Mail Archives: opendos/2001/02/01/09:13:07
On 2001-01-31 Paul O. Bartlett wrote:
> Does anyone know of any similar-sounding DOS-based hand-held
> computers available? These days it seems like the choice is between
> Palm-type organizers (too small) and Windows-based laptops (too big).
Well, a bit smaller than your device might be the HP 200LX (or HP 100LX).
These are (or were) DOS 5 based 80186 PCs, 16mm x 8,64mm x 2,54mm,
ca. 300g with batteries, serial & IR port, CGA graphics, a keyboard with "click",
1-4 Mb SRAM pre-installed (extendable by PCMCIA 2.0 cards - only for
memory and XIP cards), various "organizer applications" pre-installed,
but you should be able to run almost any normal DOS software as long as
it runs on XT hardware. From what I recall they have been very extendable
with all kinds of adapters (as long as there are DOS drivers for the 200LX,
since PCMCIA 2.0 does not provide SS & CS). There also was a model
with a built-in GSM modem called HP OmniGo 700LX, and you could
"piggy-pack" a Nokia 2110 onto the back of the display. Due it its size and
weight, some called it Omnibrick... ;-)
Last time I looked (ca. two years ago), they were still available around here,
but I don´t know if they are still in stock now. Price was "HP-like" - ca.
1100,- DM (ca. 500,- USD) for the base model.
Much older (from 1989-1991) and less powerful, one of the first PDAs
ever was the Poqet Computer from the original initiators of the PCMCIA
standard (1989), Poqet Computer Corporation, which was later sold off
to Fuji. IIRC, there were three models, and approx. two years ago you
could still get a few items of them from a distributor in the US for ca.
100-150 USD. (I don´t remember the name right now, but I´m sure I have
a snapshot of their web-page as well as technical data sheets somewhere
in my archives, in case you would be interested in this.) AFAIR they also
had a CGA display, DOS in ROM, and I think 512 Kb DRAM. Maybe a
serial and parallel port, but I´m not sure any more. The three models had
rather different sizes and were larger than the HP 200LX above. Some
DR-DOS related trivia: One of the founders of Poqet, Ian Cullimore, took
part in the development of DR PalmDOS later in 1992.
Even less powerful might be the Atari Portfolio, also from the late
1980th, a 8086-based PC with ca. 256 Kb RAM, DOS 2.1x in ROM
and some kind-of-reduced-CGA display. Last time I saw them (ca. 3 years
ago), refurbished devices where selling for ca. 50-100 DM (25-50 USD)
at electronics/computer shows (like Hobbytronic in Dortmund, Germany).
Hope it helps,
Matthias
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Matthias Paul, Ubierstrasse 28, D-50321 Bruehl, Germany
<Matthias DOT Paul AT post DOT rwth-aachen DOT de> <mpaul AT drdos DOT org>
http://www.rhrz.uni-bonn.de/~uzs180/mpdokeng.html
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