Hoard of elderly HPs

[Roger Plant]

Hi, I've just joined and have a collection of HP9825, 9826, 9836 machines plus lots of interface cables, 8 inch floppy discs and I/O devices, plus HP manuals, dos discs for the 9836, including IIRC HPL, Pascal and Fortran. I am not up to date with just what I have as I haven't looked at it all for years.
They have been in dry storage for years but used to work OK.
Are they of any interest today?

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

Yes there is interest in them, I for one am interested in them. I was looking for a machine to run Rocky Mountain Basic for instrument control and was considering 9826 and 9836 but the ones that where available that seemed to be in reasonable condition where too expensive so I settled for a 300 series 9000, but am still interested in the 9826 and 9836 as a compact all in one. I find the 9825 interesting as well and have considered them for use as an instrument controller as well.

[Roger Plant]

The reason I kept them was to control a planned wind-solar-hydro power system, I don't know if that will ever get built but they would be ideal to control it.
I have not accessed them for about 15 years and can't remember all the details.
I used to use them extensively for CAD purposes in the 1980s-90s so know their capabilities well.
I know I have at least one of each computer type plus extender(s?) and relay I/O modules. (16 or 32 channel?)
They were all working when stored but I expect the 9825 DC100 tape drive will need some tlc to its rubber tape drive pinch wheel.
I can't remember if I have one or two 9825s certainly one 9825 and maybe a 9825B.
IIRC the 9826 had a display fault that gave some random lines on the screen.
That one is certainly surplus to my requirements and not expensive to a good home, if some one knows how to fix that minor fault.
Please excuse my forgetting all the HP part numbers, it's been a long time since I put them into storage.
I do know they have an internal 24 volt powered SW mode psu and I was running the 9836 on 24 volts DC.
I know they are very useful for machine control purposes so they would be very useful and easy for me to program in HPL and use for that.
I am not going to give them away cheap.
BTW HPL runs much quicker than basic on them, about 16 times faster when I tested it. Not sure if that was Rocky Mountain Basic or not.

[dramsey]

I have all of these calculators (well, except the 9836), but would be very interested in-- and willing to pay for-- some of the software and accessories.

I'm specifically interested in the 8" diskette drives and cables, as well as whatever software and manuals you have for the 9826/36.

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

The BASIC that ran on the 9826 and 9836 is reputed to be HP Rocky Mountain BASIC and it is my understanding that the BASIC that ran on the 300 series is the same or a direct decedent of it especially the BASIC/WS version that was OS, development environment and interpreter rolled into one. I aware that HPL was ported to the 9826 and 9836 but from what I read that only happened as a stop gap measure and they where the last to support HPL. If I did have something like a 9826 I would certain give HPL a try.

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

(05-01-2014 01:05 PM)Roger Plant Wrote:  IIRC the 9826 had a display fault that gave some random lines on the screen.
That one is certainly surplus to my requirements and not expensive to a good home, if some one knows how to fix that minor fault.

I would be interested in the 9826 please contact me via email or private meassage and we can negotiate there.

[Roger Plant]

I will try to get the comps and bits out of storage in the coming few days and see what still works or not.

[cruff]

Do you by any chance have a 98228A disk ROM for/in any of your 9825 systems? These are apparently very hard to find, and it would be great if we could image that ROM to construct some modern replacements.

[douze-bis]

(05-02-2014 10:36 PM)cruff Wrote:  Do you by any chance have a 98228A disk ROM for/in any of your 9825 systems? These are apparently very hard to find, and it would be great if we could image that ROM to construct some modern replacements.

I second cruff's question.

[Roger Plant]

98228A disk ROM? I will have to look. Not long before I put my 9825(s?) into storage I acquired some more bits including some 8" floppy disc units ex-HP test department at Winnersh UK.
I can remember trying to run my original 9825 from those discs without success.
That leads me to think that said ROM was missing. I also have a memory of a second 9825 that I had at that time, possibly from the same source, so there is hope.
My memory of exactly what I have in storage is a bit vague as I put them in the store about 1998, (year that is not HP part#)
We will all have to be patient and wait until I can get at it all, hopefully this weekend, life and other things permitting.

The reason I got the 8" floppys was because I knew the 9825 tape drive had a limited life due to the deterioration of the tape drive wheel.
So as a second string to these thoughts, does anyone know of a source of replacement tape drive rubber wheels for the 9825?

[douze-bis]

(05-03-2014 12:50 AM)Roger Plant Wrote:  So as a second string to these thoughts, does anyone know of a source of replacement tape drive rubber wheels for the 9825?

I recently ordered a foot of silicone tubing with supposedly the right dimensions : 8mm ID, 9mm OD, 0.5mm wall diameter.
I have yet to see if it works.
I found it on TAS, item number 181266029901.

Frederic

[Roger Plant]

Using silicone tubing seems to me not a good way to get a suitable wheel.
I know that wheel and its drive motor get up to some speed and because of that the wheel needs to be dimensionally correct and perfectly balanced.
Does anyone have access to any original HP engineering drawings for the tape drive wheel?
I have the engineering facilities to make new rubber/metal composite wheels and that would be much easier done if I had the HP dimensions to work from.
The drive was possibly not made by HP but original drawings would be good.

[Roger Plant]

I've just managed to get a quick look at my stored HPs and found also two 9915A machines that I had forgotten about.
Both have tape drives and one has a 82903A 16K memory module in it.
I had a load of those at one time and thought I had sold them as a job lot for the tape drives. If I kept back two of them then I must also have kept the 85 desktop used to program them.
They have their own style interface plug in cables and I think I have some of them in the store.
The tape drive in the 9915 I have just checked has a very sad looking tape drive wheel but I could use it as a pattern to make new ones.
But as I said previously, a dimensioned drawing of the tape wheel would make that job much easier.
If I can make one then I could make many more if there is a demand for them.

[cruff]

(05-03-2014 06:13 PM)Roger Plant Wrote:  If I can make one then I could make many more if there is a demand for them.

I'm sure there would be a demand, I've replaced the drive wheels in my 85A and 85B with vinyl tubing turned down to the proper diameter, but I have concerns about the longer term reliability. This would also fit the 9825 drive also I think?

[Roger Plant]

My main intention is to restore the tape drive in my 9825, the 9915s were kept as lower power process control machines. IIRC they only run basic.

[Roger Plant]

I emailed the HP museum and they sent me this link re repairing the capstan drive wheel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRvWkmLwelQ

[Roger Plant]

Here's a much better link.
http://www.hp9845.net/9845/tutorials/tapedrives/

and an even better one

http://www.voidware.com/calcs/hp85rep2.htm

[Curlytop]

I might be interested in a 9825 unit. We had one at when I was at university (mid to late 1970's), used more for playing than working!

[Roger Plant]

I have still not managed to get them all out of the store to find out what still works or not.
I have thought about what I want to keep and a 9825 is probably not one of them.
I have one 9825A that was in good working order when it went into the store and possibly a later model as well, maybe a 9825S
I am more interested in the 9836 with its disc drives.
Make me an offer on the 9825, assuming it's working. It is in the UK so you will need to pay shipping costs.
I know how to repair its tape capstan wheel now so that should be working as well.
I've just noticed you're in Cardiff, I'm near Taunton, Somerset.

[vassilisprevelakis]

regarding capstan repair, I have some info including a picture of an original capstan (so you can see the dimensions) at

http://www.series80.org/Articles/capstan-repair.html

The same repair works for any machine that uses the same mechanism (Series 80, 9825, 9815 etc).

Regards

**vp