The Awesome HP 9845
I worked for NASA back in the early 1980s, where I had access to an HP 9845A/B desktop computer.
For its era, it was an awesome machine: 560 x 455 monochrome graphics, a fast, onboard interpreted BASIC, dual tape drives, a built-in thermal printer, plotter/digitizer tablet, and two external 8″ floppy disk drives, with an astonishing 256K each (the twin cabinets on the left of the picture below, each almost as big as the HP!). Our machine was decked out with a bunch of additional ROMs, boosting the machine’s capabilities even further. Of course, the $70,000 price tag might have been a bit excessive for the average consumer….
Without going into the gritty details, I will mention only that our boss allowed me and a friend to work on the machine after-hours, doing whatever we wanted. What we wanted, of course, was games. (The experience we gained showed up in our technical software, which is probably why he was so tolerant.) We just wished we could have talked into upgrading to the HP 9845C–with the color display!
Anyway, this web site is dedicated to the old HP. And to Brad.
Some of our games:
- Lunar Lander Simulator: More simulator than game. It featured navigation failures/degradation, engine failures, fuel leaks/loss, computer malfunctions, etc. It pretty much required two people (pilot and systems). Surviving required both analytical thinking and quick reactions. I rewrote the game a few years ago, using exact copies of the original graphics, into C++ for the PC. (More…)
- Baseball: The American classic! Customizable teams and players. One person selected pitch and controlled the defense; the other guessed which pitch (which varied how far you hit the ball) and controlled the baserunners. Lifetime stats were kept for each player. This game even featured crowd movement in the stands!
- One-on-One: I loved this game. Both people create players according to the skills they choose and play against each other. Included real (and random) officiating–just like the real thing.
- Star Trek: An exact recreation of the USS Enterprise and her systems. Okay, maybe not: but you did have to control navigation, life support, sensors, and weapons, all while under attack from pesky Romulans and Klingons.(More…)
- Sub Hunt: The was the precursor to Search & Destroy. Find and sink the sub before he does the same to your fleet (and you!).
- Jets & Tanks: Two games here: tank vs. tank or F-16 vs. tank. (More…)
- Auto Racing: Grand Prix or Drag Race. More often than not, Grand Prix became Demolition Derby.
- Cards: Solitaire or Blackjack–name your game.
- Others: We had numerous other games in various stages of completion, before our career paths went in different directions: shooting gallery (pictured), where you shot at vehicles from every other game (including Klingon battlecruisers!), Mastermind, and probably others I’m forgetting.
Here’s to you, Brad.
Fellow computer genius
Copyright 2002-2010 T.L. Burlison
All Rights Reserved
Hi!
Those games look GREAT ! Do you still have the original tapes/disks ? I would really like to try them on my 9845.
Have a look at http://www.hp9845.net on how to transfer old 9845 program to PCs. The guy running this site (Ansgar) is trying to preserve every software ever written for this amazing machine. Maybe you already know him.
If you only have the 8″ disks, I could make the transfer for you as I have the same disc drive as those on the picture (Ansgar does not!)
Regards,
François Lanciault
Hey Burlison, thanks loads for fingering me on this s/w stuff! The Feds were here today with an arrest warrant (you know the deal… black SUVs, dark glasses, etc.). Something about using government resources and time for personal pursuits. I tell ya buddy, I ain’t goin’ down alone!
No hablo Ingles, Señor
Hi terry,
I’m wondering if you could help me.
I’ve been looking everywhere for a game i used to play in my child hood, I’m pretty sure it was on a monochrome screen because the game was green on black.
The computer was ancient, definitely one of the first PCs.
The game was pretty much a line that was constantly falling and you had to use the spacebar to make the line go upward. the objective of the game was to avoid a bunch of stars spread out by navigating with this line and to get from one side of the screen to the other.
Every level the speed and amount of stars would increase and the exit gap on the other side would get smaller, in later levels the stars would also begin to flash in and out of existence making it near impossible.
I have literally searched the entire web for this game and cannot find it, i even made it on a software processing programme but its just not the same.
I really hope you know what game I’m talking about, or can at least find out though the extensive network in the computing field I’m sure you have.
please HELP!!
Hmm, sorry; it doesn’t ring a bell!
Hi Terry,
Fond memories of Lunar Lander any chance I can have a copy for the PC?
Happy to contribute as I would love to play it again!
Are there any HP9845 emulators out there that can run on a PC
Thanks
Hi!
Those games look GREAT !
Thanks. They were so much fun to play–and to write. Some of the best times of my life back then!
[…] HP 9845 software […]
I programmed one of the fantastic computers back in ’88
I had two games…
One was a WW one biplane dogfight and the other a Cold War bomber. Both great fun. The bomber crossed the screen – you raised or lowered its flight and dropped bombs on targets silhouetted on the ground. The biplane …. basically a 2D dog fight. I don’t recall their names.
Hello,
I’ve been working on a MAME-based emulator of HP9845B for a few months. I recently reached a point where your games are playable.
As an example, I’d like to send you a few screenshots. The major changes I had to make to your sw were related to mass storage as I’m currently emulating the tape drive only.
If your are interested I can send you the virtual tape images I made of some of your games (Lunar lander, Black Jack, Solitaire, Baseball & Sub hunt).
I tried adapting other games in your collection but at the moment the main limit is that I’m not emulating any of the external modules. So, no games that rely on the 98035 RTC module (Star Trek and Races for example).
May I ask you if you happen to have some kind of “cheatsheet” or instruction manual of the games, please? In order to play them I had to do some reverse engineering of the BASIC sources.
By the way, Lunar Lander is by far my favorite but, boy, it’s difficult! So far no good landing (except for the times when I “cheat” and use the auto-pilot).
In summary, I’d like to thank you for these wonderful games. They’re still fun more than 30 years later!
Regards,
F.Ulivi
In the early 1980s I used a 9845B driving a Watkins-Johnson 8940B receiving system via HPIB as the major part of my job. In 1986, I started a new job servicing Dynamic Sciences Inc. R-1250 receivers, which covered 100Hz to 1 GHz. To my delight, I found that the company had a 9845B together with a dual 8-inch floppy drive and that the receivers and all my test gear were fitted with HPIB, but nobody knew how to use it. Within a short time, I had reduced receiver noise figure testing time from two days to ten minutes and had a printed graph of the results to present to the customer!
I have fond memories of Will Crowther’s Colossal Cave Adventure, which had been ported to the 9845B in a non-listable complied format.
Hi!
We have an HP 9845A computer (1977) in working condition.
Can we post it on your site?
Thank you,
Marlene