Newbie, questions on missing MMBasic commands and upgrading firmware

PicoCalc
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hello!

An intro:

Retired airline pilot and HP fan. Have restored and programmed many HP calculators through the years (1979 ->) including RPN, RPL, Prime, Forth, Fortran, Basic, Pascal, AlgolW (yuck).

Created Aviation based programs, code for various machines and presented at Conferences (HHC and HPPC) since 2009.

Currently, since I retired completing a PhD in paleoclimate sciences based on my MSc from 1984.

Now to the PicoCalc. Assembly went perfectly, especially since I have been restoring electronics for years. Wonderfull environmental form and love the green screen. Although I see I may be able to change it to an Amber font on black screen emulating my first computer (8088) with an Amdek amber screen.

As stated a Phenomenal machine. Just arrived and questions. No need for explanations but simply pointing me to the correct reference would be appreciated.

  1. Any tutorials on connecting and then upgrading the firmware, let’s say a get started manual?

  1. I noticed some posts with the upgraded 6.00 firmware, mine has the shipped 5.09.00RC5 and conflict with the STM chip for the querty keyboard. Has this been fixed?

  2. Also it appears that I need to add the correct firmware file to the SD card by copying it from the site to the laptop to the card. Then port the card to the picocalc. Does the picocalc recognize the new file at start up or do I need to copy it to the A; drive from the B: (card) drive.

  3. On MMBasic I noticed some commands that HPBasic had but are not available here. On my 71B I would create Lex files to substitute for the missing commands but realize I would have to create subroutines (functions) to simulate the missing commands.

  • in particular a FRAC and INT function set. Given a number aaa.bbbb I would like to store it complete, then break it into the fractional (bbbb) and the integer segment (aaa). Easy enough to do but it appears that the FIX function will truncate to the INT. Is there a FRAC function?

  • I do a lot of programming with time calculations. Grabbing the real time in HH.mmss and converting to decimal hours and vice versa. Same with degrees minutes and seconds. Again looks like these would be subroutines (functions).

  • is there a catalog or library of these routines compiled somewhere like the old HP PPC magazine.

So you can see, a real newbie to this system.

In a nutshell,

  • looking for a step by step guide for upgrading the firmware which includes best options for Windows 11, to PicoCalc with the BASIC as the resident code.

  • source for ready made subroutines to augment the mmbasic.

  • the ability to upgrade to the lates mmbasic without keyboard quirks.

Long post,

If the above requests are not available then I would be interested in creating them as I have done with other operating systems.

Cheers, Geoff (in Vancouver (White Rock), Canada

At the moment:

Windows 11, Putty for communication, PicoCalc version 5.09.00RC5 (arrived from production this Jun 20250.

  • I have Putty installed and have both the picocalc and putty handshaking and am able to use the laptop as the editor for programming.
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To answer your questions in order:

  1. The PicoMite manual has the procedure for updating. It’s really simple in Windows: First, go to Releases · madcock/PicoMiteAllVersions and download the latest version. Connect a USB data cable to the smaller, recessed port, not the larger one. Look through the cooling grid on the back of the Pico You’ll find a tiny button inside (the case has the word RESET with an arrow molded in but it’s so small you might miss it. Once you find the button, use a thin object to hold it down. Turn on the machine while the button is down. A new window will appear on your screen. drag and drop the file you downloaded. There will be a pause in copying but eventually the file will be copied. Once it is, the window will disappear, the machine will reboot and the message Firmware Updated will show on the PicoCalc screen. Disconnect the USB cable and you’re done.

  2. Yes, the keyboard problem has been fixed. To get that file, see the instructions at PicoCalc/wiki/Setting-Up-Arduino-Development-for-PicoCalc-keyboard.md at master · clockworkpi/PicoCalc · GitHub

  3. You don’t need to copy anything to the SD card, although it’s a handy place to store it.

  4. INT(x) is like FLOOR(x) on some other systems. For just the integer part of a number, use FIX(x). The fractional portion of a number is just
    x - FIX(x).
    TIME$ returns HH:MM:SS so you can get the numeric time like so (leave off the VAL() to get strings):

Hours = Val(Left$(TIME$,2))
Minutes=Val(Mid$(TIME$,4,2))
Seconds=Val(Right$,TIME$,2))

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Thanks so much TomL

Have I seen you at the HPMuseum forum?

Managed to get the latest uf2 versions copied to a folder on my laptop; one for the Pico and another for the Pico 2.

Will be adding a rtc to the unit tomorrow and will flash also tomorrow,

Cheers

Geoff Quickfall (my HPMuseum name)

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For future reference you also don’t need to use the physical button on the Pico to put it into flashing mode.

If you can boot into an existing PicoMite firmware, simply type:
UPDATE FIRMWARE

The device will reboot and be in flash mode, and should appear as a drive on your windows system (when connected to the micro-USB port). If you decide you don’t want to flash firmware after all, you can just power cycle and be back where you were.

