HP 9825 Demo

Despite its unassuming calculator looks, the HP 9825 is a powerful 16 bit all-in-one desktop scientific computer and instrument controller. Well, powerful for the time, which was 1976. It is actually far faster and has more memory than the HP 85 from the 1980s.

It had a 16 bit multi-chip hybrid processor, the same that would be used to make the famously powerful HP 9845 workstation. However, with its one-line display and HPL language, it is much less approachable than the BASIC and CRT endowed HP 85. It was also far more expensive, listed at a whopping $5,900 for the base model in 1977, and that's without the many expensive option ROMs and additional RAM you'd need for a functional system. The fully equipped 9825T model shown in the demo cost $8200 in 1981.

After we repaired our HP 98035 interfaces, we used the in the HP 9825 to make this quick demo. More documentation about the HP 9825 is available on this page:

HP 9825 Scientific Computer