NOTICE: Please be advised at over 80 years of age I am discontinuing my involvement in creating websites and graphics. All of the art I have done in Oregon for 11 years has been done without charge.

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HP-85A   Biorhythm

HP-85A - My First Computer

I used this computer and a HP-7225B Graphics Plotter to make money doing biorhythms at State & County fairs in California & Nevada in 1981. I built the concession display from scratch.

The first model of the Series 80 was the HP-85, introduced in January 1980. wrote "we were impressed with the performance ... the graphics alone make this an attractive, albeit not inexpensive, alternate to existing small systems on the market ... it is our guess that many personal computer experimenters and hackers will want this machine". In a typewriter-style desktop case, the $3250 HP-85 contained the CPU and keyboard, powered up with a ROM-based operating system (like the 9800 series), 16kB dynamic RAM, a 5-inch CRT screen (16 lines of 32 characters, or 256x192, a tape drive for DC-100 cartridges (210kB capacity, 650B/s transfer) and a thermal printer. Both the screen and printer display graphics in addition to text, and the printer could copy anything shown on the screen.          This computer was used on the 16" guns of the New Jersey battleship [CLICK] goto page 30.

 


Osborn

OSBORNE 1 - My Second Computer

Adam Osborne completed the first portable computer, the Osborne I, which weighed 24 pounds and cost $1,795. The price made the machine especially attractive, as it included software worth about $1,500. The machine featured a 5-inch display, 64 kilobytes of memory, a modem, and two 5 1/4-inch floppy disk drives.

In April 1981, Byte Magazine Editor in Chief Chris Morgan mentioned the Osborne I in an article on "Future Trends in Personal Computing." He wrote: "I recently had an opportunity to see the Osborne I in action. I was impressed with it’s compactness: it will fit under an airplane seat. (Adam Osborne is currently seeking approval from the FAA to operate the unit on board a plane.) One quibble: the screen may be too small for some people’s taste."

A degenerate society is characterized by expansionism and imperialism, starting unjust military operations against innocent countries, killing innocent people, cutting off the heritage of ancient sages. Large countries go on the offensive; small countries become defensive. People’s livestock are driven off; people’s children are taken captive; people’s shrines are destroyed; people’s prized possessions are taken away. Blood flows for a thousand miles, and skeletons litter the fields all to satisfy the desires of greedy rulers and governments. This is not what armies are really for. A militia is supposed to put down violence, not cause violence.            From the Hanna (Taoist text 207 b.c.e.-220 S.E.) Translation by Thomas Clearly, The Tao of Politics.