posted by Xavier LaRue on 22 Feb 2006, 11:16 p.m. Hi there, In the makelex program I found on the forum I get an error on the line 60 : it dont accept P$=RPT$("-",16) http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv011.cgi?read=29865 Is that normal ? What is the problem.. thank in advence Xavier LaRue

Re: MakeLex for 71B Message #2 Posted by Vassilis Prevelakis on 22 Feb 2006, 11:51 p.m., in response to message #1 by Xavier LaRue Xavier LaRue wrote: > P$=RPT$("-",16) Try P$="----------------" instead **vp

Re: MakeLex for 71B Message #3 Posted by Valentin Albillo on 23 Feb 2006, 4:45 a.m., in response to message #1 by Xavier LaRue Hi, Xavier: Xavier posted: "In the makelex program I found on the forum I get an error on the line 60 : it dont accept P$=RPT$("-",16)" The problem is that MAKELEX, a program to create LEX files from an ascii listing, does commit the *stupid* error of needing a LEX file itself as written, because it uses the RPT$ keyword which is only available in a number of LEX files, STRGNLEX for instance. This is utterly stupid because requiring some LEX file for a program which precisely intends to be a bootstrap to allow the user to enter LEX files in its HP-71B without having mass storage devices (disk, tape, card reader) is plain stupid, kinda chicken-egg situation. Besides, as pointed in another post, RPT$ isn't needed at all, because all it does in this case is to assign P$ sixteen repetitions of "-", so a simple P$="----------------" would work, faster, simpler, taking less RAM (!), and not needing a LEX file at all. Frankly, it's about the stupidest error, intentional or not, I've ever seen in an otherwise useful program. Best regards from V.

Re: LEX dump Message #4 Posted by Xavier LaRue on 23 Feb 2006, 11:20 a.m., in response to message #3 by Valentin Albillo Hi, the next question is surly how to dump lexfile :) Do this should works : Using lif_utils ./lifget -f lexfl1.lif RPNLEX | hexdump and typing it into the 71B ? Another question, how do we remove a LEXfile ? Thank for you help all, Xav Edited: 23 Feb 2006, 11:47 a.m.

Re: LEX dump Message #5 Posted by Vassilis Prevelakis on 23 Feb 2006, 4:59 p.m., in response to message #4 by Xavier LaRue BTW one thing to remember when dealing with the 71B is that in many cases sizes and other quantities are in nibbles (4-bit units, fourtets? :-) So that when you see 100 it may be 100 (base 10), 256 (base 10) or 128 (base10). **vp

Re: LEX dump Message #6 Posted by Howard Owen on 24 Feb 2006, 7:12 a.m., in response to message #5 by Vassilis Prevelakis Quote: BTW one thing to remember when dealing with the 71B is that in many cases sizes and other quantities are in nibbles (4-bit units, fourtets? :-) Quartets. It's a great trivia question: "how is an antique four bit CPU like a chamber music ensemble?" 8) Regards, Howard

Re: LEX dump Message #7 Posted by george on 24 Feb 2006, 12:51 p.m., in response to message #5 by Vassilis Prevelakis A friend once suggested 4 bit groups should be known as "kibbles"

On half bytes, nibbles, kibbels, or whatever Message #8 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 25 Feb 2006, 4:12 a.m., in response to message #7 by george Quote: A friend once suggested 4 bit groups should be known as "kibbles" Why not "quibbles?" Why didn't the Americans invent the 3.5 bit unit? It's good enough for BCD, since 23.5 ~= 11.3 which is more then 10. And two of them are good enough for 7 bit ASCII. Are there any people which need more bits to write properly in their languages? What could be a good name for such a unit of information? A "thrivel?" Marcus

Re: LEX dump Message #9 Posted by Valentin Albillo on 24 Feb 2006, 4:43 a.m., in response to message #4 by Xavier LaRue Hi, Xavier: Xavier posted: "Hi, the next question is surly how to dump lexfile :) Do this should works : Using lif_utils ./lifget -f lexfl1.lif RPNLEX | hexdump and typing it into the 71B ?" Sorry but I'm not familiar with lif_utils so I can't say. Seems probable that it would work, except for the fact that the MAKELEX versions I've seen all of them require to input a checksum at the end of each line of hex digits, which they use to check for input errors. If the 'hexdump' you mention does also output that checksum and it happens to be computed the same way as MAKELEX expects it, then it will work, but I can't say for sure. The usual way of dumping LEX files in MAKELEX format was with the sister application DUMPLEX, also a BASIC program which would run in a barebones HP-71B, which would output the proper checksum digits as well. You can probably get it from the same source where you found MAKELEX, and it's certainly included in some CHHU issues. "Another question, how do we remove a LEXfile ?" Simply PURGE the lex file (i.e.: PURGE RPNLEX). If the file is secured, you'll need to UNSECURE it first, which you can do if the file is in RAM, but not if it's in ROM. Once purged, you'll lose all its keywords, polls, messages, etc, and if there are some programs in RAM which used them, they'll no longer work, the original lex function and statements being (temporarily) replaced by XWORD and XFN, respectively. Best regards from V.

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