Perhaps for american computers. ;) Actually, many home computers of the early eighties weighted less than the IBM PC keyboard. The ZX81 was about 300 gram for instance. Sharps handheld Z80 computers were at about the same weight. Same with similar products from Casio and others.
@Omega LUL Well, that has little to do with weight though. But speaking of it, the Z80 was actually the origin of 8086 (and x86), in two ways. Not only were the designers of the Z80 (F.Faggin and M.Shima) the same people that designed the first microprocessors at intel, including the i8080. But after their departure intel were extremely delayed (with their failed iAPX 432) and therefore worried about Zilogs first product, the Z80. So Stephen Morse was told to design the 8086 to compete directly with the Z80. That's the reasons as to why the 8086 look like an extension of the Z80.
Having never owned or even used either of these machines before, this was an absolute treat to watch. Nice work once again, David. And I am in love with that Hyperion machine's design! The disk drive mechanisms alone are fantastic. Shame about its lack of... working.
Much like Metal Jesus Rocks and LGR, these guys are jokes who would have been dead long ago if youtube and paetron didn't exist. They have no skills other than begging for money they didn't earn so they can shine a stool with their posterior. It's all sad and pathetic. All the mediocre individuals e-begging is such a poor ugliness. They all worked in call centers, retail or had a job removing spam from an otherwise working computer, who should live and die in obscurity. "Instead" they pan handle. The internet is their tin cup. Why? Because they're complete failures in life. 5, 10, 20 dollars a month for videos of you opening packages from other social rejects? Netflix is 13.99 a month, I don't think they upload one video a week of them opening fan mail. Get a job. Learn a trade. Give back to society. You people are so pathetic. Darwin would cheer for your demise so other stronger individuals could prosper and George Washington would wonder why you haven't committed suicide due to the Grand Canyon Sized shame you must feel every second of every day. James Rolf Doesn't do paetron. I guess he decided he wasn't going to be a loser like the rest of you.
In one of my computer labs at university, there just so happened to be a Hyperion sitting amongst a pile of old electronics in the back. Out of curiosity, I plugged it in and threw the switch to see if it was still functional. The light went on, but not the monitor, and I sat there baffled for a good 15 seconds before I realized that there was a rather unsettling amount of smoke pouring out the back of the machine. I frantically unplugged the computer and placed it back. Everybody in class saw what just happened and decided to pretend as if nothing happened. Good memory.
At least that one didn't catch fire like the one a friend of mine had due to a faulty power switch (wouldn't shut off) and a bad power supply that often overheated. I didn't see it catch fire myself, but the pictures of the damage were telling enough. The smell of scorched plastic, *_yum_* (lol)
I worked in the back room of a couple of computer stores configuring IBMs and Compaqs for customers. I can attest to the fact that it's possible to open the Compaq without tools. You would put the front of the computer against your belly, position your fingers on the back of the top of the case and press your fingers where the tabs were located and it would release and you could pull it up and towards you. You had to have strong fingers for this as well as be careful that when it released you didn't jerk it back and hit yourself with the lid. I hated working on these because a lot of customers would order the math coprocessor which was located on the motherboard under where the hard drive is located on your system. You'd have to completely pull the motherboard to get access to it and that involved a lot of knuckle-scraping. But they were good machines and we sold a lot of them. I personally have a Compaq Deskpro (the original XT class version) with a pair of hard drives that, unfortunately, don't work and I'm looking to get a flash reader for it. Any suggestions for what to use?
I've used several of the SD to IDE adapters from China, and they seem to have a problem with properly shutting down the adapter with the computer. (I only use them on vintage systems, so maybe I'm supposed to "park the heads" or something), but anyway, they eventually, almost inevitably corrupt the data on the card and I have to restore my backups. Otherwise, they're cheap and use common media. I've heard much better things about the CompactFlash media drives, but since I don't have any CF media, I've never tried them.
@@VernonBalbert get one with a mounting bracket so it stays secure and can be accessed without opening the system up. If it uses a standard floppy connector it can use a gotek usb floppy drive emulator that can store up to 1000 disc images
They were good up to a point. Compaq cheaped out on mechanics in the keyboard, and the case plastic was brittle toy-grade and began to yellow as soon as it emerged from the box. For some reason this plastic attracted a lot of grunge - you'd see filthy ones and they always looked ragged and beat up. The screen phosphors were the easiest to burn I ever remember. The monitor section tended to be electrically fragile. They were really ugly computers! But they performed.
@@ultrametric9317 actually they were either Cherry or Keytronic keyboards, at least initially (they had dual sources in case of a logistics bottleneck). They may have gone cheap later, but initially they were quite high quality keyboards.
The Compaq portable was the first pic my employer handed me and asked me to program product labels for our shipping Dept. From scratch in gwbasic including custom characters. I only had a beginner's understanding of basic at the time. This was in addition to my regular job as a machine operator at the time. Great video, model I used had dual floppies, ah memories!!
@@rkornilo Yeah I hate seeing stuff like that get thrown out. I have one working Atari ST 520 and another non-working ST 520, but I keep it around to see if I can manage to fix it. Already went through many troubleshooting parts on it to see if I can fix it. Next thing to check is the RAM, which can be time consuming to try and diagnose, which is why I'm stuck there right now with it.
The Hyperion doesn't get enough love. It beat the Compaq to market, making it the first IBM compatible sold, a point of pride to the Canadians. Christine McGlade, star of You Can't Do That On Television, carried a Hyperion computer back and forth on her motorcycle between her home and the TV soundstage, as by that time she had already begun her transition from an actress to writing and producing.
Just the other day I was looking at old Apple marketing training material from the 80's, and they actually had split up the portable market into segments: "Transportable" - 20 lbs or more, A/C Power "Portable" - 12-20 lbs, Battery or AC "Laptop" - 5-12 lbs, Battery "Notebook" - 5 lbs or less, Battery Pretty fascinating how there were these submarkets based on capability. Link to some screenshots: imgur.com/a/dnXfwyn
There was a joke in the 1980s (or at least I think it was a joke, could be real), that the USSR standards body defined portable as having a handle. If it had two handles it was semi-portable :D
Fun fake fact: These computers actually weigh 2 pounds. They put lead weights in there to keep you from throwing these through the air and injuring a co-worker when your software crashes. :P
@@KarlBaron batteries werent ready in terms of size and autonomy by that time, and CRTs put batteries totally out of the equation (unless we think car batteries for those CRT "portables"); even when the first lcds were introduced in the portables the batteries back then were huge, lasted 1 hour tops and amounted for half of the computers weight
I remember travelling with a Compaq like that for my job in the mid-80s. Lugging that heavy thing on the NYC subway system and stowing it in overhead baggage on airplanes. Half of the time the bus cards would get loose and I would open it up and re-seat them. Hard to believe that was considered portable, but back then we were on The Cutting Edge. Before that, I had a job using an Osborne. Wordstar and Lotus 1-2-3 (I think) and dBase were the main apps we used. We cranked out hefty business analyses with these simple tools, although when WYSIWYG came into being, that saved a lot of waste paper.
I used to like Compaq as a brand, always seemed quirky and unusual with their designs (E.G. their Ipaq desktops, loved those things!), then HP bought them out and started selling junk-level HP tat under the Compaq brand, which pretty much killed them as something I'd want to buy...
Back in 2004 i used to have a Compaq Presario which ran XP (my older bro had a Presario that ran ME...the satan of OS's) It actually was a pretty stable system (though 85 gigs back then was nothing to sneeze at).
Most of the work on the Hyperion was done here in Ottawa. I have friends who worked at Dynalogic, and one of them was the lead programming for H-DOS. I actually saw the source code for it! He had a print-out of it...and back then that was the Royal Jewels of the PC world!. As you said, they had production problems...they had a *HUGE* number of pre-orders for the Hyperion based on their announcement at COMDEX...millions of dollars, but as manufacturing delays mounted, people started cancelling their orders to buy a Compaq. As they had needed that money to ramp up production, there were caught in a bind. It was at this point that Bytec came along and made Dynalogic a deal it couldn't refuse due to the loss of the pre-order money they were counting on for manufacturing... Bonus content: Old Joke from the day... Q: How do you tell if a person is a Compaq user? A: One arm is longer than the other! (a reference to the weight of the "portable")
Deniz yes it does just 2 rules: ..Keylock must be on and you cannot use the number keys across the top of the keyboard it must be the keypad...this will only work at MS-DOS command level... ALT+013 is one i have used alot...I did not know about CTRL+M thanks John
@Rex Warden Not necessarily -- a fancy screen editor will usually use low-level key messages to intentionally distinguish between such things, and allow ctrl-M to be a command shortcut like any other ctrl key. I just tried and it works in Notepad, though. In Notepad++, the default key bindings don't use ctrl-M and it defaults to Enter, but (I just tried this) it can be set to anything you want.
