Calculator (TI & HP) emulators

[Menneisyys]

NOTE: this thread starts with two articles. The first disucusses Texas Instruments emulation; the second, in the second post, that of Hewlett-Packard.

Many of you may have already heard of Texas Instruments’ excellent calculators; most importantly, the (currently) top-of-the line TI-89/92 and, for high school students, the most recommended TI-84 series.

1. These calculators can be much more powerful than native Windows Mobile calculators
2. They are free (as opposed to some commercial Windows Mobile calculators), assuming, of course, you have the original device
3. while there are some excellent unit conversion apps for Windows Mobile (for example, Burr Oak Software's Conversions In Hand, Fann Software's ConverterCE Pro or TranCreative's MxConverter Comprehensive Edition for Pocket PC), the built-in unit conversion capabilities of these calculators are excellent (example screenshot HERE (accessible after pressing 2nd + 3 on a TI-89) and HERE)
4. may already be well-known to you if you’ve actively been using them in real life (no need to learn the interface of a new calculator software – you can just go on with your already well-known one)
5. have GREAT third-party software add-on support (as far as the newer models, manufactured in the last 14-15 years, are concerned)

This means it might be far more advantageous to check them out instead of trying to find a native Windows Mobile implementation. In this review, I scrutinize all the available solutions, going back in time. That is, at first, I review the most up-to-date emulators and, then, go back in time to discuss emulators of other (less powerful / capable) calculators. This means the first part of the review will be of interest to anyone wanting to get some decent calculator software or just doesn’t want to keep her or his calculator around when the Windows Mobile handheld is capable of doing (almost) the same. Latter chapters of this roundup will mostly please people like me – that is, classic for example LED calculators, which have long been dwarfed with more recent models.

Please also consult the linked-in Wiki pages on the original calculators themselves. Here, I will only elaborate on stuff directly connected to Windows Mobile-based emulation and the like – that is, stuff completely missing from the original Wiki articles. You may also want to follow ticalc.org’s calculator pages.

Before embarking on listing the available (with special emphasis on current) models, let me point out that higher model / series number doesn’t correspond to being newer. That is, for example, the TI-84 series, while considerably newer than the TI-89 series, have a lower number. Also worth mentioning is the fact that TI has several (graphing) models, all targeted to different market segment. For example, a high school student doesn’t necessarily need derivation / integration capabilities (dunno if high schools in the States do teach these subjects for regular high school students – here in Europe, these are only taught in specialized high schools) – it’d be an overkill for her or him to pay extra for a calculator that offers these advanced capabilities. That is, instead of the most advanced (and expensive) TI-89/92/V200 series, a high school student will most probably want to get a cheaper TI-84 Plus (SE) (or, if she or he is cost conscious, their direct, compatible predecessor, the TI-83 (Plus)).

Let me also mention that this tutorial is

1. the first in the row of my forthcoming series on Windows Mobile calculators. In the following installment, I’ll discuss the emulators existing for HP’s calculators and, then, the native calculator programs
2. as usual, widely needed. The official manual of the best desktop Windows emulator, VTI, is very hard for a beginner to understand, and the same stands for the official TI-89 manual. In addition, the Windows Mobile version has absolutely no documentation / tips / descriptions of in what way it’s different from the desktop version. That is, this tutorial is undoubtedly the best tutorial available for TI-89 newbies wanting to get up to speed as soon as possible without having to read hundreds of TI-89 manual pages.

So, the current (and future) TI calculator models are as follows. (Note that the Comparison & Feature Chart also has a quick summary of these devices, along with a lot of information.) Also note that, in general, TI uses the “Plus” to refer to the second edition of a given model (except for the TI-84 Plus, which doesn’t have a non-Plus device). “Silver Edition” (abbreviated as SE; not to be mistaken for “Second Edition”!) and “Titanium” generally refers to the third (and, therefore, most advanced) model in a given series. That is, always try to get a SE / Titanium model if possible.

1.1 TI-Nspire

This model hasn’t been released yet; therefore, no emulators exist (let alone Windows Mobile ones).

1.2 TI-84 Plus (Silver Edition)

These two, pretty new (released in 2004) and, according to the poll HERE, most popular TI series high school calculator (in the poll, the TI-89 was placed second; don't forget, though, that the TI-84 series is aimed at high school students, while the TI-89's are aimed at more serious university students or graduated folks) models (the enhanced versions of the TI-83 Plus (Silver Edition)) are still not emulated under WM (or, for that matter, the desktop Windows) either. Not that it’d be a problem – after all, these models don’t have any advanced functionality compared to their predecessor (the TI-83 Plus), “only” a faster CP and more RAM / ROM.

1.3 Voyage 200 (also V200 and Voyage 200 PLT)

No emulators exist for WM.

1.4 TI-89 and TI-92 series

These are, after the TI-84 series, the most widely sold TI calculators. Again, don't forget that this series is the way to go (and NOT the more widely sold TI-84 series!) if you want something above the high school level. Do read the related Wiki / ticalc pages.

1.5 TI-86

This calculator (released in 1997) is partially compatible with the TI-85 (which it replaced) and is also supported by VirtualTI-89Pocket.

1.6 TI-83, Plus and Plus Silver Edition

Two of these calculators, the TI-83 and the TI-83 Plus (released in 1996 and 1999, respectively) are supported under WM; the latest (2001) model, Plus Silver Edition (which has nine times the available Flash ROM and over twice the processing speed of the Plus), isn’t.

The changes between TI-83 and the TI-83 Plus were pretty big; for example, the latter already allowed for ROM updates.

1.8 TI-85 (and THIS)

This model has been replaced by TI-86.

2.1 Getting calculator ROM’s

Both the desktop and the Windows Mobile-based emulators require the original ROM of your calculator(s) to be present. It’s easily extractable using the desktop-based ROM extraction tools (it’s also built-in into VTI, the most important desktop-based emulator). However, if you DO have the original device, you may want to choose downloading the original ROM’s right from the homepage of TI itself.

