While up at MakeIt a few weeks ago, a fellow maker came up to me and handed me a Samsonite briefcase. With a wink and a smile, he said “Take this. You’ll like it.”
Ohhhkay, I’ll bite. Lets check this out.
Opening up the case revealed… an HP 75C handheld computer, made by Hewlett Packard in the early 80s. This machine has some pretty nifty functionality. A built in BASIC, expandability, magnetic card reader for loading / saving programs, a full QWERTY keyboard, and rechargeable batteries.
Writing code on it is remarkably easy, with a clear easy to read screen and nice tactile feel to the keyboard.
Specs:
- Manufacture date: Around 1983
- HP 8-Bit Capricorn
- 24K, 16K user RAM
- 32 character LCD
- 1.4K magnetic cards for storage
- BASIC OS
It’s a great addition to the collection!