I've had to repair a few CRTs with a partial vertical collapse on the bottom similar to the Hyperion in this video, and it was a small value capacitor on the way from the video/deflection IC to the vertical IC. 2.2uf. Gosh. You mentioned needing to work on those other Compaq machines, and I wish I could be there. Great videos!
Used to work at the first computer store in Kalamazoo as a technician, I fixed many Compaq and Hyperion computers as well as IBM's, several people lost their Compaq's at the airports as they got mixed up with other peoples sewing machines. They weighed about the same too! If you pressed in the middle of the top or bottom cover you cold get your fingers under the lip and pull the cover off, felt like it would break but it won't, learned this trick at Compaq tech training school in Houston, biggest trouble was the power supply board as I remember. Hyperion's seldom broke down, floppy drives needed alignment frequently on all machines. Still have all the tools and alignment disks needed to fix them, haven't used them in many years! Good to see them again.
Loved Halt N Catch Fire! By far the most tech accurate production ever IMHO. Im still trying to learn more about that MCI Satellite Dial Up line Cameron had in her camper, cant find much info about it online. I also came across one of those Compaq Portables sitting out on my sidewalk in Brooklyn about 10 years ago, brought it in, found a power cord and it actually posted no issues! Realizing I had no 5.25 boot floppy of any sorts and NOT realizing its real value at the time being a 1st gen machine, it found its way back out onto the sidewalk. Yes I am a sinner, please forgive me......
The Commodore connection to that Hyperion is interesting, when I saw that system it immediately jumped out at me that the keyboard had the same "inverted color" keyboard that Commodore PCs had.
I used one of the Compaq’s as a “portable” back in the 80’s. The company owned 2 if I remember right. Every weekend there was a 32 hour job that ran on the mainframe that took another 9 hours to print. We used 1 of the Compaq’s to monitor the mainframe from home while the job was running so we didn’t have to babysit. Definitely a trip down memory lane for me. Thank you for a great video with good explanations. Your subscription numbers amaze me. I had no idea that there’s so much interest in these antiques!
Xilefian When running US layout software config on a typical non-US keyboard, you get the backslash in BOTH locations. Except with Linux which assigns the lower left key to it's Finnish characters < and > .
AltGr+V = @, Nikola :) The solution to this problem is just to set up your own, and then your mom's, your neighbour's, sister's, grandpa's, friends' computers to use Serbian Latin by default, Cyrillic as second, and third, if they are programmers, English (US). They'll figure it out, and if they have a US physical keyboard, hey, they'll learn to touch-type. But US layout as default needs to stop. BEGONE osisana latinica!
Indeed, the Hyperion had problems many... I've seen one with a faulty power switch that wouldn't turn off, and often overheated. Yep, that one ended up catching fire, though I didn't see it happen in person, I do remember seeing the damage taken by a Polaroid camera (and the guy had the sense to NOT flap the photos around like a fucking moron). The monitor itself had half-melted, and the interior of the plastic was burned black. The only salvageable part was the power supply, even if said power supply was the core of the problem. What a waste.
My second computer was a Compaq Portable (my first was a 386 class, yes, the Compaq Portable was OLD). Still, it was a fantastic second system. I used it for BBSing mostly, along with some programming. Actually used it as an intelligent light controller running some high school theatre shows, was loads of fun. A fantastic piece of hardware, even over 10 years after introduction.
Lucky, now I'm imagining you on some short-lived 80's TV teen crime fighting drama with said computer to solve mysteries. I kid on that part. But still, that was a fun experience. Though I came up when the internet was just full bore.
Ahh, brings back memories, I had a Compaq Portable Plus back in the 80’s (286 version). The covers are very easy to remove. Take an elbow and press down in the middle of the cover, then take your fingers and lift up the edge on the side with the handle. I always liked how the motherboard slides out on a tray after removing the inf cards, connectors and a couple screws. Thanks for the video David.
Lucky shit!! Serious though that's awesome, but do consider bolt modding it for strength, and also using some silicone lube on the springs, as it will help quiet it down some, and give the old springs a smoother feel. Lastly if you retrobright it, DON'T use cream as it will streak the plastics, use liquid peroxide, oxiclean, and water in a 50% peroxide/oxiclean, and 50% water in a clear sealed tub with a clear locking lid big enough to fit all the parts in at once on a warm day about 70F in direct sun light, but you might need to move the container around to catch more sun every few hours.
@@CommodoreFan64 Thanks for the tips! It hasn't really yellowed at all, it's been in school use which means the keys were just very dirty. All I did was I cleaned them and it looks brand new! I think I won't suppress the sound from the keys, I took it just because of the sound and feel :) Edit: in Finnish winter you can't retrobrite crap, I'd probably just stick it into a sauna because apparently it's the heat, not the light, that "unyellows" it.
I love green monochrome, 80s memory. Even today I still set up my terminal windows at work to be green on a black background. I love your channel for the same reason I loved Halt and Catch Fire, there was a lot of history going on in the 80s that deserves to be remembered.
We had a Hyperion when I was a kid. I still remember dialing into BBS's with the built in 300 baud modem. I have such fond memories of the amber power button and the Hyperion star logo on boot up
This brought back memories. We sold the Hyperion at the small computer store I worked at in the 80's. I thought it was a pretty cool system. Enjoyed this episode tremendously.
While I never owned one of these, I have great memories from those 90s all-in-ones by Compact. Wish I still had my family's old one, which was a 486 DX 25mhz(later upgraded to a DX2 66mhz)... just a great and neatly packaged all in one DOS computer, that played pretty much everything you threw at it up until Quake.
I used to have one of those Compaq portables under my desk at work. I got it at an auction in the early 90's, and it ran Binkleyterm 24/7 so the ten remote branches of the company I worked for could dial in any time (1200 baud modems!) and upload sales data/download order status data. Nice piece of kit, very reliable.
Best way to learn assembly language, from what I've heard. I'm sad it didn't get any further than the 68060 (which I just found out about! Thanks, Wikipedia!)
@@KuraIthys I think the main reason people say that is because you don't have to deal with the crazy offsets of 16-bit x86 programming. What's your favorite assembly language, and why? I'm very curious, because I never really learned Assembly.
I have a neverending love affair with the 68000. Such a beautiful and simple design, it never ceases to amaze me. By far my favorite assembly language, and I've done pretty much all of them from 6502 to the 486, which was when I moved on to C.
Wow, that Compaq was an amazing piece of engineering, extremely clever and well designd! And the business decision of the Compaq execs was such a bold move, those were crazy times. I loved the TV show and my first PC was indeed a Compaq Presario!
Man I love your channel. Computer History is so fascinating. I know its not for everyone but you make it very accessible. Kudos! I'm in my 40s and watch this with my son. He just likes spending time with me but he gets a kick out of seeing how "basic" (his words) the technology was back in the 70s and 80s. He's 9. I keep reminding him his Switch is in his hands thanks to the pioneers who developed these computers, processors and processes. He gets it.
Good video. My Aunt owned a Compaq when she was studying in systems analyst career. She later sold the compact when became obsolete in 1991. Nevertheless I didn't saw a Hyperion, but I knew about its existence. Excellent work, this video brought me memories.
I love how you started this video with Halt and Catch Fire; probably my favourite show of all time. I've watched the entire series 5 times. Great soundtrack too! I never got a chance to experience this decade in computers since I was born in 1983. Great video!
Wow! You did a great job cleaning those guys up! That Compaq looks like you just ordered it out of Computer Shopper back in the 80's. I love learning about the history of forgotten popular, and quirky systems like these.
