I was walking through Squirrel Hill today with Robin and my Dad. There was a house with some junk on their porch and a sign saying, “For sale. $1 each.” I looked through the stuff and found an Epson HX-20!
Oh. My. Gawd!
When I was in High School a guy named Randy had a TRS80 Model 100 portable computer (made in 1983). It was the coolest thing. I got him to loan it to me so I could write a small text adventure (only like 6 rooms, but a huge deal at the time).
Anyway, back to the present.
I paid the lady her $1 and took it with me. I thought at worst, it wouldn’t work or would be stupid or something. It’d be a buck wasted and I’d give it to Bill von Hagen who’d add it to his collection, even if it’s not working.
The computer had no wall-wart or it’s carrying case (I didn’t know when I bought it for $1 that it even had a carrying case). But I took one of the other wall-warts the lady was selling that matched the specs and charged it at home.
It works!
I even found the old manuals on-line and software.
Wow. This is cool.
It has two Hitachi 6301 cpus and even a built in printer, for goodness sake. How cool is that. I figure at worst, I can open it up and replace the batteries with regular batteries or something. It uses NiCd batteries, I have no clue how old they are.
Ciao!
EPSON PORTABLE COMPUTER Model: hx-20 Code: AA Serial No. 013299 Rating: DC 4.8V 400mA Power Source: Rechargable Batteries Charge Input: DC 6v 200mA Charging Time: 8 Houres AC Adapter Model HOOAAA Must Be Used FCC ID: BKM9A8HOO1A SHINSHU SEIKI CO., LTD. MADE IN JAPAN
One Comment
Hi, I REALLY Would like one of them. I am in Australia but am willing to pay postage. I am open to suggestions so please contact me.