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The story of the 1991 HP DOS Palmtop
Evolving from an enhanced calculator... to a full DOS compatible PC in your pocket.
November 20, 2023
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The HP 100 / 200 LX palmtops are nothing short of spectacular little machines. Pocket-sized, clamshell, battery powered, MS-DOS computers — with a fascinating (and highly useful) array of hardware and software.

Want to use a modem? Expand storage and functionality with a PCMCIA card? Run full DOS software — and even Windows 3.0 — on the go? All were possible with these little, hand-held marvels.

And, when I say, “Run Windows 3.0”… I really mean it. Here is a picture taken by a Lunduke Journal Community member of their own, personal HP 200LX. Running a full edition of Windows 3.0 (in Real Mode — the 200LX’s 80186 CPU doesn’t support Protected Mode).

But how did these amazing little pocket computers come to be? Let’s take a little tour of the history of the HP LX line, which all started in 1988 at Hewlett-Packard… with a product idea code-named “Cheetah”.

Note: Much of this history is compiled from the notes and memories of Everett Kaser, a programmer who worked on this project (and many others) at HP, combined with bits and pieces gleaned over years of study of these wonderful computers.

1988 - Codename “Cheetah”

 
 

It all started in Corvallis, Oregon — a small city, around an hour and a half outside of Portland, Oregon — at the office known as the “Corvallis Division”.

Image courtesy: hpmuseum.net

The Corvallis Division had already seen some noteworthy success in developing multiple HP computers, including the HP 85A in 1980:

The original idea for “Cheetah” was to be a personal information manager pocket device, powered by the Saturn CPU — which was already in use by multiple HP calculators and ranged from 640 kHz up to around 8 MHz.

The Saturn CPU from an HP 48SX calculator

What’s more, the entire system would run on just 32KB of RAM and use a nearly identical physical design to the HP 19B calculator (with a vertical clamshell design, with a keyboard on the left).

1989 - Codename “Jaguar”

In early 1989, the team made the decision to come up with a new physical form factor. It was at this point that the codename for the project was changed to “Jaguar”.

Instead of keeping to the same look of the HP 19B seen above… they would make a design using a more standard clamshell — with a screen on top, and keyboard on bottom. Like a traditional laptop. But pocket-sized.

And thank heavens they made that change. Because it just wouldn’t have been as cool had they stuck with that original, side-by-side design.

Everything else, though, still remained the same. The Saturn CPU. Not running DOS. Basically just a calculator… but with a lot of personal information management type software built in.

It was also decided that this device needed a spreadsheet program. An idea that would radically alter the direction of the project.

Lotus 1-2-3 leads to MS-DOS

Imagine yourself back in 1989. Now. When I say “Spreadsheet Software”… who do you think of?

You think of Lotus 1-2-3. That’s who.

And, as luck would have it, Lotus had an internal goal of working with a hardware vendor to create what they called a “Portable 1-2-3 Machine”. It seemed like a match made in heaven! HP could develop the hardware and some of the software, and Lotus could provide 1-2-3 (and also develop some of the other software components).

There was just one problem: Lotus 1-2-3 didn’t run on the (very limited) Saturn CPU. It ran on DOS. With an Intel 8086 class CPU.

So the team at HP made the — incredibly wise — decision to ditch the Saturn CPU and turn the “Jaguar” project into a DOS compatible computer. Intel processor and all.

Initially, while “Jaguar” was going to be DOS compatible… they were not going to allow any random DOS software to run. It was going to be locked down to only run the software supplied on the ROM of the device (from HP and Lotus). Quickly this was relaxed, and the ability to drop to a standard MS-DOS prompt was added.

Because… it was iust such an obvious thing to do.

1991 - The HP 95LX

Development of this new 8086, DOS powered device — now dubbed “Jaguar II” — moved ahead at an incredibly fast pace, with the release planned to happen just 13 months after the basic specs were decided upon. Software, hardware, all of it.

Image courtesy: palmtoppaper.com

In the end, the HP 95LX managed to ship just a couple months later than planned — in April of 1991. Which is darned impressive considering the massive investment in both hardware and software.

The final 95LX shipped with an NEC V20 CPU (which was an 8088 compatible processor at 5.37 MHz), 1MB of RAM, and up to 32MB of removable storage. The operating system was MS-DOS 3.22, which booted from ROM.

All of this was powered by AA batteries. Which, let’s face it, is pretty cool.

It included a host of custom built, personal information management software and — of course — Lotus 1-2-3.

Image courtesy: oldcomputers.net

Just look at it. Full QWERTY keyboard. Even has a 10-key numeric keypad. And Function keys. It might be a small keyboard, with little membrane keys… but it’s complete and surprisingly usable. It even has arrow keys (see the top right of the keyboard).

