Dave’s Vintage Handheld Computer Collection

I started collecting handheld computers ‘officially’ in 2016, after I realized the piles of gear I’ve collected over the years constituted a small museum.

Criteria

It’s easy for a collection to get out of hand.  There’s so much stuff out there, and ebay is so vast, it’s important to put limits on what you’re putting together.  For me, I have a limited amount of space, so focusing on handheld machines made it possible to build a collection, but not take up gobs of space.

To be considered for the  Vintage Handheld Computer Collection, a device must be:

  • a ‘computer’ in the sense it is programmable and can run pre-loaded or configured instructions in sequence.
  • must run on or be capable of running on internal batteries
  • be a ‘handheld’ in that it can be used one handed or very lightly with two hands (such as a tablet or PDA).  This definition can flex dependent on the ‘interestingness’ of the item.
  • should predate Windows 95 (This is not a hard limit – if something is interesting / special enough, I’ll go for it)
  • be significant in some way – represent a new direction of technology or tools (first / early version), or have a large scale impact on the handheld ecosystem (most popular / most successful)

Handheld computers already in the collection

  • Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 (Original equipment)
  • Apple Newton Handhelds:
    • Apple Newton H1000 / MP100 / “Original MessagePad” or OMP (Acquired 11/20/2017)
    • Apple Newton Messagepad 110
    • Apple Newton Messagepad 130 (Acquired 11/2/2017)
    • Apple Newton 2000
    • Apple Newton 2100 (Acquired 11/15/2017)
    • Apple eMate 300 (Acquired 11/16/2017)
    • Apple Newton 110 “Clear Developers Sampler”
  • Palm devices:
    • Original first generation Palmpilot
    • Palm Treo 650
    • Zire
    • Palm VIIx
    • Sony Clie PEG-NX60
    • Visor
  • Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100
  • Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 102
  • Toshiba Libretto 100CT (Acquired 9/30/2017)
  • Psion Organiser II (Acquired 10/2/2017)
  • Psion Series 3a (Acquired 10/2/2017)
  • TRS-80 PC-1 Pocket Computer (Acquired 10/3/2017)
  • Cambridge Computer Z88 Laptop Computer (Acquired 10/16/2017)
  • HP 95LX Palmtop PC
  • HP 200LX
  • TI 74 Basicalc (Acquired 12/1/2017)
  • Atari Portfolio (Acquired 11/30/2017)
  • Nixdorf LK-3000 (Acquired 12/13/2017)
  • Compaq H3900 Model 3955 iPaq Pocket pc
  • Compaq H3600 Model 3650 iPaq Pocket pc
  • Texas Instruments TI Programmable 59 Calculator
  • Blackberry 7750
  • Sharp Wizard OZ-7000 (Acquired 1/9/2018)
  • Curta Type 1 Handheld Calculator (Acquired 3/24/2017)
  • Dauphin DTR-1 (Acquired 11/1/2017)
  • HP 75C Handheld Computer (Acquired 7/11/2018
  • Nokia N770 Linux Handheld (Acquired 8/16/2019)
  • Epson HX-20
  • Epson PX-8
  • Compaq iPaq H3900 with keyboard
  • OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) XO-1 (I worked with the OLPC G1G1 program)
  • Sinclair ZX80 (Acquired 10/1/2021)
  • Grid GridPad – First useful tablet computer
  • WorkSlate WK-100
  • HP-28S

Handheld Games

  • Atari Lynx
  • Mattel Electronics Football
  • Mattel Electronics Basketball
  • Mattel Electronics Auto Race

Wishlist

  • Canon X-07
  • Casio PB-80
  • HP-65 Calculator (First programmable calculator)
  • HP-41C Calculator (First programmable with alphanumeric display)
  • Psion Organizer I
  • Psion Series 5x
  • Grid Compass 1101
  • IBM PC110
  • IBM 730te
  • Zeos Pocket PC
  • Tandy Zoomer
  • Poqet PC
  • Seiko UC-2000 / UC-2100 / UC-2200 Data Terminal Watch
  • IBM Simon – First smartphone
  • Commodore SX-64
  • Curta Model 2
  • Casio CD-40 Databank Watch
  • Radio Shack Model 200

Other Wishlist items – not necessarily ‘portables’

  • Northern Telecom Displayphone Plus
  • DEC Gigi aka VK100 (with a Barco monitori would be amazing)
  • DEC MicroPDP11 in floor case (Acquired 3/5/2022!)
  • AT&T 605 ASCII terminal (I had like 4 of these at one point, i miss ’em)
  • AT&T 3b1 / 7300 / UnixPC hardware of any type.  I actually have a machine on the way for me, but always looking for boards and accessories. (Acquired 5/1/2022!)