Origin of the term minicomputer (was Re: PDP-1 as minicomputer

Oh, there quite probably was. The HP9830 is not a 'natural' for this sort of thing because there was no graphical output as standard. I suppose you could link up an HP1350 graphics translator (HPIB was available for the 9830 -- in fact I think it was the first desktop machine to have that interface), but it wasn't a commonly-done thing. On the otehr hand there were lunar lander games for many of the HP handheld calcualtors with 1-line numeric displays. Something like that could certainly run on a 9830. I will take a look. I assume it's in BASIC, and given that the programming manuals and the manuals for the optional ROMs are available it shouldn't be too hard to translate it to a more modern BASIC. Thanks for the offer, but I'll try to look at the web site myself first ;-) That's entirely possible. The HP9862 plotter was commonly used with these machines, and there was a 'plotter ROM' which added various statemetns to the BASIC to control this plotter. I have the plotter ROM, I have the interface module and cable for the 9862. What I don't have is the plotter itself, nor do I have the 'personality module' that would (I am told) make my much more recent HP7225 ploter emulate a 9862. But the interface to the plotter is fairly simple, and I suspect i could make something to conenct to the HP9830 interface. Might be a fun project sometime. -tony