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HP Forum Archive 13

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HP95lx prototype pictures and short commentary
Message #1 Posted by Edwin Herdman on 4 June 2003, 9:10 p.m.

(Note that the pictures here average ~300K in size, and all are wider than the average PC monitor resolution. Originally posted at the Digital Press Forums, just a few minutes ago.)

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_reboot.jpg

Welcome to Jaguar! I've managed to score a Hewlett-Packard 95lx, one of the pioneering handheld devices that started the "handheld computing craze" in 1991. I made a promise a long while back to post pictures at the web's foremost HP portables museum, and I've finally made good on that promise.

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_sys_settings.jpg

This system prototype dates from summer 1990 at earliest, when the specifications for this system were changed from 512K ROM and 128K RAM and a target price of $595 to a whopping 1MB ROM and 512K RAM, with the target now $699.

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_back.JPG

The apparently ad-hoc nature of the prototype number on this unit (P148) leads one to suspect that this was the 148th prototype from the whole series--not the 148th unit of this type, but the 148th of the whole series. However, according to [url=http://www.palmtoppaper.com/ptphtml/12/pt120055.htm]this page[/url] (alt+w) there were no actual system prototypes made before this point--if March 1990 was the date of the first breadboard's setup. For the moment, the exact meaning of this marking is a mystery to me.

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_sliders.jpg

There is no question, however, that this unused, well-preserved unit is not a normal HP-95lx, as seen above. There's a few quirks--within a few minutes of first recieving the unit, I'd managed to freeze up the unit by messing with the RAM/RAM disk memory slider and had to pull the batteries. There are a number of strange files inside the ROM, but the two most interesting are the PCX images that are usable as a replacement for the "business card" layout you can select to display when you first turn the machine on (since it's an instant-on machine, programs are always loaded into memory and the RAM disk faintly hums even when it's powered off).

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_topcard_pcx.jpg

TOPCARD.PCX is an oddity--a rather poorly constructed screen, with obvious scaling problems in the left hand side icons, and a stray pixel. The next image is a much more pleasing idle screen named ICONS.PCX:

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_icons_pcx.jpg

All files on ROM are dated, so one more look at the system's contents should give me a fairly accurate idea when the system was actually made.

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_jaguar.jpg

Welcome to Jaguar!

Proof of ownership:

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_owner_settings.jpg

Here's a few other pictures that didn't fit in with the text, but are among the best I've got available:

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_open.jpg

When in use, the 95lx would be opened partway to look something like this. As a 95lx owner will notice, the keyboard is identical (I believe in every way) to those in the final production run.

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_top.jpg

The unit's top cover as seen from an angle. Quite a good picture; that lens cover in the background is from my digital camera.

      
Re: HP95lx prototype pictures and short commentary
Message #2 Posted by Raymond Del Tondo on 6 June 2003, 10:43 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Edwin Herdman

Hello,

nice pictures!

Only one small correction: http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_back.JPG

should be:

http://home.attbi.com/~edoscuro/hp95lx_back.jpg

at least for my browser;-)

Regards,

Raymond


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