HX-20

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.

I just discovered that the wall-wart that came with it was a 6v @ 600mA wall-wart not 6v 300ma I got. Since it charges the NiCd batteries directly (don’t try to run it plugged in!) I don think it matters much. Except it’ll charge slower.

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