HP-75

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HP-75D handheld BASIC computer.  Magnetic cards are inserted to the right of the space bar key.
HP-75D handheld BASIC computer. Magnetic cards are inserted to the right of the space bar key.

The HP-75C and HP-75D were hand-held computers programmable in BASIC, made by Hewlett-Packard from 1982 to 1986.

The HP-75 had a single-line liquid crystal display, 48 KiB system ROM and 16 KiB RAM, a comparatively large keyboard (albeit without separate numeric pad), a manually operated magnetic card reader (2×650 bytes per card), a plug-in port for memory expansion, and an HP-IL interface that could be used to connect printers, storage and electronic test equipment. The BASIC interpreter included file handling capabilities, using RAM, cards or cassettes/diskettes (via HP-IL) for program storage.

Other features included a text editor as well as an appointment reminder with alarms, similar to functions of modern PDAs.

The HP-75D (1984-1986) added a port for a bar code wand, often used for inventory control tasks.

The HP-75 was comparatively expensive at $995[1] (75C) or $1095[2] (75D) MSRP, making it less popular than the cheaper successor model, the HP-71B.

[edit] Miscellanea

The internal code name for the 75C at HP was Kangaroo, the 75D was nicknamed Merlin.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ $995 in 1982 ≈ $2,014 in 2005 (see Inflation Conversion Factors for Dollars)
  2. ^ $1,095 in 1984 ≈ $2,058 in 2005

[edit] External links

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