You will most probably need the TI-89 ROM download (currently, it’s “TI-89 Operating System v2.09”; click the Download icon on the center right). It’s also linked from HERE. Just put the resulting os.89u file in the home directory of your desktop / Windows Mobile version. That is, with the desktop version, just copy it into the directory you’ve uncompressed the emulator to; with the Windows Mobile version, you’ll need to copy it to <storage card name>\Program Files\VTI Pocket Emulator.

You can access the majority of the other, compatible ROM’s on TI’s other pages (see the related row in the Comparison Chart) if you really need compliance with those older and/or less capable models (if not, just stick with the 89 – it’s the best, still supported model). If you need one of the TI-82, 83 and 86 ROM’s, you can also get them from other pages; for example TheOldComputer.com’s ROM download page. Note that you will NOT want to use the TI-85 ROM in there – it won’t work (not that it would be a problem: the TI-85 is superseded by the supported & compatible TI-86). M.E.S.S., another desktop emulator for (along with several other models) the TI-81, 85 and 86 isn’t able to use this ROM either. Also note that the TI-99 also listed in the TI section is NOT a calculator ROM but that of a very old home computer, the TI-99/4A.

All ROM files must be copied to the home directory of the emulator; with both the desktop-based and the mobile one. With the TheOldComputer.com package, you’ll, naturally, need to decompress them first.

Note that you won’t need for example the TI-84 Plus ROM (also linked from the ticalc.org TI-84 Plus page) because not even the desktop VTI support the new 84 (Plus). The same stands for the latest 89-series model, the TI-89 Titanium: its ROM doesn’t work under any emulators either (it’s identified as TI-92+ by both the desktop and the WM emulator and is refused to be loaded). Finally, other current models aren’t supported either.

2.2 Emulation on Desktop Windows

You MUST learn how the emulator must be used under the desktop Windows operating system if you will ever want to import any third-party application into your Windows Mobile-based emulator or want to export your own programs typed (tapped) directly into the emulator in easily maintainable, direct exports.

The best emulator available for the desktop is Rusty Wagner’s free Virtual TI v2.5 beta 5 (linked from the main page HERE; alternate download HERE), which is compatible with TI-82, 83, 83 Plus, 85, 86 and 89.

(Note that you won’t want to download the Virtual TI-89/92(+) Emulator v1.01 Beta (it doesn't find the ROM image in the same directory) or the Virtual TI v3.0 Alpha, unless you want a TI-73 / TI-83 Plus emulator only.)

Just download the ZIP file and, after copying one (or more) ROM files in the same directory (if you don’t want to use the app to extract a ROM image from your connected calculator), start vti.exe.

A calculator image will come up (showing the face of a TI emulator, depending on the available ROM images in the home directory). If it’s the wrong emulator (you’d like to emulate another calculator by changing the ROM image) either press F12 or right-click the image and select Set calculator / ROM version as can be seen in this screenshot.

A dialog box will be shown, showing what ROM versions are available. Just select the one you’d like to use (for example, in this screenshot, I’ve selected the TI-89) and click OK.

After changing the ROM, the skin will immediately change and the calculator boot in as can be seen in here. You will want to raise the (virtual) contrast by repeatedly clicking the ("diamond") button and, then, clicking the + button. To make this faster, use the Ctrl key (it’s a shortcut for the diamond key) on your desktop keyboard while depressing + (or -, if you want to decrease the contrast) on your keyboard. BTW, the diamond key will always result in invoking the functionality printed in green on top of most buttons. The yellow 2nd button, , (also in the top left) will do the same, but with the yellow labels (second functionality) printed on top of most buttons (note that the desktop PC keyboard uses the Alt shortcut for the 2nd button).

Now, you can start to do some serious work. If you already know how to operate a TI-89 (from now on, I only show how it can be operated; other models are, fortunately, pretty similar in operation), then, you will only need information on how files / programs can be transferred between the operating system and the emulator itself. If you’re a newbie, on the other hand, you may want to download the official TI-89/92 manual / guidebook from HERE. It’s certainly a good read, but may be a little too much for a newbie, particularly because it discusses two series at once. Therefore, for basic tasks like program transfer and starting, you may want to prefer my tutorial below, particularly because, of course, it doesn’t discuss emulation-related questions at all. (Needless to say, the documentation coming with VTI is pretty useless for a newbie. The Windows Mobile port is even worse: it has absolutely no Windows Mobile-related documentation. That is, you won’t be able to learn anywhere – except for my current article – how you can import third-party / external programs to it.)

First, let’s see how file transfer is done from the desktop PC to the emulator.

2.2.1 Desktop PC -> emulator file transfer

First, let’s get some for example games so that we can indeed try to operate the emulator! (Note that getting and deploying productivity apps – for example, math functions – is done exactly the same way. In here, I’ve chosen games to show you how excellent gaming platform these calculators are with the right coding.)

For example, download Earth Mission HERE. It’s a really nice, very fast action platformer game. After downloading, decompress earth89.zip. It’ll contain two files of interest, earth.89y and earth.89z (in addition to the French language readme file, lisez-moi.txt). Highlight them in either Windows Explorer or, for example, Total Commander and drag-and-drop them on the calculator image (make sure the virtual TI-89 is switched on - you can't transfer anything to switched-off emulator images).

During this, you shouldn’t be presented a Transfer error dialog box; if you are (most importantly because you’re run out of the, when nothing is installed in the RAM, 192 kbytes of RAM), just click Cancel and read on to find out how you can check the free RAM memory of your emulated calculator and how it can be increased.

Now, press 2nd (again, on the PC keyboard, the Alt shortcut key) and - buttons (that is, invoke VAR-LINK). You’ll see the following:



Now, let’s create a so-called “folder” (they’re just like a directory in the file system) in order to separate the game from other apps / games you’ll later upload to avoid name clashes / much better separation.

