HP-IL Video converter 80columns; what usual/standard screen to connect?

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello,

after some searching I finally found my video interface. Unfortunately it is not the 80 column version, but the HP-82163B with 32 columns and 16 lines, the "B" stands for European TV format (PAL / 50Hz).

In the garage I also found a long forgotten HP-35731B green monitor which had been sitting in the same place since the year 2000 when we moved in. I had bought it in the late 1980ies in a long gone computer surplus store close to the venue of our Stuttgart meeting last weekend, in the hope to connect it to my HP-150 whose built-in monitor was a little too small for my taste, but there was no way to connect it.

It was very dusty and dirty from the dormice who must have built a nest on top of it during those years. I made the mistake of only cleaning it from the outside. When I turned it on, there was instant fire and smoke inside from burning dust and cobwebs... After taking it apart and cleaning it inside, it seems to work. I connected it to an HP-75C via the video interface and got only garbage on the screen initially, but adjusting the "HHOLD" trim pot on the PCB resulted in a legible (but still garbled) display. Whilst adjusting the HHOLD, a capacitor exploded in another part of the PCB, probably unrelated to the adjustment. Lucily I was wearing my reading glasses when that happened. Obviously that capacitor is not really required because nothing changed on the display when it went up :-)

So if 32x16 is enough to play "Snake" I now have the hardware to go with it.

Regards
Max