Home > HP-150
| Introduced: | November, 1983
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| MSRP: | ?
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| CPU: | Intel 8088
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| CPU speed: | 8 MHz
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| Operating system: | MS-DOS
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| DRAM: | 256 KB
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| SRAM (video): | 6 KB
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| ROM: | 160 KB
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| Floppies: | 270 KB x 2
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| Discontinued: | ?
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The HP-150, a "compact, powerful and innovate" computer made by Hewlett-Packard in 1983 and based on Intel 8088, was one of the world's earliest commercialized touch screen computers. Running MS-DOS, the machine was nevertheless non- IBM PC compatible. Its 8088, rated at 8 MHz, was much faster than the 4.77 MHz ones used by many other computers of that period. However, its mainboard did not have a slot for the optional Intel 8087 math coprocessor due to space constraints.
The screen is actually not a touch screen in the strict sense, but a 9" Sony CRT surrounded by infrared transmitters and receivers which detect the position of any non-transparent object on the screen. The HP-150's use of 3½-inch "microfloppies"A floppy disk is a data storage device that comprises a circular piece of thin, flexible (hence "floppy") magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic wallet. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive or FDD not to be predates the Macintosh 128KThe Macintosh 128K Personal Computer was the original Apple Macintosh. It had a beige case that was intended to be fully self-contained. An indentation in the top rear of the case allowed the computer to be lifted and carried. This Macintosh model was not. Its use of two internal 3½-inch drives was also more practical than Apple's merely one.
- Removable storage:
- 8-inch floppy drive
- 5 1/4-inch floppy drive
- 3½-inch floppy drive
- Mass storage:
- Winchester hard diskA hard disk (or hard disc or hard drive ) is a computer storage device. Mechanics A hard disk uses rigid rotating platters. It stores and retrieves digital data from a planar magnetic surface. Information is written to the disk by transmitting an electrom
- Display resolutions:
- Text: 80 columns x 27 lines (720 pixel x 378 pixel)
- Character size: 7 pixel x 10 pixel
- Character cell size: 9 pixel x 14 pixel
- Bit-map: 512 pixel x 390 pixel
- Monitor sensor grid: 40 (h) x 24 (v)
- Communication ports:
- RS-232RS-232 (also referred to as EIA RS-232C or V. 24 is a standard for serial binary data interchange between a DTE ( Data terminal equipment) and a DCE ( Data communication equipment). It is commonly used in personal computer serial ports. History This stand x 2 (one of them supported RS-422)
- HPIP
HP-150's touch screen sensor grid is quite coarse. Its resolution is only two characters wide. It cannot be used to draw pictures.
See also: List of Hewlett-Packard productsThe following is a partial list of products manufactured under the Hewlett-Packard brand. Printers LaserJet printers ( monochrome) HP LaserJet 1012 HP LaserJet 1300 series HP LaserJet 2300 series HP LaserJet 3300 series HP LaserJet 4100 series HP LaserJet
1 Reference
- Phil Lemmons and Barbara Robertson, "Product Review: The HP 150," BYTEBYTE magazine was probably the most influentual microcomputer magazine in the late 1970s and the 1980s because of its wide-ranging editorial coverage. Whereas many magazines are dedicated to PCs, or Windows, or the Macintosh, BYTE covered developments in October 1983, pp. 36-50.
- Phil Lemmons and Barbara Robertson, "An Interview: The HP 150's Design-team Leaders," BYTE October 1983, pp. 51-58.
