Hewlett Packard HP-65

 
Serial Number 1333A01781: 1973, 33th week, USA
Accessories Power supply

Old and defective battery pack

New battery pack

Manual: HP-65 Owner's Handbook, bound printout from MoHPC CD-ROM

Manual: HP Journal: HP-65 Programming the Personal Computer, bound printout from MoHPC CD-ROM

40 magnetic cards in one program card holder

Manual: HP-65 Quick Reference Card (self-made)
Condition Basically mint. For repair I had to bend up the ears of the back label. Card read is operational.
Repairs 26.6.2002 
Opened calculator, thourough cleaning, removed copper oxide stains, replaced rubber wheel. After I found out that the card reader needs the battery pack it started to work again.
Acquired 12.6.2002

Accessory
 18 HP-65 Pocket Instruction Cards
Condition Very good. Magnetic cards are used and labelled.
Acquired 12.1.2003
.
HP codename, series Superstar, Classic
Type, Precision, Input Mode Scientific, 10 BCD digits, exponent ±99, Reverse Polish Notation
Programmable 100 commands, partially merged. One level of subroutines. Two user-flags. Labelled programs (A..E) accessible thru top function keys. Labels 0..9. Instruction inserting and deletion supported. No backstepping thru programs! Branching only to labels.
Performance Index 2.1
Memory No permanent memory but magnetic cards. 10 registers (0..9)
Display 13 digit 7 segment red LED plus sign
Special features Magnetic card reader. A very early programmable pocket calculator. 
Warning: Card reader only works with battery pack even when using the power supply (which cannot supply enough current).
Original Pricing, Production 19.1.1974 ($795) - 3.1.1977 ($795)
DM 2600 in 1976 (according to Kurt Pribil).
Batteries 3x AA pack or AC power supply
Dimensions Length 15.1cm, Width 8cm, Height 3.6cm
Links HP-65 Owner's Handbook, July 1974 (PDF)
HP-65 Bedienungs-Handbuch, September 1974 (PDF, German)
HP-65 Kurzanleitung (PDF, German)
HP Journal, Programming the Personal Computer, May 1974 (PDF)
Quick Reference (PDF)
Comment HP's fourth calculator and first programmable model - what a device! The built-in magnetic card reader allowed countless useful software packages to be developed. Also, the card reader makes the calculator quite heavy and thus even more impressive. 
Three prefix keys allow for an surprising number of directly accessible functions - while thanks to the clever usage of the f and f-1 key the keyboard doesn't look cluttered! 
The programming model is good but has some serious shortcomings like missing backstepping and only one level of subroutine calls. These issues were overcome in the HP-67 which I suppose was much more popular.
.
Back To Contents