Tag: retrocomputing

Zeos Pocket PC

When PCs were hitting their stride, handheld versions were starting to make their appearances. The early versions were pretty limited in their performance, but they were functional, mobile, and not too bad.

A fellow on one of the retro forums reached out to me recently and asked if I’d be interested in a Zeos Pocket PC. At first I thought it was another Windows CE machine, and I was really avoiding those. But this turns out to be a very basic DOS based handheld, so I said “Sure, I’ll take it!”

The Zeos Pocket PC was made in 1992, around the time the HP 95LX and similar ‘clamshell’ computers were being manufactured.

Specifications

  • Released: 1992
  • Original price: $595 ($1,108 in 2020 dollars)
  • CPU: NEC V30 (80C86) @ 4.77MHz / 7.15MHz
  • Memory: 640k RAM
  • Display: 80×25 LCD text, 640×200 graphics
  • Batteries: Two AA
  • MS-DOS 5.5
  • 1.3lbs

Interesting Bits

The Zeos PC has a couple features on it that make it pretty interesting. The first is it has a parallel and a serial port on it. Unfortunately, they use a custom cable connector (which I happen to have), so connecting up to them can be a little challenging.

However, they also have dual PCMCIA slots, which means it’s easy to dock new cards into it (conveniently located under the case). The Zeos supports SRAM cards… these cards are Type 1 PCMCIA devices, which are pretty hard to find, and require a battery in the card to retain their storage. I have 1-2 that I use on my Newtons, so I’m looking forward to tinkering with them.

Another neat feature is it has a quite large and comfortable keyboard. That can be a win or lose – easy to type on, but it makes the entire unit quite bulky. Not something that would fit comfortably in a jacket pocket

The screen is not particularly easy to work with. It has no backlighting, so visibility requires just the right light setup (a direct light, but not one that reflects badly).

It is, however, extremely light and portable for a fully functional PC-DOS machine from 1991.

Conclusions

The Zeos Pocket PC is a cute representation of the state of DOS based computers in the early 90’s. Extremely limited funtionally in it’s basic state, but I’m going to see if I can get some simple applications on it. It comes with Works (an extremely simple software suite for notes and stuff), but it might be fun to get some more complex applications on it and get some connectivity going.

PDP-11/70 Retrocomputing Build

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I attended a very technical college to start getting my degree in Computer Science. Note, this wasn’t ‘programming’ ‘systems design’ ‘databases’ ‘AI’ or any of that, no, the industry was young enough that just HAVING a computer science degree was notable.

While the college experience didn’t work out well for me, I have a very strong memory of my first semester (back then the college called them trimesters I believe) walking into the computer science building and seeing a glassed in room with a bunch of racked equipment in it. On the front of one of the racks was a brightly colored panel, with a lot of purple and red switches, and many blinking lights. In the corner, it said PDP-11/70, and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Turns out this machine was used in the undergraduate program to teach students Unix. We had a classroom full of DEC GiGI terminals and students would plunk away at shell scripts, learning ‘vi’ and generally making a lot of beeping noises. There were about 16 terminals, which meant that machine, which was approximately 1/5000’th the speed of a modern Core i7 process (MWIPS 0.535 for the 11/70 vs 3124 for the i7) was supporting 16 concurrent users programming away on remote terminals.

Well, life moved on, and while I did build my own DEC minicomputers, I never actually owned an 11/70. They were temperamental, that were designed to be powered up and left running for years. Not exactly a hobbyist machine.

In the last year or two, some folks have been taking advantage of the SIMH project (a hardware simulation environment) to emulate these old machines, and run the original operating systems on them. When I saw that Oscar had put out a kit for the PiDP-11/70, a fully functional PDP-11/70 front panel that mirrors precisely the original machine, I had to have one.

The kit is powered by a Raspberry Pi-4 loaded with the SIMH package anda . bunch of disk images. The system happily runs any number of old DEC operating systems, as well as Unix 2.11BSD, and various other Unix versions. On bootup, you simply select which disk image you want to run, and after a few moments, you’re looking at an operational console happily booting RSX-11MPlus, RSTS, RT-11, BSD Unix, whatever you’d like.

Total build time was somewhere around 7-8 hours. Imaging and setting up the Pi took about 2 hours (mostly downloading packages), and the actual physical build of the front panel took another 6+ hours.

The experience of using the machine is somewhat surreal. In the past, I spent a lot of time learning Unix and then VMS. I also worked on DEC Pro/350’s for a while, which run a modified RSX-11MPlus, so it feel great to be back in that environment again, but I have so much to re-learn.

