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Data Recovery
Initial Checkout
Software
Tape Drive
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The HP 9800 Model 30 (HP 9830A) was introduced in December of 1972, along with the 9810A and 9820A calculators. The 9830A came with built-in BASIC language and 3,520 bytes of RAM. It had a full keyboard, a 32-character red LED display (alphanumeric) and a cassette tape drive. It could be expanded via five Option ROM slots (plus three more internally) and four peripheral interface slots. Later, mass storage was available via the HP 9800 Mass Memory Subsystem. The 9830B was introduced in 1976 and came with 15,808 bytes of RAM. It included string and matrix operations, which were optional in the 9830A. The machine could be upgraded to 30,144 bytes of RAM. The HP9830 may have been the first "personal computer." It was the earliest all-in-one machine that you plugged into a wall outlet and could enter BASIC language programs. Since the BASIC language was held in ROM there was no need to load anything, and it did not require the connection of an external terminal or data storage device. |
I am interested in acquiring and preserving the HP 9830 and associated peripherals, manuals and other documentation, including the hardware for the HP 9880 mass storage system (HP 11273B Plug in ROM block, HP 11305A Controller, HP 9867A and/or HP 9867B Disc Drive Memory, and HP 12869A Cartridges).I am also interested in third-party equipment, boards and manuals, such as those made by Infotek Systems.
If you have any of this equipment or know where to find it, please send me an e-mail.
We are able to recover data from cassette data tapes (HP 9162-0050 and HP 9162-0053)
and provide the results
to you in a more modern format (CD, DVD, floppy disc, web page, etc.).
We also provide translation services to convert old HP BASIC programs into Linux, Windows or Mac OS applications. Contact us for further information. |
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For those of you who might have a 9830, here is a set of instructions to
perform an initial checkout of the machine:
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The 9830 is programmed in the BASIC language. Option ROM cartridges
added keywords and functions to perform additional operations.
The 9830 BASIC language was later ported, with updates, to the HP 9831 computer.
Source code to several example programs: |
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This text is taken from a Technical Data sheet dated December 1974.
The HP 9830 is a general purpose, desk-top calculator with the power and peripherals necessary to solve complex engineering problems, provide reports for accounting services, generate medical diagnoses... in other words, compute answers for a wide range of applications. |
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STORAGE
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In order to connect the 9830 calculator to one or more peripheral devices
it is necessary to utilise the correct interfacing equipment. Generally,
an HP calculator-to-peripheral interface comprises an encased printed circuit
interface card with 1.82 m (6 ft.) of interconnecting cable terminated in
a connector compatible with the peripheral.
With some interface configurations it is necessary to install additional read-only-memory (ROM) in the calculator. A range of special purpose ROM's are made for the 9830 and the calculator has provision for the installation of them without the need for any modifications.
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The 9830 came with a tape cassette mass storage mechanism built by International Computer Products of Dallas, Texas.
Although HP sold tapes specifically for the mechanism, it also worked fine with ordinary audio cassette tapes.
The tape drive is much slower than the tape drives on other HP models of the period, however the tapes themselves are more reliable.
A single tape cassette could hold up to 80K of information.
Unlike audio cassette recorders, the 9830 tape drive does not use a capstan and pinch roller, it simply drives the spools. This results in a non-constant tape speed, however the data encoding is essentially self-clocking. Data is stored on the tape in two tracks. A pulse on one track is a 0 while a pulse on the other track is a 1. A pulse on both tracks simultaneously is a word marker. Tape words are 9 bits long. The middle bit of a word is used to indicate a file header. |
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Using a Programmable Calculator as a Data Communications Terminal
Hewlett-Packard Journal, February 1970
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The following four pages are scans of a technical data
sales brochure from May of 1974.
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From the December 1972 issue of Measure magazine:
Loveland - HP has begun marketing the first desktop calculator to use a standard language that simplifies operation while greatly increasing flexibility.
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This advertisement appeared in the June 1975 issue of
IEEE Spectrum magazine.
Does anyone have a copy of the 12-page brochure mentioned here, HP Calculator-Aided Design: Computing Power for Engineers in Electronics? |
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Infotek Systems, based out of Anaheim, California,
was a provider of add-on and replacement boards and Option
ROMs for the 9830 A and B models. Their product line included:
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