(For details of specific items added, please check the listings at the bottom of this page)

April 2013

• The most exciting new item we received during the period was a 13279B monitor. This was HP's first high-resolution digital color display (from 1984). The monitor is very rare and was 100% designed and manufactured by Conrac Corporation. We were able to get our unit going with a 200 Series computer using a 98204B interface.
• The most exciting development of the period comes from Rik Bos of the Netherlands. Working with David Bryan and Ansgar Kuekes, Rik created a virtual disc drive for booting and running HP-1000 A-Series computers. So, if you have one of these computers (but no HP software or mass storage devices), you can get it going using Rik's virtual disc (RTE-A version 6200).

February 2013

• The first two months of the year were fairly quiet at the museum. I was away for five weeks mountain climbing in Argentina. We did add a few new products and some new documentation (see below).
• While travelling, I swung by the San Francisco Bay Area to consolidate a shipment of items we have been collecting in the US over the last six months or so, to ship by sea to Australia. So, we should have a fun pile of goodies arriving near the end of April.
• Our web site continues to grow in popularity. We have had over 12,000 unique visitors in each of the last four consecutive months. Enquiries through the web site now account for over ninety percent of the product and document donations we receive. A big thank you to all our donors over 2012!

December 2012

• We have had good fortune in the last couple of months. Our friends at the Shell refinery in Corio, Victoria have donated a number of items including a 1000/A900, some manuals (see list below) and two 1300H DAT drives. In January, we hope to collect another A900, a 3000/928 and a 7974A tape drive. Special thanks to Graham Grills for being so generous with his time (and equipment). 
• We also had a very distinguished visitor to the museum. Nobel prize winner Barry Marshall (2005) lives in Perth and dropped by when he visited Melbourne. Barry has a fascination with old calculators. In his spare time, Barry discovered that most peptic ulcers are caused by a bacterium and can be cured with antibiotics. Barry is now looking at ways to use the bacterium to combat asthma.



Curator with Nobel prize winner Barry Marshall at the museum in December, 2012.

October 2012

• This was a very busy period for the museum's document scanner. We added about 200 new manuals and promotional brochures accross a range of products (see details below). We also added to our collection of HP 3000 Application Notes and User Group magazine.

August 2012

• We added some new software titles (mostly for the HP-150), including 150 firmware, 8087 coprocessor utilities and Zork.
• We also added some new hardware items (mostly for the 700 Series), including CRX-24 and CRX-24Z video.
• We also added 32 new manuals and brochures, accross a range of products.
• We finally got around to researching a solution to the problem of "screen mold" on 264X and 262X terminals and 9845 and 9835 computers. This problem is caused by the degradation of the glue layer that secures a glass plate to the front of these CRTs.  A procedure (including photos) for fixing this problem is outlined on the 9835 page.

June 2012

• We have added a number of new software titles for: 200 Series - Digital Filter Design, CP/M-68K and Multi-FORTH; 80 Series: DBASE-II, Perfect Pac, File Manager; 120/125 Series - SpellStar/100; 70 Series - 75 I/O Utilities. Most of the new software was donated by Tom Moore from California.
• We have also added a few new hardware items, including: 2870A disc drive, 3421A portable data acquisition unit, 82165A GPIO/HP-IL interface and 82306A GPIO interface for Vectra.
• We also did a trade with that clever Dutchman, Rik Bos. Rik is one of those really smart guys who can fix anything, so we gave him some old 9830 junk in exchange for him fixing some PPU ROM/RAM boards for our 9845B.

April 2012

• The last two months has been mostly focussed on handheld computers. We have added a number of new accessories for the HP-94 and 70 Series computers.
• We have archived most of the solution Pacs for the HP-75. We are still looking to obtain Games I, Mass Media Duplication, Math II and Test Statistics Pacs. Special thanks to Rik Bos for giving us a 71B with HP-IL interface to help with the software archiving.
• We are also working to fix some 500 Series items (mostly power supplies and monitors). Our main objectives are to get our 9020 going again and to see if we can get our 9040 running.

February 2012

• In January, we received a consolidated shipment from the USA with several months of accumulated treasures. Among the new hardware items we added were a 3000/918LX, A2941A UPS, 4953A and a DTC 16MX.
• Since our last update, we have added another 75 documents (manuals and promo literature). About fifteen of the new documents were very rare 500 Series manuals.
• We have also added a few more software titles, including 9020 demonstration software, BASIC Plus and software for the rare 2700 terminals.
• Sadly, one of our great benefactors, Stan Kurzet, passed away last year. Stan owned Infotek Systems. Stan's wife Ann donated a big collection of Infotek and HP items. We have spent a lot of time testing the Infotek products, and they are nothing short of amazing. Among many other things, Infotek sold a board swap set that made the HP 9830A faster than a 9845.