Having the delightful blinking lights nearby showing activities in realtime is a delightful way to have a visual representation of the inner workings of computers, something we don’t see a lot of in modern systems.

Here’s some pics of the build in progress. It’s a great addition to the home office collection!

Toshiba Libretto 110CT

When I was working at in the IT Department at Wildfire Communications, the number one toy the execs and managers wanted was  the Toshiba Libretto ‘palmtop’ computer. They ran Windows 95, were compact and functional (for the time), and made great conversation / showoff pieces. I had to have one for my collection.

I’ve let people know I was collecting vintage handheld computers, suddenly everyone wanted to donate! I quickly put together the collection home page and made the wishlist known. Lo, a friend I know from Arisia said “I have a Libretto that’s just lying around. Want it?” – Heck yeah!

This weekend, it arrived via a somewhat circuitous route, and lo, it is a 110CT – a slightly later model than the ones I worked on (which were 50CT and 70CT’s), but still the same form factor and awesome design. One of the niftiest is the integrated touch-mouse on the right side of the screen.  The mouse buttons are actually on the lid, so you move the mouse with your thumb, and grip the buttons on the reverse side.

This one appears to have a screen problem that won’t let it show video properly, but I’m excited to have it in the collection. Thanks Ben!

For the curious, here’s the specs on the 110CT:

  • Manufacture date: 1998
  • Pentium 233MMX CPU
  • 32meg RAM (!!)
  • 4.3GB HD
  • 7.1″ 800×480 display
  • Came with Windows 98 or Windows NT

UPDATE 10/3 – Blank screen on startup / video problem solved

I finally googled around long enough to find the problem.  The Libretto shows an absolutely blank screen until any boot device is ready.  I noted that if I held down F12 on startup, I’d get the BIOS update screen, so the screen worked, the problem was elsewhere.  While on the BIOS screen, I heard a very light noise – and realized it was the HD trying to spin up, but failing.  This is not an uncommon problem in older computers.  The drives get ‘stuck’ and can’t spin up after sitting for a while.  Sometimes referred to ‘stiction’.

There’s only one cure for stiction.  A vigorous shake of the computer, or… yes, I really did this, rap the laptop on the table a few times.  For a book-sized computer, this was easy.  A few taps, and I heard the hard drive happily spin up, and lo! A windows 98 screen appeared!  We’re in business!

Handheld Retrocomputing Collection and Display

Okay, so everyone loves retrocomputing stuff.  Looking at a piece of equipment or an item and going “Gosh I remember using one of those ${back_in_some_day}.” Well, I finally decided to formalize my collection a bit, and set some goals for myself.

I’ve decided to focus on handheld computing devices that had a significant impact on the industry, or I have a special emotional connection with.  Handhelds in particularly are attractive because, well, I don’t have a lot of space.  So while I’m sorely tempted to collect Apple II’s, old CP/M machines, and DEC minicomputers, living in an 800sq ft townhouse makes that a practical impossibility.

So I’ve focused on handhelds.

It became quickly apparent that I’d need a place to store and display them.  My partner had a glass fronted wooden display case that was a good starting place.  It had a storage space underneath it for boxes and cables, and nice glass windows on the front.  I had some custom glass shelves made to replace the wooden interior shelving, and installed some LED lighting across the top.  With everything done, I was able to put all the things I had (so far!) into it, and it doesn’t look too bad!. (Here’s what it looks like with the doors closed.)

Many of these were items I already owned, but I’ve fleshed things out a bit with finds from eBay and other auction sites.  So far, here’s what I have.  All items work, and have functional batteries, except where noted.

  • Apple Newton Messagepad 2000.  (1995)
  • Palm Zire M150 (2002)
  • Atari Lynx (1989)
  • Palm Treo 750 (Sprint) (2006)
  • PalmPilot (1996)
  • Compaq IPAQ (2000)
  • Sharp Zaurus 5500 (2002)
  • Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 (1983)

I hope to expand the collection going forward.  Here’s my current wishlist:

  • Atari Portfolio (first palmtop computer running DOS!)
  • Newton Messagepad 2100 (the best of the breed, and the equivelent of the unit I used to have)
  • Apple eMate 300 (This is pushing the bounds of a ‘handheld’, but they’re amazingly cool devices regardless)
  • Toshiba Libretto (I used these when i worked at Wildfire, and remember them fondly)
  • IBM Simon – This was the first real ‘smartphone’.  I used one for a while, and ended up either giving it away or selling it.  They’re scary rare now, I’m kicking myself for tossing it.

If I do end up getting these things, I may need to expand my cabinet.  But right now, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got.

Update: I now have a page specifically for the collection.