I have a large multi-tier printer stand on casters that I use for my HP
logic analyzer setup. 1631D analyzer, 9122 dual floppy drive, 2225 printer,
probe hangers, etc. It's nice to have on that stand because I can roll it
around the work area from system to system easily.
I would like to put a computer on that stand too, that has HP-IB interface
(all the gear above is HP-IB). The primary purpose of the computer is to
interface to the logic analyzer, but I will also use it for interfacing to
my Data I/O programmer, various DOS programs like IC stat lookup, etc.
My problem is I'm not that familiar with HP DOS machines. I have particular
requirements for this and I'm not sure what model to look for. Perhaps those
familiar with HP's DOS machine lineage can suggest a machine I should look
for. Here's the criteria:
1) It has to be an HP. My TI3100 would look out of place with all the HP
gear on the rack :)
2) It has to allow putting an 8 bit ISA HP-IB card in it (or dare I say
already support HP-IB)
3) It really needs 1mb of RAM for some of the programs I want to run on it.
4) DOS version needs to be 5.0 or better, would be nice if I could use the
free DR-DOS
5) It would have to have an external serial port
6) I would like to get it on the wireless network. I was thinking of using
the zircom parallel port adapter I have, and then getting an ethernet to
wireless bridge. Of course, I have to find DOS TCP/IP drivers for the
zircom, if such a thing exists. I'm open to options here.
7) Vertical space is a premium on the rack, so I would prefer something
without a full-size monitor, preferrably an all-in-one unit rather than
separate cpu, keyboard, monitor, etc.
8) Would need at least 40mb hard disk.
9) Need a somewhat standard size keyboard (this rules out my 200LX).
So far from my looking around, the HP 110 seems very close to what I'd want.
The small vertical height of the screen is a big plus, but, I really have to
have 80x24. Plus the 110 seems to be stuck with 256k ram and only DOS 2.11.
I would LOVE to use my HP-85 for this, but alas, it isn't going to be
running promlink anytime soon. Can anyone suggest a vintage PC machine for
this purpose?
Thanks!
Jay West
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Received on Fri Jul 02 2004 - 09:09:28 BST