HP 200Lx

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The HP 200LX (also known as Project Felix) is a personal digital assistant introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 1994. It was one of very few palmtops ever developed that was, with some minor exceptions, 100% MS-DOS compatible. Input was accomplished via a small QWERTY-keyboard with a numeric keypad, enclosed in a clamshell-style case, less than about 25% of the size of a standard notebook computer. The palmtop runs for about 30 to 40 hours on two size AA alkaline or Ni-Cd rechargeable cells and can charge batteries via a 12V DC wall adapter.

The 200LX has an Intel 80186 central processing unit which runs at ~ 7.91 megahertz (which can be upgraded or overclocked to up to 15.8 MHz) and 2 or 4MB of memory, of which 640KB is RAM and the rest can be used for EMS or memory-based storage space. Aftermarket updates can bring the memory chips to up to 64MB, which frees up the PCMCIA slot for modem or ethernet card use (Silicom and Accton 2212/2216 supported). Being IBM PC/XT compatible and running MS-DOS 5.0 from ROM, the HP 200LX could run virtually any program that would run on a full-size PC compatible computer as long as the code was written for the Intel 8086, 8088 or 80186 CPU and could run using CGA graphics. It could also run programs written for the 80286 CPU, provided they did not require protected memory. It has a 16-bit PCMCIA Type II expansion slot that supports 5V at 150mA maximum, a SIR compatible infrared port, and a full serial port (but with a proprietary mini connector for space constraint reasons).

The built-in software suite runs from ROM and includes Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, a calendar, a phone book, a terminal, Lotus cc:Mail and a capable scientific/business calculator (among other applications). With a large compactflash storage card and a serial mouse, even Microsoft Windows 3.0 can be run on the palmtop, although that is not practical. The 640x200 resolution CGA compatible 4-shade greyscale LCD screen has no backlight. An electroluminescent technology backlight installation is available from a third party since 2004, but keen eyesight is still required to use the small palmtop effectively without resorting to using its 2x and 4x zoom modes.

The HP 100LX (also known as Project Cougar) was the direct predecessor of the 200LX; almost the same, but with 1MB memory and earlier built-in application versions. It was based on the still earlier HP 95LX (introduced in 1991 and also known as project Jaguar), which had an Intel 8086 CPU and could not be considered truly PC-compatible because of its quarter-CGA resolution LCD screen.

The HP 1000CX was an economy version of the 200LX built without any built-in software except the MS-DOS 5.0 operating system in ROM. It was in widespread use among, for example, Coca-Cola warehouse managers, who loaded their own logististics software onto the machine. It had a black clamshell, while the 200LX used a dark green casing.

The HP 700LX was a project of the HP calculator branch in Singapore. The HP 700LX was essentially a 200LX redesigned to piggyback a Nokia 2110 GSM mobile telephone for wireless mobility. The 200LX motherboard was factory-modified to support a second PCMCIA slot for a Nokia Data Card. Owing to the relatively large size of the Nokia phone, the 700LX had a large, pebble-shaped casing, making it no longer a palmtop, but a handheld with the phone attached. The production of HP 700LX ceased soon after production, as the Nokia 2110 mobile telephone was rendered obsolete with the evolution of smaller and faster GMS mobile telephones.

Although this product line was discontinued by HP in order to introduce their Windows CE product line (starting with the HP 300LX), a strong interest in this hardware continues to this day, as it is the last palmtop from HP which ran the MS-DOS operating system. There is a thriving second-hand market for the machines, with prices in some cases exceeding the original list prices. The HP 200LX was a typical 'old school', engineering-driven American HP product with a lot of functionality. Most of its users are 'tech-savy' people, engineers, senior businessmen and the military. The device is solidly built and runs for many hours in daily use. A common problem with the 200LX is a weak point in its right screen open latch. This problem can relatively easily be repaired using super glue or a rubber eraser. Only high quality AA rechargeable batteries should be used in the 200LX, as battery leaks may destroy the LCD's flat video cable.

Owing to its small size, the 200LX was very popular in Japan, so much so that its demise prompted an open-source initiative to design and market an AMD Elan SC400-based replacement to fill its place. This 'Morphy One' club organization created blueprints for the device but no prototype was ever built for reasons which remain unclear. Some argue it was a scam scheme as hundreds of people lost deposits they placed on the new palmtop in advance. The project leaders argued that key electronic components were unavailable due to strong demand from the mobile telephone manufacturing industry.

1 Exceptions to 100% MS-DOS compatibility
2 Other notes
3 Easter Eggs
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Exceptions to 100% MS-DOS compatibility

The HP 100/200LX does not have a digital-to-analog converter which can be used to play audio tones. The HP 100LX/200LX has a built-in digital-to-analog converter, but rather than using it for sound production, it is, instead, used to monitor battery life and charging. The 200LX can play video, MIDI and WAV files using software from Stefan Peichl in relatively low quality. The 100LX/200LX is also capable of sound recording, though this is, again, in low quality. There is no known compatible PCMCIA sound card for the 100LX/200LX.

