Any 1.x HPT software is going to be for the serial cable and it was specific to each customer because the licenses were in the software. Every customer back then had their own unique software depending on the MY licenses they had purchased. Licensing was way different back then. I have every 1.x versions going back to V1.3 but it would only work with my serial cable which I still have too.
Does the early software allow one to load and save files without the serial cable attached?
Its not a matter of having the serial cable attached. It's if the particular user had bought a MY license for the vehicle the file is from and what version of HPT created the file. You could only open files from vehicles you had licenses for. 1.x only opened and saved files in .bin format. 1.x will not open a .hpt file created with any 2.x or newer version. 2.0 was the start of files saved in .hpt format. It has been a long time since I even used 1.7 which was the latest before 2.0 was released. 2.2 was the last version that would even work with a serial cable if I recall. I had all 98-02 F-body V8s and all 98-04 Vettes licensed with my serial cable. Again those licenses were in my software, not the cable. Every time you bought a MY license with the serial cable HPT would create a new custom software download for you with the new MY added.
If I need a .bin file today I use Tunercat OBD2 and read the PCM in test mode.
Thanks for the explanation. I have a clearer picture of how it works.
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