2.2.2 Creating / using folders

Using folders is particularly useful because most third-party apps, particularly games, contain several executable and/or data files, which makes browsing them REALLY hard. When correctly separated into folders, managing / browsing them becomes far easier – as with directories in a file system. (Note that only top-level directories are allowed – not nested ones! That is, you can’t, for example, create a Games main folder and, for example, an Asteroids subfolder inside it.)

To do this, still in this, VAR-LINK mode, click the F1 button (or, of course, on the keyboard) and select 5: Create Folder.



Enter some meaningful name for the new folder; for example, earthmis:



Press (click – it’s at the bottom right) Enter two times. The new folder will be created as can be seen in here.

Now, select the new files you want to move to the new folder. To do this, press (click at the top, under the screen or press the hardware key on your keyboard) F5 (All) to bring up the selection menu. Here, just select 1:Select all. All the files will be marked in the non-collapsed folders. The results will be the following:



Now, press F1 (Manage) and select Move. You’ll need to decide which folder to move the selected files to; as you have only one folder (in addition to MAIN), you can just choose the default (earthmis). (If you will have more than one potential target folders, you’ll be able to select them right here.)

Now, you’ll be taken back to the file list view:



As can be seen, the two files have been copied to the new folder.

When copied into separate folders, you must use the folder name as the prefix when starting a given program in these folders as in foldername\appname(). This will be auto-generated for you when, after doing the above tests (but NOT making the new folder the default one – this will be explained later), you press Enter on the executable file of the two (earth.ASM):



In this screenshot, as can be seen, the name of the executable program (earth) has been prefixed by earthmis, using the backslash character to separate the two names. To try to run the game, you can just supply the closing parenthesis and pressing Enter. Then, you’ll be presented the “earthpgm not found” error message as can be seen in here.

This is because the main executable, earth, is trying to find the related resource files in the MAIN folder (in here, there is the executable ASM file (earth.89z – note the z at the end! Z, in most cases, states for assembly programs) and one data file (earth.89y – note the y, which, mostly, states for data files). This will be a problem with ALL third-party applications / games depending on other resource files.

To combat the problem, you will need to use the setFold (folderName) command (cd (Change Directory) under MS-DOS / Windows), where folderName, as you may have already guessed, will be earthmis in our case:



Press Enter two times; the result of this will be changing to the new folder:



Now, you can reissue the earthmis\earth() command above (you can even leave the foldername and just use earth()) and the game will now start. (Note that you’ll need to start the game and control jumping with the 2nd button in the game; not, say, Enter. This is pretty understandable if you take into account that this button is pretty much in the same line as the D-pad, unlike Enter.).

There is another very important thing you MUST master: copying the files off the RAM to the flash ROM.

2.2.3 Using the built-in flash ROM to store programs / data

As with all mobile platforms, dynamic memory (RAM) is very scarce and really precious. There is only 192 kbytes of RAM in the TI-89, which fills in REALLY fast, particularly if you (try to) run games. (If you encounter problems when you try to run something, it will most likely be caused by the shortage of RAM). Therefore, you MUST master backing up your files to the built-in flash ROM of your device. There is much more flash ROM than RAM.

To do this, go back to the already-known VAR-LINK mode, select the files in RAM to be moved to flash (in the F5: All menu), press F1:Manage and select 8:Archive variable:

http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007T...veVriable1.png

The filenames will, now, be prefixed with the icon, which means the files are no longer in RAM:



You can easily check whether the transfer to the flash ROM has indeed succeeded. To do this, you’ll need to use the memory applet – another very important applet you need to master with all programmable calculators so that you can see how much dynamic (program) / static (flash ROM storage) memory you still have.

2.2.4 Checking the available RAM / flash ROM size

To do this, just press 2nd + 6 (MEM). In there, look for the two numbers at the bottom right (the cursor is just below them):



The “RAM free 195852” means you have the full (factory) available RAM at your disposal; the “Flash ROM free 631482” means some 20k of files are already in the flash ROM of the device (that is, in this case, the emulator).

Finally, let me elaborate on how you can export files from the desktop emulator to the file system of your desktop computer. If you, for example, write a program in the emulator (see Chapter 17: Programming in the official manual on how programs need to be entered in the emulator) and save it as, say, omaapp2 (as can be seen in here), you’ll need to select F3:Link and, then, 1: Send. The desktop Windows OS will present a file save dialog, where you can rename the file before saving and also select its target directory):



(Note the ‘p’ in the .89p extension. As opposed to assembly programs, which end up in z, BASIC programs created using the built-in program editor end in p. Also note that the different file extensions are also listed HERE and HERE.)

2.2.5 Other apps / games to try

As far as games are concerned, you can also give a try to Aspirin v3.0 (a small but pretty nice and indeed addictive game), CalcRogue (an interesting RPG; remember to transfer ONLY the contents of the binTI89 to the calculator, without the contents of the Titanium subdirectory), Calcwars (also see Advance Wars for the Game Boy Advance; must be started with ttstart("cwdata")) etc. There are TONS of other games in the Games subcategories of the TI-89 archive of ticalc.org (for example, here’re the assembly language (meaning fast) ones and here’re the BASIC ones (slower).

The same stands for applications / math libraries. There’re virtually thousands of such apps for example here (assembly math) and here (BASIC math). If you have the time, I REALLY recommend looking around in all the subfolders of the ticalc.org TI-89 library - it’s really worth it! There’re even (simple) Java Virtual Machines for the calculators - let alone goodies like Telnet apps or (Lynx-like) Web browsers.

In addition, you’ll want to take a look at CalcG.org. Much as, in general, it has fewer titles, it has some really interesting goodies (and an online forum – ticalc.org’s mail list archives are currently down); for example, this StarCraft article (unfortunately, without any downloads).

