HPComm 3.0
The main window: PC on the left, calculator on the right.
HPComm
HPComm is a Windows program that moves files between a PC and HP graphing calculators over a serial cable. I started it in 1997, as a student, because I wanted something better than HP's own link software for the HP48. Two years later Hewlett-Packard shipped it as their official software. It is free software under the GPL, and the source code is on GitHub: github.com/ractive/hpcomm.
The story
HPComm shows the calculator's folders on one side and the PC's files on the other, like Windows Explorer. You drag a file from one side to the other, and HPComm sends it with the Kermit protocol over the serial cable. The first versions came out in 1998. Version 2.4 followed in February 1999 and is still on hpcalc.org.
Then Hewlett-Packard got in touch. Mitch Davis from HP's calculator group in Australia and I made HPComm 3.0 together. HP sold it in 1999 in the purple box of the HP Graphing Calculator PC Connectivity Kit for the HP48 and the new HP49G: a CD-ROM, a serial cable and an adapter. The code stayed under the GPL. That was new for HP, and Mitch had to argue for it. Next to my studies I then worked for HP's calculator group for about one and a half years.
In December 1999 HPComm38 followed for the HP38G. In 2001 I reworked it for the new HP39G and HP40G and gave it a new name, HPGComm. HPGComm 2.01 from July 2001 was the last release. In May 2002 I declared the project finished. The dog on the splash screen and the program icon is Spot, drawn by ishadyn.
HPComm 3.0r4 has been downloaded more than 135,000 times from hpcalc.org, where it is still listed with a rating of 9.5 out of 10. Anyone who wanted to update the ROM of an HP49G needed it. Today its job is done by saturnus, which also emulates the calculators themselves.
As it looked back then
The screenshots come from the hpcomm.org website and from the HPGComm online help. Each card links to the source folder.
Splash screen
Spot, the dog, drawn by ishadyn.
HPComm38 1.0
Sending a file to an HP38G, with two captured calculator screens.
HPGComm 2.0
The reworked version for the HP38G, HP39G and HP40G.
Screen capture
HPGComm could grab the calculator's screen as a picture.
The programs
Four programs are in the repository. All are Visual C++ 6 and MFC projects for Windows 95 to 2000. They have not been built with a modern Visual Studio, so expect some work if you want to compile them.
| Program | Calculators | Last version | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| HPComm | HP48, HP49G | 3.0r4, June 2000 | The main program, as shipped by HP. Kermit over a serial cable. |
| HPComm38 | HP38G | 1.0r4, June 2000 | Split out of an HPComm 3.1 beta for the HP38G. |
| HPGComm | HP38G, HP39G, HP40G | 2.01, July 2001 | HPComm38 reworked for the new calculators, with XModem for uploading aplets. Has the original SourceForge CVS history. |
| HPCommShell | HP48, HP49G | unfinished, June 2001 | A Windows Explorer extension that should have shown the calculator as a folder in Explorer. Never finished. |
The repository also has a copy of the hpcomm.org website from 2001, with its FAQ and screenshots.
Timeline
| 1997 to 1998 | First HPComm versions, as a replacement for HP's link software |
| February 1999 | HPComm 2.4, the last version before HP |
| 1999 | HPComm 3.0 in HP's Graphing Calculator PC Connectivity Kit |
| September 1999 | HPComm 3.0r2 |
| December 1999 | HPComm38 1.0 for the HP38G |
| February 2000 | Project moves to SourceForge |
| March 2000 | HPComm 3.0r3 and HPComm38 1.0r3 |
| June 2000 | HPComm 3.0r4 and HPComm38 1.0r4, the final releases |
| January to April 2001 | Eight HPGComm 2.0 betas |
| June and July 2001 | HPGComm 2.0 and 2.01 |
| May 2002 | Project declared finished |
| October 2026 | Source code and history published on GitHub |
Where it still lives
- github.com/ractive/hpcomm, the source code with its history, the help files and the website.
- hpcalc.org still hosts every release, with download counts: HPComm 3.0r4, HPGComm 2.0 and HPComm 2.4.
- SourceForge, registered in February 2000, with the HPGComm betas, and the old website at hpcomm.sourceforge.net.
- hpcomm.org in the Wayback Machine, from November 1999. The domain lapsed in 2002.
- HP's product page for the Connectivity Kit, part number F1897A, in the Wayback Machine.
Thanks
- Mitch Davis of Hewlett-Packard, co-developer of HPComm 3.0 and HPComm38, who got HP to release the kit under the GPL and ran the hpcomm.org website.
- Colin Croft, for the HP38G HOME view in HPGComm, the testing and the README.
- ishadyn, for Spot, the dog on the splash screen and the icon.