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)
@@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.
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!!
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
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.
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!
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.
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......
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).
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
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
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.
@@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...
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 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!
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.
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.
Very, very interesting the video. I did not know about Hyperion or the remnants of computers. These historical videos enrich the Internet. I congratulate you.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 :)
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.
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
