NAME  

HC / HX-20

MANUFACTURER  

Epson

TYPE  

Home Computer

ORIGIN  

Japan

YEAR  

1982

BUILT IN LANGUAGE 

Microsoft BASIC interpreter

KEYBOARD  

Full stroke 68 key with 13 function keys

CPU  

Two Hitachi 6301

SPEED  

0.614 MHz

RAM  

16 KB (up to 32 KB)

ROM  

32 KB (up to 64 KB)

TEXT MODES 

4 lines of 20 characters (in a window of 255 x 255 characters)

GRAPHIC MODES 

120 x 32 dots

COLORS  

Monochrome LCD

SOUND  

Beeper

SIZE / WEIGHT 

29 (W) x 21.5 (D) x 4.4 (H) cm / 1.7 kg

I/O PORTS 

RAM extension port, RS232 (for printer), Serial, Bar code.

BUILT IN MEDIA 

Small analog 1300 baud micro cassette drive (optional)

POWER SUPPLY 

4 AA Ni-Cd batteries or AC adapter

PERIPHERALS  

Up to 4 3.5'' floppy disc units, display controller, acoustic coupler

PRICE  

ё480

 

Epson HX-20

HX-20

 Superbly designed and engineered, the Epson HX-20 can be considered as the first true portable computer. It was the only package available at the time which included a micro cassette drive, a mini-printer and a LCD display.

The small built-in printer could print graphics or text (up to 24 columns, 47 lines per minute). The small tape recorder was pretty fast (considering it was a tape drive).


Computer would rewinds or fast forwards the tape automatically to find the right file. This tape recorder could be removed and replaced with a ROM cartridge.

Two case colors were released, cream and silver. To our knowledge, the silver version was mainly intended for the German market.