[WP-34S] Cable and flashing options for Mac users

[Marcus von Cube]

(01-20-2015 10:08 PM)John Galt Wrote:  At a subliminal level I knew the lack of a crystal in the 30b would require some programming contortions, but its implications are now quite clear.

Even if HP had equipped every 30b with a crystal the problems would remain the same. That's because the Atmel SOC (system on a chip) design allows for running it off a simple R/C oscillator. The Boot loader is part of the chip and must therefore cope with unpredictable variations in speed. In order to establish a communication link to the host it uses some convoluted protocol to find out what the actual speed of the oscillator is. Once a link is established, the protocol is much less tricky.