I started using one of these machines in the summer of 1983 for work. I traveled extensively throughout the Pacific and Latin America regions. Every single time I went through customs in any country (including the US), I had to remove the skin of the machine (as well as the soft case cover) to prove that it was in fact a computer. I can verify that it is very possible to remove the cover without tools. I was so impressed with this machine that I went to work for Compaq 3 years later.
I never owned a Compaq... but my dad had one, and it was the computer on which I first used a word processor (Wordstar) and immediately started cranking out reams of bad amateur science fiction. It was this amazing feeling of freedom, being able to type away and not just correct mistakes, but insert and delete and reflow text and rearrange the whole story. Writing suddenly felt frictionless in a way it hadn't before. I think I also first used a spreadsheet on that machine. I remember that whenever the screen switched video modes you'd see this funky sine-wave oscilloscope-trace pattern flash for a fraction of a second.
@@retrodevdroid3670 From all the reviews I've read over the years on the show, that's the biggest issue, and why I've never bothered to start watching it. Really is sad.
Clickety Clack Seasons three and four are considered to be the best, but I loved the first season, when the show did focus more on the process of creating a new product, and less on the interpersonal relationships.
Yeah, the critical response was good, but the consensus seemed to be that they spent way too much effort on the technology. They "fixed" it by making everything about the relationships, which satisfied the critics, but, really, c'mon...
Compaq knew better than all of these modern auto manufacturers who suspended production thinking the pandemic was the end of the world or something instead of retaining production for when demand comes back again.
I have to mention 6:11 for some reason. You went from a mostly black screen to a mostly white screen instantly which was not pleasant for the eyes at all. Maybe a short transition would be better, a simple fade would do. It's REALLY nit-picky, but I noticed it and couldn't not say it.
Wonderful video. I enjoy these very early IBM PC clone documentaries as to get an idea of what computing was like in the early 80's. I've watched all 4 seasons of Halt And Catch Fire too. The entire show follows advancements of computing from 83 to 95.
I have a lovely working Compaq Portable, and this video definitely inspired me to play with it this winter. I never thought to expand upon it, but the Flash Reader is a super smart idea, and a great first step!
Great to see the Hyperion! That was my first real computer. The custom Hyperion DOS was interesting, too bad you couldn't demonstrate it. That extra connector is for an expansion backplane that allowed you to use a hard drive. Those expansion units were very expensive, and hard to find even back then.
I actually supported and worked on both the IBM Portable PC and the Compaq Portable. I never got my hands on the Hyperion. Now that interface looks if I'm not mistaken a lot like an early SCSI interface. If I remember correctly they had a 50 pin D Type connector in three rows of pins? That kind of rings true as you said it supported external hard drives. I really liked the early IBM hardware. That stuff was build like tanks. I remember an IBM AT we had in a foundry at an engineering company I worked at, which I got called to fix. It did not start as I was told. Took the top off and it sucked in foundry sand (that sand was hideous, I can still taste the smell of it) which was deeper than the height of the piggy backed RAM chips on the AT system board. Sucked out the sand with a toner van and tested it. Booted first time. Unbelievable! Oh and don't get me started on those gorgeous keyboards. Only think that would kill them was sugary soda drinks! Loved them so much! Thank you for your informative and interesting video. Later in my career (mid 90s) I actually did work for IBM and was lucky enough to visit Boca Raton where I helped test their replacement for the 9595A server when they went away from using Micro-channel (MCA). They had an awesome team working on that project.
Interesting video. When I worked as a field service engineer, the Compaq Portable III was part of the tool kit. I look forward to your video on that model.
Anders, the big reverb on the snare(and other instruments, but it's especially fun on snare) of the end track is superb and a great touch. I like all your tracks I've heard on the channel but I had to give a special shoutout to this one since I prefer it's more "warm" sound compared to the more "shinny" sound of some of the others. It really sounds like a kickass, era-appropriate tune
I worked at Ontario Hydro in 1987 in the tech support department. We also did software training on DOS, 1-2-3, WordPerfect, dBase, etc. There was a classroom in head office near my desk. The neat thing was that we had a "travelling road show." We'd go to the regional offices and power plants around the province. We had a cargo van loaded with a dozen or so Compaq portable computers! So the trainers would travel to the site, move into a boardroom or classroom, and set up all the computers. We'd teach a bunch of courses over a week and then pack up and head home. Fun! Built up some muscles lugging those beasts around.
I actually got to tote a Compaq portable home with me at my first non-school related job. I was essentially a BASIC programmer for a startup. We had a contract with IBM so we had good equipment. The Portable was expensive! Ours had a hard disk in it. I could dial into work over a 300 baud acoustic modem. I seem to remember setting that system up, but that might be nostalgia speaking :) Oh yes, because MDA used 4k of address space at B000:0 while CGA used that at B800:0, so you could use both cards in the same machine and have a dual-head computer, even in the 1980s! The coolest programmers used an MDA to display the output of a code-following symbolic debugger, while the program output ran on the main screen. Back in the day my maxed out 486 DX2/66 had a Hercules graphics card in an ISA slot coupled to a MDA screen for dual-head. Windows looked awesome in green and black :)
As a young lad fresh out of the military in the mid-80s, I went to work at a small defense contractor focusing on signal intelligence systems. We sold a ton of Compaq "luggables", loaded with our own custom software and hardware expansion cards (along with all the other system items that plugged into it, antennas, radio equipment, etc.). What was funny was that we couldn't just supply the existing Compaq - we had to put it inside a big steel Zero suitcase with custom foam cut-outs. That was our version of "ruggedizing" the computer for the various military and government agencies that bought them. Took an already heavy "portable" and made it 20% heavier.
Thanks Mr. Murray I really enjoy your videos i learn something every time I watch them..... im not really old enough for the computers you showcase, but my family was a "hand me down" family so I started out playing c64 games in the late 90s. I wish I had saved those old tanks of pc legend.
I had that Compaq, kept it for many years after, at the bottom of my cupboard. Sadly my parents got rid of it after I left home, so I'm happy to see it here one more time. Thank you for the great video :)
I love your videos! Thanks so much for being awesome :) I'm currently in the process of fixing up an old Tandy 1000 TL using a lot of the techniques I have learned from your videos. The only portable I have in my collection is the Kaypro 10 and I haven't gotten it to do much considering it runs CP/M but it's 10mb drive is still working and it has some games loaded onto it from the previous owner. It makes me happy to see all these old systems getting the love they get on your channel.
This may be apocryphal and somewhat inaccurate being that I was born in the late 90s, but I recall the trick to opening these with no tools. You take your thumb and press down on the top, then with your fingers get a grip on the gap. After you have in good enough to not rip your nails off, you can pull it off. I would love to hear back from anyone that tries it.
Great video! I didn't know much about the Hyperion portable so thanks. As for Compaq, I highly suggest to anyone interested in their history to check out the documentary called Silicon Cowboys, which I believe is still showing on Netflix. I've watched it a number of times and it's excellent and very informative. Their rise in the 80's and into the 90's was mind blowing.
I have an interesting second-hand anecdote about the Compaq Portable, and no better place to share it than here: About 10 years ago (so, please pardon my memory, I may not recall it exactly correctly), I helped a semi-retired contractor install a granite countertop. While I was chatting with the guy, we got to talking about programming, and he told me he used to know Fortran and worked for Compaq in the early 1980's, on a team developing the second-ever portable PC, which I realize in retrospect was the Compaq Portable. He said the team he was on had taken it to a trade show in Dallas at one point (and I don't remember what the name of this trade show was), which was in the present-day a major trade show, packed each year, but back then was fairly new and didn't remotely fill the convention hall that was rented-out for it. So his team has their PC displayed on their table at one point, and someone wanders by and asks the guy's boss how durable their new portable PC was. So his boss says "It's *this* durable...", then he shuts it down, pops the keyboard back in, and unplugs the Portable...and then he winds his whole body up and *shoves* the PC as hard as he can off the edge of the table. The thing went bouncing and rattling across the convention floor, making an enormous racket, causing all conversation to stop throughout the convention hall as everyone turns to see the horrible noise. So after it comes to a halt a few dozen feet away, the boss slowly and calmly walks over to it, retrieving the keyboard, which had popped-out along the way, gathers it all back up, returns to his table, plugs it back in, turns it on, and it promptly boots up and shows the basic command prompt. The boss then goes "*That's* how durable it is", with a smug grin on his face. This left a big impression on both the guy who was relating this story to me, and a number of journalists and prospective clients at the convention, which generated quite a bit of free buzz for them, so he said. I haven't personally verified his story or anything, but I thought you guys might find it interesting nonetheless.
