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---
title: Hewlett Packard HP-9830
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1972'
cpus:
- 4-board CPU set
params:
name: HP-9830
image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9830_system_1.jpg
company: /companies/hewlett-packard
company_name: Hewlett Packard
specs:
- label: NAME
value: HP-9830
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Hewlett Packard
- label: TYPE
value: Professional Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: December 1972
- label: END OF PRODUCTION
value: '1977'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: HP BASIC Plus
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full stroke 107 key with numeric keypad, Function and arrow keys
- label: CPU
value: 4-board CPU set, 16--bit microprogrammed processor
- label: SPEED
value: Unknown
- label: RAM
value: '3.5 KB up to 16 KB - 9830B: 16 KB'
- label: ROM
value: From 15 KB up to 62 KB (31 KB of 16-bit words)
- label: TEXT MODES
value: LED display. 1 line x 32 alphanumeric chars.
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: None
- label: COLORS
value: Red!
- label: SOUND
value: Built-in speaker and "BEEP" command in the Basic interpreter
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: 46 (W) x 63.5 (D) x 15.2(H) cm / 21 kg
- label: I/O PORTS
value: 5 x ROM module slots, 4 x interface module slots
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: Cartridge tape drive (2 x 64 KB sides)
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: Built-in power supply unit
- label: PERIPHERALS
value: 'I/O modules: Serial, Parallel, BCD, external FDD, HDD, General I/O, AD/DA converter, etc...'
- label: PRICE
value: $6000
tabs:
- photos
- adverts
- links
forum_thread: 926
photos:
- title: TOP VIEW
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9830_top_1.jpg
- title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9830_keyboard_1.jpg
- title: LEFT SIDE
subtitle: ''
text: Five ROM cartridges could be plugged in by the user. Four internal slots for additional ROM firmware were also available.
image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9830_leftside_1.jpg
adverts:
- title: 1976 ADVERT
subtitle: ''
text: for the 9815, 9835 and 9830 systems
image: null
- title: DECEMBER 1972 HP JOURNAL
subtitle: ''
text: Courtesy **Joe Rigdon**
image: /media/museum/pubs/hp_9830_hpjournal_1.jpg
links:
- title: HP Museum
url: http://www.hpmuseum.net
text: The best place about old HP computers and calculators.
- title: Joe Rigdon pages
url: http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/9800.htm
text: More information about HP 98xx series
- title: The Old Calculators Web museum
url: http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/hp9830a.html
text: Complete page about the HP-9830
related:
- /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9810
- /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9816
- /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9825
- /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9826
- /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9836
oc_id: 950
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230405101234/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=950
date: '2023-04-05'
---
The HP **9810**, **9820** and **9830** were all announced simultaneously by HP in the December 1972 HP Journal. They were all four bit machines and all of them used a serial bus internally.
The 9830 was by far the most capable machine of this group and ran what HP called BASIC Plus. In many ways, it was one of the first true "Personal Computers" ever marketed.
The 9830 was also significantly more expandable than the 9810/9820, with five user-accessable ROM cartridge slots. The **9830-B** was introduced four years later in the 1977 HP catalog. HP said that three things set the HP 9830 apart from the other desktop systems:\
• First, it's used of **BASIC Plus** with it's English like vocabulary and structure,\
• Second, the entire operating system and firmware were in ROM and did not take up any of the read/write memory space,\
• Third, the use of the cassette tape drive with features that they said were only found on large computers.\
The basic 9830 came with 1760 16 bit words of memory, a 32 character display, the cassette tape drive and a large well-featured keyboard.
In addition to the ROM cartridge slots, the 9830 could hold three more ROMs internally. The internal ROMs were on cards instead of plug in cartridges and had to be installed by HP. When the internal ROMs or extra memory were installed, a sticker that listed the ROM or new memory size and option number was added to the outside ROM door. The **9830A** came with 3520 bytes (1760 words) of memory and could be expanded up to 15808 bytes (7904 words). The **9830B** came with 15808 bytes (7904 words) of memory and could be expanded up to 30144 bytes (15072 words). The Matrix and String Variables ROM cards were also standard in the 9830-B.
The HP 9830 was commonly found with a special version of HP **9866 printer** (see picture) that sits on top of the calculator and looks like it's part of the original machine. The 9866 was a full width page printer that printed up to 80 columns of characters on thermal roll paper. It could print a full 80 character width using 5 x 7 dot matrix characters at 240 lines per minute. It could also print simple plots and tables or other formatted text. The "B" version of this printer was introduced in 1977 and it added the capability of printing both upper and lower case letters and vertical lines. The printer used a short cable that connected to a special socket on the back of the computer.
The HP 9830 was dropped from the HP catalog after 1977 or 1978. But, in 2000, some companies still used it...since 1975!
Thanks to [Joe](http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/joespage.htm) for most of the information.
---
**Kevin Kost** specifies:\
The HP-9830a was the first machine I ever programmed (in high school). In addition to the things noted in your article...\
\- The machine was identified as "Desktop Calculator" on its label, not "Professional Computer".\
\- The version of HP BASIC in ROM included buit-in matrix manipulation commands... very rare in those computing days.\
\- Internally the machine used a serial bus architecture.\
\- The price you mention might be low. I remember hearing that our system (9830 + thermal printer + card reader) was purchased for \~$30k.