28 Sep
2012
28 Sep
'12
12:54 p.m.
I liked the HP 125 (and 120) ... my favorite CP/M
machines.
I hae the HP120. alas I never managed to get the right keyboard for it,
so I made a couple of workarounds. One lets me connect an HP262x terminal
keyboard to it, the other was to modifty a apare HP150 keyboard to have
the right keymap.
But the 125 had two big problems:
1. it was *heavy*. In fact, carrying one from home to HP on my last
day of work at HP in 1983 gave me a hernia.
The 120 is quite small and light. It's muc hthe same case as the HP150,
of course. For some odd reason the itnernal printer was never available,
even though the interfae is fitted on the backplanem so the case top
cover is differnet to the HP150 one.
2. the power switch on was located in the worst place ... on the front of
the main unit, where the keyboard would turn off the computer if you
pushed the keyboard away from you and toward the base. Did that twice :)
That suprises me. I alwauys thought the hP125 was essentailyl an HP262x
terminal with a totaly differnt logic board, and as such the power swithc
would be round the back.
-tony