[ Originally published in Datafile, Vol 11 No 1, January/February1992, page 24. ]    The HP-94: A Posthumous Review  by    Craig A. Finseth (member #???)It is clear (to me, at least) that one of the three spiritualancestors of the 95LX is the HP-94 Handheld Industrial Computer.There was a call for atricles on the 94 in DATAFILE V5N4, and this isa belated response (possibly a record for such a delay: I am assumingthat no other articles have appeared since as I have not finishedreading my DATAFILE back numbers).This is the first of four articles (DATAFILE editor willing).  Thesecond article will describe the Collect-94 devlopment system, thethird the Collect-94 language, and the fourth the tale of Audax Corpand its interactions with HP as it developed Collect-94.IntroducedMay 1986Price, 94D1,395 (US$: I don't believe that it was ever releasedoutside the US)       94E2,095       94F2,795CPUNEC V.20 (8086-compatible)Memory, 94D64K bytes, 1 expansion slot94E128K bytes, 1 expansion slot94F256K bytes, no expansion slots (A 94F is a 94E withthe 128K byte card installed at the factory.  Youdon't get a price break over buying them separately.)DiscontinuedMay 1987 (same price as at introduction)Dimensions14.6 cm (5.75 in) x16.5 cm (6.5 in) x3.8 cm (1.5 in)Weight680g (1lb 8oz) as measured on our office scalePowerNiCad battery packDC in jack for recharging the batteryDC in pin on the serial interface for recharging the batterylithim cell for continuous memoryBattery Life16 - 18 hours normal10 - 12 hours of heavy bar code readingDisplay4 lines x 20 columns, 32 x 120 pixels, backlight-able, LCDReal Time ClockBeeper/---------------------------------------------------------------|-------\||||HP Hewlett-Packard 94|||||||----------------------------------|||||display   |ON/OFF||||   |   o||||----------------------------------|<dial>|||||||||ABCD*/#-SHIFT||||||EFGH/7I/8J/9CLEAR||||||KLMN/4O/5P/6<-||||||QRST/1U/2V/3EN|||T|||WXYZ/0SPACE/00  .ER||||||||\---------------------------------------------------------------|-------/Connectors:DC inearphone jack/-----------------------------------------------|-------\|||serial||| screwport|||||||||||||||||||||||| screw|||\-----------------------------------------------|-------/wandportPackagingThe unit is made of a medium dark gray glossy plasic (ABS?).  Trim isblack (well, very dark gray).  The front and back halves are separate(fastened by screws).  A rubber strip seals the opening between thehalves.  Preproduction units have extra rubber flaps over the serialport, earphone jack, and DC in jack.  They were removed on productionunits (by cutting them off with a scissors (:-)?) because usersthought that they made the unit waterproof.  (Which is odd becauseseveral other openings did not have the flaps.KeyboardThe keys are rubber.  The letters, "*", and "SPACE" are printed inorange.  The SHIFT key is solid orange with black lettering.  Pressingand releasing SHIFT toggles shift modes.  The "o" by the ON/OFF key isa paper-clip hole for the reset button.  The ENTER key is two keyshigh.  Pressing and holding the SHIFT key for two seconds activatesthe display backlight. It goes off by itself after two minutes (bigbattery drain).  The <dial> adjusts the display contrast.PowerThe "bar" on the right is the battery pack.  It is removable.  Whenpresent, it integrates into the case.  (Spare battery packs were HP2430A for US$89.)  The battery pack is held on with two thumbscrews.These screws have coin slots (or you need a BIG screwdriver...) sothat they are flush when attached.A recharger was available (HP 82431A for US$69).  It was NOT includedwith the 94.  In addition, one of the pins on the serial port was alsoused as DC in.  Thus, you could (and someone did) build a "dockingstation" that only needed the one connection for both serialcommunications and recharging.PortsA serial port was built in.  It used a DB15 connector.  All of theusual speeds and character formats were available.  It accepted anyreasonable voltages but drove the lines at TTL levels (0V and +5V).Hence, you had to buy as RS-232C Level Converter (HP 82470A forUS$240) if you wanted to talk with other computers.  In fact, quite afew could work directly with the TTL levels (but not anything made byIBM).  The level converter had a DB25 connector.A wand port was also built in.  It used a 5-pin DIN connector.  HPadvertised it as requiring a "smart" wand and, in fact, supplied the94 with a "software UART" to read the data.  (A "smart" wand did thebar code decoding and output ASCII text as standard serial data.)  Infact, the port was just the usual wand interface and one could (andsomeone did) write bar code software that allowed the use of any wand.SoundA speaker was built in.  In addition, there was a standard miniplugearphone jack.  Plugging the earphone in automatically disconnectedthe speaker.HandleA detachable elastic strap could wrap around the battery pack end,either on the side or the back.  Thus, the device was suitable foreither right- or left-hand operation.ExpansionThere was was internal expansion slot.  This slot essentially had the8086 bus available.  Access was through a cover in the back: the cardfit entirely inside.  Standard cards available from HP were:82410A128K-byte Memory BoardUS$700[*]82411A40K-byte RAM cardUS$35082412AROM/EPROM cardUS$150[*] HP lists this as a field service upgrade.  Actually, there was nodifference between installing it and any of the other cards.  Ofcourse, it is called a "board" and not a "card."  The price may havebeen US$695, in which case you paid HP US$5 EXTRA for them to sell youa 94F instead of a 94E and 128K card (excuse me: board).MarketsThe 94 was aimed at the data collection and route accounting markets.As a device, it was a little ahead of its time in both markets,offering more power (CPU, memory, display size) than most existingmachines and, of course, a higher price.  However, it was much easierand cheaper to program than existing machines.Its greatest failings were in its supporting products and efforts.  Itlacked quality printers, modems, upload/download stations, waterproofcases, carrying cases, and the other such things typically developedby third parties.It also "fell through the cracks" in HP's marketing divisions.  The 94was offered by the Corvallis divison, who were used to selling tobookstores, EduCalc, and other such organizations.  A typical 94 sale,on the other hand, would take two years of lead time, require thecooperation of a dozen vendors and involve thousands of units.  (Thisis covered in more detail in the fourth article.)SoftwareThe 94 has 32K bytes of ROM.  This software provides a VERY primitivefile system, a very primitive command shell, a simple "BIOS" for I/O,and a BASIC interpreter.The file system allowed 4 character file names, supported three filetypes (A: application (programs), D: data, H: (interrupt) handler),and two to six directories, numbered from 0 to 5.  Directory 0 isalways main memory. Directory 1 is RAM or ROM.  Directories 2 to 4 areROM (if the ROMs are configured that way), and directory 5 is alwaysthe system ROM.  Files must be pre-allocated and are alwayscontiguous.The command shell had these commands:B#.#set baud rate and serial data formatCfrom.tocopy file[*]D#list directoryEfileerase fileI#initialize directoryKkeyboard self-checkLLCD self-checkMmemory testSstart (run) an applicationTset date/time[*] if you omit either from or to, the serial port is used.  Data istransferred in Intel Hex format.All error messages are numeric (e.g., error code 219).The BIOS is simple and straightforward.  It provides the functionsthat you would expect.The BASIC implementation is very strange.  You wrote the program on anIBM PC-based development system, then downloaded the tokenized form tothe 94.  That isn't what is strange, though.  The dialect of BASICimplemented by the devlopment system is like no BASIC that you eversaw.  Between the weird dialect and the baroque development system, Iwas never able to actually write and download a BASIC program.But that is getting into the next article.