29 Oct
2003
29 Oct
'03
11:04 p.m.
Hi Bill,
Where are you located? I'm in Orlando Florida. I have several HP 1000s
(a couple of E series, one F series and one M series). Steve Robertson in
Boca Raton also has a couple and Bob Shannon in Mass has at least one of
everything. Bob and one of his buddies are working on writing their own
Forth-like operating system called HP/IL-OS. There's a website for HP/IL-OS
somewhere but I can't find the URL at the moment. Steve is working on
writing low leve\el HP-IB routines to interface to disk drives, instruments
and the rest of the HP world. Me, I just scrounge up more HP 1000s. I've
found a 2115(?) with core memory and I'm working on a deal to get it. Jay
West, our list administrator, also collects HP minis.
I can't tell you how difficult they are to maintain. I've only had mine
for a couple of years but I've never had any problems. I've collected LOTs
of HP computers and calculators over the years and in geneneral they're
MUCH bettter built than the usual grade of electronics and computers so I
don't expect andy real problems. Here's a link to a URL showing where I
store my HPs, <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/warehouse/warehouse.htm>. I
share this building with a couple of other guys that collect space stuff,
test equipment, old cars etc so the place has lots of clutter but there are
a couple of HP minis in there too.
Joe
At 05:25 PM 10/29/03 -0800, you wrote:
Hi, all.
I just joined the list. I've had a long-time
interest in old computers, and rescued a "straight-8"
many years ago when I didn't think anyone else
thought of it as anything more than junk. It was at
least minimally operable when I obtained it, but I
went off to graduate school before I could find any
software for it, and it's been in storage at my
father's office in Florida for ~15 years now. I hope
to move it to my current location in the next few
months after a family visit, but in the meantime,
I'm looking to acquire another minicomputer from
the core memory era, hopefully something slightly
more compactly packaged than the (presently rackless)
rack-mount "8".
After some research, I have settled on the HP21xx
line as a good candidate. These seem to be very nice,
well-built machines with a reasonable architecture,
a good paper-tape BASIC, and a full complement of
"blinkenlights". It seems that these machines are
actually still used, however, and I've been quoted
some pretty steep prices from a nearby dealer in
in used HP gear.
I'd be interested in comments and advice for a
prospective 21xx owner from those on the list who own
these machines or have used them. I'm particularly
concerned about reliability, since at the price I
expect to pay, I want to keep it operating for a long
time to come. How difficult and expensive are they to
troubleshoot and keep working (say, compared to DEC
PDP-8)? How available are contemporary replacements
and/or new old stock for the ICs? Are there any
proprietary components that are particularly prone to
failure or hard to replace that I absolutely must
obtain up-front as spares? What about the core stacks
themselves? The dealer that I talked to seemed to
think these were problematic (though I did not speak
with his technicians), while my instinct would be that
the core itself (not the driver electronics) would be
among the most reliable and stable components, barring
visible corrosion damage.
Also, any suggestions on places to look for these
machines on the cheap would be welcomed. What I'm
most looking for is a 2115, but would likely be
interested in the somewhat later 2100 as well.
Thanks,
Bill