Brings back memories. I lugged a Compaq portable around for my job as a remote software installation and debugging technician. I liked it better than my desktop XT since the Compaq had a 10 MB drive vx. the 5 MB drive in the desktop.
I still have find memories of the IBM Portable PC. It was the first PC-compatible my family had, given to us by a computer teacher who saw that interest in learning more about computers, especially considering it was broken when we first got it! I fixed it, and it all snowballed from there.
I had one of these as my very first PC. I could very easily get into the thing with just my hands. It's kind of hard to explain, but you kind of squeeze on the seam of the top with your palms, and pull back with your fingers and up with the base of your palm. Mine came with a 10mb Rodime MFM 5 1/4" full height hard drive, so it was a Compaq Portable + (plus). The original config was 512k RAM, but I quickly upgraded that to 640k, and installed a battery backup clock that installed on the floppy cable. Other upgrades included a 10mb Plus (Plus is the brand) Hard Card, NEC V20 to replace the AMD 8088, and a half height 3.5" 1.44mb floppy and half height 5 1/4" drive to replace the HUGE full-height 5 1/4 floppy drive. Later ditched the 10mb Rodime (It went into an external case for my Atari 520ST), swapped up to a 40mb Maxtor. At the same time I did this hard drive upgrade, I upgraded to a better disk controller to achieve a 1:1 interleave (Western Digital controller, I don't remember the model number) on the hard drive, accomplished without wiping the drive through the utility SpinRite. Another later installation was a EGA, then VGA card and NEC MultiSync monitor. One thing, the BIOS did not support the 1.44mb drive, so a "driver" had to be written into the config.sys to create a D: drive with the correct sectors and tracks so that we could format the disks. Reading them was no problem. Another thing people might not remember was these shipped with MS-DOS 2.11, which did not support subdirectories. Yeah, think about that, no subdirectories. As you can tell, I got a lot of use out of that Compaq. I tried to fire it up about 10 years ago, but the capacitors in the power supply went up in smoke and it was all over.
I met someone in the military many years ago who had one of these, he was full time military, while I was in the Navy Reserve as a hospital Corpsman. His machine had a color screen, a 20 MB Hard Drive and a 5 1/4 " floppy drive. Meanwhile, I had a Commodore 64 for a short while, then a Tandy 1000, which was eventually upgraded to a 386. In the 90's, I went to a small computer show, and bought all my own parts, and built my own 486, using an ASUS Motherboard and ASUS Graphics Card. Currently, my Windows 10 Tower is down, but I have my ASUS Chromebook Plus Ver 1, 32 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM, and my Pixelbook 128 SSD and 8 GB RAM. Both have 2 K screens that are active displays, and output 4 K via USB-C. I have fond memories of using older versions of Windows, of having an Atari ST, using a Media 100 and an Amiga for editing video in college, when we began making the change from analog to digital. I am amazed at how technology has changed in the 50+ years I have been alive.
Great video,, as always. Pretty sure I remember you doing a restore vid on that Compaq - nice to see it in a video like this. Looking forward to seeing the Hyperion some more when you’ve had a chance to fix the issues. Keep up the great work. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
In the 80s, "portable" meant you could move it without a forklift.
The Tyttuutface No, that was the 1970s. In the 1960s you needed a full size truck.
Perhaps for american computers. ;) Actually, many home computers of the early eighties weighted less than the IBM PC keyboard. The ZX81 was about 300 gram for instance. Sharps handheld Z80 computers were at about the same weight. Same with similar products from Casio and others.
The predecessors of laptops, carry it around and plug in the wall to use it like a desktop.
@Omega LUL Well, that has little to do with weight though. But speaking of it, the Z80 was actually the origin of 8086 (and x86), in two ways. Not only were the designers of the Z80 (F.Faggin and M.Shima) the same people that designed the first microprocessors at intel, including the i8080. But after their departure intel were extremely delayed (with their failed iAPX 432) and therefore worried about Zilogs first product, the Z80. So Stephen Morse was told to design the 8086 to compete directly with the Z80. That's the reasons as to why the 8086 look like an extension of the Z80.
The days when a 4 MB hard drive was as big as a washing machine.
Having never owned or even used either of these machines before, this was an absolute treat to watch. Nice work once again, David.
And I am in love with that Hyperion machine's design! The disk drive mechanisms alone are fantastic. Shame about its lack of... working.
Don't you have Kaypro or Kaypro II that you got while thrifting, Clint?
That needed a video of its own ;)
With all the IBM compatible systems you have, I would have figured you had a Compaq Portable stashed somewhere...
Much like Metal Jesus Rocks and LGR, these guys are jokes who would have been dead long ago if youtube and paetron didn't exist. They have no skills other than begging for money they didn't earn so they can shine a stool with their posterior. It's all sad and pathetic. All the mediocre individuals e-begging is such a poor ugliness. They all worked in call centers, retail or had a job removing spam from an otherwise working computer, who should live and die in obscurity. "Instead" they pan handle. The internet is their tin cup. Why? Because they're complete failures in life. 5, 10, 20 dollars a month for videos of you opening packages from other social rejects? Netflix is 13.99 a month, I don't think they upload one video a week of them opening fan mail. Get a job. Learn a trade. Give back to society. You people are so pathetic. Darwin would cheer for your demise so other stronger individuals could prosper and George Washington would wonder why you haven't committed suicide due to the Grand Canyon Sized shame you must feel every second of every day. James Rolf Doesn't do paetron. I guess he decided he wasn't going to be a loser like the rest of you.
@@Gamble4545 You might want to check your account. It looks like some lunatic hacked it and is putting nonsense comments on people's videos.
@@bitset3741 I hate being right. It’s a curse, really.
In one of my computer labs at university, there just so happened to be a Hyperion sitting amongst a pile of old electronics in the back. Out of curiosity, I plugged it in and threw the switch to see if it was still functional. The light went on, but not the monitor, and I sat there baffled for a good 15 seconds before I realized that there was a rather unsettling amount of smoke pouring out the back of the machine. I frantically unplugged the computer and placed it back. Everybody in class saw what just happened and decided to pretend as if nothing happened. Good memory.
x__X
No doubt the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply had "dried out" over time and needed to be replaced..
I was working on a project and saw an Altair 8800 and some SGI machines just chilling around. Crazy stuff!
At least that one didn't catch fire like the one a friend of mine had due to a faulty power switch (wouldn't shut off) and a bad power supply that often overheated. I didn't see it catch fire myself, but the pictures of the damage were telling enough. The smell of scorched plastic, *_yum_* (lol)
How's a computer going to work when you let all of the magic smoke out of it like that?
Still seeing a chiropractor after lugging that entire 5150 setup around.
He lives! I miss your channel man.
When are you gonna start making videos again? We miss you Rob!
And here I just bought one after 30 years!
That's pseudoscience! Go and look for a real doctor!
Your telling me
I worked in the back room of a couple of computer stores configuring IBMs and Compaqs for customers. I can attest to the fact that it's possible to open the Compaq without tools. You would put the front of the computer against your belly, position your fingers on the back of the top of the case and press your fingers where the tabs were located and it would release and you could pull it up and towards you. You had to have strong fingers for this as well as be careful that when it released you didn't jerk it back and hit yourself with the lid. I hated working on these because a lot of customers would order the math coprocessor which was located on the motherboard under where the hard drive is located on your system. You'd have to completely pull the motherboard to get access to it and that involved a lot of knuckle-scraping. But they were good machines and we sold a lot of them.
I personally have a Compaq Deskpro (the original XT class version) with a pair of hard drives that, unfortunately, don't work and I'm looking to get a flash reader for it. Any suggestions for what to use?
I've used several of the SD to IDE adapters from China, and they seem to have a problem with properly shutting down the adapter with the computer. (I only use them on vintage systems, so maybe I'm supposed to "park the heads" or something), but anyway, they eventually, almost inevitably corrupt the data on the card and I have to restore my backups. Otherwise, they're cheap and use common media. I've heard much better things about the CompactFlash media drives, but since I don't have any CF media, I've never tried them.
