HP Integral PC Info

[Matt Kernal]

First off, please forgive me for the subject matter of this question, as I know this forum is for HP calculators. I really am a diehard HP calculator devotee, but I came across a small HP computer that I can't seem to locate any Web info on. It's called the Integral PC (model 9807), and kind of looks like the old Compaq Portable, except it also has a built-in Thinkjet printer. It has a gas plasma (yellow) tip-out display and a 3.5 in. floppy drive. It has HP-UX 5.0 as it's operating system as well as a Technical Basic ROM module. It looks like HP's first attempt at a GUI interface because of the slider bars and a pointer icon.

Here's the question: Can anyone tell me more about this machine (general info or technical info gladly accepted)?

Thanks, Matt

[Bruce Cohen]

This machine was planned as a replacement for the HP-85 computer. The major problem with this machine was that most of the Unix operating system was not in the onboard ROM but was provided as a stack of some 50 floppy disks from which you could load the needed part of the operating system. This was reviewed by Byte magazine in late 1985 and was covered extensivly in the Oct, 1985 HP Journal - see index below.

11 articles are found in issue Oct-1985.

Document Information

A UNIX Operating System Adapted for a Technical Personal Computer by Ray M. Fajardo, Robert C. Cline, James R. Andreas, Andrew L Rood

Mechanical Design of the Integral PC: Not Just Desktop Computer with a Handle by Thomas A. Pearo

A Multitasking Personal Computer System for the Technical Professional by Nelson A. Mills, Tim J. Williams

A Friendly UNIX Operating System User Interface by Jon A. Brewster, Karen S. Helt, James N. Phillips

Personal Applications Manager

Custom Graphics Processor Unit for the Integral Pc by Dean M. Heath

Electronics System for a Transportable Computer by David L. Kepler, James A. Espeland

Data Communications

Printer and Plotter Drivers

Reducing Glare with Circular Polarizers

High-quality Electroluminescent Display for a Personal Workstation by Marvin L. Higgins

[Matt Kernal]

Great info Bruce! I appreciate the reference to the HP Journal articles. Believe it or not, we still have an old HP 85 at work. It doesn't get a lot of use any more. We used to do data acquisition experiments with an HP-41 interfaced to a scale (via hp-il/rs-232 converter). Then we would upload data from the 41 to the HP 85 (via hp-il), which would format the data for upload and permanent storage on a HP 9000/217 (via HP-IB) running HP BASIC. The 217 had a 7550 plotter connected that would make color graphs. By the way, we could also upload the data from the 217 to a database on the HP3000 minicomputer (via rs-232). Ah, the old days... Thanks again Bruce, Matt