Posts: 4
Threads: 2
Joined: Jan 1970
I used some of the early HP9000 series minis. Yes, the HP-IB interface is used to connect disk drives (and tape drives, and printers...)
Almost any HPIB drive should work, I don't know the part numbers, but when these were released, drives were advancing from washing machine sized 404Mb drives to 5 1/4 full height 1Gb drives (and very quickly too!)
If you can find almost any HPIB drive, and bootable tape, and an HPIB tape drive to suit, you'll be on your way. It may not be too big an ask, I'm sure there are people out there today with perfectly well working HP9000 HPIB based equipment that would be compatible. It's finding a bootable tape that may be difficult...
Posts: 23
Threads: 3
Joined: Mar 2009
I have also been curious about these small HP's. I have a Series 9000 model 340 (98571X)I bough at surplus. The serial number starts with 28 so I think it is from 1988. The machine has HP-IB, HP-HIL (not HP-IL!) RS-232 and a coax LAN interface. The keyboard and mouse are connected through the HP-HIL interface. There are RGB coax outputs for video, I used a Sony monitor to check the unit out. The computer runs from ROM firmware, running some type of LAN monitor software. I have no idea what the machine could be used for and have no use for it myself. Anybody got a use for it? I would be interested in software for it or someone else can have it for $50.