I've got a 4 GB CF card that I'm going to use, so that's what I'm looking for. I'm just totally unsure which one to get because there are so many.
@@VernonBalbert get one with a mounting bracket so it stays secure and can be accessed without opening the system up. If it uses a standard floppy connector it can use a gotek usb floppy drive emulator that can store up to 1000 disc images
They were good up to a point. Compaq cheaped out on mechanics in the keyboard, and the case plastic was brittle toy-grade and began to yellow as soon as it emerged from the box. For some reason this plastic attracted a lot of grunge - you'd see filthy ones and they always looked ragged and beat up. The screen phosphors were the easiest to burn I ever remember. The monitor section tended to be electrically fragile. They were really ugly computers! But they performed.
@@ultrametric9317 actually they were either Cherry or Keytronic keyboards, at least initially (they had dual sources in case of a logistics bottleneck). They may have gone cheap later, but initially they were quite high quality keyboards.
The Compaq portable was the first pic my employer handed me and asked me to program product labels for our shipping Dept. From scratch in gwbasic including custom characters. I only had a beginner's understanding of basic at the time. This was in addition to my regular job as a machine operator at the time. Great video, model I used had dual floppies, ah memories!!
It has to be such a gratifying feeling to load your own game onto one of these relics and watch it go. :-)
The oldest thing I own is a Commodore amega 500 and it's dead in the bin
Woo! JD FTW!
I hope you never throw it in the trash and at least donate it if you dont intend to fix it. Keep it in circulation.
@@rkornilo Yeah I hate seeing stuff like that get thrown out. I have one working Atari ST 520 and another non-working ST 520, but I keep it around to see if I can manage to fix it. Already went through many troubleshooting parts on it to see if I can fix it. Next thing to check is the RAM, which can be time consuming to try and diagnose, which is why I'm stuck there right now with it.
Agreed. My first computer, a Sony Hb10P, MSX, is over 32 years old and still works perfectly.
My backslash is between the left shift key and Z key to this day. In the UK, that's where it normally is.
Yup, when he said that I instantly looked down and thought, well that is where it always has been.
On my keyboard layout (HU), the key between the left shift and Y (that's QWERTZ) is í.
The US gets a bigger L-shift key than us bu t we have a bigger backspace
I was gonna say, he calls this keyboard weird but apart from the " being where @ is on a UK layout, it's damn near identical.
Well in nordic keyboards we have the < (with > and | ) there.
The Hyperion doesn't get enough love. It beat the Compaq to market, making it the first IBM compatible sold, a point of pride to the Canadians. Christine McGlade, star of You Can't Do That On Television, carried a Hyperion computer back and forth on her motorcycle between her home and the TV soundstage, as by that time she had already begun her transition from an actress to writing and producing.
"16 Shades of Green" sounds like a computer romance novel.
Ahh, the good old days when you could put a handle on a 30-pound piece of equipment and call it "portable." 😂
Just the other day I was looking at old Apple marketing training material from the 80's, and they actually had split up the portable market into segments:
"Transportable" - 20 lbs or more, A/C Power
"Portable" - 12-20 lbs, Battery or AC
"Laptop" - 5-12 lbs, Battery
"Notebook" - 5 lbs or less, Battery
Pretty fascinating how there were these submarkets based on capability.
Link to some screenshots: imgur.com/a/dnXfwyn
There was a joke in the 1980s (or at least I think it was a joke, could be real), that the USSR standards body defined portable as having a handle. If it had two handles it was semi-portable :D
Fun fake fact: These computers actually weigh 2 pounds. They put lead weights in there to keep you from throwing these through the air and injuring a co-worker when your software crashes. :P
And sell it for 1000 dollars less than the desktop variant with the same config.
@@KarlBaron batteries werent ready in terms of size and autonomy by that time, and CRTs put batteries totally out of the equation (unless we think car batteries for those CRT "portables"); even when the first lcds were introduced in the portables the batteries back then were huge, lasted 1 hour tops and amounted for half of the computers weight
I remember travelling with a Compaq like that for my job in the mid-80s. Lugging that heavy thing on the NYC subway system and stowing it in overhead baggage on airplanes. Half of the time the bus cards would get loose and I would open it up and re-seat them. Hard to believe that was considered portable, but back then we were on The Cutting Edge.
Before that, I had a job using an Osborne. Wordstar and Lotus 1-2-3 (I think) and dBase were the main apps we used. We cranked out hefty business analyses with these simple tools, although when WYSIWYG came into being, that saved a lot of waste paper.
Consider myself very, very jealous.
The 8-Bit Guy Episode 2: Attack of the Clones
:D
@@morganrussman xd
@@mitsostechtips9047 ? :/
But now, with better actors and better VFX.
I used to like Compaq as a brand, always seemed quirky and unusual with their designs (E.G. their Ipaq desktops, loved those things!), then HP bought them out and started selling junk-level HP tat under the Compaq brand, which pretty much killed them as something I'd want to buy...
Pretty sure ipaq was a line of PDAs...
Back in 2004 i used to have a Compaq Presario which ran XP (my older bro had a Presario that ran ME...the satan of OS's) It actually was a pretty stable system (though 85 gigs back then was nothing to sneeze at).
My first laptop was a Compaq C555NR. It's what got me into technology.
iPAQ was also used as the name for their line of compact desktop PCs:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPAQ_(desktop_computer)
I used to have a Compaq AIO, one heck of a relic.
Such a shame the Hyperion was faulty, it looks so pretty, minimalistic and modern, I love it!
_HYPERION?_ DAMMIT THEY'RE SENDING LOADERS! *EVERYONE GET DOW-*
Surprised to find a Borderlands reference here, but cool
*takes 509 damage* ouchie
@@udemo5695 *I like being a gun. BANG, POW, BAM.*
*RELOADIN'!* *AeAOEAAROAOEOAEOAOEOROSOAOSOREOSOSEOAOAOEOE*
*MAYBE YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO RELOAD SO OFTEN IF YOU DIDN'T WASTE AMMO!*
Most of the work on the Hyperion was done here in Ottawa. I have friends who worked at Dynalogic, and one of them was the lead programming for H-DOS. I actually saw the source code for it! He had a print-out of it...and back then that was the Royal Jewels of the PC world!. As you said, they had production problems...they had a *HUGE* number of pre-orders for the Hyperion based on their announcement at COMDEX...millions of dollars, but as manufacturing delays mounted, people started cancelling their orders to buy a Compaq. As they had needed that money to ramp up production, there were caught in a bind. It was at this point that Bytec came along and made Dynalogic a deal it couldn't refuse due to the loss of the pre-order money they were counting on for manufacturing...
Bonus content: Old Joke from the day...
Q: How do you tell if a person is a Compaq user?
A: One arm is longer than the other! (a reference to the weight of the "portable")
10 PRINT "8 Bit-Guy Comes through with another winning Video"
20 GOTO 10
RUN
Thought I'd write a really basic programme...
Did you mean "BASIC joke"? (I'm bad at jokes)
Lol
Fuck you man, fuck you
I C what you did there. Yeah, it's a really BASIC joke.
@@brunor.1127 Wow dude, you need to calm the fuck down.
How many times did it take to say "Pack and unpack the Compaq" without getting tongue-twisted?
That's easy
Neh, a tongue twister would be "Pack and unpack the Compaq Cot."
That is easy
Serious question for The 8-Bit Guy, is this where Compaq got their name? Because they were producing a PC clone that was compact?
How many pacs could a Compaq pack if a Compaq could pack pacs?
The word is "luggable"
You can get "build your own luggable PC" cases, complete with CRT.
@@andymadden8183 Do you know a good source? I can't find anything.
The other word is "hernia".
I love the 8-bit guy. He just does so many cool things
me too
Same
Use ctrl-M to get around the lack of Return key. That should work for BIOS input such as the DOS command line.
That's right! Why doesn't he know?
ALT+013 might work too
Deniz yes it does just 2 rules: ..Keylock must be on and you cannot use the number keys across the top of the keyboard it must be the keypad...this will only work at MS-DOS command level...
