The HP-85B Microcomputer, Part 2

Hello, and welcome to episode 64 of the Floppy Days Podcast, where old computers come to live.  I’m Randy Kindig and I’m happy to bring you this episode this month.  This episode is Part 2 about the HP Series 80 line of microcomputers.  Last month I interviewed 2 well-known members of the HP Series 80 community, Everett Kaser former HP engineer who worked on the Series 80 and runs kaser.com and Vassilis Prevelakis of series80.org.  This month, they are back to help me talk about the history of these fabulous machines.  It’s a fascinating conversation with two gentlemen who have a lot of love of and knowledge about these machines.

I want to thank Everett for providing the intro to this episode with his memories of the Series 80.

Before getting into the meat of the program, I do intend to talk briefly about any new vintage computer acquisitions, upcoming shows and feedback.

Ok, let’s fire up the ol’ HP-85 and see what we can learn.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Co-hosts

• Everett Kaser Website - http://www.kaser.com/hp85.html
• Vassilis Prevelakis Website - http://series80.org

New Acquisitions

• Compute’s Atari Collection Volume 2
• Edladdin Joystick - http://www.edladdin.com/
• Book - Microcomputer Experimentation with the Intel SDK-85 by Lance Leventhal and Colin Walsh - https://www.amazon.com/Microcomputer-Experimentation-Intel-Sdk-85-Leventhal/dp/013580860X

Shows

• VCFMW - September 10-11, 2016, Holiday Inn Elk Grove Village, Elk Grove Village, IL - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/independent-festivals/vintage-computer-festival-midwest/
• Chicago International Faire - Saturday, October 15th, Evanston Public Library - Contact Faire Chairman Hal Shanafield for more info.
• VCFe-CH - Vintage Computer Festival Europe, Zurich, Switzerland, November 19-20, 2016 - http://vcfe.ch

Feedback

• Andy Collins blog - http://www.randomorbit.co.uk/?p=50
• List of TRS-80 Clones - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TRS-80_clones
• Modern kit computers:
• • Breil Computers, the australian MicroBee (http://www.microbeetechnology.com.au/)
  • http://rc2014.co.uk/  (Via Tindie)
  • https://hackaday.io/project/9077-trs-80-model-1-on-a-pic32
  • https://hackaday.io/project/5565-trs-80-compatible-clone
  • https://hackaday.io/project/75-z80-microcomputer-system