The device does not provide the BIOS service (INT13) for reading from a hard disk. Drivers have been partially written for this purpose (to boot MINIX 2.0).

[edit] Other notes

The HP200LX was used on board the NASA Discovery OV103 Mission STS-95 (the last mission of Senator John Glenn) in an Electronic Nose (E-Nose) experiment (the device was developed jointly by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology (CalTech)). The experiment, as managed by Dr. Dan Karmon of JPL, was successful.

Software and hardware is available which will allow the HP200LX to surf the Internet.

The serial numbers printed on the HP machines 100LX, 200LX, 1000CX and OG700LX have the following meaning:

XXYWWNNNNN

XX = the country of manufacturing (e.g., SG = Singapore etc)

Y = the year of manufacturing; last digit (e.g., 6 = 1996)

WW = the week of the year of manufacturing

NNNNN = the number of the specific unit manufactured in specified week

[edit] Easter Eggs

There are many easter eggs to be found inbuilt in the HP200LX. The known ones are listed as follows:

The Gallery Easter Egg

This easter egg is to be found in the inbuilt 'Lair of Squid' game of the HP200LX. During the startup screen of the game, if the user types the word 'gallery' ('gallerie' on a French palmtop; 'siegergalerie' on a German palmtop; 'galeria' on a Spanish palmtop) he/she is placed in a 'part' of the maze that contains photographs of the primary software developers that worked on the HP200LX. The user may exit from this gallery by exiting through the door at the end of the corridor. The software developers the photographs are of are listed started from left to right, then left to right and so on as follows:

Andy Gryc

Pat Megowan

Everett Kaser

Bill Johnson

Lynn Winter

Susan Wechsler

Eric Evett

The last panel on the right of the corridor contains a thank you message: "Very special thanks to all the people in HP and all the companies that made this palm-top possible. The Felix S/W team"

The photographs of the developers have been described as 'a-maze-ing'.

The 1st Self Test Poem Easter Egg

This easter egg is to be found in the HP200LX self test mode. With the palmtop powered off, the user may press [ESC][ON] to start the self test mode, then cursor down to the display option. On pressing [ENTER] 14 times, to step through the various screens, the user comes to a screen of example text in the form of a limerick poem. The poem is as follows:

There once was this thing from HP

That fit in your pocket, you see.

A caveman would stare

And pull out his hair

And wonder, "What could this thing be?"

The 2nd Self Test Poem Easter Egg

This easter egg is to be found in the HP200LX self test mode. With the palmtop powered off, the user may press [ESC][ON] to start the self test mode, then cursor down to the display option. On pressing [CTRL][ENTER], then holding down [ALT] while pressing [ENTER] 13 times, the user comes to a cryptic poem, relating business issues faced by the software development team. The poem is as follows:

Felis Concolor

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum

When I encountered a group in search of a quorum.

They came from a city, The Burg On The Wire.

If I tried to describe it you'd call me a liar.

They wanted to charge me a really quite large fee

For the dubious pleasure of sharing their treasure.

"I'm a very Good man (Mark my words if you can),"

"But, the Dickens, I say, I simply won't pay!"

And with poetry, then, I proceeded to bore 'em

Then proceeded myself on my way to the Forum.

The 3rd Self Test Poem Easter Egg

This easter egg is to be found in the HP200LX self test mode. With the palmtop powered off, the user may press [ESC][ON] to start the self test mode, then cursor down to the display option. On pressing [CTRL][ENTER], then holding down [SHIFT] while pressing [ENTER] 13 times, the user comes to an allegorical poem, about the history and future of the HP LX palmtops. The poem is as follows (note that the project names for the HP95LX, the HP100LX and the HP200LX are 'Jaguar', 'Cougar' and 'Felix' respectively):

Nine lives has a Cat, and each Cat a name,

All of them different, none are the same.

Jaguar was first, it made quite a roar.

Cougar was next, oh, how it did soar.

Felix is third, my heart it does quicken,

Who knows what comes next, the clock is a tickin'.

The 'More Applications' Easter Egg

This easter egg is to be found in the inbuilt System Manager of the HP200LX. This 'easter egg' is probably more of a development tool than an easter egg, but, in any case, the user may display the function by first pressing the blue [&...] key to start 'More Applications'. The user may then hold down [ALT] while pressing [F9] 4 times, followed by [F10] once. As long as the [ALT] key is held down, the user will observe columns of data about System Manager compliant (.EXM) programs registered with the System Manager, along with other arcane program information.