🚀 go-pugleaf

We have seven or eight HP-150's here.  I have one of them sitting on
my desk, and have been wrestling with it for the past three or four
months.  I the hopes that someone at HP is watching and reading this
newsgroup, and for all of you that may be considering purchasing an
HP-150, I offer the following comments:

	1) The 150 is only usable as a computer if you like to program
	   in BASIC or run a few canned applications.  Naturally, around
	   here we want to be able to program the thing, but have absolutely
	   no intention of doing so in BASIC.  There is no available
	   programming package (C compiler, programmer's editor, assembler,
	   debugger, etc) period.  None.  Rumor has it that HP is working
	   to rectify this extremely unfortunate situation, but until
	   then, the 150 is not a computer for anyone that wants to do
	   serious programming.  (You'd be better off with an Apple II)
	2) The documentation is terrible.  It looks nice and is well
	   assembled, but there is not much content.  For example: I spent 
	   the better part of a month putting together a graphics driver 
	   for the HP-150, and all I had to go on was a terse and incomplete
	   listing of the escape sequences in the appendix.  (With good
	   documentation, I can write a graphics driver in 4 hours).  In
	   fact, the key to my success was finding some old code that
	   had 2648 graphics command sequences in it.  (Interesting aside:
	   The graphics are pretty nice, with some interesting features,
	   but, alas, there is no HP-150 graphics command to draw a circle.)  
	   Other folks here have complained about how useless the manuals are
	   as a reference.  I don't know if non-computer types like them,
	   but around here the manuals are shoved in a drawer and forgotten.
	3) The touchscreen is really great, and seems to be the most 
	   outstanding feature of the 150.  Naturally, the documentation
	   for using the touchscreen is lousy.  If it weren't for the
	   example program that BYTE ran in their HP-150 issue, I wouldn't
	   know how to use the touchscreen at all.
	4) As a result of 1) and 2), we've been relegated to using our
	   HP-150's mostly as terminals.  Here is where they shine, and
	   reveal considerable potential.  The new keyboard is great,
	   although (as expected) the key layout is different from every
	   other keyboard in the universe.  HP still has CTRL and CAPS
	   in the wrong place so people wind up in CAPS mode and get
	   extremely confused.  DEL/ESC is now down next to Z, and is
	   hard to find.  The keypad is great, but the big key isn't
	   return/enter, it's tab.  On the otherhand, if you do graphics,
	   you'll love the graphics mode for the keypad.  (The 150 has
	   separate graphics and alphanumerics screens, and you can flip
	   back and forth easily - a nice feature).  The small footprint
	   is a plus too.

Bottom Line:  If you're in the market for a terminal, the HP-150 is a
good candidate (and certainly much better than the 2621-B) at a fair
price.  If you want a canned-program-processor, and can wait for the software
to come out, it's probably O.K.  If you want a computer, look somewhere else.

Here's hoping that someone at HP can get the word through to the right
people that the documentation needs real work, and that HP should spare no
expense and effort to provide a professional programming environment.  Failing
that, perhaps enough customer pressure could motivate them appropriately.
If we could get a decent editor/compiler, we'd buy HP-150's by the truck load.
As it is, everyone around here is spending their money somewhere else.
Too bad...



       *         * 
				David Bryant
				AT&T Bell Laboratories
               * 		Columbus, OH 43213
            *			(614) 860-4516
	 *  .
            :			djb@cbosgd.UUCP
                		cbosgd!djb@Berkeley.ARPA
       *         *