Hi Bill,
Where are you located? I'm in Orlando Florida. I have several HP 1000s
(a couple of E series, one F series and one M series). Steve Robertson in
Boca Raton also has a couple and Bob Shannon in Mass has at least one of
everything. Bob and one of his buddies are working on writing their own
Forth-like operating system called HP/IL-OS. There's a website for HP/IL-OS
somewhere but I can't find the URL at the moment. Steve is working on
writing low leve\el HP-IB routines to interface to disk drives, instruments
and the rest of the HP world. Me, I just scrounge up more HP 1000s. I've
found a 2115(?) with core memory and I'm working on a deal to get it. Jay
West, our list administrator, also collects HP minis.
I can't tell you how difficult they are to maintain. I've only had mine
for a couple of years but I've never had any problems. I've collected LOTs
of HP computers and calculators over the years and in geneneral they're
MUCH bettter built than the usual grade of electronics and computers so I
don't expect andy real problems. Here's a link to a URL showing where I
store my HPs, <
http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/warehouse/warehouse.htm>. I
share this building with a couple of other guys that collect space stuff,
test equipment, old cars etc so the place has lots of clutter but there are
a couple of HP minis in there too.
Joe
At 05:25 PM 10/29/03 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi, all.
>
>I just joined the list. I've had a long-time
>interest in old computers, and rescued a "straight-8"
>many years ago when I didn't think anyone else
>thought of it as anything more than junk. It was at
>least minimally operable when I obtained it, but I
>went off to graduate school before I could find any
>software for it, and it's been in storage at my
>father's office in Florida for ~15 years now. I hope
>to move it to my current location in the next few
>months after a family visit, but in the meantime,
>I'm looking to acquire another minicomputer from
>the core memory era, hopefully something slightly
>more compactly packaged than the (presently rackless)
>rack-mount "8".
>
>After some research, I have settled on the HP21xx
>line as a good candidate. These seem to be very nice,
>well-built machines with a reasonable architecture,
>a good paper-tape BASIC, and a full complement of
>"blinkenlights". It seems that these machines are
>actually still used, however, and I've been quoted
>some pretty steep prices from a nearby dealer in
>in used HP gear.
>
>I'd be interested in comments and advice for a
>prospective 21xx owner from those on the list who own
>these machines or have used them. I'm particularly
>concerned about reliability, since at the price I
>expect to pay, I want to keep it operating for a long
>time to come. How difficult and expensive are they to
>
>troubleshoot and keep working (say, compared to DEC
>PDP-8)? How available are contemporary replacements
>and/or new old stock for the ICs? Are there any
>proprietary components that are particularly prone to
>failure or hard to replace that I absolutely must
>obtain up-front as spares? What about the core stacks
>themselves? The dealer that I talked to seemed to
>think these were problematic (though I did not speak
>with his technicians), while my instinct would be that
>the core itself (not the driver electronics) would be
>among the most reliable and stable components, barring
>visible corrosion damage.
>
>Also, any suggestions on places to look for these
>machines on the cheap would be welcomed. What I'm
>most looking for is a 2115, but would likely be
>interested in the somewhat later 2100 as well.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Bill
>
Received on Thu Oct 30 2003 - 07:04:02 GMT