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

[jebem]

(01-23-2015 10:48 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  

(11-29-2014 07:13 AM)jebem Wrote:  You may like to have a look to my project if you enjoy some diy.

Using a USB to RS232 TTL PL2303HX converter is the easier way to get a working flashing cable.

I'm sure no one ever dreamed that this project would become so complicated. I'm curious, if this is the "easier way", what's the hard way, or should I be afraid to ask?

Dave, I understand your point and your fine sense of humor .
But allow me to justify my options.

1. My flash box cable genesis:
Easy to build it isn't for sure, if someone expects a step-by-step instruction guide that anyone with minimum skills can just follow and get a working product in the end.

But my flash box cable project is documented well enough to allow a skilled person to build their own cable by adding their own ideas.
I believe that is the whole concept here. DIY!

I decided to share my findings because I couldn't find anyone doing what I had to conceive and build:
I needed visual feedback and proper press buttons to make the flashing as practical as possible.

2. What's the hard way?
The harder way was to build a cable based on the legacy RS232 serial cable, and then fight to find a serial port on a PC to connect such cable, or even worse, add a USB to RS232 converter, when we have these IC's around that are doing this work for us: Take any common PC USB port, plugin the serial adapter and voila, you have a TTL serial interface ready to connect to your HP-20B/30B!

3. And is there a even easier way?
Of course there is always the simplest solution of all:
Buying a ready made cable...
Oh, wait, the only problem is, as far as I can tell, so far nobody was able to offer such a product.