EBTKS add-on board for the HP-85 vintage computer

There is a new plug-in board for the HP-85, which not only will emulate the difficult to restore but essential tape drive, but also 5 disk drives, adds all the ROMs, and extends the memory while it's at it. It's called the EBTKS board, designed by Philip Freidin, Russell Bull and Everett Kaser. And, by the way, Everett was one of the original HP-85 software engineers! Philip gives us a live demo.

[rhymereason]

Did I miss it? Where is information on how you can acquire one of these cards?

[BongWeasle]

I was an HP field service engineer in the 80s/90/s and these little guys were little workhorses. I also used to repair them and yes I have replaced hundreds of mechs in my time. I see a lot of equipment in the background that I also used to repair and calibrate. The original HP company was without a doubt the best company in the world to work for, making the best Test and Measurement instrumentation in the word. Happy days.

[Pasco]

It warms my heart hearing someone use the term "Winchester drive" in 2021. Lots of childhood memories bubbling up. Thanks for the vid! :-)

[VincentGroenewold]

This day and age is awesome isn't it, all kinds of people are making new boards for all kinds of old devices, it's lovely!

[patrickradcliffe]

That CRT is immaculate! From the video it looks like there is zero burn in.

[hubbsllc]

I *mastered* one of these things in undergrad. Had it running a DMM and function generator to perform gain measurements on an audio compressor and printing out a carpet plot of the results.

[osvaldocristo]

Thank you! I used one more tan 40 years ago! Actually I had access to two of them. Thanks for bring me sweet memories.

[Kohm]

I saw the name Everett Kaser and I didn't realize it was the same person who made the Sherlock logic game! I love that game

[jmalmsten]

For some reason I now want to build a similar machine with the same form factor but built around a Raspberry Pi 4, a full sized mechanical keyboard, 10 inch screen, and maybe a break out box to keep the GPIO and other connectors accessible and other handy features.. maybe a thermal printer? All in a nice wooden box.

[vmsysprog]

I remember when the HP85 came to market. I wanted one but was an undergrad student at the time and was way beyond what I could afford.

[malksc]

That HP-85 looks like a prime candidate for solar-only retrobriting. Just leave it in the sun for a few days and watch the keyboard and case both un-yellow. It won't be perfect but it should be better, with no significant risk of streaking or splotches.

[Zerbey]

Great addition to such a venerable old machine.

[redace]

It's too bad HP never took on the 8bit home market. These 85s were just a bit too much for the common man. Neat stuff!

[GothGuy]

I have one of these, but either the tape drive or the printer did not respond at all, I forget, it has been years since I got it. but my cousin in his infinite wisdom in trying to troubleshoot the issue, removed the ribbon cables improperly, { the one cable over the other, shown at 8:50 } and he ended up de-laminating them. now none of the machine works at all.
is there a source where I can get NOS replacement cables?, or fashion my own somehow?

[ezquimal]

That era of hp was made like a tank.
The hp-86b that I recover was on the street down a rain one night and when I recover just put a cord and turning on and run with no problems.

[DSAK]

I remember using this in my sophomore EE class

[avrahamstern]

omg this naked machine with cute little crt monitor is so cool...

[TheZx]

How does the computer monitor look so good?

[fiftystate]

Those cartridges 1:40 crack me up. I mean you have to laugh. They define "write only -memory- storage." You look at them and think "aluminum plate = robust." It got to the point where I would backup to tape and immediately test. Which led to most freshly opened tapes being thrown away after being written to once.

[SpiralDiving]

Good job but it would have been much cooler to put electronics in a box that fits the tape drive and communicates with the read/write head magnetically. I might even be possible to power the electronics with a generator powered off the take up spool an/or capstan :)