Your very own supercomputer

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 2 Dec 2005 4:37 pm

Can you guess the date on the cover of the magazine where I found this ad?

<IMG SRC='http://usera.imagecave.com/ebovine/HPsupercomputer.jpg'>

Don Poland · Post by **Don Poland** » 2 Dec 2005 5:43 pm

1978?

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1974 MSA D10 Classic 8+5, Goodrich Matchbox 7A, Digitech Genesis 3, Peavey Nashville 112
If you ain't steelin' it, you ain't feelin' it !!

www.steelin4fun.com

donpoland@steelin4fundotcom

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 2 Dec 2005 5:49 pm

Check that oh-so-affordable price: $9,900 with CRT and only $8,700 for single-line LED. Get yours today!

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 2 Dec 2005 7:47 pm

17 April 1980, 3:12 PM

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 3 Dec 2005 3:28 am

Having worked in computers since, "BPC" (Before PC's), that system would have probably been before the "IBM PC". Probably early 70's.

Notice it uses "Basic", not "DOS" as the operating system.

Computers in those days were designed for "commercial" applicatons, not home or consumer.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 3 Dec 2005 5:11 am

Nov. '77?

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 3 Dec 2005 8:10 am

This thing has a monitor, that says much about it's birthdate.

A 1974 Senior EE project was to build a "TV-typewriter", so character generator chips were just happening then.

MITS Altair and SWT2 were about 1977-1978.

We spec'd and installed an HP 9845 based data acquisition system circa 1983-84. Oh, and those data tapes for the tape drives were the most miserable fragile annoyances known to mankind.

I suspect this HP 35 with CRT somewhere in the middle between 1978 & 1983.

IBM PC appeared about 1981-1982 but didn't get into "mainstream" corporate use until 1983-84.

(PS: Our First IBM PC XT with 256 KB on MOBO and 384 KB (yes both say KB) on AST 6-Pak Plus card with 10 Mb HDD, 360 K floppy, CGA Card & Monitor, MDA Card and monitor, and 8087 math co-processor: Price was just shy of $6000. CPU speed was a whopping 4.7 mHz.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 03 December 2005 at 08:13 AM.]</p></FONT>

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 3 Dec 2005 9:17 am

Don Poland had it right: 1978 (October).
Also in the same issue is Apple II with 48K RAM. The price isn't in the ad, but I think it was under $2000. Which would you buy? The Apple ad has smiling ladies in full color while HP shows 2 geeks in black and white so Apple must be more fun as well as lots cheaper.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 3 Dec 2005 9:01 pm

Got more power on my wrist these days...

Yeah '78 sounded pretty good.

So is this archeological "geek speak" anthropology?

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 3 Dec 2005 11:02 pm

Why when?

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 5 Dec 2005 3:16 pm

My first real computer's OS was CP/M....that's going back a ways...