ALT+013 is one i have used alot...I did not know about CTRL+M thanks John
@Rex Warden Not necessarily -- a fancy screen editor will usually use low-level key messages to intentionally distinguish between such things, and allow ctrl-M to be a command shortcut like any other ctrl key. I just tried and it works in Notepad, though. In Notepad++, the default key bindings don't use ctrl-M and it defaults to Enter, but (I just tried this) it can be set to anything you want.
@@DenizTurkmen In the modern Windows, it works. Going to test that on my Portable 1 and see what happens.
Looking forward to the video of you fixing up the Hyperion!
Never saw a Hyperion in the wild, but I did install literally hundreds of hard drives in Compaq portables in the mid-1980s. Ahh, the memories...
I've had to repair a few CRTs with a partial vertical collapse on the bottom similar to the Hyperion in this video, and it was a small value capacitor on the way from the video/deflection IC to the vertical IC. 2.2uf. Gosh. You mentioned needing to work on those other Compaq machines, and I wish I could be there. Great videos!
Used to work at the first computer store in Kalamazoo as a technician, I fixed many Compaq and Hyperion computers as well as IBM's, several people lost their Compaq's at the airports as they got mixed up with other peoples sewing machines. They weighed about the same too! If you pressed in the middle of the top or bottom cover you cold get your fingers under the lip and pull the cover off, felt like it would break but it won't, learned this trick at Compaq tech training school in Houston, biggest trouble was the power supply board as I remember. Hyperion's seldom broke down, floppy drives needed alignment frequently on all machines. Still have all the tools and alignment disks needed to fix them, haven't used them in many years! Good to see them again.
Glad to have a Canadian computer product for you guys back then!
Loved Halt N Catch Fire! By far the most tech accurate production ever IMHO. Im still trying to learn more about that MCI Satellite Dial Up line Cameron had in her camper, cant find much info about it online.
I also came across one of those Compaq Portables sitting out on my sidewalk in Brooklyn about 10 years ago, brought it in, found a power cord and it actually posted no issues! Realizing I had no 5.25 boot floppy of any sorts and NOT realizing its real value at the time being a 1st gen machine, it found its way back out onto the sidewalk.
Yes I am a sinner, please forgive me......
The Commodore connection to that Hyperion is interesting, when I saw that system it immediately jumped out at me that the keyboard had the same "inverted color" keyboard that Commodore PCs had.
I used one of the Compaq’s as a “portable” back in the 80’s. The company owned 2 if I remember right. Every weekend there was a 32 hour job that ran on the mainframe that took another 9 hours to print. We used 1 of the Compaq’s to monitor the mainframe from home while the job was running so we didn’t have to babysit. Definitely a trip down memory lane for me. Thank you for a great video with good explanations.
Your subscription numbers amaze me. I had no idea that there’s so much interest in these antiques!
Oooh that's where the backslash is on my British keyboard, so didn't come across as a weird place for me.
Xilefian When running US layout software config on a typical non-US keyboard, you get the backslash in BOTH locations. Except with Linux which assigns the lower left key to it's Finnish characters < and > .
@@johnfrancisdoe1563 Finnish characters? Aren't that just the less than () symbols?
@@johnfrancisdoe1563 did you mean Nordic layout?
AltGr+V = @, Nikola :)
The solution to this problem is just to set up your own, and then your mom's, your neighbour's, sister's, grandpa's, friends' computers to use Serbian Latin by default, Cyrillic as second, and third, if they are programmers, English (US). They'll figure it out, and if they have a US physical keyboard, hey, they'll learn to touch-type. But US layout as default needs to stop. BEGONE osisana latinica!
It's funny that I frequently thought of this channel while watching Halt and Catch Fire. Maybe David should've been a consultant to the show.
Me too. I also think of HCF whenever he does these more documentary style videos
Indeed, the Hyperion had problems many...
I've seen one with a faulty power switch that wouldn't turn off, and often overheated. Yep, that one ended up catching fire, though I didn't see it happen in person, I do remember seeing the damage taken by a Polaroid camera (and the guy had the sense to NOT flap the photos around like a fucking moron). The monitor itself had half-melted, and the interior of the plastic was burned black. The only salvageable part was the power supply, even if said power supply was the core of the problem. What a waste.
Why didn't someone just unplug it?
@@MilesPrower1992 I'm guessing that it already started burning before unplug, so it burned down anyway.
To this day, I can still remember an insurance agent coming to our house and doing my parent’s insurance policy on a luggable.
These portable computers are amazing! I would love one. It just looks so cool
The Hyperion is a really handsome machine. Very space age!
Personally I liked the Compaq for the finesse it offered.
A handsome machine for handsome jacks.
For a deeper dive into the history of Compaq I suggest you check out the Silicon Cowboys documentary.
Second!
My second computer was a Compaq Portable (my first was a 386 class, yes, the Compaq Portable was OLD). Still, it was a fantastic second system. I used it for BBSing mostly, along with some programming. Actually used it as an intelligent light controller running some high school theatre shows, was loads of fun. A fantastic piece of hardware, even over 10 years after introduction.
Lucky, now I'm imagining you on some short-lived 80's TV teen crime fighting drama with said computer to solve mysteries. I kid on that part. But still, that was a fun experience. Though I came up when the internet was just full bore.
Only youtuber I have notifications enabled on
Ahh, brings back memories, I had a Compaq Portable Plus back in the 80’s (286 version). The covers are very easy to remove. Take an elbow and press down in the middle of the cover, then take your fingers and lift up the edge on the side with the handle. I always liked how the motherboard slides out on a tray after removing the inf cards, connectors and a couple screws. Thanks for the video David.
50 shades of Green
LOL!
Or 50 shades of Amber.... If you go that way. 😂
You mean this? (oldcomputers.net/victor-screens.html)
@Maksim Radevski 69 ShAdEs
Bring back the full restoration/repair videos! I’d love to see you repair the Hyperion in a video. Thanks David, this was super cool
Just got an original Model M keyboard from my history teacher for free and you upload a video!
Lucky shit!! Serious though that's awesome, but do consider bolt modding it for strength, and also using some silicone lube on the springs, as it will help quiet it down some, and give the old springs a smoother feel. Lastly if you retrobright it, DON'T use cream as it will streak the plastics, use liquid peroxide, oxiclean, and water in a 50% peroxide/oxiclean, and 50% water in a clear sealed tub with a clear locking lid big enough to fit all the parts in at once on a warm day about 70F in direct sun light, but you might need to move the container around to catch more sun every few hours.
@@CommodoreFan64 Model Ms don't yellow as the keycaps are PBT instead of ABS and the case is painted.
Man you're lucky :) enjoy!
@@CommodoreFan64 Thanks for the tips! It hasn't really yellowed at all, it's been in school use which means the keys were just very dirty. All I did was I cleaned them and it looks brand new! I think I won't suppress the sound from the keys, I took it just because of the sound and feel :)
Edit: in Finnish winter you can't retrobrite crap, I'd probably just stick it into a sauna because apparently it's the heat, not the light, that "unyellows" it.
Pate Jate did you tell him thank you
This thing was way more sophisticated than I thought it would be. The dual video modes is impressive. Great video as always!
i had a Compaq Portable when i was a 5 year old Kid, that's realy nostalgic for me
I love green monochrome, 80s memory. Even today I still set up my terminal windows at work to be green on a black background. I love your channel for the same reason I loved Halt and Catch Fire, there was a lot of history going on in the 80s that deserves to be remembered.
You should do livestreams on youtube whenever you're doing any kind of repairs :-D
Or on Twitch.
We had a Hyperion when I was a kid. I still remember dialing into BBS's with the built in 300 baud modem. I have such fond memories of the amber power button and the Hyperion star logo on boot up
I literally rushed home so I could see this video
You are doing a great job The 8-Bit Guy.
This brought back memories. We sold the Hyperion at the small computer store I worked at in the 80's. I thought it was a pretty cool system. Enjoyed this episode tremendously.
Thank you 8 Clone Guy
LMAO
While I never owned one of these, I have great memories from those 90s all-in-ones by Compact. Wish I still had my family's old one, which was a 486 DX 25mhz(later upgraded to a DX2 66mhz)... just a great and neatly packaged all in one DOS computer, that played pretty much everything you threw at it up until Quake.
