24 Jul
1998
24 Jul
'98
5:57 p.m.
At 05:30 PM 7/24/98 +1200, you wrote:
Picked up a nice little HP Series 100 Model 120 45600A
and a few hundred
other numbers on the bottom... Anyways, it's a very interesting model.
Works fine, has two DB-25 ports(modem and printer, both serial?) and an
HP-IB port, and uses two small batteries that look like N size or close to
that. And a cute keyboard, lotso keys but very small. Anyways... Does
anyone know anything about it? I couldn't find anything on HP's web site,
and nothing showed up immediatley on web searches. What kind of terminal is
it? Are the ports normal RS-232? What does the HP-IB port do, and how do I
access it? So many questions... Too bad there was no manual. But then what
do you expect for $5? At least I got a keyboard...
You were lucky! Most people got stuck with a chicklet keyboard on those.
You still see ads occasionally for people looking for standard keyboards.
The batteries are to hold the CMOS settings. Yes, they should be N cells.
They use the same arrangement in the HP 150s. The HP-IB port is used to
connect to disk drive(s), printers, plotters, etc. The HP_IB supports up
to 32 devices on the bus but most items only have a four pole address
switch so that limits the number of available addresses to 16 including the
computer. And often the computer reserves several addresses for it's own
devices, but I don't know if the 120 does that or not.
I've never had (or even seen!) a 120 so I can't give any specific help on
it. But I think I have a chart showing what drives are supported on the
120. Let me know if you need a copy. HP_IB disk drives aren't hard to find
and HP ThinkJet printers with the HP-IB interface are plentiful so grab a
couple and hang them on it.
Joe