The design and development of a family of personal computers for engineers and scientists

Hewlett-Packard introduced its first personal computer, a scientific calculator with firmware transcendental functions, in late 1968. Three generations of personal computers with increasing memory sizes, versatility, performance/price, and ease of use, have evolved from the original design. The newest generation, the Hewlett-Packard Series 200, is based upon the same primary objectives and principles which guided the designs of the earlier product families. The paper traces this product evolution, examines the requirements and objectives, and discusses the hardware and software design details of the Series 200 product family.