When a keyboard key doesn't work, use the ALT key plus the numeric code. For enter, I believe it would be ALT 13.
Or just use Ctrl+M (13th letter). I used to always press Ctrl+I for inventory in Space Quest, et al. when my tab key stopped working circa 1987.
I used to have one of those Compaq portables under my desk at work. I got it at an auction in the early 90's, and it ran Binkleyterm 24/7 so the ten remote branches of the company I worked for could dial in any time (1200 baud modems!) and upload sales data/download order status data. Nice piece of kit, very reliable.
Personally, I'm a fan of the Motorola 68000
Best way to learn assembly language, from what I've heard.
I'm sad it didn't get any further than the 68060 (which I just found out about! Thanks, Wikipedia!)
@@RamLaska Really? Because I find 68000 Assembly... Unpleasant.
Then again, x86 assembler is worse, so, I guess it's all relative...
@@KuraIthys
I think the main reason people say that is because you don't have to deal with the crazy offsets of 16-bit x86 programming.
What's your favorite assembly language, and why? I'm very curious, because I never really learned Assembly.
I have a neverending love affair with the 68000. Such a beautiful and simple design, it never ceases to amaze me.
By far my favorite assembly language, and I've done pretty much all of them from 6502 to the 486, which was when I moved on to C.
I started on Intel 8080 using toggle switches...then later Z80 using MASM
Wow, that Compaq was an amazing piece of engineering, extremely clever and well designd!
And the business decision of the Compaq execs was such a bold move, those were crazy times.
I loved the TV show and my first PC was indeed a Compaq Presario!
8:58
The Good Bit Guy
Man I love your channel. Computer History is so fascinating. I know its not for everyone but you make it very accessible. Kudos! I'm in my 40s and watch this with my son. He just likes spending time with me but he gets a kick out of seeing how "basic" (his words) the technology was back in the 70s and 80s. He's 9. I keep reminding him his Switch is in his hands thanks to the pioneers who developed these computers, processors and processes. He gets it.
That Hyperion is sexy!
Good video. My Aunt owned a Compaq when she was studying in systems analyst career. She later sold the compact when became obsolete in 1991. Nevertheless I didn't saw a Hyperion, but I knew about its existence.
Excellent work, this video brought me memories.
1:04 "More or less 100% compatible" so it might be 105% XD
I love how you started this video with Halt and Catch Fire; probably my favourite show of all time. I've watched the entire series 5 times. Great soundtrack too! I never got a chance to experience this decade in computers since I was born in 1983. Great video!
Wow, Pip-Boys sure have gotten smaller!
Wow! You did a great job cleaning those guys up! That Compaq looks like you just ordered it out of Computer Shopper back in the 80's. I love learning about the history of forgotten popular, and quirky systems like these.
10:08 Argh...... My ears.... :D
What are you referring to? I don't hear anything
@@rachael1090 It's a very high frequency tone from the crt (sounds like around 17 kHz)
I heard it too. It was brief though. You can hear it if you have younger ears.
@@SarahLJP Crap, I passed the old mark XD
I thought it was my crt tv turning on by itself!
I started using one of these machines in the summer of 1983 for work. I traveled extensively throughout the Pacific and Latin America regions. Every single time I went through customs in any country (including the US), I had to remove the skin of the machine (as well as the soft case cover) to prove that it was in fact a computer. I can verify that it is very possible to remove the cover without tools. I was so impressed with this machine that I went to work for Compaq 3 years later.
hyperion repair video ?
Yes!
I never owned a Compaq... but my dad had one, and it was the computer on which I first used a word processor (Wordstar) and immediately started cranking out reams of bad amateur science fiction. It was this amazing feeling of freedom, being able to type away and not just correct mistakes, but insert and delete and reflow text and rearrange the whole story. Writing suddenly felt frictionless in a way it hadn't before. I think I also first used a spreadsheet on that machine.
I remember that whenever the screen switched video modes you'd see this funky sine-wave oscilloscope-trace pattern flash for a fraction of a second.
Halt and Catch Fire had such potential to be an amazing show. Too bad it turned into repetitive, maudlin nonsense in which nothing ever happened.
My biggest complain with this show is, that they didn't focus on the technology enough. After a while it seemed like any other drama.
@@retrodevdroid3670 From all the reviews I've read over the years on the show, that's the biggest issue, and why I've never bothered to start watching it. Really is sad.
Clickety Clack Seasons three and four are considered to be the best, but I loved the first season, when the show did focus more on the process of creating a new product, and less on the interpersonal relationships.
Yeah, the critical response was good, but the consensus seemed to be that they spent way too much effort on the technology. They "fixed" it by making everything about the relationships, which satisfied the critics, but, really, c'mon...
@@Dodo-bf3dmMr.Robot did the same thing, great first season, but couldn't keep up the pace
Compaq knew better than all of these modern auto manufacturers who suspended production thinking the pandemic was the end of the world or something instead of retaining production for when demand comes back again.
I have to mention 6:11 for some reason. You went from a mostly black screen to a mostly white screen instantly which was not pleasant for the eyes at all. Maybe a short transition would be better, a simple fade would do. It's REALLY nit-picky, but I noticed it and couldn't not say it.
Stop watching TH-cam videos in the middle of the night at full brightness 😂
@@enzoperruccio it was actually daytime and I was watching on PC. If you watch in full screen like I did, it is really unpleasant.
Positive id: Toby from the Office.
m is the same as return. Try that and see if it works.
HMMM, it seems that I am 14 hours late
Oh wait, this video just released, youtube being youtube again.
Patreon people get to see the video early.
It's nothing to do with TH-cam. It's been uploaded but not published for 14 hours.
That's why it shows *Published* on 11 Jan 2019
Wonderful video. I enjoy these very early IBM PC clone documentaries as to get an idea of what computing was like in the early 80's.
I've watched all 4 seasons of Halt And Catch Fire too. The entire show follows advancements of computing from 83 to 95.
I have a lovely working Compaq Portable, and this video definitely inspired me to play with it this winter. I never thought to expand upon it, but the Flash Reader is a super smart idea, and a great first step!
Great to see the Hyperion! That was my first real computer. The custom Hyperion DOS was interesting, too bad you couldn't demonstrate it. That extra connector is for an expansion backplane that allowed you to use a hard drive. Those expansion units were very expensive, and hard to find even back then.
Thank you The 8-Bit Guy, much appreciated IBM Clone review.
I miss my first PC a Packard Bell 386sx 2mb ram with Dos 5.0 and Dos Shell.
I actually supported and worked on both the IBM Portable PC and the Compaq Portable. I never got my hands on the Hyperion. Now that interface looks if I'm not mistaken a lot like an early SCSI interface. If I remember correctly they had a 50 pin D Type connector in three rows of pins? That kind of rings true as you said it supported external hard drives. I really liked the early IBM hardware. That stuff was build like tanks. I remember an IBM AT we had in a foundry at an engineering company I worked at, which I got called to fix. It did not start as I was told. Took the top off and it sucked in foundry sand (that sand was hideous, I can still taste the smell of it) which was deeper than the height of the piggy backed RAM chips on the AT system board. Sucked out the sand with a toner van and tested it. Booted first time. Unbelievable! Oh and don't get me started on those gorgeous keyboards. Only think that would kill them was sugary soda drinks! Loved them so much! Thank you for your informative and interesting video. Later in my career (mid 90s) I actually did work for IBM and was lucky enough to visit Boca Raton where I helped test their replacement for the 9595A server when they went away from using Micro-channel (MCA). They had an awesome team working on that project.
Interesting video. When I worked as a field service engineer, the Compaq Portable III was part of the tool kit. I look forward to your video on that model.
Anders, the big reverb on the snare(and other instruments, but it's especially fun on snare) of the end track is superb and a great touch. I like all your tracks I've heard on the channel but I had to give a special shoutout to this one since I prefer it's more "warm" sound compared to the more "shinny" sound of some of the others. It really sounds like a kickass, era-appropriate tune
I worked at Ontario Hydro in 1987 in the tech support department. We also did software training on DOS, 1-2-3, WordPerfect, dBase, etc. There was a classroom in head office near my desk. The neat thing was that we had a "travelling road show." We'd go to the regional offices and power plants around the province. We had a cargo van loaded with a dozen or so Compaq portable computers! So the trainers would travel to the site, move into a boardroom or classroom, and set up all the computers. We'd teach a bunch of courses over a week and then pack up and head home. Fun! Built up some muscles lugging those beasts around.