Finally, there are some (very few) official Flash programs on TI’s pages themselves.

Now that you know how to use the desktop version, let’s move on to the mobile port.

2.3 The Windows Mobile port

2.3.1 Getting and installing the mobile version

The mobile version, VTI Pocket Emulator v2.4, which, more or less, is a direct port of Rusty Wagner’s original on the desktop, is ported by Daniel Galano (see his personal page HERE) to Windows Mobile and is accessible HERE.

Installing it is pretty straightforward: decompress the ZIP archive and start the only EXE file inside. It’ll install the emulator through ActiveSync. As with the desktop version, you’ll need to copy the ROM(s) of the calculator(s) you’d like to use to the home directory of the emulator.

Having a dedicated installer, you can start the emulator right from the Programs, by clicking the VTI Pocket Emulator icon.



Note that you won’t want to use it in Landscape (there wouldn’t be much point in doing so as, for example, you can’t use slide-out / clamshell key/thumboards anyway) because of the major GUI bitmap problems (tested on ALL my test device, VGA and QVGA, old and new - behaved the same).

Swapping ROM’s can be done in File / Select ROM as can be seen in here. Upon swapping a ROM, the corresponding skin will also be auto-loaded as can be seen in here. (Note that skins except for that of the TI-89 are all pretty blurred.)

2.3.2 Differences between the desktop and the mobile version; problems with the latter; tips

There are some major differences between the original and the ported version. They are as follows:

1. The mobile version can’t load external files and can’t save programs you enter yourself / variables you’d like to be saved. This means the only way to transfer programs / data in either direction is using the <romname>.sav files (for example, with the official TI-89 upgrade ROM, os.sav) it automatically saves its state to upon exiting and restoring the state upon restarting / reloading a given ROM BIOS. That is, you WILL need to use the desktop version to transfer external apps to state saves.
2. Because the aspect ratio of the original calculator might be around 10:3 as opposed to the 4:3 aspect ratio of (most) Windows Mobile devices, the original button layout isn’t preserved – the uppermost three row buttons are relocated to the right of the screen, which can be pretty annoying if you’re got used to the original button layout.
3. It’s FAR slower than the desktop emulator, even on very fast WM devices. That is, it’s completely useless for gaming. For “traditional” uses, however, it may be OK (albeit, for example, graphing functions are REALLY slow – even the most simple ones. Just try entering graph sin(x) on a mobile device and see how slow graphing is – it’s decidedly faster on desktop devices).
4. Unfortunately, Windows Mobile hardware buttons can’t be used to speed up input (see the way the Alt / Ctrl keys are used on the desktop emulator to dramatically speed up invoking second/third functionality). However, built-in keyboards / the D-pad work on most devices. An exception is the HTC Universal, where attempts to use external / internal keyboards resulted in an almost immediate address error / privilege violation error. With the HTC Wizard (which also has a built-in thumbboard), I’ve encountered no similar problems. As far as the D-pad support is concerned, it’s only with the Dell Axim x51v (A12 ROM) that the D-pad didn’t work and trying to use it resulted in an immediate crash. With most (all?) of my other test devices, D-pad worked OK.

In addition to the problems outlined above, you MUST refrain from entering any data at a fast pace on the native GUI of the emulator, especially on (comparatively) slower devices. If you enter data too fast, the last entered button will be endlessly repeated upon subsequent key presses as if the last key were stuck. This (and the fact that you will need to slow down the pace you enter your data) can be pretty annoying.

2.3.3 Transferring files from / to the desktop version

As has already been pointed out, unlike on the desktop, it’s not possible to directly import an external program (data file) into the emulator, and you can’t export anything either. For example, if you select F3 / 1:Send in VAR-LINK (the way of directly exporting files / data to the file system in the target desktop), the mobile version just hangs. However, this isn’t really a problem if you do have the desktop version of the emulator on your desktop computer.

Then, all you need to do is making sure you do save the internal state of the calculator when exiting (that is, after right-clicking the skin, select the Exit and save internal state when exiting the emulator) and, then, just copy the newly created .sav state file to the Windows Mobile handheld. It’ll make use of it without any problems.

The same states for file transfers in the opposite direction. While the WM version doesn’t support selecting between exiting with and without state saving, when you exit the program, it does save the state. That is, if you need to export a program you’ve written / dataset you’ve created on your WM-based emulator, just copy over the .sav state file from the home directory of the emulator to your desktop emulator, and use the latter to export the file / data to the local file system as a non-sav, self-standing file.

All in all, if you need to import any kind of file into the mobile version, you must do this in the dekstop version and just pass on the state save (os.sav with the official TI-89 ROM) file to the mobile version.

2.4 The feature / comparison chart

As usual, I’ve created a feature / comparison chart so that you’ll have an easier time checking whether a given model is emulated under the desktop / mobile Windows, what hardware features (most importantly, screen and RAM/ROM size) it has, whether it supports CAS, where its ROM BIOS can be downloaded from etc. It’s available HERE. Don’t forget to check it out!

Note that the chart doesn’t include discontinued / superseded models: the TI-92 (1995; replaced by the TI-92 Plus (and later the Voyage 200), TI-80 (1995; replaced the much superior TI-73 and is, due to its proprietary CPU, is NOT emulated by any emulators), TI-85 (1992; replaced the superior and backwards compatible (!) TI-86), TI-81 (1990; replaced by all newer models; few additional apps because the programs needed to be entered by hand – this calculator had no linking capabilities).

Also note that TI’s official comparison chart only lists the four most current models (TI-83 Plus, TI-84 Plus, TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, TI-89 Titanium), unlike my chart.

3. What other TI emulators are available?

Not many: only the old TI-59 is emulated, which will be only of interest to retro freaks. Yeah, I loved the TI-59 back in the early 1980’s (before getting the Sharp PC-1500, which did blow out everything out of water) but, now, it’s really-really worse than any of the current TI graphing calculators.