But it wasn’t perfect. Not yet.

The HP 95LX was an impressive (and incredibly fun to use) little DOS palmtop. But it had some problems.

The first was the display. A non-standard 240x128 LCD (with a 40x16 text mode). This presented significant compatibility issues with existing DOS software.

The second was the speed. The 8088 compatible CPU was a bit… to put it mildly… pokey. And a great deal of existing software simply required more oomph.

The third was battery life. It wasn’t bad, running off a set of AA batteries. But the team knew they could do better.

1993 - HP 100LX - Codename "Cougar"

Over the next two years the team worked to fix those problems — all while refining and improving the built-in software.

The, rather funky, 240x128 display of the 95LX was ditched for a standard, monochrome CGA display at 640×200. This allowed for greatly enhanced software compatibility with existing DOS software. Including, believe it or not, games.

For example here is Space Quest 3 running on an HP 200LX (which is using the same display and CPU of the HP 100LX):

Image courtesy: members of the Lunduke Journal Community

And here is a snapshot of SimCity running on the built-in CGA display:

Image courtesy: Palmtoptube.com

The NEC V20 “8088” CPU was swapped out for an 80186 compatible CPU (a “Hornet”) running at a higher clock speed. This was a significant boost in both horsepower and CPU functionality — which allowed the running of many software applications that traditionally required an 80286 processor.

Then the voltage was dropped from 5V to 3V. Effectively giving a significant gain in battery life.

Of course there was also the software upgrades — both to the included, in-house developed launcher and an upgrade to MS-DOS version 5.0.

All of which combined to make the 100LX and 200LX (which were nearly identical in most ways) extraordinarily compatible with desktop DOS-compatible PCs. Considering all of this was powered by two AA’s and could fit in your pocket?

Nothing short of spectacular.

And, to think, this all started out as what was — essentially — a nice HP calculator with some personal information manager stuff built-in.

Thank heavens the team decided they needed a spreadsheet.

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Reset
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One tenth of 1440p: 128 72 1 60 158 102 6.12 0.96696 1 0.96696 1034.16894183834 16 16 8 4 30 0.060435 16546.7030694134
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One tenth of 1080p: 192 108 1 60 256 115 6.9 1.7664 1 1.7664 566.123188405797 16 16 12 6 64 0.1104 9057.97101449275
Quarter Quarter VGA: Nintendo Game Boy Advance LoRes, and some web-cameras and early cellular phones with color display. Lowest commonly user video resolution. 160 120 1 60 240 131 7.86 1.8864 1 1.8864 530.110262934691 16 16 10 7 80 0.1179 8481.76420695505
Nintendo Game Boy (GB), Game Boy Color (GBC); Sega Game Gear (GG) 160 144 1 60 240 204 12.24 2.9376 1 2.9376 340.41394335512 16 16 10 9 80 0.1836 5446.62309368192
Approximately one-sixth ...

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The Unpublished Anti-Lunduke Hit-Piece
A Tech Journalist interviewed me for a hit-piece article. But the questions made them look bad, and they shelved the story. So I'm publishing their hit-piece for them.

Back in September, shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I was contacted by a Tech Journalist writing for FossForce.com (a smaller, Open Source focused publication) who was working on an article around Open Source, Antifa, and the Lunduke Journal’s coverage of those topics.

This particular outlet had, several months prior, run an “anti-Lunduke” hit piece without first reaching out for comment — which resulted in their most popular article (at least on social media) in quite some time.

With that in mind, it seemed reasonable that they’d want to repeat that success with another “anti-Lunduke” story.

This time they were doing the responsible thing. They reached out to the subject of the hit-piece article with questions. I like encouraging Tech Journalists when they do actual journalism, so I answered each and every query with easy-to-quote responses.

But, it would appear that the answers they received were not conducive to creating the hit-piece they were hoping for — my guess is they realized their questions made them look like the villain in the story. The villain they, clearly, hoped to portray me as.

They opted to not publish the piece.

So I’m publishing their hit-piece for them.

Below is every question — and every answer (with no edits) — which I was asked, on September 19th, by a Tech Journalist by the name of Christine Hall, writing for FossForce.

Fair warning: This is very, very politically charged.

Enjoy.


September 19th

Hall:

The last time I mentioned you in an article, you castigated me for not reaching out to you beforehand. Well, I’m reaching out now. We’ll see what comes of this.

You do recognize that the vast majority of organizations using the term antifa as a descriptor are not in the least bit terrorist and pose no threat to society -- and indeed, the only threats they might pose to fascist groups are not physical or life-harming?

Lunduke:

Hello Christine! Nice to hear from you!

Many, if not most, of those proclaiming support for Antifa (within Open Source) have also made statements encouraging or supporting violence and discrimination.

