HP 95LX

The HP 95LX Palmtop PC (F1000A, F1010A), also known as project Jaguar, was Hewlett Packard's first MS-DOS-based pocket computer, or personal digital assistant, introduced in April 1991 in collaboration with Lotus Development Corporation. It can be seen as successor to a series of larger portable PCs like the HP 110 and HP 110 Plus.

Hewlett-Packard 95LX
Like most pocket computers, the HP 95LX owner's manual is larger and heavier than the computer itself.
Also known asJaguar
ManufacturerHewlett-Packard[1]
TypePalmtop PC
Release dateApril 1991 (1991-04)[2]
Introductory priceUS$550 (equivalent to $1,180 in 2022)
Discontinued1 January 2003 (2003-01-01)
Units shipped400,000 (estimated production run)
Operating systemMS-DOS 3.22[3]
CPUNEC V20 @ 5.37 MHz
Memory512 KB (F1000A) or 1 MB (F1010A)[4]
Removable storageSRAM card (0.5 MB - 32 MB)
Display40 × 16 characters LCD screen (4.8 inch × 1.8 inch)
Graphics240 × 128 pixels (quarter-CGA resolution) monochrome STN, 2 scales
SoundPC speaker (piezo)
InputThumb keyboard with 80 keys and a dedicated numeric keypad[5][6][7]
ConnectivityRS-232-compatible serial port, infrared port, PCMCIA 1.0 type II (3.3 mm or 5 mm)
Power2× AA-size removable batteries, 1× CR2032 coin cell backup, optional AC adapter
DimensionsLength 8.5 cm, width 15.9 cm, height 2.6 cm (3.4 inches × 6.3 inches × 1 inch)[5]
Mass312 g (11 ounces)
Backward
compatibility		Intel 8088
SuccessorHP 100LX

Hardware

HP 95LX had an Intel 8088-clone NEC V20 CPU running at 5.37 MHz with an Intel Corporation System on a chip (SoC) device. It cannot be considered completely PC-compatible because of its quarter-CGA (MDA)-resolution LCD screen.[8]

The device also included a CR 2032 lithium coin cell for memory backup when the two AA main batteries ran out. For mass storage, HP 95LX had a single PCMCIA slot which could hold a static RAM card with its own CR 2025 back-up coin cell. An RS-232-compatible serial port was provided, as well as an infrared port for printing on compatible models of Hewlett Packard printers.[3]

Display

In character mode, the display showed 16 lines of 40 characters, and had no backlight. While most IBM-compatible PCs work with a hardware code page 437, HP 95LX's text mode font was hard-wired to code page 850 instead.[3] Lotus 1-2-3 internally used the Lotus International Character Set (LICS), but characters were translated to code page 850 for display and printing purposes.[3]

Software

The palmtop ran Microsoft's MS-DOS version 3.22[3] and had a customized version of Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.2 built in.[9][10] Other software in read-only memory (ROM) included a calculator, an appointment calendar, a telecommunications program, and a simple text editor.

Successors

Successor models to HP 95LX include HP 100LX, HP Palmtop FX, HP 200LX, HP 1000CX, and HP OmniGo 700LX.

See also

References
  1. Francis, Peter (December 1991). "HP 95LX. (palmtop computer) (Evaluation)]". Compute! (136): 128.
  2. "Hewlett-Packard 95LX computer". oldcomputers.net.
  3. HP 95LX User's Guide (PDF) (2 ed.). Corvallis, OR, USA: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis Division. June 1991 [March 1991]. pp. E-1–E-3, F-1–F-7. F0001-90003. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2016-11-27. The HP 95LX character set is equivalent to code page 850, the IBM PC multilingual character set. (Note that your HP 95LX contains MS-DOS 3.22, which does not support code-page switching.) All the HP 95LX applications use this set except 1-2-3, which uses LICS, the Lotus International Character Set. Most LICS characters are included in code page 850; the few that are not will not display […] If your HP 95LX cannot display […] or if your printer cannot print a LICS character, the HP 95LX uses a fallback presentation for that character […] if you use the © symbol and your printer cannot print it, the HP 95LX might display (c) or c as the fallback presentation (depending on the capabilities of your printer).
  4. "95LX". HP Computer Museum.
  5. Kendrick, James (2015-04-07). "HP 95LX: Remembering the early mobile DOS PC". ZDNet.
  6. "HP95LX - How we test Palmtop computers". InfoWorld: 76. 1991-12-16.
  7. "HP 95LX". Old Organizers Collection.
  8. "DOS Palmtop: HP 95LX Details and specs". (List of DOS-based palmtop computers)
  9. "HP 95LX". InfoWorld: 72. 1991-12-16. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
  10. Matzkin, Jonathan (July 1991). "Hewlett-Packard Co. HP 95LX Palmtop PC". PC Magazine: 216, 220, 222. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
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