website/content/museum/epson-px-4-hc-40.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Epson PX 4 / HC 40	Computers	Portable	Japan	1984	uPD 70008	name image company company_name specs tabs photos hardware links comments oc_id source PX 4 / HC 40 /media/museum/photos/epson_hx40_1.jpg /companies/epson Epson label value NAME PX 4 / HC 40 label value MANUFACTURER Epson label value TYPE Portable label value ORIGIN Japan label value YEAR 1984 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE Basic label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard (chicklet keyboard available) label value CPU uPD 70008 (Z80 compatible ) label value SPEED 3.6864 MHz label value CO-PROCESSOR CMOS 7508 4bit : handles housekeeping, clock, battery, etc. label value RAM 64 KB : 64 Kbit CMOS D-RAM x 8 label value ROM 96 KB : 256 K-bit CMOS ROM X 3 label value TEXT MODES 40 x 8 label value GRAPHIC MODES 240 x 64 label value COLORS Monochrom LCD display label value SOUND Beeper label value SIZE / WEIGHT A4 size label value I/O PORTS Serial, RS232c, cassette, cartridge port, printer (parallel) port, expansion port, sound in & out label value BUILT IN MEDIA Microcasette label value OS CP/M with disk-drives units label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in battery which can last for 4 hours label value PERIPHERALS Printers, plotters, tape-recorder, ROM & RAM expansion, barcode reader, EPROM burner, replacement keyboard, modem and more... label value PRICE 1590 FF (France, january 1988) photos hardware links title subtitle text image JAPANESE USER MANUAL Hello sweety ! Thanks to the [TATA EPSON HC-40 Page](http://page.freett.com/tata93/hc40.htm) for this picture. /media/museum/photos/epson_hc40_manual_p1.jpg title subtitle text image EPROM WRITER CARTRIDGE Epson H415A-EA1 Prom Writer Cartridge II. It plugged into the corner expansion port of the PX-4 and had a 32pin ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket. /media/museum/hardware/epson_px8_promwritermodule_1.jpg title subtitle text image EXPANSION SKETCH There are for sure a lot of peripherals available for the HC-40 ! Wow... There are printers, plotters, RAM & ROM expansions, disk-drives, EPROM burner, barcode reader, keypad, etc... A larger and better picture is available at the [TATA EPSON HC-40 Page](http://page.freett.com/tata93/hc40.htm). Thanks to the [TATA EPSON HC-40 Page](http://page.freett.com/tata93/hc40.htm) for this picture. /media/museum/hardware/epson_hc40_expansion-sketch.jpg title url text Epson PX4 info page http://www.discordia.org.uk/px4/ Pinouts and CP/M command reference among other things title url text TATA EPSON HC-40 Page http://page.freett.com/tata93/hc40.htm Great informations here (Japanese) ! author date text Simon (Australia) Thursday 29th March 2012 I have one of these in a box somewhere, along with the PROM writer...... very funky little unit, well ahead of its time. author date text Ian Chard (UK) Friday 4th May 2007 When I did A-level computing in 1990, I remember doing a case study of how the UK music singles chart worked. Shops entered details of sales into little computers, and I remember that the Epson PX-4 was specifically named. No idea if it was true, though! 370 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230608211026/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=370 2023-06-08

This computer is the successor of the HX-20.

The main cosmetic difference is a wider screen that can be adjusted to the right angle.

There are 2 ROM slots under the machine to implement additional ROM programs.

On the right of the LCD display can be plugged a tape-recorder, a plotter, RAM expansions, a lot of things or ... nothing.

A lot of peripherals were available for this little computer (see hardware page), at least in japan.

The PX-4 was logically followed by the PX-8.