December 2011

• The last two months has been a busy period, particularly in the HP 3000 area. We recently uploaded another 180 manuals (mostly from the 1990s and late 1980s). We now also have CDs that include most manuals written for MPE and HP-UX operating systems and applications from the late 1980s.
• We have added three new categories to our software archives. The new categories are 1000-RTE and 3000-RTE and HP-Apollo Domain. So, you can now boot up that old HP system computer that has been sitting in the living room all these years!

October 2011

• Over the last two months, we have been working with quarter-inch cartridge tapes. These tapes rarely have a life over 15 or 20 years. To save the software stored on these tapes, it is necessary to replace the internal drive belt. Instructions for doing this can be found on the 88140 page. Please let us know if you have any original HP software on quarter-inch cartridge tapes, especially for 1000, 3000 and 500 Series computers. We will be happy to save the software in exchange for making an image of it.
• We have finally gotten around to getting some of our old 3000 computers going. We now have working versions of the 37, 37XE, Micro and Micro LX. We have also managed to (mostly) install MPE onto a hard disc for these computers and to image the hard disc.

August 2011

• The period was relatively quiet for the web site. A number of HP 3000 manuals were added.
• We put in a fair amount of work with Achim Buerger on his 98X0 emulation project. Achim developed some software on a 9830 to read the ROMs of a 9821 in order to add the 9821 to his emulation stable. Unfortunately, one of the memory control boards in our 9821 died before we could complete the read. So, fixing that board will become another project.

June 2011

• During the period, we received a pallet of 9830-vintage items from Adolf Specht of North Vancouver, BC. The shipment included a lot of rare items and a wide range of Infotek Systems products. Because the Infotek products were so innovative, for the first time, we have added a page for a third-party vendor.
• Our long time HP friend Frank Van Greeken found some more old plotter manuals that he sent to us through Paul O'Donnell. The manuals included 7550 Plus, Draftpros and DraftmMaster SX/RX/MX.
• We have also received and posted the original version of HP Instrument BASIC from 1992, thanks to David Hawkins in the UK.

April 2011

• Our web site continues to receive more visitors. We had almost 12,000 unique visitors in February.
• We added a few new hardware items, including 6942A interface cards, a LaserJet Plus and the rare video cable for HP-260 terminals.
• James Carter in the UK sent us another terrific video clip from 1984. The clip featured the 9836C in the British series Bird of Prey 2.

February 2011

• Our web site got a lot more traffic in 2010. November was our first month with more than 10,000 unique visitors. December and January also had more than 10,000 unique visitors. 72% of our visitors come to us via bookmarks and 7% come via links from other web sites. Only 21% come from general web searches.
• During the period, we updated the collector's notes on about 40 hardware items to provide our latest experience with machine reliability and common service issues (details below).
• We extended our postings of HP annual reports through 1998.
• Olivier De Smet now has his 200 Series emulator working. It's amazing. Be sure to check it out.

December 2010

• We had a big win in November when Charlie Brett contacted us. Charlie is an ex-HP Fort Collins employee and has been a pretty good pack rat over the years. The big donation from Charlie was 500 Series software. This enabled us to get our 9020 going and to open the 500 Series software section.
• The other big donation we had this period came from Agilent Australia. They are moving out of their headquaters building in Melbourne and doing some house cleaning. They gave us a number of classic 79XX disc drives as well as 6 units of HP 9000 375 and 380 computers. But, the main contribution was VEE and ITG measurement software and the final version of HP Pascal for 680X0 workstations - version 3.25.
• We also uploaded a number of major new software programs for the HP 250 including OM/250, FIN/250 and MFG/250, courtesy of Dick Ur.

October 2010

• Over the last two months, we have added 30 new hardware documents and 30 new software documents as well as 15 new hardware items (details below).
• We have also made significant additions to the profiles of HP divisions to add more business performance content.
• From our great friend and benefactor, Chuck House, we received a complete set of HP annual reports and an almost-complete set of HP's Intercom newsletter.

August 2010

• We added some new software titles including the very-useful B.07 operating system for the HP 250 (which enables you to use 9133/9134 hard discs). We also added the system software for the Network Advisor.
• We added a few new print advertisements, including ads for the 95LX, HPMenu for the 3000 and impact dot matrix printers.
• It was a very busy period for scanning. We scanned and uploaded another 300 manuals and promotional pieces (see details below).

