HP 9100B
| Industry | Computer hardware, Calculators |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 1, 1939 |
| Founder | Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto , United States |
| Products | HP 9100A programmable calculator |
The Hewlett-Packard 9100A (HP 9100A) stands as one of the pioneering programmable calculators (or early computers), launched in 1968. Hewlett-Packard marketed it as a desktop calculator since, according to Bill Hewlett, labeling it a computer might have deterred potential buyers accustomed to IBM-style systems.
An advertisement published in Science during 1968 contains one of the earliest known instances of the term personal computer.
History
The inception of the HP 9100A traces back to a prototype created by engineer Thomas "Tom" E. Osborne, who joined Hewlett-Packard specifically to further develop this initiative.
As a notable engineering achievement, its logic circuitry was constructed solely from discrete components rather than expensive integrated circuit technology. Equipped with a CRT screen, magnetic card storage, and an integrated printer, the unit was offered at a price near .
This device delivered rapid computational speeds that outpaced its contemporaries—executing addition and subtraction in 2 milliseconds, multiplication in 22 milliseconds, and division in 27 milliseconds. It also handled trigonometric calculations within 330 milliseconds, logarithmic functions in 130 milliseconds, and supported iterative programming processes. These capabilities established the 9100A as the first true modern scientific calculator, marking the beginning of HP’s enduring implementation of Reverse Polish notation (RPN) for input.
Because of its architectural and magnetic card storage similarities to Olivetti’s Programma 101, Hewlett-Packard compensated Olivetti approximately in royalties.
See also
External links
- HP 9100A Calculator (marketing brochure), 1968 – Available through the Computer History Museum
- HP 9100A/B – The Museum of HP Calculators
- Bell, C. Gordon; Newell, Allen. Computer Structures: Readings and Examples. McGraw-Hill, 1971. Chapter 20: The HP Model 9100A computing calculator, p. 243. Accessed 2009-12-18
- Interview with Tom Osborne by Steven Leibson