HP-150
Encyclopedia
| Introduced: | November, 1983 |
| MSRP: | $2795http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=43 |
| CPU: | Intel 8088 |
| CPU speed: | 8 MHz |
| Operating system: | MS-DOS |
| DRAM: | 256 KB |
| SRAM (video): | 6 KB |
| ROM: | 160 KB |
| Floppies: | 270 KB x 2 |
| Discontinued: | ? |
The HP-150, a "compact, powerful and innovative" computer made by Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
in 1983 and based on the Intel 8088
Intel 8088
The Intel 8088 microprocessor was a variant of the Intel 8086 and was introduced on July 1, 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however...
, was one of the world's earliest commercialized touch screen computers. The machine was not IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
, although it was MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
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
Kibibyte
The kibibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for quantities of digital information. The binary prefix kibi means 1024; therefore, 1 kibibyte is . The unit symbol for the kibibyte is KiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1999 and has been accepted for use...
) to 640 KB. However, its mainboard did not have a slot for the optional Intel 8087
Intel 8087
The Intel 8087, announced in 1980, was the first floating-point coprocessor for the 8086 line of microprocessors. It had 45,000 transistors and was manufactured as a 3 μm depletion load HMOS circuit. The 8087 was built to be paired with the Intel 8088 or 8086 microprocessors...
math coprocessor
Coprocessor
A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor . Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, or encryption. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor,...
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
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
CRT
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
surrounded by infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
emitters and detectors which detect the position of any non-transparent
Opacity (optics)
Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shielding material, glass, etc...
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
Zilog Z80
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog and sold from July 1976 onwards. It was widely used both in desktop and embedded computer designs as well as for military purposes...
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:
HP Model Command Set # FDD FDD Type Sides FDD Capacity (each) # HDD HDD Capacity Notes 82901M Amigo 2 5.25" DS 270kb 0 n/a Add-on only 82902M Amigo 1 5.25" DS 270kb 0 n/a Add-on only 9121D Amigo 2 3.5" SS 270kb 0 n/a - 9121S Amigo 1 3.5" SS 270kb 0 n/a Add-on only 9122D SS/80 2 3.5" DS 710kb 0 n/a - 9122S SS/80 1 3.5" DS 710kb 0 n/a Add-on only 9123D SS/80 2 3.5" DS 710kb 0 n/a HP-150 II only 9125S Amigo 1 5.25" DS 360kb 0 n/a Add-on only. Not bootable 9127S Amigo 1 5.25" DS 360kb 0 n/a Add-on only. Not bootable 9133A Amigo 1 3.5" SS 270kb 1 5Mb - 9133B Amigo 1 3.5" SS 270kb 1 10Mb - 9133D SS/80 1 3.5" DS 710kb 1 15Mb - 9133H SS/80 1 3.5" DS 710kb 1 20Mb Requires DOS 3.20 9133L SS/80 1 3.5" DS 710kb 1 40Mb Requires DOS 3.20 9133V Amigo 1 3.5" SS 270kb 1 5Mb - 9133XV Amigo 1 3.5" SS 270kb 1 15Mb - 9134A Amigo 0 n/a n/a n/a 1 5Mb - 9134B Amigo 0 n/a n/a n/a 1 10Mb - 9134H SS/80 0 n/a n/a n/a 1 20Mb Requires DOS 3.20 9134L SS/80 0 n/a n/a n/a 1 40Mb Requires DOS 3.20 9134V Amigo 0 n/a n/a n/a 1 5Mb - 9134XV Amigo 0 n/a n/a n/a 1 15Mb - 9153A SS/80 1 3.5" DS 710kb 1 10Mb - 9153B SS/80 1 3.5" DS 710kb 1 20Mb Requires DOS 3.20 9153C SS/80 1 3.5" DS 710kb 1 10/20/40Mb Requires DOS 3.20 9154A SS/80 0 n/a n/a n/a 1 10Mb - 9154B SS/80 0 n/a n/a n/a 1 20Mb Requires DOS 3.20 - 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 TerminalComputer terminalA computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system...
emulation equivalent to HP2623HP 2640The HP 2640A and other HP 264X models were block-mode "smart" and intelligent ASCII standard serial terminals produced by Hewlett Packard using the Intel 8008 and 8080 microprocessors.-History:...
Graphics Terminal
- Bit-map: 512 pixel x 390 pixel
- Separate plane for text and graphics
- Text: 80 columns x 27 lines (720 pixel x 378 pixel)
- Monitor sensor grid: 40 (h) x 24 (v)
- Optional Internal Thermal printerThermal printerA thermal printer produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermochromic paper, or thermal paper as it is commonly known, when the paper passes over the thermal print head. The coating turns black in the areas where it is heated, producing an image...
2647A (Fax Roll) - Communication ports:
- RS-232RS-232In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...
x 2 (one of them supported RS-422) - HP-IBIEEE-488IEEE-488 is a short-range digital communications bus specification. It was created for use with automated test equipment in the late 1960s, and is still in use for that purpose. IEEE-488 was created as HP-IB , and is commonly called GPIB...
(IEEE-488IEEE-488IEEE-488 is a short-range digital communications bus specification. It was created for use with automated test equipment in the late 1960s, and is still in use for that purpose. IEEE-488 was created as HP-IB , and is commonly called GPIB...
) - HP-HIL (standard on the HP-150II, but an optional add-on card on the HP-150)
- RS-232
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
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