website/content/museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9825.md

---
title: Hewlett Packard HP-9825
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1976'
cpus:
- HP 5061 16-bit
params:
  name: HP-9825
  image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9825_system_1.jpg
  company: /companies/hewlett-packard
  company_name: Hewlett Packard
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: HP-9825
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Hewlett Packard
  - label: TYPE
    value: Professional Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: U.S.A.
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1976'
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: HPL
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: 98 keys with 18 fuction keys, numeric and cursor keypads
  - label: CPU
    value: HP 5061 16-bit
  - label: SPEED
    value: Unknown
  - label: CO-PROCESSOR
    value: Math coprocessor
  - label: RAM
    value: 8 KB up to 32 KB
  - label: ROM
    value: 8 KB up to 24 KB
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 32 characters x 1 line
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: None
  - label: COLORS
    value: Red
  - label: SOUND
    value: Simple beep through a built-in tiny speaker
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 49,5 (W) x 38,4 (D) x 13 (H) cm / 11.8 Kg
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: 4 x ROM pack, 3 x expansion slots
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: 250 KB DC-100 cartridge drive
  - label: OS
    value: HP
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Built-in power supply unit
  - label: PRICE
    value: $5900
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  - links
  forum_thread: 907
  photos:
  - title: TOP VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: The DC-100 cartridge drive is at the left side of the LED display, the thermal printer at the right.
    image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9825_topview_1.jpg
  - title: 9825B
    subtitle: ''
    text: With true typewriter keyboard.
    image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9825_bversion_1.jpg
  - title: 4 ROM-PACKS
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      • String ADV. Programming - added advanced string commands to the HPL language\
      • Plotter\
      • GEN I/O, Extended I/O\
      • Systems Programming
    image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9825_cartridges_1.jpg
  - title: TERMINAL ROM PACKS MANUAL
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/hp_9825_manual_1.jpg
  adverts:
  - title: 1976 ADVERT
    subtitle: ''
    text: for the 9815, 9835 and 9830 systems
    image: null
  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
  related:
  - /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9810
  - /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9816
  - /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9826
  - /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9830
  - /museum/hewlett-packard-hp-9836
  oc_id: 930
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230210082325/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=930
    date: '2023-02-10'
---

Although the HP-9825 was presented by HP as a desktop calculator with some computer features, it was really a desktop computer, in fact the first all-in-one computer everyone could use without being a computers guru.

This system was lauched quite at the same time as the first personal systems ([Altair 8800](/museum/mits-altair-8800/), [Imsai 8080](/museum/imsai-8080/)), however, its concepts and features were much more advanced but its price was about ten times the one of an Imsai, it thus wasn't intended to hobbyists market.

Inside the portable case, one found:\
• a full HP 16-bit CPU called 5061 with math coprocessor,\
• 8 KB to 32 KB of RAM,\
• HPL, an advanced high-level programming language close to BASIC,\
• a complete standard low-profile keyboard,\
• a 32 character alphanumeric LED display,\
• a built-in 16 column thermal printer,\
• a magnetic DC-100 cartridge tape drive.

Furthermore, four ROM-pack housings allowed to extand HPL capabilities or run specialized software, and three expansion slots provided communication capabilities with any type of peripherals: measuring instruments, printers, plotters, mass storage devices. The expansions operating system was developed by **Joe Beyers** who will become later Vice President of HP Computer Systems Business.

Two additional versions of the 9825 were manufactured, the **9825S** included a set of ROM packs and the **9825B** featured a true typewriter keyboard instead of the low-profile version.

---

**David Botkin** remembers:\
In 1982, I worked with a model 9825B, connected to a flatbed plotter through the built-in HPIB interface. At the time, the 9825B had the only hidden-line plotting software available commercially (as opposed to military applications). In this case, the application was a graphical representation of optical diffraction patterns, which were later used in a college-level textbook on optics. A single plot could take several days to complete!

The HPL language was indeed very close to BASIC, but with some interesting extensions, such as the ability to read and write data directly to/from HPIB ports. I used this ability to write several small programs that digitised points on completed plots (using the digitisation feature of the plotter; the pen could be replaced with a crosshair!), and then drew 3-dimensional correct-perspective axes to label the plots, as the plotting software itself had no such function.

9825 and weather reconnaisance, by **Mark Christoph**:\
We used the 9825B in our WC-130 aircraft to run our dropsonde weather data gathering equipment used in weather reconnaisance (Hurricane Hunters). The dropsonde (essentially a weather ballon-type radio device that decends via parachute rather than rising by ballon) would gather temperature/pressure/humidity data and transmit it via radio transmitter to a receiver and frequency counter, which in turn sent it to the 9825B for processing.\
Our computer program would number crunch for about 20 minutes and then spit out the weather code that we could plot and transmit back to surface stations for world-wide dissemination. It also served double duty playing crude games for us to pass the time during long transits to and from the storms. The last I used one was in 1987, and were pulled from service best to my recollection around 1988-89.\
A previous writer mentions that the language was very close to BASIC, which I also recall; most of the commands were the same as BASIC with the same line number/program flow.