June 2010

• We have recently added about 30 new manuals and promotional pieces, mostly related to the HP 250 and 260 (see below).
• Our big coup for the period was finding software to emulate the 2622D terminal using a standard PC. So, now you can boot your HP 250 computer using WS/260 software thanks to Dick Ur of Irwindale, California. Dick has donated over two pallets of old gear related to the 250/260. We are looking forward to its arrival in Aug/Sep.
• During the period, we also added eleven, mostly minor, new hardware items (see below).

April 2010

• The last two months have focussed on hands-on product work with minimal web updates. We added about 40 new photos and the same number of internal links to aid navigation.
• The main addition to the web site was 45 new product schematics created by that prolific Englishman Tony Duell (see details below).

February 2010

• We added Neely Sales to our profiles of HP divisions. Bob Reade donated a collection of the company's newsletters from 1963 through 1975.
• Gene Dreher donated two pallets of items including HP 3000, 200 Series and HP 150 stuff. We were able to add a number of new titles (software and manuals) to our 200 Series collection including the Statistical Library.
• We also added a profile of HP's Panacom Division and would certainly appreciate more information on it.
• In all, we added 70 new manuals (see details below) and about 90 editions of the Neely La Prensa newsletter.

December 2009

• We added significant new information to our HP Division Profiles, including more information on product introductions and product line performance..
• We updated the Depth Magazine section of our HP Australia information to include Inform magazines from the early 1990s..
• We added 15 new hardware items (see details below).
• We have been scanning like crazy recently and have added 400 new documents, primarily promotional literature and product data sheets from the 1970s and 1980s.

October 2009

• We have added two new TV Commercials from Australia including the 1991 Quality PCs "Shark" ad and the 1992 LaserJet IV "Champagne" ad.
• We have added three new clips of HP products in movies and TV shows including Knight Rider, The Associate and Look Around You.
• We received and added a lot of new promotional material including 9896A brochures and 250/260 Communicator magazines.
• We have also added a dozen or so new software titles including five new 80 Series programs (eg Games Pac II) and SRM software for the 200 Series.
• We also added another 15 new hardware items and about 90 manuals (see detailed list below).

July 2009

• We've spent a lot of time over the last two months scanning PC boards for various hardware. About 150 new images were uploaded.
• We also added several hardware products, primarily consumables, that were distributed by HP's Direct Marketing Division.
• Ian Johnston, a favorite museum contributor, gave us his PC Instruments collection, fascinating hardware and software products produced by HP's New Jersey Division (whose profile we also added).
• Our friend Helmut Reinhardt donated his collection of OEM News, Computer Focus and HP Channels to significantly expand our collection of these magazines (published for HP business and channel partners).

May 2009

• In the last two months, we added several new hardware and software items, 30 manuals and 100 or so images. We've also added video clips featuring HP computing products from the 1980s Silicon Valley TV show "Computer Chronicles". Products with new video clips include: Integral, 2700 terminal, 150, Portable, LaserJet II, ScanJet Plus and LaserJet III.
• Greg McKay from right here in Melbourne donated a 3000/42 as well as a 7925, some printers and some terminals. We also got some 250 software, and this prompted us to finish archiving our collection of 250 software.
• Our big addition for the period came from Sheila Isaacs in New York. Sheila gave us an original 2116A (HP's very first computer) along with a 2020 tape drive, 2752A Teletype terminal and 2748 tape reader. So, we now have a complete original system (from 1966) including the 2116A, 2020, 2752A, 2753A tape punch and 2737A tape reader.

March 2009

• We had a bonus month in February. Former HP Germany Sales rep Helmut Reinhardt donated an almost-complete collection of Data Systems and Computer Systems Newsletters from the 1970s. He also donated an almost complete collection of Computer News from 1980 through 1985. These magazines significantly improved our knowledge of product prices, intro/discontinuance dates and even sales volumes. We were also able to add another 25 print advertisements to our collection.

February 2009

• "What's New" section has been opened! You can get the latest news here as well as the list of recently added items.


• We spent most of 2008 restructuring our web site and databases to make the site easier to maintain, backup and restore.


• The most interesting new section we have added is on HP Computer Divisions. We have added brief profiles of the divisions that actually made the magic, and we have linked most of the products with their originating divisions.
• Many of our products now have links to print advertisements of the time.


• We have added two new publications to our Museum Resources section - 3000 User Group, and 3000 Application Notes.


• We have added an Advanced Search feature to make it easier to retrieve information on product categories of interest (rather then the entire database).


• The user forum is up and running! Registration is required. It also includes 'Classified Ads' section where you can trade your HP products. Click here to check it out!


• New Version of HP Quiz! Different questions, more interesting and more challenging! Click to try it now!

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