The Windows Mobile emulator is available HERE. It, as with Daniel Galano / Rusty Wagner’s TI-8x emulator, uses a desktop installer. Note that the installer puts the direct link to the executable (when installed to the main storage, \Program Files\alainza\ TI59ce\ TI59ce.exe) to the Games folder of the traditional Programs.

Note that, much as Michu’s excellent Emupage lists MBA-Calc by Odyssey Computing, Inc. as a TI BAII PLUS emulator, it isn’t one. Odyssey Computing has two business (non-graphing) calculator titles for the desktop and handheld Windows; the newer and much more recommended BizCalc and the older MBA-Calc. These are NOT emulators.

Finally, still speaking of Michu’s Emupage, it lists another Windows Mobile version, “PocketPC v2.5 (with SkinEditor)”. It’s nothing else than the desktop VTI – that is, don’t run to download it.

4. Other links of interest

Long VTI Pocket Emulator v2.4-related comments thread at ticalc.org

FreewarePPC’s and PocketPCFreewares’ comments. Note that you will want to take PocketPCFreewares’ original comments with a HUGE pile of salt as they refer to a very old version, v2.4Beta, released early 2004. Also, some of the user comments at FreewarePPC are pretty misleading – do NOT necessarily believe what you read there!


TI-89, TI-89 Titanium, TI-92+ and Voyage 200 FAQ ("Can I run this game on my calculator even though it was written for a different calculator? What is AMS (Advanced Mathematical Software)? Can I play TI-89 games on my TI-89 Titanium?")

Poll: Favorite Calculator (1st: TI-84+ (SE); 2nd: TI-89 (Ti))

All the desktop emulator software

[Menneisyys]

Hewlett-Packard’s calculator series, while in no way as popular or standardized as the emulators of Texas Instruments (please see THIS for the one and only COMPLETE overview of emulating the latter calculators on Windows Mobile), indeed have their place under the sun. What is more, they have way better emulators under Windows Mobile that TI.

Note that, as with the above-linked TI article, you may want to read this roundup and actively follow the for example Wiki links. Higher-end HP calculators (as with those of TI) can easily be better than any native calculator and/or unit converter on Windows Mobile (WM for short), let them be traditional touchscreen-enabled Pocket PC's (Windows Mobile 6 Professional / Classic models) or no-touchscreen Smartphones (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) devices. Furthermore, which should also be taken into account, the majority of these emulators can freely be used (as opposed to mostly commercial native WM calculators) – with the highest-end HP models even when you don’t actively own the original calculator. I provide you with all the necessary manual links so that you can easily find out more information on a given model – that is, you don’t even need to own the (original) manuals. Hats off to HP (as opposed to TI) for being so generous and providing the ROM image of their best calculators and allowing for using them even if you don’t own the original calculator!

As usual with most of my roundups, you simply won't find a better, more thorough source of the subject. This is particularly true of my first-hand information on MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) compliance. That is, if you're lucky enough to have a newer, high-resolution (QVGA) Smartphone and look for a decent calculator compatible with your device, make sure you read this article - you won't find "hacking" tips like these anywhere else.

Let’s start with the most popular 48/49 series, which many consider even better than the top-of-the-line Texas Instruments calculator series, the TI-89.

1. Emulating HP-38G/39/40G/48GX/48SX/49G

The HP-48 and HP-49 series are no doubt the best calculators ever manufactured by HP. They are not only graphing calculators, but also support CAS (read THIS for more info on this very subject). Should you want, in addition to, say, the Wiki pages, a guide to the different models and their target audience, also check out hpcalc.org’s Calculator Buying Guide.

Also note that, in 2000, HP ACO allowed the use of the HP38, 39, 40, 48, 49 ROM's even if you're not an owner of this calculator type (see for example THIS for references); that is, you are free to use this emulator even if you don’t have the original calculator(s). This is great news, particularly given that the manuals of the calculators are also available online.

Fortunately, the Pocket PC emulation of all these models is very strong (no bugs, hi-res VGA support, object export/import supported on Windows Mobile too etc.), as opposed to that of TI calculators.

1.1 Download, installation, configuration

First, you must download and install the original Emu48CE (alternate download HERE; homepage HERE. Here, click Emu48CE on the left and, then, Downloads at the top.) Emu48 is THE emulator for these models. It’s so good some have even tried to sell it on Handango (needless to say, it’s free).

Make sure you install all the ROM’s you want to use on the when prompted as, by default, it only installs the 39G ROM’s as can be seen in HERE. Note that you MUST untick the “Install Emu48 on PDA (required)” checkbox as can be seen in here (it also shows I’ve enabled installing all the other ROM’s). (If you forget to untick this checkbox, don’t try to click the newly created GNU Emu48CE icon in Start/Programs. Instead, just go to Start/Settings/System, click Remove Programs and select "GNU Emu48CE V1.23". Click Remove and, then, Yes.)

Note that the ROM files are installed by separate CAB installers; therefore, you won’t want to automatically dismiss the “Please check your mobile device screen” dialog of the desktop ActiveSync installer before the installation of each module is finished to avoid messed-up installment (for example, ROM images installed to the built-in storage instead of the storage card because the default setting under WM5+ is the latter).

Now, go to the Christoph Giesselink’s (the leader of the emulation project) homepage HERE. You’ll need to download at least (two if you have a QVGA device) two files:

1. E48MB113 (should the direct link be broken, just go back to the homepage and look for something like “The executable package of Emu48 v1.13 for Pocket PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003 (SE) and 5.0 (ARM platform).”, where 1.13 will be increased.
2. the ZIP file linked at the end of the description of the same program (“Already patched KML files (from Emu48CE without bitmaps) can be found here.”)

