HP-41 RAMBox Questions

[Jurgen Keller]

(02-24-2020 05:06 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  Thanks very much to all the smart folks that provided answers, comments and suggestions! Armed with all that info I was able to re-write the OS on my RAMBOX with "-RAMBOX 32" OS using a CLONIX module with ZenROM and a new RAMBOX image. Special thanks to Sylvain for his patience with off-line questions.

I saved the 3 unique FOCAL application ROM images before surgery just to be safe; I am waiting for confirmation from the author before sharing them. Functions in these application ROMs heavily call back and forth to other functions so they were apparently planned as a whole; they also use some of the extra functions added into the hacked OS image, but all those functions were taken from the CCD ROM, so can be easily replaced or used with that module.

Based on comments in this thread and in Jürgen's 41CY thread, I'm curious if anyone has the "-RAMBOX 1B" ROM image that they could share? It does not appear to be included in the CLONIX, 41CL or V41 sets of ROMs, nor on TOS.

Thanks again guys!

I'm pretty sure that this RAMBOX went through my hands. Good to hear that it ended up in good hands. This guy also found a few 41CY and contacted me to restore the OS. This project ended up in the RB2INI module (after many sleepless nights).

As you found out in the meantime, this is a 32K RAMBOX. It runs fine with the "-RAMBOX 64b" ROM except that a few specific functions like PG<> do not have any effect. I guess that the "ES RSU- 1A" was loaded to save the RAMBOX OS to mini cassettes because a few of them were part of the package that this guy uncovered. The other three ROM's (-KATASTER 1, -ING-VERM 1, -ING-VERM-2) are most probably related to surveying. Back then I didn't save these images because without documentation I thought they are more or less useless.

I think I have a RAMBOX with the "-RAMBOX 32" image. However, currently I don't have easy access to my collection. Due to some renovation work in the attic I had to put them into boxes. That's also the reason why I was neglecting my hobby in the last few weeks. If I'll find the right box I will save and share the image.

I thought of building a ROM to recover a 32K RAMBOX. However, it's relatively easy to recover it with "standard" tools like CLONIX. That's why the priority of such a project is low.

Enjoy your new gadget. For my part, I like the possibility to load FOCAL programs into RAM which allows for building your personal ROM images.