Floppy Days 62 - The HP85B Computer, with Everett Kaser and Vassilis Prevelakis

Welcome to episode 62 of the Floppy Days Podcast, where a little smoke once in a while is a hazard of the hobby.  In the vintage computer timeline, we are still in the 1979 to 1980 timeframe.  This month we are covering the HP-85 desktop computer, or actually the entire series of which the HP-85 was a part known as the HP Series 80. I struck gold when I found the two gentlemen who are co-hosting this episode with me.  First is Everett Kaser, who worked for HP for 20 years and was intimately involved in the development and support of the HP-85.  Secondly, we have Vassilis Prevelakis, who runs one of the best resources about the HP Series 80 in existence today, hpseries80.org.  Once we started talking, and I interviewed the two gentlemen, I realized we were going to need a multi-part show to cover the large amount of information and history around this significant platform.  So, the first show will be the interview with Everett and Vassilis and next month we will get into history, tech specs, emulation, Web sites, and all of the other information I like to cover. Before we get into that, however, I will cover new acquistions, a little news, and some feedback I’ve received. Links Mentioned in the Show: New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To American Computer Museum, Bozeman, MT - http://www.compustory.com/ Micropendium (TI99 Magazine) Site - http://www.99er.net/micropendium.html HP41 PPC ROM - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-3SI5jRHv8 HP Calculator Poster at VCALC.NET - http://vcalc.net/#posters Museum of HP Calculators - Museum Document Sets on Flash Drive - http://www.hpmuseum.org/cd/cddesc.htm News VCF West - August 6-7, 2016, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west-xi/ VCFMW - September 10-11, 2016, Holiday Inn Elk Grove Village, Elk Grove Village, IL - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/independent-festivals/vintage-computer-festival-midwest/ Chicago International Faire - Saturday, October 15th, Evanston Public Library - Contact Faire Chairman Hal Shanafield for more info. VCFe-CH - Vintage Computer Festival Europe, Zurich, Switzerland, November 19-20, 2016 - http://vcfe.ch Feedback List of modules for the HP-41 - http://www.hp41.org/LibView.cfm?Command=View&ItemID=1232 Interview Everett Kaser Website - http://www.kaser.com/hp85.html Vassilis Prevelakis Website - http://series80.org