24 Jun
2025
24 Jun
'25
12:49 a.m.
On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 5:19 AM Steve Lewis via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
We had an operational HP9830 last year at VCF SW (with the attached
printer, it is a wonderful system). While it does "boot to BASIC", as I
recall one expansion cartridge is necessary to support some additional
keywords (like possibly the TRIG functions or some certain operations).
Trig functions (and floating point numbers/variables) are standard on
the HP9830. As a aside, the HP9810 and HP9820 calculators (related
machines in that they used the same bit-serial processor) did need an
extra ROM module for the trig functions
There are many expansion ROM modules for the HP9830, including :
String Variables. Without this you can print string constants (to
label inputs and outputs. for example) but nothing more. This ROM adds
the ability to store and manipulate character strings in variables
Extended I/O : Essential if you want to use any I/O devices other than
the printer and cassette drive, really. Allows binary I/O, use of HPIB
(with the appropriate interface), etc
Matrices : Adds the MAT statements that were present in original BASIC
and missing in most microcomputer versions. This ROM for the HP9830 is
surprising common in my experience.
-tony