Decompress the contents of both ZIP files. Copy the decompressed files to the home directory of the emulator (it’s \Program Files\Emu48 when installed to the main storage – note that you will want to prefer installing the emulator to storage cards on models with little built-in storage because the ROM images take up a lot of memory). Make sure you overwrite ALL the original KML files!

Now, on a file explorer tool (for example, the built-in File Explorer) go to the same director right on your handheld and tap the just, manually transferred Emu48.ARM.CAB. This will create a new, Emu48 icon in Start/Programs (with WM5+ devices; with pre-WM5 ones, it’ll be right in the Start menu) – you can tap it right away.

Upon starting the emulator (or, when you choose File / New), you’ll be offered the choice of selecting a new so-called 'KML script'. I’ll elaborate on these scripts a bit more later; now, suffice it to say that they tell Emu48 which ROM to load and what keyboard bitmap to use. Note that the default files are optimized for QVGA (I’ll elaborate on VGA issues later) and most of the titles also contain the emulated model version; that is, it’ll be pretty easy to select one. (Of course, you can always experiment with the alternatives as the more popular and recent calculator models (48/49) have more than one KML file, all with different layout. That is, do experiment with them - it's certainly worth it.)

Let’s assume you want to emulate the 49G; therefore, let’s select one of the alternatives, “HP49G for Emu48”:



Now, click the OK button at the top right of the dialog (to the left of the X button). If nothing seems to happen, repeat this. You’ll be presented the results of the script compilation; if everything is OK, you’ll also see no error messages at the bottom of the scrollable text area and another OK button. The GUI loads and you can start working right away.

The KML script compilation process may encounter problems, particularly if you download additional KML scripts. You will want to do the latter to, for example, have a high-resolution VGA button layout on your VGA handheld, not just a low-resolution, ugly, blocky QVGA one. The two most common errors are the lack of the ROM file to load and the lack of the keyboard bitmap files:

When the ROM is missing, you will get the error message “This KML Script doesn't specify the ROM to use, or the ROM could not be loaded.”. If you don’t want to do some blind guesswork, just look into the associated KML file (with “HP49G for Emu48”, it’s in the file hp49.kml – just look for the “Title” at the top of each KML file to quickly find the associated source file) and look for the section defining the ROM; that is, the Rom parameter in the Global group at the top:



This states that, for the KML file to work, it needs a "ROM.49G" file in the same directory. Look around for the file – for example, reinstall it using the Emu48CE installer.

Missing bitmap files, for example, the lack of a “hp49.bmp.png” file in the home directory of Emu48, will result in receiving the compile error “Cannot Load Bitmap hp49.BMP” Fixing this problem, in general, only involves reinstallation and/or Googling for the given BMP layout file.

Finally, you may also encounter warnings (NOT fatal errors! That is, the compilation succeeds!) like “Patch BEEP.49G is Wrong or Missing”. These warnings can safely be ignored as these beep files only add beeping capability to the emulator – something you don’t necessarily want. If you DO need these files, however, you may find them all in the official, free HP SDK (details HERE, should the direct link refuse working) and copy emu\beep.48 / emu\BEEP.49G to the home directory of the emulator. Note that, alternatively, you can also find these beep files in the additional VGA skins, explained in the following section.

1.2 Additional KML files (a must for VGA users!)

The default keyboard skins coming with Emu48CE are QVGA only. If you have a VGA device, you’ll need to download the following skins:

Wombat3 for 48 SX and GX
HP49VGA for 49g

Just unZIP these files and transfer all the KML and bitmap files to the home directory of the emulator. After this, upon selecting a new KML file, you’ll also be shown these files as can be seen in HERE (Beemer’s 49G skin) and HERE (the Wombat3 GX skin). In action, they are indeed very cool as can be seen for example in HERE and HERE. Much prettier than low-res QVGA skins, aren’t they?

Note that if you don’t like the original (white) Wombat3 48GX script, you can also give a try to the dark, much more "natural" Juan Pardo scripts HERE. It’s not only more “natural”, but also contains some new, useful buttons in the upper left area of the screen. Example screenshot HERE.

There are several Landscape skins too (unfortunately, not in VGA – that is, for example HTC Universal / Athena users are left in cold. By default, the VGA skins aren’t Landscape-compliant.)

1.3 Usage

After all the hurdles of the installation (and, if you’re a VGA user, the additional installation of VGA skins), you can rejoice: the rest is much easier and there are no known problems with the emulator running on a Pocket PC (WM Classic / Professional), unlike with the TI emulator.

If, on the other hand, you only have a MS Smartphone, don’t expect much: while (after manually extracting and installing the files) the emulator itself starts, you can’t go any further from the KML selector screen (tested on the QVGA HTC Vox in both orientation modes; screenshot HERE and HERE).

The emulators can be used in exactly the same way as the original calculator. The only difference is the lack of the “physical” expansion like SD cards / connectivity. However, there is connectivity emulation in the emulator.

1.3.1 What if you don’t know the original calculators?

The documentation / manuals of all these models are available online. See the following links:

49G+ / 48II docs

It’s also linked from this generic page, with manuals of previous models too (note that the HP39 link doesn’t work; use the one HERE instead). I especially recommend the HP48 manual HERE if you’d like to more closely learn more about the system. Note that, however, you don’t necessarily need to read it; my tutorial will be sufficient to get you started and even load third party apps into the emulator. Only check it out if you really want to learn more about these excellent calculators.

1.3.2 Uploading third-party software in the emulator

Get the software title, start the emulator, make sure it doesn’t do anything and, in the desktop version grab the binary distribution (it’s, in most cases, ends in .lib file) to the emulator image. In the Windows Mobile version, select Edit / Load Object and select the file. Note that as, on Windows Mobile, Emu48 uses the system-level, default file dialog box, you may want to put your files in either \My Documents or in the root / the first subdirectory of your storage cards in order to be seen. Alternatively, you may want to install Mad Programmer’s free, excellent File Dialog Changer as is explained in for example HERE. In here, I’ll go on with showing you desktop Windows screenshots; after loading an object, it must be saved into the local memory using exactly the same steps as on the desktop Windows.