Regardless of that fact -- which I have documented extensively in Lunduke Journal coverage -- when violent acts are committed (such as murder, riots, and lynchings) in the name of “Antifa”, to turn around and immediately declare yourself to be “Antifa” is a clear declaration of support of that violence.

Hall:

And why did you feel it necessary to call out Danielle Foré’s [the founder of the elementary OS Linux Distribution] trans status in such an ugly manner?

Lunduke:

There is a noteworthy overlap between “Trans activism” and support for political violence -- including in the recent murder of Charlie Kirk (the murderer’s boyfriend was “Trans”).

In the case of Daniel Fore, he, a leader of an Open Source project, regularly calls for discrimination (and violence) against people he disagrees with -- often in conjunction with his self-declaration as “Trans”.

Thus, his declaration of being “Trans” becomes a part of the overall story.

It is worth noting here that The Lunduke Journal has never -- and would never -- call for discrimination or violence against someone because of how they identify or who they may (or may not) vote for.

This is in stark contrast those, such as Mr. Fore, who consider themselves “Trans” or “Antifa” -- who actively advocate for both discrimination and violence.

Hall:

Mentioning a person’s trans status in ways that are pertinent to your argument necessates rudeness such as calling her a “dude who likes to wear dresses”?

Lunduke:

Dan Fore is, in fact, a dude who likes to wear dresses.

The only reason to view that as a negative is if you view dudes wearing dresses as a negative.

Hall:

I’ll quote you on that, which I’m pretty sure won’t bother you in the least.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Quote anything I say here. In fact, I suggest quoting absolutely everything I’ve written to you here, today.

Hall:

You also understand, don’t you, that voicing disagreement with an assessment made by POTUS is not only legal but a healthy part of the national dialog.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Did I say somewhere that it was illegal to disagree with a politician? It seems unlikely that I have ever said that.

Hall:

Also, how would you reply to this:

There have been very few murders linked to individuals associated with Antifa, some incidents of rioting attributed to Antifa supporters, and no credible evidence of lynchings conducted in the name of Antifa. Compared to far-right groups, violence attributed to Antifa is much less frequent and lethal, with only one suspected kill—Aaron Danielson in Portland, by an anti-fascist activist—officially confirmed in recent U.S. history.

Lunduke:

Murder is bad. I am opposed to all murder.

In the context of these discussions, bearing in mind the Kirk murder is important (as many statements were made in response to it). The murderer of Kirk appears to have been pro-Trans and pro-Antifa (based on all available information).

Hall:

Is there any evidence that the suspect was part of an antifa group? I haven’t seen any.

Lunduke:

I have seen some reporting to this effect (including statements from family and messages he wrote).

But, far more important to this story, is the response to the murder among Antifa supporters (including those within Open Source). A large portion of Antifa supporters have celebrated the murder as justified because it killed someone they considered to be a “fascist”.

Hall:

Also, no group should be held responsible for what some deranged person who identifies with the group has done.

Lunduke:

I agree that a broader group should not be held responsible for the actions of a small number of individuals.

However, and this is critically important, it is entirely appropriate to hold people responsible for their own statements and actions.

With that in mind: The overall messaging of Antifa (and Antifa supporters) tends heavily towards violence. Punching, killing, molotov cocktails, etc. are all common messaging used by Antifa (including by those I quote within the Open Source world -- many of whom have advocated violence against myself).

Advocating for violence, then celebrating when violence is committed, are not good things.

Yet we see a great deal of that among Open Source supporters of Antifa.

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October 13, 2025
Sale ends in a few hours, Lifetime Subs set up.

Holy moly, you guys are amazing.

A few days ago I published a “50% off” sale for Lunduke Journal subscriptions… and all of you showed up. In a big way.

To everyone who grabbed a Lifetime Subscription over the last few days: All of you are set to full Lifetime access. You should have a confirmation email in your inbox. If not, email me and I’ll make sure you’re setup properly.

That “50% off” sale ends tonight at midnight. So you have a few hours to snag a discounted subscription, if you haven’t already.

A huge thank you to everyone who supports this work. Couldn’t do it without you.

-Lunduke

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October 12, 2025
50% Off Lunduke Journal Extended Through Monday (Oct 13th)

Just a quick heads up:

The “50% off every kind of Subscription to The Lunduke Journal” sale has been extended through Monday (October 13th).

So. You know. Grab one at 50% off between now and end of the day on Monday.

To all of you amazing nerds who have picked up a Lifetime Subscription already this weekend: You are awesome. You’ll be receiving a confirmation email, with all of the Lifetime Subscription details, by tomorrow (if you haven’t already).

Oh, and remember how we hit 11 Million views last month? Yeah. We’re well on our way to blowing past those numbers in October.

Wild.

See you all on Monday!

-Lunduke

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