Re:HP 9825 Projects
by analog31 on Sunday June 13, 2021 @04:57PM
(#27496381)
I don't know the precise history, but the corporate decision to work on these self contained computers was the reason why Steve Wozniak left HP to found Apple Computer with Steve Jobs.
Still, paging through Byte Magazine and looking at all of the things that I couldn't afford at the time, the HP computers definitely seemed pretty cool to me, and I'm sure the quality of HP calculators lent to the appeal.
Re:HP 9825 Projects
by faoileag on Monday June 14, 2021 @03:15AM
(#27500139)
Funny enough, I think those things were never meant to be a "personal" computer. You could get quite a sophisticated external bus system for these ("field bus" I think) and that made them ideal for lab environments.
(I wanted the HP-87 since before the Series 80 became the standard issue computer in the great Brutalist&retro ambiance of the video game Control. I would be sure to get a HP-87 without any supernatural phenomena.)
Re:HP 9825 Projects
by CliffStoll on Sunday June 13, 2021 @09:05PM
(#27498195)
In 1980, I lived in Nanjing China, working at Purple Mountain Observatory, collaborating on understanding the rings of Uranus using occultation data. I brought along an HP-85 and it was just the thing for this kind of work: robust, reliable, easy to use, and capable. A full desktop computer, programmable in Basic. Other astronomers at the observatory used it for analysis of polar wandering and sunspot physics.
Still have the beast in my attic -- I wonder it'll run after 40+ years?
Re:HP 9825 Projects
by mech422 on Sunday June 13, 2021 @04:37PM
(#27496195)
I think for me it would probably be a Commodore 'Super Pet'..
What was it? like 5 languages in ROM? And a real monitor - not a wimpy lil 3" one like the kaypro's and osbornes had either! Back in my vic-20/c64 days, that sounded like pure luxury :-D
Re:HP 9825 Projects
by faoileag on Monday June 14, 2021 @03:20AM
(#27500164)
I finished one other project - playing "MasterMind" against the computer (you know, where you have to guess five colour pins) with output done on the internal little printer.
After that I had started one one other project (an 8085 assembly language simulator), when first the controller for the external 8'' floppy drive stopped working, effectively bricking it, and shortly after that the handful of tape cartridges I had. Mind you, at the time everything was 15 years old or so, so I couldn't really blame the equipment.
Re:HP 9825 Projects
by bluenose69 on Sunday June 13, 2021 @07:36PM
(#27497646)
I used one of those big machines (not this one) back in the day. But, for my money, the most beautiful calculator in history was the HP25 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-25). Clear keys, spaced for errorless entry, and with that wonderful levering action that made it unnecessary to look up at the display to see if you entered the number correctly. The key colours, sublime. And the back, shaped to perfection.
Re:HP 9825 Projects
by guenthert on Monday June 14, 2021 @12:46PM
(#27504839)
I wished they would have some hints regarding the applications of this "third generation desktop computer". Those things had 32KiB of RAM -- what were they using that for? Some felt even the need for a 32KiB RAM expansion. Clearly those were not used as desktop calculators, but what were they doing?
Re:HP 9825 Projects
by faoileag on Monday June 14, 2021 @03:12AM
(#27500117)
I once (1992?) calculated mandelbrot sets on one of these. 400x400, output to an external thermo printer as the one-line display had, well, only one line. With a calculation depth of 256 it took about 48 hours to produce one set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-eN93L6yX8&list=PL-_93BVApb...
Still, paging through Byte Magazine and looking at all of the things that I couldn't afford at the time, the HP computers definitely seemed pretty cool to me, and I'm sure the quality of HP calculators lent to the appeal.
http://www.oldcomputers.net/hp85.html
(I wanted the HP-87 since before the Series 80 became the standard issue computer in the great Brutalist&retro ambiance of the video game Control. I would be sure to get a HP-87 without any supernatural phenomena.)
Still have the beast in my attic -- I wonder it'll run after 40+ years?
If you decide to play with it, appears there's a community around them, including someone who made new ROM carrier PCBs.
Before powering it up, I don't know whether there's anything worth checking first (tin whiskers? flux capacitor?), but the community might?
Ouch. Right in the feels.
What was it? like 5 languages in ROM? And a real monitor - not a wimpy lil 3" one like the kaypro's and osbornes had either! Back in my vic-20/c64 days, that sounded like pure luxury :-D
A pinnacle of design.