In this example, I show how the single PSYCH13.lib file of the HP-48GX version of Psychro needs to be deployed.

To make absolutely sure a given program file can be deployed in the emulator with simple (object) drag and drop, look into the beginning of the file. If it is indeed binary and starts with HPHP as for example in this example:



then, it’s compatible with this transfer model. (Otherwise, for other types of resources like additional GIF files with, say, games like the 48 port of Prince of Persia, you must use the MUCH more complicated terminal emulation. I don’t elaborate on the latter as most math libraries – the files that you most probably want to run, as opposed to games – come as standard LIB files deployable this way.)

After dragging, you’ll see something like THIS.

Now, you will need to store the uploaded program in one of the so-called “ports”. It’s how HP refers to different memory types. Port 2 is, for example, the emulated SD cards in the 49G+ (and the 50G), the highest-end 49-series model(s). With other devices, only port 0 and 1 are accessible; of the two, you’ll want to use the latter.

To do this, just press 1 and, then, STO (the second button in the second row on the 48GX). The stack list will be cleared, showing the object was indeed saved.

Now, switch off the device (the green button and ON; both are at the bottom right) and, then, again on (the lower left ON button). Press the green button again and, then, 2 (LIBRARY). You should see the title “PSYCH” in the title area at the bottom (also see where the mouse cursor stands in the screenshot!). You can click it (two times) to start it (screenshot of the running app HERE).

You can add a lot of other apps in the same way: when no program runs, just drag-and-drop the program, click 1 and STO, switch off and on the machine and voila: the new program is ready to run and listed in the Library section, next to earlier deployed libraries (screenshot of running HERE).

1.3.3 Downloading additional software

The best source of additional software is the archives of hpcalc.org. See THIS for HP48 and THIS for HP49 software.

Just an example of some famous libraries directly deployable on a 48 (from the Symblic Math category)

Erable 3.024
ALG48 4.2

In addition, there are other pages to acquire software from; for example, that of Savage Transcendental Studios. This page contains some additional database / Japanese studying 48GX/49G(+) apps. Some of them are simple libraries (for example, the 48G version of Kana Tutor and Psychro), which can be loaded straight into the desktop emulator via simple drag-and-dropping and, to the Windows Mobile one, by simple object importing. These programs are also accompanied with PDF files explaining how this needs to be done.

2. HP-41; dedicated website

There is only one, free emulator to emulate these old, alphanumeric calculators, eV41. It’s currently at version 0.93 and it’s highly unlikely it’ll be developed further (it was last modified over five years ago). Not that it’d be THAT important: for example, it supports loading user code even in current form.

Note that in order to access the WM version, you’ll need to register yourself! Also note that this distro also contains the desktop Windows emulator.



Fortunately, using this emulator is pretty straightforward and there are no known problems / bugs running it on any platform, except for the lack of Landscape (don’t try relying on scrolling because, as with the TI emulator, it’ll result in bitmap problems as can be seen in HERE) and Smartphone (a “hacked” version of ev41 doesn’t find some DLL) support.

3. HP17B/17BII/19BII/27S/28S/42S: emu42

(current desktop and Pocket PC version: 1.09 and 1.08, respectively; note that the page at hp42s.com lists OLD versions. HERE is the manual.)

As with later calculators (the above-introduced emu48 and the HP38/39/40/48/49), there is an all-in-one emulator for the HP 17B, 17BII, 27S, 28S (1988, semi-graphical: 137*32), 42s (weaker Wiki page HERE; released in 1989; still WAY worse than the TI-89 – for example, no real graphing).

It uses exactly the same approach to KML files / skinning as emu48; that is, if you do read the emu48-related first chapter, then, you won’t have problems deploying for example new, additional skins from the homepage (for example, the VGA 42S skin, SKN42SMV - since version 1.02, it also supports VGA resolution). Fortunately, as opposed to Emu48, it requires no tricks when installing – no need to manually copying KML files etc.

Note that, unlike with Emu48CE, you must download the ROM’s from your calculators manually – they aren’t available on the Web (don’t even try to run a Web search for the ROM names in the KML files.) If this is a problem and you need to emulate the 42s, I have some great news for you: there is another 42s emulator, Free42, which does not require a ROM image.

4. HP42s: Free42 1.4.36.

As has already been mentioned, as opposed to Emu42 discussed in the previous chapter, this emulator does not require a ROM image and may be used even if you aren’t a rightful owner of the original emulator.

There are two versions of the emulator: decimal and binary. The latter is much faster but, because of the internal representation differences, may not work with some legacy applications. If this is not a problem, install the binary version (copy and execute it there to install). Also see the section “What's the deal with the "Decimal" and "Binary"?” in the README.txt coming enclosed in the ZIP archive. The two versions can co-exist without problems on the same machine and, therefore, you can always go back to the decimal version, should a given application refuse running.


(the same with the “realistic” skin, which is pretty blurred because of the low resolution)

Note that, as with the ROM’s, the original, official manual of the 42s isn’t available on the Web either (as opposed to the 39G/40G (CAS)/41C/48G/49G+ series with manuals online); however, there’s an unofficial ‘fan’ manual HERE. The latter manual is very easy to understand – actually, I’ve found it much easier to comprehend than HP’s official manual.

Compatibility-wise, you can use the numeric keys of devices with built-in keyboard. It’s not compatible with the Landscape mode. It’s capable of importing / exporting programs. And, finally, good news for QVGA Smartphone users: if you copy the executable file(s) (after manually extracting it/them from the CAB file(s)) to your phone, it’ll run flawlessly. The numeric (phone) keys will work OK; for the rest of the keys to access, you’ll need a cursor emulator like SPHelper. Example screenshot or it, running on my HTC Vox / s710 (the cursor is that of SPHelper):



Of course, this only applies to QVGA Smartphones - traditional (176*220) models will only show part of the skin and are, consequently, useless.

