First laptop (?), Epson HX-20

Very neat little machine, has a built in printer and tape drive. Billed as the first laptop, though that will always be debated. Thanks for all the help, vintage-computer.com forum members!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Epson
• HX-20
• cassette
• micro
• printer
• tool case
• drill battery
• vintage-computer

[Skrillbo]

I used one of these that my dad's work had, it had the memory upgrade (big cartridge, plugs into the IDC connector on the left where your voice sync goes) and a tape drive.

Sadly, the one I have now (which was given to me) has bizarre British Telecom ROMs in it so I'm going to need to use my EPROM programmer to fit the original firmware back in to get it working nicely, it contains no BASIC or MONITOR, just menus relating to some sort of archaic telephone exchange :(

[nathanallan1]

@Skrillbo Telecom commands? I see your frustration with it, you don't happen to have a telephone that it can hook to? Great that you have that EPROM writer to get it done, though, it's a really neat machine. Sounds like when you do reprogram it, it'll be a fun process. Or at least interesting.

[daafies2]

i want one

[nathanallan1]

@daafies2 I definitely got lucky when I got this thing. The guy at the flea market said he had no idea if it worked, and I got it for $10 as-is and it WORKS. Did I mention that a friend, Terry on vintage-computer, GAVE me the voice module?? That guy rocks.

[silntdoogood]

sound's like an easy enough power supply to make? I love the cassette cart haha

[nathanallan1]

@silntdoogood yep, it sure was. The cells came from a drill pack and though it was a tight fit (due to the tape) it was able to be kulged in okay (kluge on the inside but you cant see it lol). I still want to do more with this thing.

The power supply is a plain vanilla multi voltage one, works great, just had to get the right tip.

[Skrillbo]

@nathanallan1 Yeah, it had a few menus, custom-labelled function keys, etc. for generating reports from the PBX, etc. I don't have the PBX or anything it could integrate with, or even the cabling :( It looks like a completely custom job, no EPSON functionality (BT had a history of doing that, they sold Merlin-branded Acorn machines with custom software too).

Either way, last night I experimented around, got it working as an HX-20, and I have some suspicions about how EPSON wired up the ROM ;)

[amthomas0412]

COFFEE!!!!!!!!XD

[daafies2]

lucky you!

[nathanallan1]

@YoshiLecaros Thank you! The recorder has been modified for video and it needs to be restored, it's in pretty bad shape. I think it has been sitting for about 20+ years so all the insides are dry-rotted. It'll get done, but I have other projects I want to work on first. Of course, they have to do with video output so I might record some video on the tape recorder from the other project. It might be a while, though.

Thanks for watching!