HP 64000 with 80186 emulator?

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Sat Apr 24 17:10:26 2004

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004, Joe R. wrote:

> At 11:05 PM 4/23/04 -0600, you wrote:
> >There was a prototype of the 64000 with a 5MB
> >hard drive, but I don't know if it was ever
> >produced.
> >
> >The original 64000 benchtops had a tape drive
> >(DC100? DC300?
>
> I want to say DC300 but I'm not sure, it's been a long time. However
> it's the same tapes that are used in the HP-85s. Check the archives, they
> have been plenty of discussions about HP-85 tapes and drives. Don't waste
> your time or money on old HP tapes, they're ALL bad. Take my word for it!!!

DC100! DC300s were the big suckers - about 4x6x.625 inches!

                                                - don

> You can use the old DC 2(something) 40 Mb tapes that were used for backups
> in PCs. The DEC CompacTape will also work. The tapes will have to
> formatted. I'm not sure if the 64000 can do that or not but the HP-85 and
> 9825 can so I suspect the 64000 can too.
>
>
> Can't remember, IIRC it was the
> >same drive used in the 26xx terminals, but a
> >different data format on the tape, of course :-)
> >and a later option had two 5.25 floppy drives in
> >place of the tape drive.
>
>
> The ones that I've seen with the tape drives are marked 64000. The ones
> with the two floppy disks were marked 64100 and the large "portable" one
> were marked 64110. The portable version is built like an
oversize (and
> overweight!) Kaypro.
>
>
>
> >
> >The whole idea was to put several 64000s on
> >one "large" disk drive using the HP-IB port on
> >the back. The resulting arrangement was called
> >a "cluster" in the HP manuals.
>
> I've seen that shown in some of the manuals but I suspect that they
> would require the use of some kind of SRM (Shared Resource Manager) software.
>
>
>
> You could also hook
> >up a standard HP-IB printer to the cluster...
> >I seem to remember some mumbo-jumbo where the
> >disc had to be HP-IB ID 0 and the printer ID 1,
> >but that may have just been the early devices.
> >
> >We used 7920s (50MB) and 7925s (125MB) until the
> >winchester types were available (7914, etc.) The
> >64000s would boot from the common disk. You might
> >be able to locate some of those around... 7906 with
> >the HP-IB option should also work, but you would
> >probably have better luck locating a CS-80 drive
> >like a 7912/7914/etc.
>
> You'd have a lot better luck finding a 7957, 7958 or 7959. They're a lot
> smaller, newer and more reliable. I've NEVER found one of the large 79xx
> drives that was still working. The 7957, 7958 and 7959 are roughly 80 Mb,
> 150 Mb and 300 Mb capacity. If you only need 15, 20 or 40 Mb then you can
> probably use a 9133, 9134, 9153 or something of that type. 20 Mb doesn't
> sound like much but it's more than enough for most of the old HP computers.
> I have a 80 Mb 7958 attached to my HP Integral and I've installed every
> piece of software that was ever available for the IPC and I've only used a
> fraction of the drive.
>
> Hint. If you're considering the purchase of any of these HP drives, plug
> it in first and power it up without connecting it to a system. The newer
> ones have built-in self test and thry will run for about a minute and test
> the drive. If the fault light comes on and stays on then the drive is bad
> so don't buy it. Some of the early ones have a 2 character display on the
> back. If they pass selftest it will show P and the HP-IB code (2 for
> example). If they say F something then they failed self test. ALSO on some
> (or all?) models powering them up >>with no system attached<< will cause
> them to park the heads. That's another reason that I always power them up
> before purchasing and moving them.
>
> One more thing! If you get involved with any of the 3.5" floppy drives
> be warned that the double sided drive have a bad tendency to get gummy and
> not open completely. When that happens, the top head will catch on the disk
> when you try to insert or remove it. That will ruin both the head and disk.
> Check these carefully BEFORE even putting a disk in them. The good news is
> that all you need to do to fix the problem is to clean the old grease off
> the drive and relubricate it. Check the archives for more information.
>
>
> >
> >If it has floppies (like the "portable" version) you
> >can boot it from floppy, if you have them... The ones
> >for the portable unit should boot in a crock. (You
> >could also put the "portable" (dragable?) unit on
> >a benchtop cluster and it would boot from the cluster
> >if there wasn't a boot floppy in the drive.)
> >
> >Actually, you need the base OS to boot the unit and
> >the 80186 emulator code. Surely someone on this list
> >has the system tapes for a 64000 laying around...
>
> I believe I gave some to Frank a couple of years ago but the biggest
> problem is going to be finding a good tape drive. If somebody is serious
> about these they should fix one of the tape drives then connect a external
> floppy drive and dump the tapes to a^H MULTIPLE floppy disk. That's what
> I've been wanting to do with the HP-85 and HP 9825 software. The tape drive
> isn't exactly the same as that used in the HP-85 and other calculators. It
> is the same as that used in some of HP Spectrum Analyzers and other test
> equipment. But it's similar enough that you can follow the instructions for
> fixing a HP-85 tape dirve. Those have been published here on the list
> several times and should be available in the archives. The main things that
> you need to watch are to get the roller the right size and close to being
> round.
>
> Joe
>
> >
> >Good luck...
> >
> >Bill
> >
> >
> >SHAUN RIPLEY wrote:
> >> Hi guys,
> >> Does HP 64000 have a build in HD? If I don't have
> >> the floppy disks, can I boot it? Also, where can I
> >> find the softwhere for the 80186 emulator that comes
> >> with it? Thanks. It is bulky.
> >>
> >> vax, 3900
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> __________________________________
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> >
> >
>
>
Received on Sat Apr 24 2004 - 17:10:26 BST

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