5. HP-16C

This calculator, mainly meant for computer programmers needing for example binary / hexa conversions, was manufactured between 1982 and 1989. Also see THIS for an intro to this model. It only has one emulator, CP16 (direct download links HERE); the current version is 0.326.

Installing and using this emulator is pretty easy: you download the above-linked ZIP file, extract cp16_ppc.exe from it, transfer it to your Windows Mobile device and start it from File Explorer (you can, of course, put a link to it into \Windows\Start Menu\Programs).



Compatibility-wise, it’s not Smartphone-compliant. It has built-in support for Landscape (View / Landscape); for it to work, you must start the calculator in Portrait mode because the emulator only rotates the GUI for itself, not on the OS level. This also means you won’t be able to use it in left-handed Landscape mode (the native mode for the Universal, Wizard, TyTN / Hermes and all other Pocket PC’s with a slide-out keyboard) unless you use a third-party hack to rotate the Portrait screen with 180 degrees before starting.

6. HP-10B Plus (business), HP-12C (financial; is still being manufactured (since 1981)) and HP-15C (advanced scientific)

I elaborate on these three calculator models in the same chapter because they are emulated by very similar, commercial emulators by Lygea Calculators. They are self-standing applications meaning you won't need to hunt for / download ROM images.

These emulators are as follows:

Pocket 10B SE Business Calculator 2.0; ($19.95) (WM6 VGA screenshot)

Pocket 12C SE Financial Calculator 1.61; $23.95 (WM6 VGA screenshot)

Pocket 15C SE Scientific Calculator 1.22; $20.95; WM6 VGA screenshot:



Using and the compatibility / features of these three emulators are pretty similar. For example, all of them support the Landscape orientation (example of the 10B emulator HERE) and use hi-res on VGA devices and, generally, look “cool”.

Note that all these emulators store their resolution-dependent resource DLL’s into \Windows, which isn’t the best news for users of some non-native WM5 models updated to WM5; for example, the HP iPAQ hx4700. Unfortunately, relocating these files to the app’s home directory won’t work (haven’t tested the same with relocating to another directory on the System Path - it might work).

Smartphone compliance-wise, the hacked (EXE + DLL’s in \Windows) version, unfortunately, doesn’t display the three bottom icons for going further (and clicking around won’t help either). That is, while you can enter the reg. number (with a cursor emulator like SPHelper), you just can’t go further. This means no (hackable) Smartphone compliance.

6.1 Pocket BizCalc by Odyssey Computing, Inc. 4.0.09

The 12C is also emulated by Pocket BizCalc by Odyssey Computing, Inc. It’s pretty OK and considerably cheaper ($14.95) (but much uglier, non-Landscape-compliant and not making advantage of hi-res resolutions) than the Lygea emulator.



Note that Michu’s Emupage only lists the H/PC and the Palm-size PC versions. You won’t want to get any of them: the H/PC version has major screen rendering problems (for example, the original LCD screen is invisible; see THIS and THIS if interested) and the latter is MIPS / SH3-only; that is, it won’t work on ARM devices, meaning any PPC2k2+ Pocket PC’s manufactured in the last 5-6 years.

Also see HPC:Factor’s review HERE if interested.

Smartphone compatbility-wise, after manually extracting and transferring the pbizcalc.exe file to the QVGA smartphone, it’s more or less usable. However, the right and the bottom side of the GUI will be hidden. This, unfortunately, means the multiply, addition, substraction, division and addition operations (along with some more advanced memory operations) won’t be available to “click” via a cursor emulator like SPHelper. (Screenshot HERE)

7. HP-10B II (Business; Wiki stub)

A similar (but definitely weaker – see below!) calculator, Moravia Advanced Financial Calculator 1.0 (direct Emupage download link; can’t be found on PenReader’s homepage any more), is available (but, given that PenReader doesn’t seem to support it any more, it’s rather dubious whether it’s worth paying for).



As can be seen, this calculator is definitely inferior to the original one – just compare the functionality it offers to that of the original (see the buttons in the screenshot above and those of the originals at the MyCalcDB page. It’s not a 10B emulator either (see the original page HERE).

Smartphone compliance-wise, if you extract the one and only EXE file from the original CAB file, it’ll run flawlessly on QVGA models in Portrait mode as can be seen in the following screenshot (just press the Action button when you’re shown the license agreement to get rid of it):



Unfortunately, you must use a cursor emulator even for inputting numbers – the numeric keys won’t work. And, of course, don’t expect compatibility with traditional 176*220 Smartphones either because of the skin size (screenshot).

8. What next?

This is the second instalment in my thorough article series on Windows Mobile calculators, the one on Texas Instruments calculators being the first. I'll soon publish the third instalment on native (non-emulator) Windows Mobile titles. Stay tuned

9. Other discussions of HP emulators

Some links for readers wanting to know what others think about the emulators.

Hp 48g/48g+/48gx/49g/49g+/49gx

Tutorial: HP48G calculator on your Axim.

Emu98CE; also quickly elaborates on emulating other HP models

Engineering Software

HP48 Emulator with 2003?

Cool! HP48GX Emulater


RPN Calculator (also discusses other, earlier HP models)

Need a recommendation for a calculator (mostly on other, non-HP models)

Graphing calculator - advice?? (mostly on TI’s calculators)

good scientific calculator... (generic)

Graphing Calculator for Axim? (generic)

Calculator Software

Math apps! (Calc. Emulators, Plotting, Physics, etc.) - PLease! (generic; note that the VGA 49 link doesn’t work any more)

Calculators (general; mostly about TI)