19 Mar
2001
19 Mar
'01
1:30 a.m.
Does anyone have info on an hp85a, I found one in excellent condition
and works, but I lack paperwork and basic info.
Thanks
Bill
elecdata1
19 Mar
19 Mar
4:24 a.m.
Hi Bill,
I have the HP-85 pocket guide. It has some detail on using mass
storage, BASIC commands, and error messages. Haven't used it for much yet
besides as a glorified calculator.
You'll need some thermal paper for your PRINT commands. The DISP
command is the same as PRINT, except output goes to the video monitor.
Edwin
At 07:30 AM 3/19/2001 -0800, you wrote:
Does anyone have info on an hp85a, I found one in
excellent condition
and works, but I lack paperwork and basic info.
Thanks
Bill
elecdata1
5:02 a.m.
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5:08 a.m.
Does anyone have info on an hp85a, I found one in
excellent condition
and works, but I lack paperwork and basic info.
Thanks
Bill
elecdata1
Bill:
Here are a couple of useful links:
http://ftp.agilent.com/pub/mpusup/pc/old/s80_over.html
This is Agilent's page giving some history and
configurations of the series 80 machines, including the
HP 85.
http://www.ebbsoft.com/
This is Eric Bal's somewhat incomplete page that
includes quite a bit of HP 85 info as well.
You can hook up the HP-85a to certain HP floppy disk
drives if you have the mass storage rom, the HP-IB
interface and I think you need the I/O rom as well.
One drive unit that will work, the HP 82901M, is
currently up for auction on eBay at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=
1221920807
Current price only $10.49 but will probably end up in
the $30-40 range.
The tapes you need are DC100A's. HP sold them as
either HP 98200's or HP 200 Series 9800. 3M and Scotch
were also supliers. I have about 20 of these tapes,
which probably date back at least 10-12 years (I don't
think they are made any longer) and most have oxide
layer loss problems. Therefore, I recommend the disk
drive if you want to store programs with the view
toward someday retrieving them.
-W
7:31 a.m.
At 11:08 AM 3/19/01 -0800, Wanye wrote:
The tapes you need are DC100A's. HP sold them as
either HP 98200's or HP 200 Series 9800. 3M and Scotch
were also supliers. I have about 20 of these tapes,
which probably date back at least 10-12 years (I don't
think they are made any longer) and most have oxide
layer loss problems. Therefore, I recommend the disk
drive if you want to store programs with the view
toward someday retrieving them.
-W
Wayne,
Do any of those tapes contain original software? If so I'd like to
beg/borrow/steal them. I have a couple of 85s with working tape drives and
I'm trying to collect and presenrve as much of the original software as
possible. As you mentioned, most of the tapes are quickly being rendered
useless due to flaking media.
You can use old DECtapes or the old 40Mb tapes for PCs in the HP-85.
Both are much better quality than the HP tapes. You will have to reformat
the other tapes but they work fine. The command to re-format them is
INITIALIZE.
Joe
7:01 a.m.
Hi Bill,
The HP 85 was/is very popular. I have about a dozen of them and i'm sure
that a LOT of the list members also have them. The 85A has 16k of ram and
the B has 32k. There is a 16k ram cartridge that can be plugged into the
back of the A to bring it up to 32k. There are four expansion slots in the
back of the 85. There are a lot of interfaces, special devices and ROMs
that can be plugged into any of the slots. A quick E-bay search should show
a good sample of them. The interfaces include HP-IB, HP-IL, seriel (RS-232)
and GPIO (16 bit parallel bus). Devices include a CPM module, MODEM and a
speech synthesizer. Expansion ROMs are slightly larger than a postage stamp
and have to plugged into a "ROM drawer". The drawer can hold up to six
ROMs. There is a HP 85 web site at www.ebbsoft.com. Check it for more info
or ask here if you have any specific questions.
Joe
PS check the feed roller in your tape drive and see if it's sticky
BEFORE you try to use a tape in it. Virtually all of the rollers get soft
and sticky with age. You should find LOTS more about that problem if you
search the archives of this list.
At 07:30 AM 3/19/01 -0800, you wrote:
Does anyone have info on an hp85a, I found one in
excellent condition
and works, but I lack paperwork and basic info.
Thanks
Bill
elecdata1
7:47 a.m.
Thanks Guys,
I don't remember if the machine had any carriages installed in it, I'll have
to check, the machine was brought home and plugged in, and it appears to be
working. I'll take a close look at it later tonight.and let all know what it
actually has. I certainly do appreciate the info and help.
Thanks
Bill
elecdata1
Joe wrote:
Hi Bill,
The HP 85 was/is very popular. I have about a dozen of them and i'm sure
that a LOT of the list members also have them. The 85A has 16k of ram and
the B has 32k. There is a 16k ram cartridge that can be plugged into the
back of the A to bring it up to 32k. There are four expansion slots in the
back of the 85. There are a lot of interfaces, special devices and ROMs
that can be plugged into any of the slots. A quick E-bay search should show
a good sample of them. The interfaces include HP-IB, HP-IL, seriel (RS-232)
and GPIO (16 bit parallel bus). Devices include a CPM module, MODEM and a
speech synthesizer. Expansion ROMs are slightly larger than a postage stamp
and have to plugged into a "ROM drawer". The drawer can hold up to six
ROMs. There is a HP 85 web site at www.ebbsoft.com. Check it for more info
or ask here if you have any specific questions.
