At 09:59 PM 1/11/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Allison wrote:
>> < The 5100 was IBM's first "Personal Computer" (their words). It had
>> <BASIC or APL or both!
>>
>> The HP system predated it but, I may have the number wrong. It was
>> programmed in industrial BASIC.
>
>Allison, I'm really having trouble figuring out what you're thinking of.
>
>Even as far forward as 1975, the only HP systems I can think of that
>ran BASIC were minis. The 2100 and 2114 would have been the smallest
>of these, and both are boxes that really want to be in 19" racks but
>can be made to sit on tabletops and can be carried (I am certain that
>the 2100 has handles and think the 2114 does too). If carrying one
>doesn't convince you that it wants to be in a 19" rack or at least
>left sit I don't know what will.
>
>The closest thing I can think of is the HP 85, which is a fairly small
>and lightweight complete system, with keyboard, display, printer, and
>cartridge tape in the box. It was also "portable" in that you could
>get matching luggage for it. Next closest might be some of the 98xx
>calculator/workstations, but I think those were either programmed like
>calculators or in HPL, not BASIC. But all of this is late 1970s-1980
>stuff.
He's got to be thinking of the HP 9800 series. I'm not sure when they
first came out (1971, I think) but the HP Journal had an article about the
9810, 9820 and 9830 in the Dec. 1972 edition, I'm sitting here looking at a
copy. I guess you could call them a PC but they're more like overgrown
calculators. One line LED displays, etc. HP even called them calculators.
You can go to "
http://www.teleport.com/~dgh/hpmuseum.html" and find
pictures and articles about them.
The programming language is different in the different models but mainly
they are a mix of HPL ( HP's version of APL, but without the strange
characters) and BASIC.
Joe
>
>Maybe I'm just having a brain lapse?
>
>-Frank McConnell
>
>
>
Received on Sun Jan 11 1998 - 20:21:21 GMT