HP 9836C Technical Computer

HP 9836C Technical Computer

General Info
Release Year	1981
Manufacturer	HP
Condition	Working
Technical Specifications
CPU	Motorola 68000 8MHz
Expansion Interface	HP Series 200 Backplane Card
Categories
Computers

A high end workstation computer from HP in the early 1980s primarily for use with CAD and instrument control using the integrated HP-IB (GP-IB/IEEE-488) interface.

Floppy Disk Drives

The internal floppy drives are standard Shugart interface compatible drives, the example I have used Tandon TM200-2A drives, but some units shipped with drives made by Magnetic Peripherals Inc and Control Data as well.

Both of the drives are jumpered at DS0 and MX on U1E as described in the Tandon Manual. A Termination pack is also installed by default in U2F.

Rear of floppy drive from 9836C showing jumpers and termination pack.

For more information on the layout of the data stored on the disks themselves, see the HP 82901M 5.25in 270K FDD page which is compatible with the internal drives in this system.

Repairs - Modifications

2023-06

• Original video cable failed and was replaced with standard male-male DA-15 cable with straight pinout.
• Computer was originally acquired with a HP 98629A Resource Management Card which was replaced with a HP 98622 GPIO Card since this system will likely never be used with others for the foreseeable future.
• Floppy drives were disassembled and dry cleaned to remove dust

Archived Media

• HP BASIC 4.0 on 5.25" Floppy disks

Video Appearances

• 1981 CAD Monster - HP Series 200 9836C

Related Devices

• HP 9122C Dual 1.44MB Floppy Drive
• HP 82901M 5.25in 270K FDD
• HP Series 200 Backplane Cards
• HP 82321A BASIC Language Processor

External Projects and Software

• HP98x6 (archived): HP Series 200 Emulator
• HPDrive (archived): HP-IB external drive host emulation software:
• HPDir (archived): LIF filesystem browser and tools
• lifutils (archived): LIF filesystem browser and tools