HP-67/97

The HP-67 and HP-97 were introduced as a matched set. The 97 had a printer, a larger case and a much larger battery pack. They were otherwise functionally equivalent. An HP Catalog described them as "A major leap forward in fully-programmable personal calculators. These are the most powerful personal calculators Hewlett-Packard has ever made." (Personal Calculator distinguished them from high-end calculators like the HP-9825 and "mid-range" models like the HP 9815.)

Improvements over the HP-65 included:

• Fully merged keycodes: A function could require three keystrokes but still fit on one line. This was achieved by using 8 rather than 6 bit instruction words allowing 256 distinct operations.
• More memory: 224 merged program steps and 26 memories instead of 100 partially merged steps and 9 memories. (The HP Key Note newsletter said they had about 3.4 times the programming power of the HP-65.)
• Better program editing including BST (backstep), displaying step numbers and the ability to GTO step numbers in program mode.
• Ability to read/write data to/from cards. All or some registers could be read or written.
• "Smart" card reader recorded calculator modes so programs didn't have to include steps to set up the calculator.
• Program merging allowed reading partial programs from cards and merging with the already loaded program. This could be done under program control or manually.
• 10 instead of 5 user defined keys. (5 unshifted plus 5 shifted.)
• 3-level subroutine nesting.
• Comparisons of x with 0.
• Increment loops as well as the HP-65's decrement loops.
• Indirect addressing (see below.)
• 4 flags instead of 2 including one that indicated data entry. (see below.)
• Additional built-in functions.

The HP-67 packed so many functions on to a small keyboard that three shift keys were needed. The HP-97's larger keyboard needed just one shift. The HP-97 added the same printer introduced in the HP-91. This battery powered printer could print the display, the stack, data registers and programs. Programs were printed with step numbers, keycodes and key mnemonics. It could also be used in trace mode to debug programs.

Indirect Addressing

Indirect Addressing was a particularly important addition giving the calculators, true computer power. Once a value was stored in the indirect register via STO I, it could be used to control store and recall addresses, goto and gosub addresses, format the display, and select a loop counter by using (i) as the argument.

Data Entry Flag

Flag 3 indicated whether data had been entered by the user since the last time it was cleared or tested. This made it possible to write programs like the Time Value of Money solver included in the HP-80. A routine could test the value of this flag and if the user had entered data, the program would store it. However, if the user had executed the routine without entering data, the program would calculate the answer. (See the programming page for more information.)

Technology

The HP-67 looked very much like its predecessor, the HP-65. However, both the HP-67 and HP-97 were based mainly on the same technology used in the 20 series. This resulted in a great reduction in cost.

In addition, a new ROM/RAM chip was developed just for the HP-67/97 calculators that contained 1024 10 bit words of ROM and 16 56 bit registers. The HP-67/97 used four of these new chips to provide more storage at less cost than the HP-65's multichip hybrid.

Software

Both calculators were supported by huge program libraries. As of 1977, the applications pacs consisted of:

Solutions books included:

Front view of HP-67 (~64K)
Three quarter view of HP-67 (~93K)
Back label (~55K)

Dimensions and Weight HP-67
Length: 6",
Width: 3.2"
Height: 1.4"

Weight: 11oz

Introduction-Discontinuation: 1976-1982

Front view of HP-97 (~100K)
Three quarter view of HP-97 (~98K)
Rear view of HP-97 (~46K)

Dimensions and Weight HP-97
Width: 9"
Depth: 8"
Height: 2.5"

Weight: 2.5lb

HP Manuals Available

HP-67 features

HP-97 features

Technology and Packaging

Programming Information

Introduction-Discontinuation: 1976-1984

Price: HP-67: $450, HP-97: $750

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