Marriage of two factoids:

1) I'm given to understand that HP is releasing portions
of MPE/iX source code to the public.

2) I'm given to understand that HP is going to drop usage
of HP-IB as of MPE/iX release 6.5.

SO, if someone wanted to continue development and support
of HP-IB, they could have the code NOW (soon) that supports
HP-IB, tweak it so it becomes a bolt-on, then be able to SELL
back as a 3rd Party utility for MPE/iX 6.5 and above?

All that remains is for someone to give it a product name.
For example, as I recall when MPEX started, the name for
MPE-Extended.  If VESoft took the lead on this and
developed a new product called

"MPEH" or "MPE/iX(H)" or "HP-IB/3000" or "MPE+IEEE"

If Quest decided to pick it up, they could call it:

"HPIB/Spool" or "IEEE/Spool" (for HP-IB printers only)
or "NB/HP-IB" (for remote HP-IB devices).

If ROC or Orbit decided to pick it up, they could call it:
"HPIB/Runner" or "Backup+/HPIB" (for those old tape drives).

Tracy M. Johnson
TRW Automotive Electronics