Floppy Days 148 - HP97 History & Memories with Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz & Everett Kaser (audio-only)

HP-97 Programmable Calculator History and Memories with Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz and Everett Kaser

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Hello, and welcome to episode 148 of the Floppy Days Podcast for February, 2025, where computers of the late 70’s through the 80’s are the Apple of our eye! (If you got that pun, then you’re in the right place 🙂)

First off, I wanted to mention that this month is the 12th anniversary of the publication of the very first episode of Floppy Days way back in 2013. That’s right: 12 YEARS! A very small percentage of podcasts ever reach that sort of longevity. I can only think of one other podcast that’s in my sphere of listening that has been regularly produced for that long or longer (Retro MacCast). I should be so lucky to produce a podcast as long as the 18 years that James and John have done.

There are several reasons I keep doing this. I love talking about old computers, I love being able to interview incredible people that were actively part of the microcomputer revolution, I love feedback from listeners, and it keeps me out of trouble now that I’m retired from the daily grind of the workforce.

This podcast wouldn’t still be going if you weren’t listening. The listenership actually has been pretty stable for the past several years, and I’m humbled and honored that so many continue to listen and provide feedback. Thanks to you and your support, what do you say let’s keep this thing going till you and I both are tired of it?! 🙂

Okay, now onto details about this particular episode. I’ve been very focused recently on producing interviews with some amazing guests. Frankly, this will always remain an important part of this podcast, as the individuals who were the main drivers in microcomputers will unfortunately only be around for an increasingly shorter period of time. However, the main focus is, and always will be, covering the vast array of unique machines that existed in the late 70’s through the 80’s. I will admit that the amount of research and work to publish the microcomputer-specific shows is a lot; considerably more than the interview episodes. However, as I said, covering vintage computers and programmable calculators is the main impetus for this podcast. It has been a full year since we covered a vintage machine, so it’s time to remedy that.

To that end, in this episode we will be covering a vintage machine: the HP-97 and 67 programmable calculator. I speak of them as one, because, as we will cover in great detail, they are internally the same machine, with the main difference being the built-in printer for the HP-97.

I was very fortunate to get a fantastic co-host for this episode: HP calculator historian Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz (“Vwahdek Meer-Yeng SHAY of itch”) . Wlodek has a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience with the HP calculators and I think you’ll find his stories and background extremely interesting and helpful as we go through the history of the HP-97/67.

In this episode, we’ll be spending a few minutes to get to know Wlodek, then together we will cover the history of the 97/67.

As another bonus, I also was able to catch up with another gentleman who has a lot of history with HP: Everett Kaser. Long-time listeners will recall that Everett worked for HP for many years on several of their calculators and desktop computers and helped with co-hosting the Floppy Days series of episodes on the HP Series 80. It turns out that Everett had spent some time at HP repairing the HP97 and he shares his memories of those times.

Based on the amount of material that was generated about this calculator, it looks as though we’re going to have 3 episodes on the 97/67, with the first being this one on history and memories, the second covering tech specs and several other topics, and a third episode to finish off coverage.

I should mention that the HP97 episodes do veer from the timeline a bit. Whereas I’ve been covering the machines that were introduced in 1982 (with the last being the Grundy NewBrain), the HP-97/67 were introduced in 1976. By rights, the HP97 should have been covered in a very early episode, just after the MITS Altair 8800 and in the same general time frame as the Apple I. However, I felt it was important to go back and pick up this machine, so I hope you will forgive me for departing from the timeline order for this.