But I’m not entirely sure if that was supported in the old version of the firmware that shipped on the device. If the command didn’t exist then, it won’t hurt anything to try. All of the 6.00.02xx versions should support that firmware update command.

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I’d recommend looking at the PicoMite manual too:

And you’d probably be interested in TheBackShed. They’re a group of active PicoMite users along with the developer(s) of the software, but most of them do not have or use the PicoCalc, and the official software is not supported on PicoCalc. (There was drama when the PicoCalc was released, involving lack of copyright attribution, and general lack of communication, so let’s just say the PicoCalc is not their favorite device.) We’re using a port that started with a bit of a hack from Clockwork, and has slowly improved over time with some hacks of my own. :wink: The earlier versions had serious instability issues with the keyboard due to the odd timing requirements of the PicoCalc hardware, but that’s been sorted out for a while now. There have been various other improvements as well, including a faster display driver and a few custom commands. I hope to add a few more things soon, but I’ve been taking some time to actaully play with the thing and use it for some BASIC programs rather than just messign with the firmware itself.

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Fantastic news on the Update firmware command.

I guess that should work on the pico that was shipped with the current firmware so I will tr, but of course my pico 2 is factory fresh it will require the boot button to be pushed to engage flashing mode.

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Messing with things is the most fun. Be it firmware or the software or the language.

I beta tested for HP quite a few machines looking for bugs and this will be fun to play with also.

We’ll see how far I can take the aviation programs and databases. Maybe create something for the use on the flight deck.

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Hi, Geoff!
Yes, I haunt the HP forum. Good luck with the flashing!

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Yeah, I don’t think version 5.x shipped with the PicoCalc has the UPDATE FIRMWARE command. As you say, though, it can’t hurt to try.

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It does have the UPDATE FIRMWARE command. That’s how I updated to the 6.00 version on mine.

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Good to know. I never actually fired up 5.x. As soon as I got my PicoCalc, I swapped out the processor for a Pico 2W which had already been programmed with 06.00.02RC9

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Just upgraded my firmware to 6.00.02 using the “ update firmware “command.

My steps, and this was easy:

For the installed Arduino shipped with the package June 2025.

  • Open up two file folders on my laptop (windows 11)
  • Select file folder with updated PicoMite_PICO_V6.00.02RC23.uf2 (whatever is the newest) in one folder window.
  • Turn on PicoCalc
  • Type “ update firmware “ without the quotes on your PicoCalc at the prompt
  • Screen goes blank but green LED power on indication remains lit.
  • Connect with micro USB, the lower port on PicoCalc
  • Connect to laptop
  • Note new drive shows up as RP1-RP2
  • drag and drop the .uf2 file from it’s location to the RP1-RP2 drive
  • once downloaded to the PicoCalc RP1-RP2 drive the drive will automatically disconnect.
  • disconnect the PicoCalc
  • start the PicoCalc and it will show the new firmware in the usual place at the top of the screen.

Edited to placate ex IT instructors :slight_smile:

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Thank you for these instructions. They are nice and clear.
(Maybe change step 4 to indicate that typing “update firmware” should be on the PicoCalc keyboard. But that is nit picking from a former IT teacher.)

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Done and dusted!!!

Thanks :slight_smile: :winking_face_with_tongue:

You brought up a great point when it comes to manuals, pointers, check lists. Assumptions of knowledge should not be made. It is actually why i did this, I have done a plethora of reading about the PicoCalc and found most explanations were by level one (top) individuals who thought we were all at that level.

In aviation, and computing I have written many manuals and help guides assuming the lowest common denominator may be reading.

Cheers

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Likewise. I have written several text books, and how tos. (In fact I lost one of my biggest on-site support contracts because my client said that with my library of how-tos, he didn’t need me any more. :roll_eyes:)

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I had a company many years ago (1992) called Forensic Computing. I sniffed and recreated files from damaged hardrives. Then provided a binder with sections for recovering screen resolution when the client unadvisedly changed theirs to produce a black screen; boot disk, save disk and instructions to avoid calling me again.

I considered it a success when I no longer heard from them :slight_smile:

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Borrowing a picture from Kanata (with thanks):

Would someone confirm that this doctored photo by me is correct?

Thanks

Geoff

IMG_3761
IMG_3761777Ă—1015 234 KB

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If I follow your PicoMite update instructions I just get error messages about the I2C keyboard on the PicoCalc screen.

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I just tried that with a Pico 2W and firmware PicoMite_RP2350A_V6.00.02RC9.uf2, and after dropping the file into the RP1-RP2 folder nothing happens. The drive does not disconnect.

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At which point do you get the message?

Do you have the version which contains the “ update firmware” command shipped with your PicoCalc or the older version where the command is is not part of MM basic?

The “ update firmware “ command is not shipped on the older PicoCalc and you must use the reset selection button to have the Arduino pico recognized by your laptop as a drive.

Hope this helps, let me know.