An old german DOS software that emulates the external screen and floppy adapters for the Epson HX-20.
Basically a limited version of what these modern tools do:
- floppy.dd -> Disk image of the original floppy disk
- floppy.jpg -> Photo of the original floppy disk
- patch.sh -> Shell script that patches the original software and creates HXLINKP.COM
- HXLINK.COM -> Original version of the software
- HXLINK.SYS -> Config file for HXLink
- HXLINKP.COM -> Patched version of the software
I used DOSBox to run the software. I mapped my host serial port into the DOSBox with following setting:
serial1=directserial realport:ttyS0
You need to connect the HX-20 to your PC over the 5-pin serial cable, not the 8-pin RS-232 cable.
Enter BASIC on the HX-20 and use SCREEN1,0 to switch the text screen to external.
Now you can type on the HX-20 and see the characters appear on the DOS software.
Unfortunately, it seems as the graphic modes are not supported, only text mode.
Set the DIP switch 4 on the HX-20 to on.
The HX-20 will then try to load a modified version of BASIC over the serial port, when you enter BASIC on the HX-20.
Instead of EPSON BASIC it will read DISK BASIC.
You also need to configure HXLINK.SYS correctly, so you have a valid "A:" drive. For example create a folder named "HX20" in "C:" and configure HXLINK.SYS accordingly:
DriveA = C:\HX20
When everything is fine, you can use FILES, SAVE, LOAD in HX-20 BASIC and it should save and load over the serial port instead to tape.
The original software requires a dongle to be installed, which I don't have. Therefore I created a patch for the software, that disables these dongle checks.
The application seems to be compiled with Turbo Pascal 3.0. Together with the COM format, the binary results in having a rather unique structure.