I actually got to tote a Compaq portable home with me at my first non-school related job. I was essentially a BASIC programmer for a startup. We had a contract with IBM so we had good equipment. The Portable was expensive! Ours had a hard disk in it. I could dial into work over a 300 baud acoustic modem. I seem to remember setting that system up, but that might be nostalgia speaking :) Oh yes, because MDA used 4k of address space at B000:0 while CGA used that at B800:0, so you could use both cards in the same machine and have a dual-head computer, even in the 1980s! The coolest programmers used an MDA to display the output of a code-following symbolic debugger, while the program output ran on the main screen. Back in the day my maxed out 486 DX2/66 had a Hercules graphics card in an ISA slot coupled to a MDA screen for dual-head. Windows looked awesome in green and black :)
Great episode. I'm looking forward to the videos on the 2 and 3, seeing as Compaq made some really interesting ads for them.
As a young lad fresh out of the military in the mid-80s, I went to work at a small defense contractor focusing on signal intelligence systems. We sold a ton of Compaq "luggables", loaded with our own custom software and hardware expansion cards (along with all the other system items that plugged into it, antennas, radio equipment, etc.). What was funny was that we couldn't just supply the existing Compaq - we had to put it inside a big steel Zero suitcase with custom foam cut-outs. That was our version of "ruggedizing" the computer for the various military and government agencies that bought them. Took an already heavy "portable" and made it 20% heavier.
Thanks Mr. Murray I really enjoy your videos i learn something every time I watch them..... im not really old enough for the computers you showcase, but my family was a "hand me down" family so I started out playing c64 games in the late 90s. I wish I had saved those old tanks of pc legend.
I had that Compaq, kept it for many years after, at the bottom of my cupboard. Sadly my parents got rid of it after I left home, so I'm happy to see it here one more time. Thank you for the great video :)
I love your videos! Thanks so much for being awesome :) I'm currently in the process of fixing up an old Tandy 1000 TL using a lot of the techniques I have learned from your videos. The only portable I have in my collection is the Kaypro 10 and I haven't gotten it to do much considering it runs CP/M but it's 10mb drive is still working and it has some games loaded onto it from the previous owner. It makes me happy to see all these old systems getting the love they get on your channel.
This may be apocryphal and somewhat inaccurate being that I was born in the late 90s, but I recall the trick to opening these with no tools. You take your thumb and press down on the top, then with your fingers get a grip on the gap. After you have in good enough to not rip your nails off, you can pull it off. I would love to hear back from anyone that tries it.
Great video! I didn't know much about the Hyperion portable so thanks. As for Compaq, I highly suggest to anyone interested in their history to check out the documentary called Silicon Cowboys, which I believe is still showing on Netflix. I've watched it a number of times and it's excellent and very informative. Their rise in the 80's and into the 90's was mind blowing.
My mom used to work on a compaq model similar to that one. But wow, yours is beautiful and very clean
I have an interesting second-hand anecdote about the Compaq Portable, and no better place to share it than here:
About 10 years ago (so, please pardon my memory, I may not recall it exactly correctly), I helped a semi-retired contractor install a granite countertop. While I was chatting with the guy, we got to talking about programming, and he told me he used to know Fortran and worked for Compaq in the early 1980's, on a team developing the second-ever portable PC, which I realize in retrospect was the Compaq Portable. He said the team he was on had taken it to a trade show in Dallas at one point (and I don't remember what the name of this trade show was), which was in the present-day a major trade show, packed each year, but back then was fairly new and didn't remotely fill the convention hall that was rented-out for it.
So his team has their PC displayed on their table at one point, and someone wanders by and asks the guy's boss how durable their new portable PC was. So his boss says "It's *this* durable...", then he shuts it down, pops the keyboard back in, and unplugs the Portable...and then he winds his whole body up and *shoves* the PC as hard as he can off the edge of the table.
The thing went bouncing and rattling across the convention floor, making an enormous racket, causing all conversation to stop throughout the convention hall as everyone turns to see the horrible noise. So after it comes to a halt a few dozen feet away, the boss slowly and calmly walks over to it, retrieving the keyboard, which had popped-out along the way, gathers it all back up, returns to his table, plugs it back in, turns it on, and it promptly boots up and shows the basic command prompt. The boss then goes "*That's* how durable it is", with a smug grin on his face.
This left a big impression on both the guy who was relating this story to me, and a number of journalists and prospective clients at the convention, which generated quite a bit of free buzz for them, so he said.
I haven't personally verified his story or anything, but I thought you guys might find it interesting nonetheless.
Brings back memories. I lugged a Compaq portable around for my job as a remote software installation and debugging technician. I liked it better than my desktop XT since the Compaq had a 10 MB drive vx. the 5 MB drive in the desktop.
I still have find memories of the IBM Portable PC. It was the first PC-compatible my family had, given to us by a computer teacher who saw that interest in learning more about computers, especially considering it was broken when we first got it! I fixed it, and it all snowballed from there.
I had one of these as my very first PC. I could very easily get into the thing with just my hands. It's kind of hard to explain, but you kind of squeeze on the seam of the top with your palms, and pull back with your fingers and up with the base of your palm. Mine came with a 10mb Rodime MFM 5 1/4" full height hard drive, so it was a Compaq Portable + (plus). The original config was 512k RAM, but I quickly upgraded that to 640k, and installed a battery backup clock that installed on the floppy cable. Other upgrades included a 10mb Plus (Plus is the brand) Hard Card, NEC V20 to replace the AMD 8088, and a half height 3.5" 1.44mb floppy and half height 5 1/4" drive to replace the HUGE full-height 5 1/4 floppy drive. Later ditched the 10mb Rodime (It went into an external case for my Atari 520ST), swapped up to a 40mb Maxtor. At the same time I did this hard drive upgrade, I upgraded to a better disk controller to achieve a 1:1 interleave (Western Digital controller, I don't remember the model number) on the hard drive, accomplished without wiping the drive through the utility SpinRite. Another later installation was a EGA, then VGA card and NEC MultiSync monitor. One thing, the BIOS did not support the 1.44mb drive, so a "driver" had to be written into the config.sys to create a D: drive with the correct sectors and tracks so that we could format the disks. Reading them was no problem. Another thing people might not remember was these shipped with MS-DOS 2.11, which did not support subdirectories. Yeah, think about that, no subdirectories. As you can tell, I got a lot of use out of that Compaq. I tried to fire it up about 10 years ago, but the capacitors in the power supply went up in smoke and it was all over.
Thank you very much for making this video, this is one of my favorite series, the information you give and everything is pure gold
ATI used to make an EGA for the Compaq portable. Great video Dave. Well done!
Great show David! Thank you for doing content on this system, and including the pictures of my machine!
I met someone in the military many years ago who had one of these, he was full time military, while I was in the Navy Reserve as a hospital Corpsman. His machine had a color screen, a 20 MB Hard Drive and a 5 1/4 " floppy drive. Meanwhile, I had a Commodore 64 for a short while, then a Tandy 1000, which was eventually upgraded to a 386. In the 90's, I went to a small computer show, and bought all my own parts, and built my own 486, using an ASUS Motherboard and ASUS Graphics Card. Currently, my Windows 10 Tower is down, but I have my ASUS Chromebook Plus Ver 1, 32 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM, and my Pixelbook 128 SSD and 8 GB RAM. Both have 2 K screens that are active displays, and output 4 K via USB-C. I have fond memories of using older versions of Windows, of having an Atari ST, using a Media 100 and an Amiga for editing video in college, when we began making the change from analog to digital. I am amazed at how technology has changed in the 50+ years I have been alive.
Fascinating! You really deserve a Tech show on Netflix or something where you talk about old technology.
Great video,, as always. Pretty sure I remember you doing a restore vid on that Compaq - nice to see it in a video like this. Looking forward to seeing the Hyperion some more when you’ve had a chance to fix the issues. Keep up the great work. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