HP-80 Teardown with pictures

[Max Stone]

I'm not much of a blogger, but I've posted a short entry on the HP-80 if anyone is interested:

http://persistent-tech.blogspot.com/2013/10/hewlett-packard-hp-80_6137.html

[Xavier A. (Brazil)]

Very accurate.

Thank you, Max.

[Kimberly Thompson]

Max

I appreciate the quality of your blog and suggest this more than compensates for frequency. Thanks, from a grand oldie user, for saving one of HPs' grand oldies!

SlideRule

edited for spelling

Edited: 23 Oct 2013, 8:44 p.m.

[Walter B]

+1!

d:-)

P.S.: There's an Articles section of this museum here. I think your blog would be more than a valid contribution there but I don't know if you want to copy it - and that section can host modern formats.

[Max Stone]

Thanks Walter. I'll check my spelling and copy it across into the Articles Forum.

[Max Stone]

Posted in the Articles Forum (#1263) under the title: HP-80 History, Design and Interesting Facts.

[Walter B]

Thanks a lot!

d:-)

[BShoring]

Thank you very much! This is very interesting. There is lots of info on the HP-35 but really little on the HP-80. It is really impressive just how much functionality they packed into the HP-80 considering the limited memory at the time. Unlike all the later financials, the HP-80 had to perform all the financial functions on the stack as there were no dedicated financial registers. Somehow it managed to keep track of what values were where and it performed the calculations correctly.

I did find the same dusplay bug you mentioned on the HP-80 iOS emulator I have (from Maciej Bartosiak).

Thanks for a great job!
Bob

[Max Stone]

Thanks Bob, you make a good point about the financial registers. This is apparent as it's not as flexible as later financial calculators in the way you can key in TVM values across the top row in any order and perform repeated 'what ifs'. The HP-80 is very particular in the order you enter the data, and you have to start over if you want to change a single value.
Interesting that the HP-80 iOS emulator has the same display bug!
Best regards, MAX

[BShoring]

Max, your HP-80 looks like it's in perfect condition. I don't see a scratch and the display looks great.

Bob

[Walter B]

... and it has got even an aluminum bar below the display. Congratulations!

d:-)