Joe
PS check the feed roller in your tape drive and see if it's sticky
BEFORE you try to use a tape in it. Virtually all of the rollers get soft
and sticky with age. You should find LOTS more about that problem if you
search the archives of this list.
At 07:30 AM 3/19/01 -0800, you wrote:
>Does anyone have info on an hp85a, I found one in excellent condition
>and works, but I lack paperwork and basic info.
>
>Thanks
>
>Bill
>elecdata1
>
>
3:35 p.m.
Well the system is just a basic system, all the slots are empty, doing a
catalogue of the tape doesn't work, but it does recal the tape. give an error.
checking the tape drive capstan and the rubber wheel appears to be okay, it may
infact be the tape. anyone know how to make it do a retention?
Thanks in advance for all your help!
Sincerely,
Bill
elecdata1
bill claussen wrote:
Thanks Guys,
I don't remember if the machine had any carriages installed in it, I'll have
to check, the machine was brought home and plugged in, and it appears to be
working. I'll take a close look at it later tonight.and let all know what it
actually has. I certainly do appreciate the info and help.
Thanks
Bill
elecdata1
Joe wrote:
> Hi Bill,
>
> The HP 85 was/is very popular. I have about a dozen of them and i'm sure
> that a LOT of the list members also have them. The 85A has 16k of ram and
> the B has 32k. There is a 16k ram cartridge that can be plugged into the
> back of the A to bring it up to 32k. There are four expansion slots in the
> back of the 85. There are a lot of interfaces, special devices and ROMs
> that can be plugged into any of the slots. A quick E-bay search should show
> a good sample of them. The interfaces include HP-IB, HP-IL, seriel (RS-232)
> and GPIO (16 bit parallel bus). Devices include a CPM module, MODEM and a
> speech synthesizer. Expansion ROMs are slightly larger than a postage stamp
> and have to plugged into a "ROM drawer". The drawer can hold up to six
> ROMs. There is a HP 85 web site at www.ebbsoft.com. Check it for more info
> or ask here if you have any specific questions.
>
> Joe
>
> PS check the feed roller in your tape drive and see if it's sticky
> BEFORE you try to use a tape in it. Virtually all of the rollers get soft
> and sticky with age. You should find LOTS more about that problem if you
> search the archives of this list.
>
> At 07:30 AM 3/19/01 -0800, you wrote:
> >Does anyone have info on an hp85a, I found one in excellent condition
> >and works, but I lack paperwork and basic info.
> >
> >Thanks
> >
> >Bill
> >elecdata1
> >
> >
20 Mar
20 Mar
3:39 a.m.
Hi Bill,
Try the CTAPE command. This stands for 'condition tape', and will
wind the tape one way, then wind it back. If that works, then the
ERASETAPE command will initialize your tape for storing data. The REWIND
command will take you to the first data block.
If you get any STALL errors, the 'rubber wheel' is probably slipping.
Edwin
At 09:35 PM 3/19/2001 -0800, you wrote:
Well the system is just a basic system, all the slots
are empty, doing a
catalogue of the tape doesn't work, but it does recal the tape. give an
error.
checking the tape drive capstan and the rubber wheel
appears to be okay,
it may
infact be the tape. anyone know how to make it do a
retention?
Thanks in advance for all your help!
Sincerely,
Bill
4:02 a.m.
Hi Edwin!
Thanks for the info, I'll give that a try tonight when I get home and report
back!
Bill
"Edwin P. Groot" wrote:
Hi Bill,
Try the CTAPE command. This stands for 'condition tape', and will
wind the tape one way, then wind it back. If that works, then the
ERASETAPE command will initialize your tape for storing data. The REWIND
command will take you to the first data block.
If you get any STALL errors, the 'rubber wheel' is probably slipping.
Edwin
At 09:35 PM 3/19/2001 -0800, you wrote:
Well the system is just a basic system, all the
slots are empty, doing a
catalogue of the tape doesn't work, but it does recal the tape. give an
error.
checking the tape drive capstan and the rubber
wheel appears to be okay,
it may
>infact be the tape. anyone know how to make it do a retention?
>
>Thanks in advance for all your help!
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Bill
4:36 p.m.
Hi Edwin,
I tried the ctape command and the wheel is definately slipping. Thanks for
the info!
Bill
"Edwin P. Groot" wrote:
Hi Bill,
Try the CTAPE command. This stands for 'condition tape', and will
wind the tape one way, then wind it back. If that works, then the
ERASETAPE command will initialize your tape for storing data. The REWIND
command will take you to the first data block.
If you get any STALL errors, the 'rubber wheel' is probably slipping.
Edwin
At 09:35 PM 3/19/2001 -0800, you wrote:
Well the system is just a basic system, all the
slots are empty, doing a
catalogue of the tape doesn't work, but it does recal the tape. give an
error.
checking the tape drive capstan and the rubber
wheel appears to be okay,
it may
>infact be the tape. anyone know how to make it do a retention?
>
>Thanks in advance for all your help!
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Bill
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10 comments
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
elecdata＠kcinter.net -
epgroot＠ucdavis.edu -
rigdonj＠intellistar.net -
wmsmith＠earthlink.net