HP 2100

The HP 2100 is a series of <a href="/facts/16-bit/bTGS44Ne">16-bit</a> <a href="/facts/Minicomputer/g8hvpQxe">minicomputers</a> that were produced by <a href="/facts/Hewlett-Packard/abuNSYNu">Hewlett-Packard</a> (HP) from the mid-1960s to early 1990s. Tens of thousands of machines in the series were sold over its 25-year lifetime, making HP the fourth-largest minicomputer vendor during the 1970s.
The design started at Data Systems Inc (DSI), and was originally known as the DSI-1000. HP purchased the company in 1964 and merged it into their Dymec division. The original model, the 2116A built using <a href="/facts/Integrated_circuit/fjn6vg7C">integrated circuits</a> and <a href="/facts/Magnetic-core_memory/4TFIXSNd">magnetic-core memory</a>, was released in 1966. Over the next four years, models A through C were released with different types of memory and expansion, as well as the cost-reduced 2115 and 2114 models. All of these models were replaced by the HP 2100 series in 1971, and then again as the 21MX series in 1974 when the magnetic-core memory was replaced with semiconductor memory.
All of these models were also packaged as the HP 2000 series, combining a 2100-series machine with optional components in order to run the <a href="/facts/BASIC/ELoTkjnM">BASIC programming language</a> in a multi-user <a href="/facts/Time-sharing/LE5XT9Go">time sharing</a> fashion. <a href="/facts/HP_Time-Shared_BASIC/VnKEA3Y6">HP Time-Shared BASIC</a> was popular in the 1970s, and many early BASIC programs were written on or for the platform, most notably the seminal <a href="/facts/Star_Trek_(1971_video_game)/woXHsnsj">Star Trek</a> that was popular during the early <a href="/facts/Home_computer/CDEPVd1T">home computer</a> era. The <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Computer_Company/Dwhp3hsx">People's Computer Company</a> published their programs in HP 2000 format.
The introduction of the <a href="/facts/HP_3000/JFcG25Fv">HP 3000</a> in 1974 provided high-end competition to the 2100 series; the entire line was renamed as the HP 1000 in 1977 and positioned as <a href="/facts/Real-time_computing/p9HxgL4L">real-time computers</a>. A greatly redesigned version was introduced in 1979 as the 1000 L-Series, using <a href="/facts/CMOS/7g2EwHGA">CMOS</a> <a href="/facts/Integrated_circuit/fjn6vg7C">large scale integration</a> chips and introducing a desk-side <a href="/facts/Computer_tower/edFPINdK">tower case</a> model. This was the first version to break backward compatibility with previous 2100-series expansion cards. The final upgrade was the A-series, with new processors capable of more than 1 <a href="/facts/Instructions_per_second/N23PAFGV">MIPS</a> performance, with the final A990 released in 1990.

HP 2100 open-in-new

HP 2100