The Epson HX-20, Part 2, With Earl Evans

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 95 of the Floppy Days Podcast for November, 2019, where once again this month (in Part 2) we will continue talking about one of the world’s first portable computers: The Epson HX-20.

I’m extremely happy to again have my good friend, and vintage computer podcast legend, Mr. Earl Evans, as my co-host for this episode.

It turned out we had so much material to cover that I ended up breaking this topic into 2 parts.  Last month was part 1, where Earl and I covered HX-20 history, tech specs, and peripherals. This month will be part 2, in which Earl and I will continue coverage by discussing how to use the machine, emulators, software, ads and appearances, modern upgrades, Web sites and more.  In addition, I will include an interview with a gentleman who has done recent work around the HX-20 in the area of emulation, Mr. Pontus Rodling.

First, however, I will spend a few minutes talking about my recent acquisitions in the vintage computing space and what I’ve been up to, then I’ll cover upcoming shows.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Commercial

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnX7d0Ty9A4

New Acquisitions

• book "The BBC Micro an expert guide" by Mike James - https://www.amazon.com/B-C-Micro-Expert-Guide/dp/0003831175 
• SDrive Max from Vintage Computer Center (810) for Atari 8-bit - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product/atari-810-sdrive-max 
• Incognito for Atari 800 - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=275 
• CPC 464 RGB-to-SCART cable - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amstrad-CPC-464-6128-High-Quality-POWERED-RGB-Scart-Cable-TV-Video-Lead/261898189777 - Retro Computer Shack
• CPC M4 upgrade - http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/M4_Board 

Upcoming Shows

• Dec 7, 2019, World of Commodore 2019, hosted by the Toronto PET Users Group (TPUG) at the Admiral Inn Mississauga - https://www.tpug.ca/…/09/announcement-world-of-commodore-2…/ 
• March 21-22, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest, Living Computers:Museum+Labs in Seattle,Washington - http://vcfed.org/…/vintage-computer-festival-pacific-north…/ 
• April 18-19, 2020, CoCoFest, Elk Grove Village, IL - http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ 
• April 24-26, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/…/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/ 
• October 30 - November 1, 2020, Tandy Assembly, Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com 

Ads and Appearances

• http://starringthecomputer.com/computer.html?c=171 
• Epson announced the HX-20 to the world in this famous double page ad spread from 1982. Its compact size is obviously the big selling point here - http://www.ganjatron.net/retrocomputing/epson-hx20/creativecomp0183-2a.jpg 
• another four page ad from Epson UK. Epson apparently wanted to make it clear that only they had the foresight to devise such a compact computing platform. As depicted in the ad, the HX-20 is equally at home in the office, on the plane, in a power station and at home. - http://www.ganjatron.net/retrocomputing/epson-hx20/practicalcomputing128202a.jpg 

Modern Upgrades

• MH-20 by Martin Hepperle - https://www.mh-aerotools.de/hp/hx-20/MH-20-Display-Controller.zip 
• Flashx20 by Norbert Kehrer - http://members.aon.at/nkehrer/flashx20.html 

Emulators

• "eHC-20"-EPSON HC-20 / HX-20 emulator for Win32 (Toshiya Takeda) - http://takeda-toshiya.my.coocan.jp/ 
• M.A.M.E. - Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator / MAME 0.184 ROMs - https://edgeemu.net/details-25542.htm 
• HXEmu by Pontus Rodling - https://frigolit.net/projects/hxemu/ 

Community

• Facebook
• • https://www.facebook.com/groups/405903130000150/ 
• Forums
• • AtariAge - https://atariage.com/forums/search/?q=epson%20hx-20 
  • https://stardot.org.uk/forums/index.php 

Web Sites

• An HX-20 Enthusiast Site - Julian Ward - https://web.archive.org/web/20161023223930/http://classway.com/hx20/index.html - contains FAQ, memory map, description of utilities (on WayBackMachine) 
• Epson HX-20 Programs - Courtney McFarren - http://www.geocities.ws/abcmcfarren/hx20/hx20.htm - software downloads (BASIC listings), memory map, memory dump, information on interfacing with the HX-20
• Review in Byte Magazine Volume 8, Number 9 - https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-09/1983_09_BYTE_08-09_Portable_Computers_in_Depth#page/n201/mode/2up - compares HX-20 and TI CC-40
• GanjaTron’s site - http://www.ganjatron.net/retrocomputing/epson-hx20/index.html - nice description of the HX-20 
• Epson HX-20 Review in Creative Computing by David Ahl - https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n3/101_Epson_HX20_computer.php 
• Epson HX-20 Tips and Tricks by Martin Hepperle - https://www.mh-aerotools.de/hp/hx-20/Epson%20HX-20%20-%20Tips-Tricks.pdf 
• TV ad for the HX-20 (1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnX7d0Ty9A4 
• Wickensonline - information from sites now only on the Wayback Machine (archive.org) - https://web.archive.org/web/20160323052226/http://www.wickensonline.co.uk/hx-20/index.html 
• Epson HX-20 Operations Manual (from the Epson support site) - https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/hx20__/hx20__u1.pdf 
• HX-20 page at Epson - https://global.epson.com/company/corporate_history/milestone_products/13_hx20.html 
• PDF documentation for the Epson HX-20 (Tech Ref, BASIC Ref, etc.) - http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/hx20/doc/index.html 
• HXTAPE software at SourceForge - http://hxtape.sourceforge.net/ - HXTape is a suite of small programs designed to read and write Epson HX-20 tapes using a sound card under Linux. Additionally, it can be used as a simple means of direct data transfer between a PC and an HX-20, by connecting the two using an ordinary audio cable.
• The Epson HX-20: As seen in Tezza's classic computer collection - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Esopw_KK8&app=desktop 
• The World's First Laptop - Epson HX-20 / HC-20 by RetroManCave - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-F_hL1bZsw 
• “Japanese portable has real staying power” From: PRACTICAL COMPUTING October 1982 page 40 - http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/hx20/pc198210.html 
• Yet another computer museum - The Epson HX-20 - http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/hx20/ 

References

• Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epson_HX-20