HP series 80

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The Hewlett-Packard series 80 of small scientific desktop computers was introduced in 1979, beginning with the popular model 85 targeted at engineering and control applications. They provided the capability of the HP 9800 series desktop computers into a smaller and less expensive form factor. Ultimately, the market for desktop computing would go to industry standard personal computers, such as the IBM PC which would be shortly after the 80 series.

HP-85B
HP-85B

Contents

[edit] Features

The HP-85's typewriter-style desktop case contained a 5" CRT screen, a tape drive (DC-100 cartridges, 210 kB capacity, 650 B/s transfer) and a thermal printer. It could be expanded through four module slots in the back that could hold memory modules, ROM extensions, or interfaces such as RS-232 and GPIB.

HP-86B with 9121 dual diskette drive
HP-86B with 9121 dual diskette drive

The machines were built around an HP-proprietary CPU running at 625 kHz (0.6 MHz, sic) and had a BASIC interpreter in ROM. Programs could be stored on DC-100 cartridge tapes or on disk/tape units connected through GPIB.

Despite the comparatively slow processor, the machines were quite advanced compared to other desktop computers of the time[1]. The standard number format was a 12-digit (decimal) mantissa with exponents up to ±499, and the interpreter supported a full set of scientific functions at this accuracy.

They also included graphics functions (on screen and hard copy) in the standard model and could easily be expanded in hardware and software - for example, matrix operations could be added to the BASIC interpreter through option ROMs. For the larger HP-86 and HP-87 series, HP also offered a plug-in CP/M processor card.

[edit] Models

Model Year Price Remarks
HP-85A 1979 $3,250[2] 16 K RAM, 32 K ROM; 5" CRT, 32×16 text or 256×192 graphics; tape drive, printer
HP-83 1981 $2,250[3] same as HP-85 without printer and tape drive
HP-86A 1982 $1,795[4] external composite monitor, no tape drive or printer; 2 interfaces for 9130 floppy & 1 Centronics printer port built in; 64 K RAM
HP-87 1982  ? 9" 80×16 (256×128) display, no printer, no tape, built-in HPIB; 32 K RAM
HP-85B  ?  ? update to HP-85A; 64 K RAM (32 K program, 32 K ramdisk; I/O, EDISK, and Mass Storage ROM built in
HP-86B  ?  ? update to HP-86; built-in HPIB instead of diskette and Centronics ports; 128 K RAM; EDISK ROM built-in
HP-87XM 1983(?) $2,995[5] update to HP-87; built-in HPIB; 128 K RAM
HP-9915A/B 1980  ? industrial rack-mount version of HP-85A/B without screen or keyboard, I/O ROM and Program Development ROM built in

[edit] ROM extensions

Note: The HP-86/87 series used different ROMs (yellow labelling) from the 85/83 models (white labelling).

83/85 86/87 Function Description
00085-15003 00087-15003 I/O Access GPIB, serial and parallel (GPIO) interfaces
00085-15001 built-in Mass Storage Access Amigo compatible diskette/disk drives on GPIB. Built into 85B, 86, 87.
00085-15002 00087-15002 Printer / Plotter (85) or Plotter (87) Enhanced printer support including screen-dump to external dot matrix printer
00085-15005 00087-15005 Advanced Prog. Extended Basic commands
n/a 00087-15012 Electronic Disk Use part of RAM as a disk drive
00085-15004 00087-15004 Matrix Mathematical matrix operations including inversion (solving linear equation systems)
00085-15007 00087-15007 Assembler Edit and assemble Series 80 assembler source
n/a 00087-15011 MIKSAM File record management
00085-15013 00087-15013 EMS Access to SS-80 compatible mass storage
00085-60952  ? Service Diagnostic routines for service/maintenance
98151A n/a Program Development Support HP-9915 front panel, or to emulate it on an 83/85

[edit] Hardware extensions

82936A ROM drawer for up to 6 of the above ROMs (max 1 per unit)
82903A 16 K Memory module, for HP-85A only (max 1 per unit)
82908A 64 K Memory module, for HP-85B or HP-86/87
82909A 128 K Memory module, for HP-85B or HP-86/87
82967A Speech synthesis module
82900A CP/M System (for HP-86/87 only). Contains a Zilog Z80 microprocessor and 64 kilobytes dedicated RAM.
82928A System monitor for assembly development
82929A Programmable ROM drawer for standard EPROMs

[edit] Interfaces

82937A HP-IB Interface (GPIB, IEEE-488, IEC625)
82938A HP-IL Interface
82939A RS-232 Serial Interface
82940A GPIO Interface (general-purpose 4 × 8 bit parallel)
82941A BCD Interface (parallel, 11 binary coded decimal digits + sign)
82949A Printer Interface (Centronics parallel)
82950A Modem (110/300 bit/s, Bell 103/113)
82966A Data Link Interface (to connect to HP1000/3000 hosts)

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ e.g. Apple II (1977), Tandy TRS-80 (1977), CBM 4032 (1979), Zenith Z89 (1980)
  2. ^ $3,250 in 1980 ≈ $7,600 in 2005 (see Inflation Conversion Factors for Dollars)
  3. ^ $2,250 in 1981 ≈ $4,800 in 2005 (ibid.)
  4. ^ $1,795 in 1982 ≈ $3,600 in 2005 (ibid.)
  5. ^ $2,995 in 1983 ≈ $5,800 in 2005 (ibid.)
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