19 May
2014
19 May
'14
2:29 p.m.
I acquired one of these recently (HP P/N 5061-3166) and I'd like to
know more about it. For which equipment was it intended? With what
other non-intended equipment could it be used?
I scanned the info sheet that came with it and posted it here (PDF:)
http://chiclassiccomp.org/docs/content/computing/HP/5959-1451_E2_HP-IL_SCSI…
It did not include the power adapter but at least I have a part number
for it so finding a substitute shouldn't be too difficult. Seems to
be the same one used with the 95LX, giving 9VAC.
IIRC, that AC adpater (whcih is jsut a transformer) is used wit the 95LX,
etc, the IR printers and one of the later Thinkjets. It is no hard to find.
The sheet tells you to call the HP BBS (heh) and download
SCSIDISK.EXE, which suggests that this was targeted to a DOS machine.
No, the 95LX, etc do not have HPIL ports...
The docuemnt you gave a link to mentions the Portable Plus. This was the
replacement for the HP110 (not entirely compatible with it form what I
rememebr) with a larger display, more memory, the abialty to put ROMs
internally, etc. It has an HPIL port as standard.
The HP150 can take one as an option (it's on a PCB with a parallel port
[1]), as can some Vectras. I susepct this SCSI unit can be used with
these machines too
[1] Totally irrlevant, but the wiring of this connector is a bit crazy.
HP made the very silly mistake of using DB25 sockets fo the serial ports
on the HP150 -- sockets which were wired as DTEs.. So to avoid too much
confusion they used a plug for the parallel port -- and seem to have
decided this after making the PCB. If a socket had been usedo nthe
aprpalel port PCB, the pinout would be the same as the IBM PC parallel
port, essentially. Since it's a plug it's a mirror image.. Oh well.
From what I know of HP DOS boxes with HP-IL
connectors, that means the
HP 110 or the LX series of palmtops. Although on second
reading, it seems as if that would only be to "perform SCSI
diagnostics," so it's
possible that this interface may also have worked with non-DOS HPs.
Anyone have any clues to throw out?
I beelvie this unit was only ever used to run diagnostics on HP SCIS disk
and tpae drives. Never to use said drives for data storage form the
Portable Plus, etc. My guess is that the hardware can do data transfers, but
the performance would be ridiculously slow, so the necessary drivers were
never written.
-tony