HP-150

The HP-150, a "compact, powerful and innovative" computer made by Hewlett-Packard in 1983 and based on the Intel 8088, was one of the world's earliest commercialized touch screen computers. The machine was not IBM PC compatible, although it was MS-DOS compatible. Customized MS-DOS versions 2.01, 2.11 and 3.20 were available. Its 8088 CPU, rated at 8 MHz, was faster than the 4.77 MHz ones used by the IBM PC of that period. Using add-on cards, main memory could be increased from 256 KB (256 KiB) to 640 KB. However, its mainboard did not have a slot for the optional Intel 8087 math coprocessor due to space constraints. The HP-150 with an optional hard disk was called the "Touchscreen MAX".

The screen is not a touch screen in the strict sense, but a 9" Sony CRT surrounded by infrared emitters and detectors which detect the position of any non-transparent object on the screen. In the original HP-150, these emitters & detectors were placed within small holes located in the inside of the monitor's bezel (which resulted in the bottom series of holes sometimes filling with dust and causing the touch screen to fail; until the dust was vacuumed from the holes).

Like the Macintosh, the CPU was packaged with the CRT. Unlike the Mac, the 3½ disks were external. The HP-150 45611A sat atop the phone book sized 9121D dual 3½" floppy (76mm high, 325 mm wide, 285mm deep) or the similarly sized hard disk devices, connected by HP-IB. The HP-120 45600A 2xZ80 CP/M machine also used the 9121 drives.

The HP-150II 45849A replaced the HP-150 in 1984. It was still called the Touchscreen, although the touch screen was no longer standard, but rather a rarely-adopted option. The optional touch screen bezel was superior to the original bezel, in that the emitters and detecters were now located behind a solid infrared-transparent plastic; removing the need to regularly clean the holes found in the original model.

The HP-150II had the same footprint as the HP-150, but came in a larger housing to accommodate its 12" screen, but could no longer accommodate an internal printer. The HP-150II had four expansion slots available (as opposed to two), and could accommodate an optional 8087 co-processor board. There were some minor compatibility problems between the HP-150 and the HP-150II in the video subsystem.

Development of the HP-150 series of computers ceased shortly after the introduction of the HP-150II. It was replaced by the IBM PC compatible Vectra series of computers.

• Supported HP-IB attached storage:

• Display resolutions:
  • Text: 80 columns x 27 lines (720 pixel x 378 pixel)
    • Character size: 7 pixel x 10 pixel
    • Character cell size: 9 pixel x 14 pixel
    • Inherent HP Terminal emulation equivalent to HP2623 Graphics Terminal
  • Bit-map: 512 pixel x 390 pixel
  • Separate plane for text and graphics
• Monitor sensor grid: 40 (h) x 24 (v)
• Optional Internal Thermal printer 2647A (Fax Roll)
• Communication ports:
  • RS-232 x 2 (one of them supported RS-422)
  • HP-IB (IEEE-488)
  • HP-HIL (standard on the HP-150II, but an optional add-on card on the HP-150)

HP-150's touch screen sensor grid is quite coarse. Its resolution is only two characters wide. Used mainly for rough cursor positioning and function key control, it could not be used to draw pictures.

See also: List of Hewlett-Packard products

References

• Lemmons, Phil; Robertson, Barbara (October 1983). "Product Review: The HP 150". BYTE: 36–50. 
• Lemmons, Phil; Robertson, Barbara (October 1983). "An Interview: The HP 150's Design-team Leaders". BYTE: 51–58. 
• Hewlett Packard: Series 100: HP 150 Personal Computer; Printed 9/83; 5953-5846
• The Definitive HP150 Catalog. The 1991 Edition. Personalized Software

External links

• HP-150
• Hewlett-Packard HP-150
• HP's Virtual Museum: 6-views of the HP-150
• HP Computer Museum: 100 Series, also HP-150 Software