HP Omnibook 2000ct

HP sold many good computers in their history, this is another nice model with Pentium processor and expandable RAM. It has a multi-function bay which can be used with CD-ROM drive or floppy disk drive. If floppy drive is needed only for a moment, it may be connected to specialized parallel port. 2000ct has most components in proprietary boards, so it's not possible to upgrade with common parts easily but, for example, in my unit there's a CPU from 5500ct model (Pentium 133MHz with MMX) and it still works well.
Omnibook 2000ct was advertised as low-priced notebook with multimedia capabilities. Its LCD is really good, 2000ct has microphone and speakers, Sound Blaster Pro compatible card and very good docking support, in which docking station had expansion slots for cards and bays for drives. By adding SCSI to the dock it was possible to build a good-performance system with Omnibook as its CPU.
In 2013 my Omnibook still works for 2-3 hours on one battery pack. Battery packs are from 1997, so it's a very good result, probably not possible with current hardware.


Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard

Origin Taiwan
Year of unit 1997
Year of introduction 1997
Type Laptop, PC
CPU Intel Pentium I, 133MHz
RAM 32MB (2x16MB) - max 64MB
Floppy Disk 3.5" 1.44MB external or internal (drive bay)
Hard Disk 2GB
Other media CD-ROM in a bay
Graphics and display: VGA (PCI Chips and Technologies adapter), 800x600 24-bit TFT LCD.
Sound: PC Speaker, SoundBlaster card with speakers and microphone
Keyboard and pointing device: Small PC keyboard without numeric part, numeric part on letter keys.
Trackpoint
OS: Windows 3.x / Windows 95

Power supply:

1 - +12V 3,3A
2 - Ground

I/O:  - Serial port
 - Parallel port
 - VGA video out
 - PS/2
 - Dock connector
 - Game port (proprietary connector)
 - PCMCIA x2
 
 
 
 
 
 
Possible upgrades:  Memorty with 2 proprietary modules
Additional peripherals:  Additional battery, Floppy disk drive

Its BIOS is simple, allows to configure most things by semigraphical setup. There are some things not commonly seen such as hibernation to a special disk partition (use supplied tools to make one), but only if laptop is working from battery.

I'm using this notebook as "file server" for transferring programs to other old computers with parallel port and sometimes quick data collector/notepad. It's very comfortable for me as it has nice keyboard with deep keys, not flat ones as in today's laptops. Hard disk can be easily expanded up to 8GB, if not more (I have 6GB without problems).

Press release

Installation guide
Corporate usage manual
Accessories guide
Hardware diagnostics manual
User's Guide: Win95
User's guide: Windows 3.11
BIOS update WARNING! Improper flashing may damage your computer!
Hibernation partition making software. Remember to make it 3-4MB larger than your RAM to save VRAM/registers!
Windows 95 diagnostic tools
Windows 95 DMI tools
Windows 95 drivers
Windows 95 Utilities: Disk1 Disk2,3
Windows NT drivers
Windows NT tools: Disk1 Disk2
Windows NT PCMCIA software: Part1 Part2
OS/2 drivers
Windows for Workgroups drivers 1 (CD-ROM, sound)
Windows for Workgroups drivers 2 (PCMCIA, dock, IRDA, mouse)
Windows for Workgroups drivers 3 (Dock's SCSI, video)