Windows 1.03 for Vectra valid for HP-150 ?
#1

Hello,

I have the Windows 1.03 for HP vectra package, with a set of 5" 1/4 floppy disks. Although the labels on the disks mention only the HP vectra, the manual contains all information to setup and install the software also on the HP-150. My question is the following: is the software compatible with the HP-150 ? if yes how can I transfer it to 3.5" disks (I have an HP-150 with 9121 2 floppy drive) ? I suspect that they created one manual for both systems but the software is different. Can anyone confirm on that ?

Thanks for your help,

Pascal.

#2

Hi, Pascal:

    I can't confirm for sure whether your Windows software
    for the Vectra would run on the HP-150, but I very much doubt it.

    I wrote professional programs for the HP-150 at the time it was released, and if I remember correctly it had its very own version of Microsoft MS-DOS which wasn't compatible with the standard version for any other PC-like model from any other vendor. I had to write my own low-level routines to provide Turbo Pascal (also recently released) programs with the ability to handle the graphics screen, the touch screen, and the HP graphics tablet.

    It was all very low level, directly calling the HP-150's AGIOS layer (Alpha-Graphic I/O System) to print text to the screen with various attributes (bold, blinking, etc), drawing pixels, lines, circles, and arbitrarily defined areas filled-in or not, as well as detecting screen locations activated via the touch screen. Getting a stream of coordinates from the HP graphics tablet and detecting the stylus being pressed was also a feat.

    However, once I had created the appropriate low-level "driver" procedures and functions and the high-level ones calling them, all compiled Turbo Pascal graphics-heavy programs ran smoothly, impressively ("Touch Screen") and real *fast*, to the point that you could even indulge in some eye-catching real-time animation ("morphing!") for the programs' splash screens for instance. This was unheard of and unseen anywhere else at the time. Our clients were absolutely amazed.

    In a nutshell: the HP-150 AGIOS layer was so specific to this HP model that I seriously doubt any graphics-heavy software for the Vectra (such as Windows) would ever run in it. It surely requires its very own version. But I may be wrong.

Best regards from V.


Edited: 20 Feb 2008, 8:17 a.m.

#3

Hello Valentin,
Thanks for your comprehensive answer, it's now clear that the software is different.
If anyone has teledisk copies of the hp-150 version of windows, I would be very grateful if he/she could contact me.
Thanks
Pascal.

#4

Was there a version of Windows for the 150? I don't remember one. I only ever saw DOS on it.

#5

I never saw one either, but if Pascal says that his manual does include instructions for the HP-150 it seems to imply that such a version did exist ...

Best regards from V.

#6

Hi Pascal,

Well, it looks like there was a Windows for the HP-150.

See following Link:

Microsoft Windows for 150

Also check out the other software that was available for it:

150 Series Software

Is this the same HP-150 you have?

Bill
Smithville, NJ

#7

Hello!

Quote:
Was there a version of Windows for the 150?

Yes, there was! I have it somewhere in my garage under heaps of other boxes, so it may take me some time to get to it. If I ever find it, I will be happy to lend the floppies to anyone interested! (Don't know if I can get my 150 going again and I have nothing else that can read/copy these disks).

Since I bought my HP-150 from an employee of HP, the Windows version that I got with it may not be an official release but something for internal use only. After nearly 25 years, this should not be a problem any more I hope.

Anyway, Windows is nearly unusable on the 150. Too slow, too few pixels, not enough resources in general. But it works and it is a nice demonstration of what the machine can do, considering that internally it is really only a graphics terminal connected to the motherboard by an RS232 data line!

I let you know when I have located my floppies...

Greetings, Max

#8

Hello Bill,


Yes, that's the machine I have. Thanks for the link, I did contact the owner of the site but he doesn't have the software. I hope Max can find it.

Thanks for your help anyway,

Pascal.

#9

Hello Max,

That would be great if you could dig out those disks ! I'm sure that the owner of the web site mentioned by Bill (see following post) would be able to create images of the disks and post them on his web site. If you don't find anyone in USA that can do it, I could take care of it here in Switzerland, I have an old Compaq/286 that can make images of such floppies using Teledisk.

Greetings,

Pascal

#10

Hello!

Quote:
That would be great if you could dig out those disks ! I'm sure that the owner of the web site mentioned by Bill (see following post) would be able to create images of the disks and post them on his web site. If you don't find anyone in USA that can do it, I could take care of it here in Switzerland, I have an old Compaq/286 that can make images of such floppies using Teledisk.

That was quicker than I thought (and my wife always keeps saying that I'll never be able to find anything in that mess :-) ).
So now I dug up a boxed manual and 8 floppy discs: The ones mentioned in the manual (Setup Disc, Build Disc, Utilities Disc, Font Disc, Desktop Applications) and three more (Additional HP and Microsoft Contributed Peripherial Drivers, Write Disc, Paint Disc).

If you send me your address, I will put them in the mail tomorrow - from Germany to Switzerland this should not take longer than a couple of days. The alternative would be that I try to make the disc images on a PC at the office, but as a Macintosh person someone would need to tell me what software to use for this purpose (or where to get this Teledisk software!).

Greetings, Max

email: hohmannmax _at_ bombie.de

#11

Great news !

I replied in a separate mail with my address. I will make a copy in Teledisk format and make it available to others through the web site mentioned by Bill.

Thanks again,

Pascal.



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